Page 8 of Sugar and Spice
“You had to work together, or it was going to be an all out war.” Piper sucked in a deep breath and began to speak again.
“You’re right,” I said, interrupting her.
She blinked at me. “I’m what?”
“You’re right,” I repeated. When she looked like she might faint, I reached out and put my hands on her shoulders, giving her a little shake, “You’re right, but you’re also insane...but it’s okay because so are Austin and me. I get why you did it. One hundred grand is a lot of cash,” I told her. “And you’re right. That much money could change everything for us.”
Piper stiffened and then said, voice quiet, “Not just us. For you. It means you could leave...finally.”
I went still, because she was right. That much money meant that all the time I had spent here–all those months and years honing my skills in nowhere Alaska–hadn’t been for nothing. With the cash fromFrontier/City, I would be able to leave. And when I did I would take the talent and experience I had learned in this place and make it work for me somewhere out there in the big wide world.
Where that was, I didn’t know. But with even half as much money asFrontier/Citywas offering I could and would be able to figure out the where on my own terms. Piper might have told a huge drunken lie, kept that drunk lie from me and gotten in cahoots with Austin behind my back, but she had given me a gift beyond measure.Choice.
“Thank you,” I told her with a smile.
“So does this mean you forgive me?”
I gave her shoulders a squeeze. “Yeah, I forgive you,” I said and hugged her to me tightly. “But this fake marriage caper means you’re officially on oven duty for the next month.”
She groaned, forehead dropping onto my shoulder. “I deserve that.”
“And more,” I muttered, but I hugged her tighter. I had bigger things on my mind. Like how the hell I could avoid pissing off Austin and make this damn thing work and get my hands on that cash. With a little acting and a whole lotta luck this would be my last Christmas in Clarity.
CHAPTER4
AUSTIN
Daisy had been in business for about six years. She’d opened the year after she came back to Clarity from college and in that time, I’d made the walk countless times. Hundreds probably? I didn’t know, maybe thousands given Clarity was a small town with not a lot going on and Daisy Ortiz was interesting to me. My visits to Sweet Treats were mostly to give her shit, sometimes to see if she was plotting anything when things were a little too quiet between us, but always just to see her. But for all that tonight’s walk down Main Street towards Sweet Treats felt like the first time.
It was Daisy. Every step brought me closer to her, towards our date, which even if she hated the idea of, was a long time coming. I knew it, everyone in town knew it, I just didn’t know how she didn’t know it.
I shoved my hands in my pockets and blew out a long breath when Sweet Treats’s familiar storefront came into view. The sun had sunk behind the treeline, the sky was dark, the only light coming from the street lights and the colorful Christmas lights that strung between the lamp posts and well...they covered practically everything. The brightly lit store fronts, every door and window I walked past looked like a technicolor explosion of Christmas tinsel and lights. Then there were the trees everyone had dragged out onto the sidewalks to decorate. It was a Clarity tradition that would end in a competition where the “best dressed” tree would snag the owner bragging rights. The town looked like the holidays had thrown up on it, and I chuckled knowing it caused Daisy no end of grief. The woman was the Grinch around these parts, though I really didn't know why, but I had a suspicion that it centered around her non-existent mother. She’d cut and run about this time many years ago and I didn’t think it was a coincidence Daisy hated this time of year. We weren’t close enough for me to ask that, though. My jaw clenched. We’d never been close, even if I wanted it. What we did have though was the fact that I knew every single thing about her. There wasn’t a person in Clarity that could read her like me or get under her skin the way I could. We might not have closeness, but we had that.
Daisy’s bakery would be closed by now, but I could see faint lights spilling onto the sidewalk outside. The storefront was the only one unadorned which made it stand out from the rest. Not a single light or shred of tinsel could be found on Sweet Treats. Despite the Mayor’s best efforts to coerce her into it she remained steadfast. Though it helped that I had stepped in after he’d tried to vigilante decorate her shop when she was two towns away catering a wedding. I’d caught the little fucker and his assortment of municipal minions trying to desperately string lights and mistletoe onto the Sweet Treats storefront.
“You’re gonna wanna stop,” I’d warned him.
“This is an eyesore, Austin. You know that,” the little man insisted while slapping another sprig of mistletoe to the store awning. “It’s high time Daisy stopped her war on Christmas. This is an affront to our town tradition.”
“It’s also vandalism,” I told him and jerked my chin towards the store. “You think Daisy isn’t going to blow her top when she sees this? Even I know not to touch her storefront. She comes back from that wedding and sees this? Christmas decorations, Kyle? What are you thinking? She’ll sue your ass to Anchorage and back. Don’t think she won’t.”
He paused, clearly not thinking that part through. “But it’s Christmas…”
“But nothing. Daisy Ortiz is a spiteful woman and she’ll see you burn for this.”
He’d packed it up after, not a trace of Christmas left behind him and his minions after they’d left. I’d never said a word about the incident, because I hadn’t been lying. Daisy was spiteful, but I liked her that way. She was strong, passionate and I’d never known her to take shit from anyone, least of all me. I was into that shit. I felt my heartbeat speed slightly, knowing the reason for the lights inside Sweet Treats was because Daisy was inside. And she was waiting for me. I liked the thought of that far more than I should, but there was no stopping it. I was going to use our fake marriage to finally get us to the place I wanted us to be. Daisy would be pissed at it, but I was used to that. I’d been used to it for far less payoff than a chance at something with Daisy. I pushed through the bakery door and saw Daisy was bent over a notebook at the counter. She looked up when I entered.
“Hey,” she greeted, voice soft. I stopped when I heard her. Daisy was a lot of things when it came to me, but soft had never been one of them. She licked her lips and continued. “Are you ready f-for our date?”
There it was again. I tilted my head to the side when I saw that she ducked her head when she spoke, her eyes avoiding mine. Something was off. Daisy never shied away from staring me down when we spoke. It was one of the things I liked the most about the woman. She had beautiful eyes, big and brown, warm and flecked through with gold. I’d always felt like I was staring at summer incarnate. Daisy’s eyes were phenomenal, but they weren’t looking at me now. They were downcast, her body closed off, half turned away like she was trying to make herself smaller. I didn’t like her smaller. I liked her full force and challenging me, eyes flashing and tongue sharp.
Whoever this soft spoken woman was, I didn’t know.
“Sure are,” I replied, watching Daisy come out from behind the counter and towards me. She was even prettier tonight, a deep red sweater that went with the red lipstick she wore, black jeans that framed her curves perfectly. Black boots that I knew well on account of her threatening to shove one up my ass more than once.
“Ah, that’s good,” she replied and shrugged on her coat as she walked towards me. “Where are we going?”
“Carey’s.”
