The Tea Shop on Lavender Lane (Life in Icicle Falls) (16 page)

He nodded approvingly. “Cross-promotion, a smart idea.”

“If I hadn’t thought of it, Sammy would have.”

“Yeah, but you
did
think of it. You’ve got a lot of good ideas.”

“Only in the kitchen.”

He shook his head. “Give yourself some credit. You’ve come up with a clever name for this place, figured out a way to double your business by making it both a shop and a restaurant. You’ve even figured out how to capitalize on the lavender we’ve got out there along the front walk. All creative ideas. You can’t teach that kind of thing. Either a person has it or she doesn’t.”

She smiled at the accent wall, which would soon be lavender to mimic the lavender growing outside. “It’s all coming together nicely,” she said.

“Sure is.” He took another cookie. “These are addictive.”

“They were always a hit when I made them for luncheons or bridal showers.” Now that seemed like the ancient past. She groaned at her own foolishness. “I was going to be the caterer to the stars. Sounds pretty silly, doesn’t it?”

“It sounds like a pain in the butt,” Todd said.

“Actually, it was. People were forever changing their minds about the menu at the last minute or complaining about my prices, even though they were right in line with what other caterers were charging.”

“Well, that’s people for you. The good thing about having your own place is that you’re in charge. People come in, and they pay what you tell them.”

“I like that,” she said. She liked the whole idea of this new business. It was all she thought about. She’d talked over menu ideas with Olivia and spent every spare minute in the kitchen tweaking old standards into slightly new and different versions. She even dreamed about it. Oh, yes. She was ready for this new adventure. Except... “We need to have plenty of insurance in case...something happens.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll have it. But nothing’s going to happen,” he assured her. “It’s going to be great.”

Great. Suddenly shy, she picked at her cookie and confessed, “I always thought I was meant for great things. Does that sound conceited?”

“Nah. Just sounds like you want a lot out of life.”

“Sometimes I think it’s, I don’t know, sort of greedy.”

“There’s nothing greedy about wanting to experience all life has to offer,” Todd said. “Hell, I wanted to own a business empire, be the next Donald Trump.” He pointed to her and said, “You’re fired,” in his best Donald Trump imitation, making her giggle.

“I bet you’ll do it,” she said. “Start a business empire, I mean.”

He nodded and gave a snort. “Yeah.”

“No, I’m serious. I bet you will. I mean, look at you. You already have one successful business and now you’re investing in another.”

He looked out the window, his expression thoughtful. “Yeah, well, my old man’s still sure I’ll fall on my face. But then, no surprise. Nothing I’ve ever done has been good enough for him.”

What a sad thing to hear. Her own father had always been so supportive.
This is the best cookie I’ve ever had, Pumpkin.... I’ll take another helping of your mac and cheese.... Catering? That’s a perfect career choice.

“Your father sounds like a jerk,” Bailey said. “Sorry,” she added. “That wasn’t very nice of me.”

Todd shrugged. “He can be. But then, so can I. Sometimes I think he’s just disappointed with his own life. He almost made the majors. If he hadn’t blown out his knee, he’d probably have been on a baseball trading card. I guess he hoped I’d do what he couldn’t. He’s pissed that I didn’t have what it took. And then he thought my brother would deliver. Poor Dad. Even Devon let him down.”

“We can’t always be what our parents want us to be,” Bailey said. “Sometimes we can’t even be what
we
want to be,” she added, remembering her earlier failure. “But that’s okay, because things have a way of working out.” Now she sounded just like her mother, and the realization made her smile. If she could ever become half as wise, she’d be happy.

“Anyway, everyone here in Icicle Falls thinks you’re great,” she said, determined to keep them both positive.

“Probably not everyone,” he said with a shrug and a cynical smile.

“The ones who count do. Like me. And Cecily,” she added hastily.

She thought she saw something in his eyes. Had her mention of Cecily made him uncomfortable? Didn’t he want people to know they were together? Or maybe she’d just imagined what she saw.

“I should get back to work,” he said. “I want to get this wall done today so I can start sanding the floors on Saturday.”

“I need to get going anyway,” Bailey said. And the sooner, the better. Todd Black was more tempting than anything she could ever dream up in the kitchen.

