Sugar Rush (6 page)

“What’s this?” she asked, stupidly stepping back, since he’d shoved the box in her face and everything.

Of course this gave him the opportunity to waltz right into the shop, even though he had to squeeze in pretty tightly. In fact, he brushed her on the way by and she suddenly found herself a bit dizzy.

He stood watching her, and she had no idea what the heck he was doing there. It took her a moment to realize he was staring at the box more than at her.

“Oh, uh, s-sorry,” she said, opening the box and wishing she could stop her stupid stuttering around him.

Inside lay some of the most beautiful artisan cupcakes Dulcie had ever seen. Three of them appeared to be chocolate with white buttercream icing and an intricately swirled chocolate for garnish. The other three were opposite, a white cupcake with chocolate icing and a white chocolate garnish. Of course, in all her awkward glory, Dulcie opened with, “Cupcakes? Aren’t you supposed to be a candy guy?”

His face fell in an instant.

“They’re beautiful,” she said quickly, though it didn’t save the moment.

Not that she cared or anything.

“Um, thanks. I guess I thought you probably had enough candy,” he said, glancing around the shop, apparently not sure what to do with his hands. Finally, he crossed them in front of himself.

“Good point,” she said, still trying to work out why on earth he was in the middle of her shop after hours, bringing her gifts for no reason.

They stood for a moment, neither one of them moving. Dulcie was a little scared to put down the cupcakes; they seemed to mean a lot to him, and frankly, they smelled almost as good as he did.

He cleared his throat. “So uh, I wanted to come over and apologize for the other day at the market. I acted like such a jerk.”

She nodded. “Um, well, thanks,” she said, her brain processing the situation like molasses.

Nothing made any sense. They were mortal enemies. Okay, so maybe not mortal, but enemies in sugar for sure. And he was there apologizing to her?

“I’m sorry, too. I might have gotten a little…defensive.” She tried a humble expression, hoping it looked more sheepish than pained, though she didn’t think she did a very good job.

He smiled—a real smile this time, not the mischievous smirk he usually wore.

Dulcie almost dropped the box. It took her a moment to gather her composure, though she figured she should probably ditch the cupcakes before something terrible happened to them. Truth be told, she was dying to try one.

He stepped closer, even though he had already been in comfortable conversation range. “The thing is,” he said, and took a deep breath. “I haven’t been able to get you out of my mind since that night at the jazz club. Before we figured out who each other was and everything,” he said, running his hand through his hair and shifting his feet nervously. “I just… Well, it seemed like there might be something there, and then at the market I just wanted to say hi, but things sort of went downhill.”

Dulcie’s heart drowned out his words and she had to concentrate very hard to make out what he said next.

Fortunately, she could focus on his lips.

“And even though we’re, like, mortal enemies or something…”

Oh my God, he’s using the exact same words as I did
, she thought.

“… it seems a little stupid not to at least be friends or something, just because our businesses compete. I mean, we have a lot in common.”

It was her turn to speak, but she was having the hardest time concentrating on anything besides his use of the words
or something
. Here he was, bringing her truce cupcakes and looking so good…but how could she trust this guy she barely knew? This guy who was her biggest competition? She must have stood silently like an idiot even longer than she thought, because eventually he spoke again.

“Well, I uh, guess I should be getting out of your hair.”

…

“No!” Dulcie yelled.

Nick jumped.

She shook her head, seemingly embarrassed. The word had come out a little dramatically.

“I mean, don’t go yet. We’re, um…” She glanced around the room.

Only then did Nick realize a group of women had been standing between the kitchen and front area watching the whole thing. Each of them wore a varying expression of amusement. “We’re about to start a tasting thing to try and come up with something for the competition. You should stay.”

He crinkled his brow. “Are you sure you want me here?”

“Of course,” she said, though even she didn’t look entirely convinced. “Another expert on our panel to help decide would really help.”

Nick shifted. Judging by the other girls’ faces, they were none too happy about having a new panelist for the taste test, either. “Um, okay,” he said anyway, unable to pass up an opportunity to be closer to her.

