Sugar Rush (10 page)

“Oh, for goodness sake, you know what I mean. Now stop changing the subject and get to the man already.”

Again, Dulcie was pretty sure she hadn’t been changing the subject, but if she changed the subject to how Grams had been the one changing the subject, Grams’s head might explode.

“Honestly, there isn’t much to tell.” She chewed her lip.

Grams pinched the bridge of her nose. “I’m going to have to coax this out of you one miniscule detail at a time, aren’t I?” She shook her head. “Okay, start at the start. Where did you meet him?”

“Um, at the jazz club.”

“Okay, good. And what’s his name?”

“Nick.”

“Good. Nick what?”

“Um…”

She sighed. “You don’t know his last name?”

Dulcie kept her mouth decidedly shut.

Grams squinted at her, seemingly realizing Dulcie knew more than she said. Dulcie kept her breathing as still and steady as possible and took great care to not move a muscle on her face.

Grams blinked.

Dulcie exhaled.

“Fine then, what does he do?”

Crap
.

“Um…he works for his father.”

She rolled her eyes. “Dulce, seriously? What is going on with you?”

She shrugged. “Nothing. Besides, I don’t get what all this grilling is about. Things aren’t even serious with Nick or anything. We barely even know each other.”

She squinted again. “You’re changing the subject again. I love you hon, but by God you can be a right pain in my butt sometimes.”

“Um, sorry?”

“So what does his father do, then?”

Dulcie sighed. It was time. “He runs a candy store.”

She kind of wished she had a video camera, or had the guts to whip out her phone to record, because Grams’s face went through quite the multitude of expressions in a matter of seconds. First, she tilted her head, curious. Then it straightened back up as the wheels of her mind began cranking faster, her eyebrows sloping lower and lower until finally they shot to the sky, her eyes going wide. “Dear God!” She stood, almost knocking over the vase of flowers on the table.

“What?” Dulcie asked. If she hadn’t been so terrified, she would have laughed out loud.

Grams’s usually composed face morphed into a state of panic. Dulcie swore she wasn’t even thinking about how her wrinkles must look at all.

“No…,” Grams said, her eyes searching for any other explanation. “Not the devil spawn!”

Dulcie’s mouth opened wide. “Come on, don’t you think that’s a little dramatic?”

Grams breathed through her nose like a bull and finally sat back down. She took a couple deep breaths and blew them out slowly, her mouth puckered into a tiny
O
. “But…the feud,” she said, losing her steam a little.

“Well, if this feud was so damned important, why have I never heard about it until I had a run in with Mr. Sugarman?”

“You talked to that…that…animal?”

Dulcie snorted. “Animal, Grams, really?”

“By God, yes, he’s an animal. A wretched excuse for a human being.” She shivered. “Oh, Dulcie, you can’t…you can’t see that boy anymore.”

Dulcie rolled her eyes. “Oh, God. No one in the world will even tell us what the feud is about, so I hardly think it warrants us staying away from each other,” she said.

“They are awful, awful people. You can’t trust anything they say or do.”

Dulcie closed her eyes and shook her head. “You’ve never even met Nick.”

She waved her hand. “That’s irrelevant. If he was raised by that…beast, then he didn’t have a chance in hell at becoming a decent human being.”

“He’s nice…”

“Trickery! It’s all trickery to find a way to take you down.”

Dulcie had guessed the conversation wouldn’t go well, but this was more dramatic than she’d expected. “He’s not even that into the business.”

“You’ve got to get that boy out of your head. Who knows what kind of damage he’s already done.” She stood again, pacing. Her eyes got wide. “You said you ran into that animal?”

Dulcie nodded, figuring it was easier than trying to argue he wasn’t an animal. She wasn’t Mr. Sugarman’s biggest fan anyway.

“Where? Where could you possibly have seen him?”

“At their store. I went over to see Nick.”

“You went to How Sweet It Is?” Her voice had become an almost unintelligible squeak.

Dulcie took a deep breath. “Okay, I get it. I understand you and Mr. Sugarman had some sort of falling out years ago or whatever, but that was a long time ago. It doesn’t have anything to do with Nick and me.”

Grams shook her head like she still couldn’t believe Dulcie wasn’t getting it. “They practically ruined this family and all you can say is it has nothing to do with you? I swear to God, the stress of it all was what made your mother sick.”

“Grams, Mom had cancer. Some stupid feud didn’t give it to her.”

She looked at Dulcie then, right in the eyes for the first time since she’d dropped the bomb. “I can tell you without a doubt it didn’t help her any.”