* * *

Cecily knew Todd was working on the house on Lavender Lane. She decided she’d stop by with lunch. She picked up some chocolate seconds from the Sweet Dreams gift shop, then ducked into Safeway for some deli chicken, potato salad and wine coolers and went to see how the work was coming along.

She was pulling into the street when she saw Bailey and Todd walk out on the front porch. Bailey looked fresh off the rack in a green top that showed off her curves and complemented her chestnut curls. Todd wore a paint-spattered T-shirt and equally spattered jeans. His dark hair was disheveled. Who’d been disheveling it?

Bailey said something, and he laughed. No sarcastic smirk but an actual laugh. What had she said that was so funny? They talked for another minute, and then she left him and went down the front walk wearing a smile.

Cecily frowned.
Oh, no,
she told herself,
Bailey and Todd are not a match.
He was too cynical. She was too naive. He’d tire of her in the blink of an eye. She’d never really understand him. All of that was beside the point anyway. Todd was already taken, and the one who’d taken him wasn’t about to give him up. Even if her little sister had said something to make him laugh.

Cecily waited until Todd had gone back inside and Bailey had driven off down the street, and then she gathered her goodies and got out of her car.

He was busy with his paintbrush when she walked in. “Hi. You just missed your sister,” he greeted her.

The smile on his face erased her earlier insecurity. She held up her grocery bag. “I thought you might want some lunch.”

“Can I have you for dessert?” he teased.

Okay, she’d been imagining things. She caught sight of the plate with a couple of remaining cookies on it and couldn’t help frowning. “It looks like you already had dessert.”

“You know what they say. Life’s uncertain. Eat dessert first. What’s in the bag?”

“Just some stuff I picked up from the deli. Want to go sit on the porch and eat?”

He nodded and followed her out, and they settled on the front step.

It was a companionable enough lunch. He asked her how everything was going at the office. She asked if he and Bailey needed any help pulling the house together.

“Nah. I think we’ve about got it covered. Once I’m done with the floors, we can start moving in the shelves and tables and chairs. We still have to paint the trim, but she can’t decide on the color.”

He sounded like a husband talking about his wife’s decorating ideas and his honey-do list. “You sound so domesticated,” she joked. And her sister was the one domesticating him. It was all she could do to keep her smile in place.

“Don’t worry. I’m still a wild man,” he said and gave her a kiss on the shoulder. Then he grabbed a piece of chicken. “So, you want to bring your sister over to the Cave Saturday night? We’ve got a darts tournament going. You can watch me in action.”

Bring her sister? Hmm. And had she just seen him in action with Bailey? “That’ll be a thrill a minute,” she said, which he took for a yes.

She wasn’t that hungry anymore. She didn’t stay much longer.

“Leaving so soon?” he protested, but it seemed halfhearted.

“I’ve got to get back to the office. I’ve got some things I need to do.”

And one of them involved having a little talk with her sister....

The little talk started out well enough that evening, with Cecily commenting during dinner on the progress Todd was making on the house.

“It’s going to be so cute when we’re done,” Bailey said happily. “When were you by?”

“I went over on my lunch break. I saw you leaving.”

Bailey’s cheeks turned pink. “I took over some of the cookies I want to serve to see what he thought.”

How very innocent. Except pink cheeks didn’t lie. “You’re blushing,” Cecily accused.

“I am?” The pink grew deeper.

“Is that the only reason you took cookies over?”

“Of course! He’s my partner. I want him to know what I’m serving. Why else would I bring him cookies?”

“You tell me.”

Bailey shoved aside her half-finished plate of enchiladas. “You think I’m trying to steal your boyfriend?”

“Aren’t you?” Cecily demanded.

“No!”

Cecily pointed a finger at her sister. “You’ve always done this. Every time you fall for a guy, you start baking for him.”

“But this is different,” Bailey protested. “This is business.”

“Well, see that you keep it business,” Cecily said. She sounded like a bitch. She knew it. But, darn it all, she was tired of losing men, and now that she’d finally given in to the crazy attraction she felt for Todd, she was not going to lose him. And she certainly wasn’t going to lose him to her sneaky little sister.

Bailey glared at her. “That wasn’t very nice. And don’t be bossing me around.”

