"Christ, would you just pick something already?" the man with unruly brown hair complained to his, from my understanding, fiancé.

"Shh, finding the perfect dessert takes time you know," the green-eyed beauty wave him off. "It's like hunting for the right book."

"You finally convince me to come to Florida and we end up in a bakery. Why am I not surprised?"

She quickly snapped up from her search to glare at him. "What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing, Allison. Just grab the blueberry muffin. You know that's what you'll get anyway."

She pursed her lip. "Actually I was eyeing the cocoa cappuccino cookies."

"They are fantastic," I stepped in flashing a smile. "And fresh! Gag--er, the baker just took them out not too long ago."

Allison's eyes widened. "Stop."

"Would you like a sample?"

"You have samples?!"

"Okay, that's it," the man stepped in front of her pulling out his wallet. "Can we have some of those cookies and a blueberry muffin and," he leaned back to look at the display case nearby, "a peanut butter chocolate fudge brownie bar."

"Sure," I rang them up. "How many cookies would you like?"

"All of them!"

"Just four would be nice," the man corrected. "Oh, and two coffees. One with extra creamer and sugar, the other with just a little."

After ringing up the little couple's order and Ellie grabbing their coffees, the pair thanked me before taking their things. I wished them a good day and watched them head towards the front door hand in hand.

"Are we going to the beach now?" the woman asked.

"Do you see this?" he held up the pink box of desserts. "We are not what you call beach ready anymore."

"Oh, come on Jasper," she whined as she walked through the door he held open for her. "We could eat the desserts on the beach."

"I'd much rather do something else on the beach," he mumbled.

"What was that?"

"Nothing."

And then they were gone.

I shook my head at the cute couple feeling happy for them, yet at the same time a little pang of jealousy. An emotion I haven't felt since Kellie got the pair of boots I always wanted last Christmas. It was an awful feeling I wish I didn't have, but it was there. When I watched the couple picking out their desserts I couldn't stop myself from wanting something like that for myself. Even if there was a little playful bickering, I wouldn't mind. Besides, the way he looks at her when her head is turned is priceless. Just once I would like to be looked at that way.

When was the last time I was in a relationship like that? Five years? Maybe more? Although I'm not sure he ever looked at me that way. I guess that's why I was okay with going our separate ways. Ever since then I have been fine with being alone, until today for some reason. Weird. Maybe it's because I finished Buffy the Vampire Slayer the other night. Regardless, this wasn't the time to be pining.

I turned to Ellie who was putting up the "Citizenship Day" decorations while humming happily. She spent hours trying to make them cute and patriotic. It's a shame they will probably come right back down tomorrow.

"Kellie should be off break here in a few so I'm going to the back to check on emails. You okay up here?" I asked.

She waved me off. "Nothing I can't handle. Do you care if I study while it's slow?"

"You know I don't."

"Thanks," she smiled hanging the constitution from the ceiling.

When I went to the back I greeted Lamar and Gage who were busy working and talking amicably about a boxing match they watched the other day. I smiled at the pair loving how far they've come in just a short amount of time.

After Gage apologized for his blow up last month, things started to shift in the bakery and the tension dropped. Lamar started to accept him and when they found a common ground, their love for sports, it was almost impossible to keep them apart after that. It has gotten so bad that Lamar actually agreed to play some of Gage's favorite music while we worked instead of our usual soul music. I tried to stay positive during the reign of ACDC, but it only lasted a week until the radio somehow broke. Total freak accident.

Nonetheless, I was glad everyone was getting along for the most part. We had our clashes some days like when someone would forget to clean up something or the twins' bickering lasted longer than usual, but other than that, it was pretty great.

Even Gage and I have gotten better as well. Especially after last night when he came over, I felt like we were getting closer. I never thought that he would open up to me like he did, but I was really enjoying it. I wasn't lying when I said I thought he was interesting. I've always felt that way, which made me want to get to know him better. I feel like after sharing our lists, the possibility is definitely there if growing even closer. I wouldn't mind.

When I made it to my office I saw Kellie in my seat taking a small nap on top of her chemistry book. This didn't surprise me in the slightest. The twins worked harder than anybody I know juggling school and work. Although I didn't want to, I had to wake her up. When she slowly came to life I asked her to go help her sister up front before taking over the computer.

After placing a small order of pumpkin spice, because that time of the year was coming up soon, I checked my emails. I scrolled through all the junk trying to look over the important stuff. I was starting to go on a deleting spree when an email near the bottom caught my eye. It had a little orange dot next to the subject line. Puzzled, I clicked on it.

