Page 39 of Sugar
Layla shakes her head and looks back at me. “No actually?—”
Layla doesn’t get the chance to finish her sentence because Luna’s already screaming. “Oh mygod, Ava,areyoufreakingkiddingme? You and Kasey?! You’re lying! Is this some kind of joke!” She clutches at her chest, her breaths coming in short sputters. The near-dozen or so other people scattered throughout the bakery eye us with open fascination.
“Kasey and I are getting married,” I declare, loud enough for the whole room to hear.
There’s a collective gasp around the bakery, and then silence. Luna’s eyes fill with tears. “My girl,” she says, obviously dazed. “My precious girl! Iknewyou two would end up together. I just knew it!”
“Yeah.” I force a wide smile. “I guess it was just written in the stars!”
Layla, to her credit, doesn’t skip a beat. “They’re so grossly enamored with each other that they’re insisting on a ceremony the week after next, so we’re hoping you can help?”
“Oh!” Luna exclaims. “Nothing would make me happier than to be a part of sweet Ava’s big day.”
The love in her eyes is so genuine it knocks the wind out of me. “Thank you, Luna,” I say, and my heart squeezes. Of all the people in this town, she’s the one I already deeply regret lying to.
“What kind of cake are you looking for? I can do two-tiered or three-tiered, maybe a chocolate mirror glaze?”
“Um,” I say with a sweeping gaze along the pastry case, as if I might conveniently find a whole wedding cake to point to and claim. “I was thinking something easy?—”
“What about something decadent,” Layla chimes in, “like dark chocolate with raspberry filling?”
I glare at her. “Oh, that’s too much?—”
“I could do that,” Luna puts in. “But you know, Ava’s always been more of a vanilla-and-sugar girl. Maybe we do something with vanilla bean and cookie butter?”
Okay,fine, I’ll admit it: my mouth waters.
“Ohhhh.” Layla is a lost cause too, apparently. “That sounds really good. We’d definitely want two tiers of that.”
“What about a cake-topper?” Luna asks, her attention fully on Layla now.
I open my mouth to speak, but Layla beats me to it. “Do you have any men in cowboy hats?”
She shoots Layla a cocky smile, her face flushed from all the commotion. “I’ve got just about any kind of man you need,” she says, winking.
“What about women who look like . . . lawyers?”
Luna and Layla turn to eye me up and down. It’s almost comical, the way they analyze my silk black shirt beneath a gray blazer, paired with a pair of dark jeans. I blow out a breath.
“I’ve got one that looks pretty corporate,” Luna says.
“That could work,” Layla adds.
“I was thinking of somethingsimpler,” I interject. “Maybe just a sheet cake?”
Luna physically recoils. “Asheetcake? For a wedding?”
“Isn’t that more of a birthday party thing?” Layla asks.
“I made one recently for Maeve’s granddaughter,” Luna says, nodding. “It had sparkle sprinkles and rainbow icing.”
“That would be perfect!” I say. “I want exactly what she had.”
Luna stares at me for a long moment. “You want sparkles and rainbows? On yourweddingcake?”
“Yep,” I confirm, nodding.
“Are you sure?” Layla asks.
