Page 83 of Whisking It All

Kyla paused briefly in her careful filling of the bakery case. “Goldilocks and the three bears?” she offered.

Tessa laughed, picturing Jamie, Gavin, and Baz in bear costumes. There was no way in hell Baz would put on fuzzy ears or a tail.

“Or you could pick four of the Muppets. Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo, and Miss. Piggy?” Kyla suggested.

“I think I’m going to need something that doesn’t require Baz to be an anthropomorphic animal.”

Kyla rested a hand on her hip and pressed her lips together the way she did when she was thinking really hard. “Is this for you and your dad’s trivia team?” Tessa nodded. “Oh, well that’s easy then. Star Wars.”

“What makes you say that?” Tessa asked.

“Every year St. Anthony’s hosts a spring bazaar to raise money for the food pantry and every year your dad and his friends volunteer to take turns in the dunk tank. After the second or third year, they realized they raised way more money if they dressed up in costumes to go in the dunk tank. No one wanted to dunk them, but they’re more than happy to dunk Darth Vader,” Kyla explained.

“Why wouldn’t they want to dunk them?”

Kyla stared at her like she had asked what color the sky was. “Because those guys do so much for this town. Did you know Jamie personally cooks all the turkeys for the ecumenical Thanksgiving feast?”

“I don’t even know what an ecumenical Thanksgiving feast is.”

Kyla waved it away. “You will. You can come with me and Brodie this year. And you’ll see that Jamie works his ass off. And your dad runs the toy drive at the women’s shelter every Christmas. Gavin and Baz are always right there with them. Everyone knows if they need anything, those four will come through. My mom says Baz even shoveled the snow from the sidewalk outside the senior center once. Without being asked.”

“Baz voluntarily did manual labor?” She couldn’t picture it, what with the way he always wore a perfectly tailored suit and had not a hair out of place.

“I know,” Kyla said. “Gavin got them all together to help build the animal shelter. Like, literally pitching in to put up drywall and nail…nails, or whatever you do to build a building. Brodie didn’t even show up for his shift, but those guys, they were the first one there and the last to leave. So, of course, they volunteered to sit in the dunk tank for the spring bazaar. No one wants to sit in the dunk tank. Some years, it’s barely sixty degrees at the spring bazaar and that water is freezing. But they volunteered. Because they always do.”

“And then no one would dunk them,” Tessa said.

“Right. So the next year, they all came dressed as Darth Vader. No one could see who was in the mask, but I’m pretty sure everyone knew. It just made it easier to dunk them.” Kyla placed the last cupcake and turned to face Tessa. “So go with Star Wars. They already have a Darth Vader costume, obviously, and it shouldn’t be too hard to put together Hans Solo and Luke and Leia.”

“That’s a great idea actually. Thanks,” Tessa said, already running through what pieces they would need to find to put together the other costumes. It was easier to focus on the odds of finding a gold bikini in the local thrift store than the strange gooey feeling that had taken up residence in the center of her chest, like an underbaked cupcake.

“This spring, you can come with me and Brodie to the bazaar and take a turn dunking your dad,” Kyla said, oblivious to Tessa’s gooey raw batter feelings. “Brodie always likes to dunk his dad.”

Except she wouldn’t be in Aster Bay in the spring. She didn’t know where she’d be—Italy or Sri Lanka or Croatia—but she wouldn’t be there. For the first time, that thought didn’t feel like freedom. It just felt lonely.

Chapter 26

“Do you even know what’s in that?” Baz asked, eyeing the neon green liquid in Tessa’s glass.

“Nope,” Tessa said with a grin before taking another sip.

“It’s a Midori sour,” Jamie said.

He’d stuck to a gin and tonic himself, but he’d thoroughly enjoyed the glee on Tessa’s face when Sam, the bartender, had presented her with the unnaturally colored drink. He’d also enjoyed the way her ass jiggled when she bounced on her toes, her thin, white, Leia costume barely concealing the fact that she was wearing a thong. That knowledge had been almost enough for him to drag her into the bathroom for a quicky.

“It tastes like a Jolly Rancher and it’s delightful,” Tessa said with a quirk of an eyebrow that dared Baz to question her taste. “I think our buddy Darth would appreciate it,” she said, gesturing to the helmet Baz had left on the edge of the table.

“Darth will stick to his Scotch, thank you very much,” Baz said.

Gavin sank into the seat next to Baz, setting his own neon green cocktail down on the table.

“Not you too,” Baz grumbled.

“What? It’s festive,” Gavin said.

Under the table, Jamie slid his hand over Tessa’s knee, his fingertips just disappearing into the slit at the front of her costume that had been torturing him all night. Her eyes widened a fraction of an inch and she took another sip of her drink as she pretended to pay attention to Baz and Gavin’s bickering. He shouldn’t touch her like that, not there, not with his friends at the same table and half of Aster Bay in the same room. But he couldn’t help himself. It had been thirteen hours and twenty-four minutes since he last touched her and, in his estimation, that was far too long.

“Are you two ready for Sunrise in the City?” Gavin asked.

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