At first I skimmed over the message until I realized that it was actually important. I read it once, twice, three times and each time my heart was getting faster and faster.

"Oh my God," I placed my hand over my mouth reading it for the fourth time. "Holy . . . Oh my God. Oh my God!"

Quickly I pressed the print button. It came out so slow I refrained from just yanking it out of the printer myself. When it was finally in my hand I looked it over once more.

"Holy fudge muffins! Oh my . . . oh shit!" I quickly covered my mouth as soon as the word came out but was too excited to worry about it. I had to tell the others.

"Guys!" I yelled throwing the door open and running out the office. "Guys! Come here! You've got to read this!"

Lamar and Gage stopped their conversation to look at me a little worriedly.

"What is it?" Lamar asked.

I waved the paper around like a flag. "You will never believe this! Oh my gosh this is just so amazing! I was checking my emails, well after I order the pumpkin spice because we know how fall season goes, and then there was this email at the bottom. I was about to delete it because I get so much spam anyway but it had this little dot and I thought the dot was important so I opened the email and I read it a little and then I read it some more and then I read it like five times and I got so excited so I printed it out and--"

"Katy," Gage placed his hands on my shoulder. "Focus."

"Right, right. Sorry," I shook my head. "I ramble when I'm excited."

"And when you're sad, and nervous, and happy, and mad, and--"

"Anyway," I ignored him, "maybe it's better if I just read this to you all. I'll go grab the girls," I ran off to quickly grab them crossing my fingers that no customers were out there. Thankfully my prayers were answered and I dragged them to the backroom.

"What's going on?" Ellie asked.

"Katy is excited about something so she's being . . . Katy," Gage smirked.

Kellie snorted. "Say no more."

I glared at both of them. "Now that we are all here, listen to this," I cleared my throat before I began. "Dear Ms. Thomas from Katy Cakes--"

"Is there another Ms. Thomas from Katy Cakes?" Kellie snickered.

Ellie shushed her.

"Good afternoon. My name is James Henderson, the special events manager at the West Doral Golf Club. As you may have heard, we will be celebrating our thirtieth anniversary on September 30th, two weeks from today. We are planning on hosting an event for our members as well as staff to commemorate the years. It will include music, games, food, and more. When searching for a place to make the desserts, we were referred to your bakery by the mayor. He has given you nothing but praise after pulling off his birthday cake last year."

Lamar shook his head at that. "What a nightmare that was."

"With your permission, we would like to ask if you wouldn't mind catering to our event as well. We are looking to have a sheet cake with our logo on it as well as 400 cupcakes for the event. It would bring us nothing but joy to have your delicious cakes at our event. If this sounds like something you are interested, please let me know. Also, if there is a certain form that I am to fill out please let me know, blah blah blah, here is my contact info."

As soon as I was finished reading I lowered the paper to look at all their stunned faces.

"Guys! This is awesome!" I beamed.

"Four . . . hundred . . . cupcakes," Kellie groaned.

"And a sheet cake," Ellie added.

"Yes, that's a lot but it's nothing we can't handle! Remember the mayor's party?"

"Shhh. Nobody wants to remember that," Lamar waved me off.

"It wasn't the greatest but we pulled through. And we will pull through now, right?!" My smile dropped when nobody replied. "Is nobody seriously excited about this?"

"You are," Gage noted.

"Anybody else?"

Silence.

"You guys suck," I placed the sheet down.

"Look, Shortcake, just because we aren't excited doesn't mean we won't do it," Gage piped up. "I mean, you're right about one thing, this is actually a really good thing. We can get a lot of PR from this."

"And a lot of extra pay," Kellie added rubbing her hands together.

"Missing the point here," I grumbled.

"Gage is right, this is a good thing. It might mean there will be extra work but that's nothing new to us. Right girls?" Lamar eyed the twins.

Kellie perked up. "Why are you looking at me like that? We are just front room workers."

"Not when the event comes up you won't be," I crossed my arms.

"What?" Ellie's eyes widened.

"We are going to need all hands on deck," I pointed to the printout. "If we are going to do this, we are going to do this right. And when the day comes when we have to make all of this, we will need everyone so it will go by quicker. Understood?"

"Yes ma'am," the twins mumbled.

"Good," I grabbed the paper. "I'm going to go confirm this real quick and order some supplies. We have a big day ahead of us. Who's with me?!"

"Katy . . . we are making cupcakes. Not going to war," Gage looked at me evenly.