His father’s words of warning floated through his mind, along with his ridiculous suggestion of sabotage, and Nick squirmed as she led him to the kitchen.

But all thoughts of his father quickly disappeared when they got there.

“This place is fantastic,” he said, gazing around.

He wandered over to the old-style stove made custom to look like it belonged in the forties but was modern otherwise. Her mixers were so huge they had to sit on the floor, and he would give anything to have something as cool as the glass door refrigerators that allowed you to see in an instant where you stood with inventory.

“You guys really do make everything by hand, don’t you?” he said.

“Yes,” the motherly looking co-worker answered. “We feel it adds something special to our recipes.” She sniffed.

“Oh, no, I didn’t mean it like that. I think it’s awesome,” he said, sounding like he was backpedaling. No way were they going to believe he was sincere.

Nick cleared his throat and swallowed hard. Dulcie’s friends had taken a united stance behind the table, as if daring him to do something they might not like.

He felt a bit like an animal caught in a trap.

“Oh, sorry,” Dulcie said, shaking her head a little. “Nick, this is Constance; she’s my right hand person here at the shop.” Nick quickly shook Constance’s hand, having a hard time making eye contact, what with the way she stared like she might want to punch him. “And this is Jess, Ava, and Lila.”

Nick shook everyone’s hands, remembering having seen Lila at the jazz club.

Dulcie got another plate ready. “So, I guess we should do the tasting,” she said.

Everyone gathered around. The friends lined up across from Nick and Dulcie, each glancing at him with complete mistrust. Dulcie shoved a candy in her mouth, probably trying to break the tension. Nick was more than happy to follow her lead.

They all chewed in silence.

“The Pile Up,” Dulcie said to Nick. “It’s a chocolate wafer bottom—”

Nick nodded, jumping in. “Yeah, I’ve had these a million times. I used to sneak in here on my lunch break—I went to school a few blocks away—and buy this when I wasn’t supposed to.” He beamed, thinking back to those days of sneaking around.

Dulcie was quiet, but soon cleared her throat. “Great,” she said, shoveling in the next chocolate.

At this rate, the tasting would be the fastest in history.

“It’s called Ode to Love,” she commentated. “The cherry crème filling is a little different than most because of the—”

Nick put up his hand. “I’ve had these before, too. I remember this crazy girl gave me a whole box for Valentine’s Day once.” He chuckled.

The women across the table stared at him like he had suddenly grown another head. Dulcie was still smiling, though. He could only hope he was conveying just how much he loved her handmade products.

Another chocolate bit the dust as Dulcie avoided the gazes of her friends.

“The Chai is a subtle blend of spices infused with—”

“I remember when these came out a few years back! My father kept going on and on about how you guys would make a chocolate out of anything, but I could tell they would be a huge hit, even when I knew nothing about chocolate.”

She swallowed, still smiling. He was on fire; he knew her products inside and out. This was the best thing that could have happened to him, being able to show her how much he adored her…er, candies.

Dulcie opened her mouth to describe the last chocolate, but got no further than an inhale.

“Don’t tell me, don’t tell me,” Nick jumped in, raising his eyes toward the ceiling in thought. “I know this one; it’s the…Snowstorm?”

She smiled while the others gawked. “That’s right,” Dulcie said, as calm as could be. Almost…too calm?

“I love this one,” he said quietly.

“For a kid with your own candy store, you sure have had a lot of ours over the years,” Dulcie said, her hand finding its way to her hip.

He nodded sheepishly, suddenly realizing no one liked a showoff. Of course, knowing he was an idiot just made him talk more, hoping to redeem himself. “I was a bit of a candy-aholic back then.” He tilted his head. “It kind of…became a problem.”

Oh God, why did I bring
that
up?
Stupid, stupid moron.

“A problem?” Dulcie asked.

Of course she would ask.

“I was, uh, sort of a…chubby kid.”

Lila choked on her last bite of Snowstorm, turning away in a coughing fit. Jess smirked while Ava and Constance tried their best not to react at all.

“Oh,” was all Dulcie said. “Uh, sorry?” she managed, like it was a question.

Nick’s face burned with the heat of simmering caramel.

