Page 42 of Snowed In with Four Firemen
He moves past me to open the door, and I can finally breathe again. “Guess I should have paid more attention to the Great British Bake Off when I had the time,” he mumbles under his breath. And just like that, the veil of unease between us lifts.
As much as my heart feels tangled in all sorts of knots right now, I have to stay focused. Hailey’s depending on me, and there’s still so much to fix.
I remind myself that there’s no room for distraction. Not yet, anyway.
CHAPTER 14
TANNER
As Emilyand I walk down the hallway, she’s already deep into planning mode, talking animatedly about the cake Hailey would want. I’m more focused on her—the way she walks, the way she smiles, the way she touches her nose as she’s planning.
“So,” she says, her voice picking up speed, “Hailey’s always been a fan of simple, classic flavors. Maybe something like a vanilla sponge with layers of buttercream? But not too sweet. She hates overly sweet cakes.”
“Vanilla sponge. Got it.”
“It won’t be too much, right?” she says, biting her lip. Damn, I’m jealous of her teeth. Fuck me.
“No, of course not,” I say distractedly. I feel myself wanting to agree with everything she has to say now.
She glances at me with a skeptical smile. “You’re sure about that? We don’t have the luxury of messing this up. Maybe we should sketch it out beforehand, just to be safe.”
“Good idea,” I reply, my gaze still on her lips. I swear she notices and looks away as we step into the elevator.
“We can’t go too fancy with limited resources anyway. Keep it simple.”
“Exactly,” Emily says, clearly pleased that I’m following along.
“We’ll find most of the ingredients and tools in the kitchen…hopefully.”
As we reach the reception area, I can see Collie standing at her desk, flipping through some paperwork. Emily glances at me before approaching her. This is where things could get interesting.
“Hey, Collie,” Emily starts, giving her a bright, hopeful smile. “We were wondering…would it be alright if we used the kitchen for a little while? Hailey’s cake got canceled, as you know, and we were wondering if we could, um, maybe bake a replacement for it?” she blabbers.
“It would mean a lot to the bride,” I step in, trying to make things smoother.
Collie looks up from her papers, her expression unreadable for a second. I brace myself for her to shut us down, but then she surprises me.
“You want to bake a cake?” she asks, sounding more amused than anything.
“Well…yeah,” Emily says, glancing at me like she’s waiting for backup. I give Collie a nod.
“Sure, go ahead. Lord knows we could use something sweet around here after all this mess. Just make sure you don’t burn the place down.”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and exchange a relieved look with Emily. “No promises,” I joke, earning a chuckle from Collie.
“Good luck,” she adds as she returns to her papers.
We step into the kitchen, and it’s bigger than I expected. Stainless steel counters run the length of the walls, with industrial-sized ovens and a massive fridge that probably hasmore shelves than I can count. Pots and pans hang from a rack in the center.
“Okay,” Emily says, scanning the space with determination, “let’s see what we’ve got.”
She heads straight to the pantry and starts rummaging around. I lean against the counter, watching her move with surprising confidence. Her hands fly over shelves, pulling out bags of flour and sugar like she’s done this a hundred times.
“Found the flour,” she says, glancing back at me with a triumphant smile. “Now, where’s the baking powder?”
I move to the other side of the pantry and scan the shelves. “Here it is,” I say, handing her the container.
“Great, thanks,” she mutters, distracted as she gathers more ingredients. After a few minutes of searching, she spots something on a higher shelf and groans. “Of course, the vanilla is up there.”
