Page 7 of Fa-La-La-La Faking It
Adaline felt like a ridiculous drama queen. All her life, people had teased her about her big emotions. She couldn’t help it. She had a tendency to feel things deeply—the entire spectrum of emotions, from joy to despair and everything in between. Gram had always told Adaline it was part of what made her special. And Adaline, in all her optimistic naivete, believed her.
But then the boy who’d taken her to senior prom had dumped her the very next morning after she’d baked him a cake with his face drawn in frosting.This is just a lot.Those words had burrowed deep, but not quite as deep as the ones that followed.You’re just a lot.Maybe she would’ve considered it a fluke if she hadn’t heard the same thing from the next guy she’d dated...and the one after that.
The third time was the charm, though. Adalinewasa lot, she’d decided. Too much, probably. And that was fine. Who needed to date? She’d get a dog instead. A dog that was just like her—too affectionate, too loving and perhaps just a tad too clingy...but clingy in an endearing way, obviously. Adaline had never been known for her chill.
“There’s a patient in the extended care unit who doesn’t like dogs.” Or people. Or Christmas. Or anything at all, as far as Adaline could tell. “I still offer him a visit every time I’m there, just in case he changes his mind. Anyway, he’s not the problem. Today his nephew turned up.”
Maple’s brow furrowed. “Was he rude to you?”
“Not exactly,” Adaline said.
Maple continued to probe. “Did he say something inappropriate?”
“No.” Adaline felt herself frown, because when she actually stopped to think about it, her conversation with Jace hadn’t been unpleasant at all. In fact, an unmistakable zing of attraction had been skittering through her right up until the moment she’d realized who he was.
Unacceptable. There would be no more zinging.
“A little help here, hon? Because I’m not seeing the problem,” Maple said.
“Jace—the nephew—and I were in the same class back in fifth grade, and he made my life miserable for pretty much the entire school year.”
“Was he a bully?”
“No, nothing like that. He just liked to tease me,” Adaline sighed. “Alot.”
One corner of Maple’s lips—always painted a bright cherry red—curved into a half smile. “Is that all? He probably had a crush on you. You know how boys are at that age.”
Adaline’s heart began to thump hard in her chest. The truth was,she’dbeen the one with the crush, which only made the teasing hurt more. “His nickname for me was Ada-lame.”
Maple rolled her eyes. “Little boys are dumb.”
“Sodumb.” It had taken her years to shake that ridiculous nickname. Someone had even written it in her high school yearbook in tenth grade. “On career day, I make cupcakes for my oral presentation about the bakery I hoped to open someday. When I accidentally dropped them on the way into the building, Jace called them smushcakes.”
Maple let out a snort. “This guy really liked the puns, didn’t he?”
Adaline shrugged. “You know I’m a sucker for a dad joke.”
Maple eyed her more closely. “Wait a minute. You liked him, didn’t you?”
Adaline covered her face with her hands and groaned. “I did. Boys aren’t the only dumb ones.”
“You were a kid. We’ve all had misguided crushes,” Maple sighed. “Trust me on that one. And if you don’t believe me, my divorce lawyer parents would be happy to give you an entire PowerPoint presentation on how love makes fools of us all.”
“It must have been really weird growing up with two divorce attorneys as parents,” Adaline said.
“You have no idea. It’s a miracle I ever let myself trust your brother.” Maple toyed with the shiny engagement ring on her finger and her expression immediately morphed into that far-off dreamy look she got that always made Adaline feel a little wistful...like maybe finding what Maple and Ford had would be nice someday.
Not that Adaline had any intention of going out and looking for it.
“Hon, Cherry on Top is a massive success. You have more business than you know what to do with. No one thinks you make smushcakes, and I’ve never heard a soul call you Ada-lame.” Fuzzy had fallen asleep in Maple’s lap, and she brushed her fingertips over his curled form as she regarded Adaline. “Is all of this fifth-grade stuff really still bothering you all these years later?”
Yes.
No.
Maybe?
“Jace was the first boy I really liked. And I thought he liked me too, despite all the teasing. His opinion meant too much to me.”He’dmeant too much, and Adaline, in all her innocence, had done what she always did. She let her big feelings get the best of her. “On the last day of school, he passed me a note saying he liked me and wanted to dance with me at the fifth-grade graduation dance. I was beside myself with excitement. Gram made a party dress for me out of powder-blue fabric dotted with a cherry print. I turned up at that dance feeling like Miss America, but as soon as I walked into the building, I overheard Jace talking with some of his friends.”
