Page 326 of The Maxwell Brothers
Paisley pressed her lips together, clearly trying to hold back a smile. "No, Gran. I'm on my best behavior, I promise."
"Let's do our tasks. I am in charge of the eggs, and Gran is measuring everything. Paisley, can you fill this cup with water?"
"Hey. I'm ten. I can do more than that."
"Don’t worry, you’ll get to do plenty of things, but start with this. Let's get to work."
Six hours later, we had two batches each of brownies and cupcakes, as well as two coffee cakes and chocolate chip cookies. I was very happy with my ovens and the appliances, as everything turned out great.
Paisley was taking pictures of everything. I’d sent a few to Declan and my family as well since they couldn’t be here.
“This is gonna be epic,” she said.
“What?” I asked.
“Nothing, I was talking to myself.”
“I do that sometimes too. But you look like you’re hiding something.”
Paisley glanced at Gran. When I turned to look at her, Gran averted her gaze.
Wow, really?“What’s happening?” I asked.
“We have all these goodies here, and it’s just the three of us,” Gran said, sounding a bit too innocent.
“We sent some pictures to the whole family, and now they’re on their way,” Paisley explained.
“What? They’re coming to the bakery?”
“Yes, they are, girl,” Gran said. “Declan won’t be too impressed. He was rather hoping to surprise you. I guess we spoiled that.”
“He was?” I said, putting one hand on my hip and running the other over my hair before realizing I still had some flour in it.
Oh great. I bet I look fantastic.
“He didn’t tell me he planned to come.”
Gran chuckled. “Of course not. Like I said, he wanted to surprise you.”
CHAPTER 23
LIZ
Wasthat why he’d been so evasive on the phone this morning?
“So, who’s coming exactly?”
“We’ll let them tell you,” Paisley said.
My God, the girl was sassy. Her parents were going to have their hands full with her in a few years when she was a teenager. Gran said the Maxwell boys had been intent on giving everyone white hair, but girls could be just as rambunctious. My sister and I were proof of that.
“When are they arriving?” I asked.
“In probably two seconds,” Gran replied, pointing to the entrance.
My stomach somersaulted when the door opened and Declan came inside. The Maxwells were right behind him. He was holding a huge bouquet of flowers. I took them from him, feeling like I had a million butterflies in my stomach.
“Thank you,” I murmured, putting them in a glass full of water against the wall, at the farthest point from the hot oven.