“Well, um, do you have a favorite?” Dulcie finally asked, thankfully changing the subject, motioning to the samples left on the table.

He thought for a moment. “The Snowstorm, I think,” he said. “It’s always been a favorite of mine.”

Dulcie nodded. “Good to know. I’ll definitely take that into consideration.” She looked at him for a minute. He was still trying to make his blush fade.

“Have you guys decided what you’re entering yet?” Dulcie’s friend Lila asked, all innocent-like.

Nick’s expression faltered into panic. “Uh, we have some options. But, um, nothing for sure yet.” It was the best he could do. He wasn’t about to admit to Dulcie of all people that he couldn’t come up with a damned thing.

Dulcie nodded. “Of course,” she said, but her “friendly” expression looked forced. “I understand. Well, thanks again,” she said, leading him toward the door as if she couldn’t wait to get him out of her sight. “Oh, and for the cupcakes, too.”

The cupcakes. God, he hoped she liked the cupcakes at least.

“Sure,” he said. “Um, thanks for the chocolates. Hopefully I’ll see you around?”

“Yeah, sure,” Dulcie said with a wave of her hand, pulling the door open for him.

He walked out into the chill of the night, cursing quietly to himself.

Chapter Six

Dulcie’s eyes skimmed over the box on the counter, and all the weirdness came flooding back. She turned to the cupcakes, studying them. God, what had she been thinking inviting Nick to taste test? It was just those lips, and that dimple. She rolled her eyes at what a silly schoolgirl she’d become.

She should just throw the cupcakes away, but they were so pretty and smelled so delicious. She was sure he’d picked them up at some bakery on the way here anyway, so it’s not like they were precious or anything.

Maybe the girls would want a little taste.

As they sat around discussing what to do for the contest, it became obvious all the chocolates were decent contenders. Jess chose the Chai Chocolate, which impressed Dulcie, since she’d been thinking the same thing. They never came to a consensus, though, since everyone else just picked the chocolate they’d chosen to make in the first place.

Then they drowned their sorrows with a glass of wine each. Dulcie always made sure the few bottles she kept at the store would be nice pairings with sweet treats. But the wine wasn’t what got their attention.

“This is maybe the most delicious thing I have ever eaten,” Dulcie said, trying her best to eat Nick’s cupcake in a ladylike fashion, though it was
so
not working.

“Coming from someone who owns a candy store, that’s saying something,” Jess said, unable to eat hers in any sort of restrained fashion, either.

“It’s almost like they’re a cupcake-brownie hybrid or something. There’s a satisfying caramelizing going on,” Constance said between mouthfuls. “The texture is like nothing I’ve ever had before.”

“You
have
to ask him where he got these,” Lila said, and Dulcie didn’t disagree. “There’s no logo on the box.”

They were almost good enough to risk another encounter as awkward as the one tonight, but she only nodded absently. The cupcake had taken over her entire being.

As she walked home, though, disappointment flooded her. She knew in her heart none of the candies would get anywhere in the competition. Nick’s comments had proven as much—each one had been a pierce to her heart. The judges would yawn and think,
Been there, done that.

Things were not very candy coated, to say the least.

Thankfully, Grams wasn’t home.

Dulcie eased open the door to her mom’s old room and snuck over to the window sill, pulling her knees up, clinging on to them fetal position style. God, she missed her so much…talking, laughing, being a daughter.

She leaned her head back and closed her eyes. The taste test had solidified what she feared: they didn’t have anything fresh enough to contend. In a contest like this, where originality made up a huge portion of the voting criteria, Candy Land Confections was doomed. And if the store was doomed, what did that mean for Dulcie? For her future, and for her mother’s dream?

Dulcie picked up her mom’s photo book—it always brought her closer to her—and fiddled with a corner where the paper had lifted over the years, trying not to let the tears that threatened fall. The stupid lump in her throat hurt so badly, like she’d swallowed a Sour Cherry Drop, which stuck right in the middle of her esophagus. Soon the lump subsided and the tears settled back to where they came from.

She smoothed her hand over the inside front cover, wishing that instead of the stupid book, she could touch her mom, just one more time.