Dulcie’s shoulders slumped and she looked away. If Grams really believed that, nothing would get through to her. “Look, I’m sorry. I like this guy. Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I liked someone?”

“Goddamn it,” Grams said under her breath. “That’s what makes this even worse. Just listen for a minute, okay? You want to hear about the feud? I’ll tell you about the feud.”

Dulcie nodded. She didn’t know if it was from talking about her mom, or the frustration of trying to make Grams understand, but she found herself fighting tears all of a sudden.

“When your mother and I first opened up Candy Land
,
things were magical. Everything in the world seemed to be going our way. Your mother had been having such a hard go of it with a daughter to raise on her own and everything… Anyway, things were looking up and she had a gift, I mean a real gift for candy design.”

Dulcie nodded.

“And then I met Ashton.”

Dulcie crinkled her brow. “Ashton?”

She sighed. “Mr. Sugarman.”

“Oh…”

Grams got a little gleam in her eye, her gaze drifting to the distance. “A force to be reckoned with, that one.” A tiny smile at the corner of her mouth hinted at something. Something Dulcie’s brain wasn’t quite able to process yet.

Grams took a deep breath. “Our love affair didn’t last long, but let me tell you, that man was intense.”

Dulcie’s jaw came unhinged. She would not have been more shocked if it began raining gumdrops inside the apartment.

She wanted to scream, “Love affair?” She wanted to do something worthy of the news that nearly knocked her off her chair, but the words would not come. Too many of them swirled in her head all at once, none of them settling into any sort of coherent order.

“Things were perfect for a while,” Grams said, staring into space. “And then he tried to say we should combine our stores, build one giant empire of candy, automate the whole thing and go off to Paris or some such nonsense and just wait to cash the checks.”

Dulcie’s eyes must have been as wide as saucers. “Um, well, I suppose that doesn’t sound very romantic.”

Grams shook her head. “I knew at that moment that he and I had very different visions for our futures, and my job was the same as it had always been. To take care of your mother and you.”

Dulcie sat for a moment, her mouth poised to say something, but words failed her.

Grams finally sighed. “I’m tired,” she said, rubbing her temples. “I’m going to bed.”

Dulcie watched her walk away, a trickle of guilt weaving its way through her, wondering if she and her mother had ruined Grams’s chances of true love and happiness. Although Mr. Sugarman did not seem like anyone’s idea of true love or happiness.

Unfortunately, that didn’t stop her stupid brain from coming back to extremely unwanted pictures of Grams and Mr. Sugarman over and over again.

Chapter Ten

Nick listened slack-jawed as Dulcie relayed the story.

His father had dated Ms. Carter.

That
Ms. Carter.

When he hadn’t heard from Dulcie right away, he’d almost regretted exchanging numbers with her the other night, since he’d feared she was brushing him off for good. So when he got her urgent text, at first he was thrilled.

Nick was not at all prepared for this little tidbit of information.

He wasn’t so shocked his father had dated an older woman—besides, she was only five or so years older—as much as he was shocked his father had found someone like that in the first place. He hadn’t seen Ms. Carter in years—not since he’d gone to Cambridge for school—but he still remembered the way that black dress showed off all her…er…assets the last time he’d been to the Assembly of Chocolatiers competition. No doubt, Ms. Carter was pretty hot for an older woman.

Dulcie stared at him, waiting for his reaction. He should say something, but…what do you say when hit with news like that?

Nick put his palms up to his eyes and rubbed them. He cleared his throat. “Well, that certainly is unexpected news.”

Dulcie nodded. “You think?”

“Um, so I guess it ended badly?” he asked.

Dulcie shrugged. “The way they seem to hate each other’s guts, I’d say that would be a safe assumption.”

Nick nodded, his mind still whirring with shock and, if honest, a little bit of awe for his dad. Truth be told, once the initial surprise wore off, a newfound glimmer of respect for his old man might take its place.

“I just… I don’t know what to say.”

Dulcie nodded. “I know the feeling.”

“So they dated,” Nick said, shaking his head once more in disbelief, “then obviously they stopped.”

Dulcie nodded. “And something went very, very wrong.”

“Right.”

“So what do we do?”

Nick had no idea. “Well, it was a long time ago, right?”

Dulcie shrugged. “I think so. I certainly don’t remember it. Or maybe Grams just hid it really well.”

“Yeah,” Nick said, though a glimmer of something, not a memory, but just a notion of his father having been…busy a lot when he was a teenager—not that he paid much attention—surfaced. The more his father stayed away in those years, the happier Nick was. “I mean, what is there to do? They’ve stated their reasons for us not to see each other…”

Dulcie sat up straighter. “Which we will certainly take into advisement,” she said, with mock seriousness.