Shades of childhood.
You’re not the boss of me.

“I’m not bossing you around,” Cecily insisted. “I’m just expecting you to be a good sister. I’m starting something with Todd, and you should respect that.”

“And I’m going into business with him and
you
should respect
that,
” Bailey shot back. “And I ought to be able to bring him a sample of something I want to serve without you having a pissy fit.”

“I am not having a pissy fit,” Cecily said between clenched teeth.

“Yes, you are, and you’re getting pissier by the minute, all because you’re afraid you can’t hang on to your man.”

That came painfully close to the truth. Failure in love was even worse than failure in business, and Cecily had failed twice. Which made her twice as insecure about Todd as she would have been if she hadn’t been hurt so badly.

Before Cecily could bare her wounded soul to her sister, Bailey said something that really made her mad. “And if you can’t hang on to him, it means he wasn’t the right one anyway.”

Cecily had been in the business of matching people up, and her spoiled little sister had the nerve to lecture her on love? “Oh. Really?”

Bailey’s chin lifted a notch. “Yes, really. You don’t have a ring on your finger, and you’ve only just started seeing him.”

“How do you know that?” Cecily demanded. She might have been with Todd for a short time, but they’d been dancing toward being a couple for a
long
time. Now that they were, things were heating up fast.

“He told me.”

“Told you what?”

“That you’d just started seeing each other.”

“When?” Todd was talking to Bailey about their relationship?

“The other day,” Bailey replied vaguely. “I don’t remember.”

They were spending so much time together, it was probably hard to keep all those cozy conversations straight. Why had he told Bailey that, to warn her off or to encourage her? Cecily suddenly felt as if she stood on an icy hill in tennis shoes.

“Anyway, I’m not doing anything wrong, and here you are, accusing me,” Bailey said tearfully.

Okay, she was being unreasonable, and after everything her sister had gone through, she should be ashamed.

But before she could open her mouth to apologize, Bailey said, “I don’t know if I even want to stay here.”

As if Bailey was doing her a favor rather than the other way around. The apology was aborted. “You little ingrate.”

“I’m not an ingrate!” Bailey grabbed her plate and marched to the sink. “I just don’t want to be yelled at for nothing.”

“Nothing! Oh, don’t go there.”

Bailey scraped her unfinished food into the garbage. “Here I am, cooking for you every night.”

“And not having to pay rent,” Cecily pointed out.

Bailey whirled around, the picture of outrage. “You’d charge me rent? I’d never charge you rent!”

“I didn’t say that.”

“You didn’t have to. I know when I’m not wanted,” Bailey said and stomped out of the kitchen.

Let her go, the little brat.
Cecily ignored her half-finished meal, the enchilada sauce turning to acid in her stomach. Why did Bailey have to be such a drama queen?

And why did
she
have to be such a stinker? She’d taken a small thing and blown it out of all proportion. With a sigh Cecily pushed away from the kitchen bar and went to the spare bedroom to make up.

She got to the hallway and heard her sister’s tearful voice. “I didn’t deserve it, Sammy.”

Now Bailey was tattling to Samantha?

“I haven’t done anything wrong. And she shouldn’t be with Todd anyway. Deep down she knows it.”

Bailey, the relationship expert. Cecily ground her teeth.

There was a moment of silence as Bailey listened to whatever Samantha was saying. This was followed by, “No, but if she can’t keep his interest, that’s not my problem.”

The little sneak! She
was
out to get Todd. Cecily strode into the room. “You brat!”

Bailey jumped and let out a squeak and dropped the phone.

“Bailey?” Samantha’s tinny voice said. “What in the name of Godiva is going on?”

Cecily grabbed the phone. “Nothing. Except Bailey’s tired of staying here. Can she come over to your place?”

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Samantha said in disgust.

“That’s fine with me,” Bailey snapped and grabbed back her cell phone. “I’ll be right over,” she said and ended the call. “I sure don’t want to stay where I’m not wanted.”

“Yeah, well, no traitors wanted here,” Cecily informed her and left the ingrate to pack. In the kitchen she shoved dishes into the dishwasher, ripped tin foil from the box and covered the remaining enchiladas. Then she threw the pan in the fridge and slammed the door shut after it.