She felt something strange under the page, though, and wondered how she’d never noticed it before. A bump formed beneath the paper, like something was sealed inside.

She glanced both ways, even though she was alone, and peeled at the loose corner. It gave way a little, pulling up without tearing, sealed with an adjustable adhesive. Sure enough, underneath the false page appeared an envelope.

An envelope marked with the words
top secret.

If she knew her mother—and she liked to think she did—top secret meant one of two things. One, she’d become a spy for an unknown secret organization, ridding the world of overweight evildoers by forcing them into slow death by candy, or two, she’d continued to create new recipes during her illness.

The envelope happened to be pretty close in size to the entries in the Spell Book of Sweets.

Dulcie tore into it and sped through the recipes, five in all.

They were magnificent. It was as if they were sent from the heavens in her mother’s beautiful—though a little scrawlier than usual—handwriting.

She let out a long, deep breath, stress blowing across the room and out the window.

She was going to be saved.

“Ladies, I give you the Salted Caramel Apple Enchantment,” Dulcie said, smoothing the page over the worktable.

As Ava and Constance leaned in reading, both let out a tiny gasp.

“Where did you get this?” Constance asked, though Dulcie was sure she knew immediately who’d designed the recipe.

“I was in Mom’s room looking at a book of old pictures she had of some of our candies and I found this tucked inside.”

Constance’s eyes grew sad and she turned away, back to the recipe. “This is amazing,” she said in a whisper, the room going still with reverence. “There’s no way you can lose.”

Both Constance and Ava, so well versed in all things candy, recognized a masterpiece when they saw one.

“This may be her finest work yet,” Dulcie said.

Constance nodded. “Thank goodness you found it. What if it had been lost forever?”

A smile crept across Dulcie’s face. “And that’s not all,” she said, pulling the four other sheets out of her bag. “There are others.”

They both inhaled, looking like they were dying to grab the papers right out of her hand.

Dulcie set the first one down.

Peanut Butter Crunch Truffle.

The girls dove in to examine it. Dulcie had already studied the recipe for ages; a rich peanut butter ganache, dipped in milk chocolate then drizzled with a peanut butter glaze, topped with fresh ground peanuts and chocolate shavings.

Positively luscious.

“This is exactly something your mother would come up with,” Constance said, just a hint of sadness shadowing her eyes.

Ava nodded.

Then right away, they looked back at Dulcie for more.

She rolled her eyes and set the next recipe down.

Cranberry Pomegranate Zinger.

Saltwater taffy had always been one of her mom’s favorites, and they carried at least a half dozen gourmet flavors on any given day. This one would be a huge hit with the taffy regulars.

“My mouth is watering over how tangy this will be, but oh my God, so good,” Ava said. “This is going to be perfect for those long nights studying for finals.”

Dulcie couldn’t help but grin. Ava must be Miss Popular with her study buddies, considering the volume of candy she usually left the store with at the end of her shift.

Dulcie set the next recipe down.

Decadent Cookie Dough Fudge.

The name said it all; a milk chocolate fudge, generously dotted with chunks of homemade chocolate chip cookie dough, and with the amount of dough the recipe called for, the fudge was merely something to hold all those chunks together. It would be beautiful cut up into serving sizes, the chocolate marbling through the cookie dough.

“I would have died for this one when I was pregnant,” Constance said. “And she even thought of that.” She ran her finger down the list of ingredients. “See, no eggs.” She glanced up. “Pregnant women can’t usually eat cookie dough, at least the homemade kind, because of the raw eggs in it.”

“Maybe Mom craved the same things you did when she was having me.”

Constance nodded. She quickly turned away, though not fast enough to hide the tears glazing her eyes.

Dulcie cleared her throat, which had suddenly grown a lump. “And this is the final one,” she said, setting down the precious last piece she had of her mother.

Toasted Coconut Brittle.

“Oh my gosh, it’s so simple,” Ava said.

“And so perfect,” Constance added.