Nick raised one eyebroow. “But it’s not like the feud has anything to do with us.” He leaned toward her again, remembering the last time he’d leaned in close and how it had ended so…pleasantly.

“We barely even remember the feud,” Dulcie added, a fake innocence in her words, her eyelashes batting.

Which drove Nick nuts. No one had ever made him lose his senses like her before. He took a deep breath to remember what he was saying. “It seems to me it’s all in the past.”

“Completely over and done with,” Dulcie said, leaning close now, too.

They just looked at each other for a moment, the hair on Nick’s arms standing on end. “So,” he said. “I guess this means nothing’s stopping us.”

Dulcie’s coy smile faltered a bit. “Right. Except…maybe we should try to stay out of Grams’s way…and your father’s, of course. To spare them any additional stress. Just for a while.”

Nick nodded. “Just for a while.”

They clinked their coffee cups in a little toast to their agreement, each one taking a satisfied sip, staring at each other over the rims of their mugs.

Nick wanted to take the conversation further, see if she was feeling as strongly as he was, but a few of the customers were starting to notice them heating up their little corner of Dulcie’s shop. A couple of teenage girls were even pointing and giggling.

Damn.

He sighed. “So, have you finalized anything for the contest?” He put his palms up. “Not that you have to tell me, but I’m genuinely curious. Not too many people get what it’s like leading up to it.”

Dulcie nodded. “It’s okay. My friends don’t get what the big deal is, either, but for some reason, it all feels so important, like it’s some big revelation about the future of the shop.”

Nick nodded. “I know. I mean, I guess I’m not worried about the future of our shop, since it’s Dad’s baby and all, but it’s become a living hell trying to work with that man right now.”

Dulcie chuckled. “It can be stressful.”

“You seem like you’re doing okay, though,” he said, sipping his coffee. He didn’t know if it was because Dulcie made it, or if the brew was actually that good, but it might have been the best coffee he’d ever tasted.

She shrugged. “I think we’re ready. We tested and finalized everything yesterday.” She sat up a little straighter. “I probably shouldn’t be telling you this, but I’m getting a little excited. And believe me, I did not think I would get excited about this contest ever again.” She ducked her face, sort of hiding behind her cup as she took a sip.

Nick couldn’t imagine anything more adorable.

He rolled his eyes in a sort of “it wasn’t that bad” way. “Dad seems to be coming around, too,” he said with a sigh. “When I got to the store this morning, he was so excited. Said he’d been up all night working on the entry and thought he finally had it figured out.” Nick swallowed hard, all the feelings of dread from that morning flooding back. It was so much worse than it sounded out loud. Nick could see his goal of taking over How Sweet It Is drifting away. He couldn’t stand the thought of failure, but worse, the disappointment all over his father’s face translated into nothing but bad news for Nick’s chances for the future he wanted.

Dulcie laughed. “He just wants to succeed.”

“Yeah, I guess so,” Nick agreed.

He glanced around the shop. They never would have gotten one of the quaint little bistro tables if Dulcie hadn’t already been sitting when he arrived, no doubt having snagged it as a customer vacated. “It seems to me like business is doing pretty well. I don’t think we’ve ever had this many customers waiting at once.”

Dulcie nodded. “Yeah, things are going pretty well…for now,” she said. “Though it’s not always all fun and candy making. The financial end of things could use a little work, to say the least. I mean, the overhead on this place is pretty huge.”

Nick got the feeling she wasn’t quite ready to open up to him completely. Who could blame her? No matter how much they might have in common, they didn’t know each other very well.

He vowed to change that as they sipped their coffee. Nick was dying to find a new topic of conversation, but her words loomed over the table like fog.

Thankfully, Dulcie’s brain worked better than his and she found something to say. “So, since candy isn’t your passion, then what is? Your music?”

Nick shrugged. “I love to play, but it was never one of those serious things for me. Maybe if I’d had more encouragement when I was younger, but I never got good enough to pursue it as a profession or anything.”

She raised her eyebrows. “Really? You could have fooled me.”

He glowed. Like embarrassingly frickin’ glowed from the inside. And then he turned bright red on the outside at how easily she could get to him. “Um, thanks, but, you know, that’s just kind of foolin’ around.”

Dulcie looked pleased she’d made him squirm, like it was about time or something.

He cleared his throat to fill the silence.

“So then what?” Dulcie asked.

“What’s my passion?” he asked, stalling. He hadn’t told another living being about his secret obsession. “Um…”

“Come on,” she said, shoving his shoulder. “You pretty much know all there is to know about me, so now you gotta give me something.”

