Page 36 of Sweet on You
“Cam,” Lydia warned.
“What? She makes such a big deal about not eating pastries. Were you…” he faded off, his eyes drifting to the stairs that led to the apartment above the bakery. “Were you here… already?”
“Cam,” Lydia hissed and her eyes drifted down to where his daughter, Maddie was pressing her nose to the pastry glass.
“It’s just a question,” Cam said. “I’m allowed to ask a question, aren’t I?”
“Not when the question is none of your business and verging on overprotective big brother territory,” I snapped. He and Steve had always been protective of me, but ever since I was hospitalized in high school, their protectiveness had escalated to unhealthy levels. “But no. I wasnothere overnight. I came in for a coffee this morning,” I said, omitting the part where Lex baked me special goodies. “Now, there’s a line forming behind you. So, what can I get you? Everything else we can discuss another time.”
Lydia grimaced. “Well, we were uh, supposed to meet with Lex about wedding cake samples.” Oh shit. Lex was supposed to have a meeting today? With my brother? “But, it’s fine,” Lydia said, and I could see her squeezing Cam’s arm. “We can just reschedule.”
“Can we?” Cam said with a sigh. “It took us weeks to find the time this morning.”
“Cam, what do you want me to say?” I snapped, feeling suddenly defensive on Lex’s behalf. “The guy had an emergency. It happens. You of all people should be able to understand that.”
He sighed. “I do understand that.”
“It’s Maddie’s spring break,” Lydia said. “I’m sure we can find another day that works.”
At this point, Lana started paying attention and came over. “I can text him if you want.”
But even as she said the words, it was clear her heart wasn’t in it. Not for the first time, curiosity piqued in me. What was he up to today? He said it was an emergency—and he certainly seemed nervous and jittery. But, he’d already mentioned that none of his family was here in the states. His sister—twin sister—still lived in England along with his parents.
A lump lodged in my throat. Was it his ex-girlfriend? Could they still be close even though I’d never heard him mention her before yesterday? I’d never seen him get close to anyone in this town in the two years he’d lived here. Hell, until I met Lana, I had thought my family and I might be his closest friends.
“No,” Cam said with a sigh. “We’ll text him later once he’s back.”
“Lana,” I said, as she handed two Americanos across the counter to customers. “This is my brother, Cam. His fiancé, Lydia. And his daughter, Maddie.”
She smiled and offered her hand to each of them. “It’s so nice to finally meet some of Lex’s other friends. My husband and I were beginning to worry he didn’t have any other than us.”
Lydia glanced briefly at me… just a quick flick of her fair eyes in my direction. “How long have you been friends?”
“Only about a year. He’s such a great guy.” Lana smiled, affection in her expression.
Cam grumbled, checking his cell phone “No offense to Lex, but if it was up to me, I’d just serve some lemon meringue pie at the wedding and be done with it.”
He softened the comment with a small smile directed at Lydia that, for reasons I did not want to know, caused a blush to sprout on the apples of her cheeks.
“Oh, gross,” I said. “Whatever the hell you two have done with lemon meringue pie, I want nothing to do with it. In fact, I think you may have ruined lemon meringue for me forever.”
Lana laughed behind me and I pointed at her. “Don’t egg him on!”
Lydia giggled and her palm brushed against Cam’s forearm as she buried her face into his bicep.
“What did you do with pie?” Maddie asked from below the counter, pushing onto her toes and peering at me.
I lifted a brow at Cam. “Yeah, Cam. Whatdidyou do with pie?”
His expression darkened at me briefly before he brushed his fingers through his daughter’s dark hair. “We ate it. Duh.”
“It doesn’t matter that neither of us wants cake,” Lydia said. “It’s a wedding. People expect aweddingcake. It’s tradition.”
“Do you not want cake because you don’t like it?”
Lydia and Cam both simultaneously pointed down at Maddie. “Only one of us in this family wants cake,” Cam said with a grin.
“You know,” Lana said, pouring herself a coffee and sipping it black. “Neither Tony or I have a sweet tooth either. And when we got married, we delegated the cake stuff to my sister. She went to the tasting, knowing what I like, and I sent her with a picture of the design I wanted. It took a huge task off my plate for something I didn’t really care too much about.”