Dulcie nodded. It was like her mother thought of her when she came up with it. Coconut had always been one of Dulcie’s favorite flavors. The recipe had the base of any other brittle: sugar, syrup, butter, but this time she added a subtle infusion of coconut essence, and a generous dose of shredded coconut, toasted to perfection.

“The customers are going to go nuts,” Constance said. “It can’t be said enough. Your mother was a genius.” She fanned the five new recipes out for closer inspection.

“I can’t wait to get working on them,” Ava said.

Dulcie plucked the Salted Caramel Apple Enchantment back off the table, clutching it to her chest. “We can make the others, but this is the one for the competition. No one can see it until we start testing. You can’t say a word to anyone.”

Ava made a zipper motion over her lips, and Constance nodded reverently. “Of course we won’t say anything. The competition isn’t going to know what hit them.”

That was just what Dulcie had been thinking, too.

Dulcie was up before the sixties candy song blared on her phone—she was that excited to get to work on her mom’s new recipes. She’d wanted to get started the night before, but the new candy wouldn’t be as good sitting for too long before the customers arrived, and the recipes deserved every chance at perfection.

After the blissful early morning of creating, she sped out to her first class, posting the
New Flavors
sign. By noon, Constance texted her 9-1-1. She had to get back to the shop to help, because all the new stuff was already sold.

They had never had a day like that before.

Dulcie skipped her afternoon classes and sprinted back to the shop, spending the rest of the day in candy making bliss. If only she could create all day instead of slogging through classes…but, everyone feels like that, right?

Besides, she’d promised her mom she’d finish her schooling.

The stream of customers stayed constant and poor Constance was about to explode, she’d run around so much. Her face was beaded with sweat, which got even more pronounced when she noticed the mid-afternoon line beginning to stretch right out the door. They sold out of each of the four new recipes several times, not to mention a ton of other stuff.

Dulcie was relieved when Ava showed up for her shift, which meant sending Constance home. She had actually been starting to worry about the older woman’s health.

When things finally slowed, well into the evening, Dulcie shut down the kitchen and came to sit with Ava.

“If we sell out again, they’ll just have to wait for tomorrow.”

Ava gave her a sympathetic smile. “You look exhausted.”

Dulcie nodded, flopping into a seat beside her. “Yeah, but what a great day. I wish I could do this all the time.”

“So why don’t you?”

She sighed. “Because every day isn’t like this. I need a fallback.”

She left out the part where the shop existed on a month to month basis. She didn’t want Ava to worry about where her next paycheck would come from or anything.

“I guess,” Ava said. “It’s just that…” She paused.

Dulcie tilted her head, dying to know what she was about to say. “Just that what?”

“I guess I can’t imagine you being this happy doing anything else, that’s all,” she said with a shrug.

Dulcie played with a coffee stir-stick, drawing imaginary lines on the counter. “Yeah, I can’t, either. Whenever I’m sitting in my business classes, all I can think about is how the stuff they’re talking about can be put to use for Candy Land.”

She nodded. “Well, that’s one good thing about them, I guess.”

Dulcie raised her eyebrows. “If they ever taught anything relevant, sure,” she said.

“Uh, yeah, that would help,” Ava agreed.

“I wish they were up to date with their marketing curriculum. All they can ever talk about in class is TV and radio advertising. I mean, those things are good and all, I suppose, but what about the Internet?”

“Oh,” Ava said, her face lighting up. “You should talk to Jess. She’s totally into all that stuff.”

“Jess? As in Jess Jess?”

Ava giggled. “It may seem a little counterintuitive to go to a homeless person for business advice, but I swear she knows everything about Internet marketing. I mean, how do you think word got out so fast about the new flavors today?”

Dulcie leaned back on the stool. “Jess had something to do with it? How?”

“Girl used to have connections. I can’t understand how her last job let a talent like her go. Stupid recession.”

“Really? I had no idea. You must chat with her a lot, huh?”

Ava shrugged. “She comes in here sometimes for a coffee during my shift to warm up.” A strange expression crossed Ava’s face, her eyes going wide. “Usually we’re the only ones in here, though. She’s not disturbing any customers or anything. I don’t think anyone even realizes she’s homeless.”