He raised one eyebrow. “I doubt I know even a fraction of what there is to know about you, but I will tell you if you promise not to laugh. It’s not very manly.”

Dulcie’s eyebrows knit together. “I already thought your passion was candy making. You’re going to tell me it’s less manly than candy making?”

Nick laughed. “Okay, good point, but seriously, don’t laugh, okay?”

He would die if she laughed.

She relaxed her eyebrows. “Okay, I promise.” She leaned in like he was about to reveal some sort of big secret. He didn’t want to disappoint her all over again.

He took a deep breath. “Cupcakes.”

She tilted her head, not in a laughing way exactly, but surprised. “Cupcakes? Your passion is cupcakes?”

His coffee became supremely interesting. “Uh, yeah.”

“Like the cupcakes you brought over here the night you tried to call a truce and I was too fat headed to understand?”

“Um, yeah,” he said quietly.

“Holy crap!” she said, making a few customers turn. “You’ve got to be kidding me. You made those yourself?”

He nodded, stirring…forever stirring. “Uh huh.”

“And decorated them and everything?”

Nick cringed. He imagined her picturing him in some sort of frilly pink apron, whistling a tune while daintily frosting cupcakes. He sighed. “Yeah.”

“Those were the best cupcakes I’ve ever had in my life. Like, my God, the girls begged me to ask you where you got them and everything. We sat in awe and silence while we ate because we were too enamored to even have a conversation.”

He glanced at her, his heart speeding up.
He
thought his cupcakes were good, but he never knew if anyone else would like them. Sure, they were cupcakes and all—and who doesn’t like cupcakes?—but what if he’d veered too far from what a normal cupcake customer might expect?

“They weren’t too…non-cupcakey for you?” he asked.

God, did you just say
non-cupcakey
in front of the woman you like?

“They were amazing. Like, there are no words to convey how amazing.”

He still couldn’t look her in the eye. She had to be just saying it. “Um, thanks,” he finally spit out.

“How is it you haven’t started selling them?” she asked. “They would fly off the shelves.”

He shrugged. “It’s not a big deal. And it’s not like my father would go for it. I mean, it’s a candy store, not a bakery.”

“You haven’t approached him?” She blinked pure disbelief.

He shrugged. “It’s not one of those things that can easily transfer to an assembly line.”

Her gaze drifted down. “Oh right, I hadn’t thought of that.”

“Besides, it’s only a pipe dream. Nothing will ever come of it. I need to focus on taking over How Sweet It Is instead.”

“Are you kidding me? It’s a travesty there isn’t a place to buy them already.”

“Come on, Dulcie. Thank you for the compliments, but they aren’t that amazing.”

“Oh my God.” She huffed, turning in her seat. “Constance, would you come here for a sec?”

Constance looked at Dulcie like she needed anti-psychotic meds, motioning to the lineup stretching out the door.

“I know, but it’ll only take a sec.”

Constance rolled her eyes and apologized to the people in line, hurrying over.

“Do you remember those cupcakes we had the other night?”

“How could I forget the best cupcakes I’ve ever had in my life?” she asked, then put her hand on her hip like Dulcie better have something more important to talk about than cupcakes or she would smack her with a piece of fruit leather.

Dulcie turned to Nick. “See?”

“You liked them?”

“They were so good I dreamed about cupcakes. Haven’t been able to stop thinking about them ever since. Where did they come from, anyway? My daughter’s birthday is coming up and she would die for a batch.”

Nick was speechless. His cupcakes had always been his passion, sure, but he never believed anyone else would think they were as good as he did.

Dulcie glanced at Nick questioningly, tilting her head toward Constance, wanting to spill the secret.

Nick nodded, still half in shock.

“Nick made them.”

Constance’s eyes widened. “By God, Dulcie, you better hang on to this one. Especially if it means that’s the only way I’ll ever get to indulge in that little bit of heaven again.” She stared out the window, then turned to the shop as if remembering she had something else to do. “Darn it, gotta get back before the customers start throwing things.” She rushed away.

Dulcie wore a look of pure smugness. “Told ya.”

He ran a hand through his hair, a strange tingle inside him. He couldn’t decide whether he was uncomfortable or excited. Or both.

“That’s, um…that’s good to hear, I guess.”

Dulcie bit her lip. “Honestly, it would be a shame if you weren’t able to share that kind of talent with the world.”

Nick squirmed.

“At least say you’ll consider talking to your dad about getting your stuff on the shelf. I mean, it’s not candy, but if you gave him a taste, I’m sure he’d be dying to sell them.”