"Right . . . so no hoorah? No nothing? Not even a high five?"

"I'll give you a high five!" Ellie perked up.

"That's the spirit!" I reached across the table to give her a high five.

"Suck up," Kellie muttered.

"Now let's get to baking people! Woo!"

When I turned to leave I heard Gage say, "She knows this is weeks away, right?"

And Lamar replied, "I find it's best to just let her figure it out on her own."

+++

At the end of my shift, I said my goodbyes to everyone and grabbed a few lemon bars on my way out. When I headed towards my bike I stopped at the site of Gage out back. Normally this wouldn't surprise me, but the fact that he was holding out a helmet to me did.

"You ready?" he asked.

I looked between the helmet and him. "For what?"

"I take you home on Fridays. Remember? You held up your end of the deal, and now I'll do mine."

I couldn't say that I was completely surprised by this. After last night, I figured he would feel obliged to take me home now. I didn't want him to do this because he felt like he had to, so there was one reason to deny him. But there was also another even bigger reason why I couldn't join.

"You don't have to tonight, Gage. I have to drop these off to a friend anyway," I gestured to the pink box. "So you're off the hook tonight."

"I can just take you there," he offered.

I raised an eyebrow at him. "Are you sure? Don't you have to be somewhere tonight? It's Friday."

"Yeah but not until later on. As long as you are just dropping those off we should be good," he shrugged.

"Okay . . . but last chance. If you don't want to go I'm giving you a free out."

"I don't take free outs. Especially since I'm the one who really lost the bet. Even if it was a cheap shot."

"When you're five-foot-nothing, that wasn't a cheap shot. That was an actual shot."

He rolled his eyes at me. "Just get on the bike, Shortcake."

"Fine," I took the helmet.

After Gage placed my lemon bars in his small storage box in the back, he climbed on and started the engine. I slipped behind him, careful not the burn my leg on the exhaust, and put on my helmet. When everything was adjusted I slipped my arms around his torso, this time not caressing it, and we were off.

It's amazing how much easier it was to get on the motorcycle now. At first I was scared out of my wits, but now I don't mind it at all. In fact, I looked forward to it. I still got a little nervous when we went around curves, but other than that there was no better feeling.

I yelled directions in his ears as we went, even daring to go the long way, and before I knew it we were pulling up to Mr. Phillips' place.

As soon as Gage killed the engine I took off my helmet before climbing off the bike.

"Where are we?" he asked taking off his own helmet to look around.

"My friend's place."

"Oh." He didn't push any further.

I already knew what he was thinking because I had the same thoughts about this place when I first saw it. It looked far from livable. Sometimes I still have those same thoughts, but I know for Mr. Phillips this was home.

"Mr. Phillips," I called out as I opened the storage box. "It's Katy Thomas again. Are you still awake?"

I could hear a slight rustle but other than that it was silent. I grabbed the box and took a few steps forward.

"Mr. Phillips? I brought your lemon bars. Oh, and this magazine I found. It's all about the elections so I figured you might want to read it."

"Is it this month's edition?" I heard him finally call out.

Smiling, I looked down at the front cover. "August 2016. A little off, but it is still bashing your favorite politician."

"Perfect," he finally came out of his cardboard place. "July's edition was too sweet. Not enough drama."

When he was in full view my smile dropped slightly. His gray hair had gotten longer and I could see from here that his burns had gotten worse. I have tried many times to give him protection from the harmful rays, his place could only do so much, but still, he doesn't use it. Maybe if I hid sunscreen in a box of lemon squares next time he would actually take it.

"I brought these too," I handed him the box. "Extra lemony today."

I watched as he took out a lemon bar to examine it before he took a bite. His eyes went wide as soon as he did. "Oh, wow! These are the best ones yet! Did you change the ingredient?"

"I didn't. But Gage did," I looked at him still standing by the bike looking at the two of us. I had nearly forgotten about him, oops. "You can come join us you know!" I called out.

He visibly stiffened, as if he was surprised that he got caught watching us, but still walked over. "I didn't want to interrupt," he replied sheepishly.

"Nonsense!" Mr. Phillips waved him off. "Anybody that can make lemon bars as good as these are always welcome to our group. Although," he narrowed his eyes at him, "I have to ask, what is your opinion on equal pay?"

Gage looked a little taken aback at his question and his eyes went to mine questionably. When I gave him a slight shrug as if to say this was completely normal, he turned back to Mr. Phillips and replied evenly, "I am for it."

"That's my boy!" Mr. Phillips clapped him on the back. "You have been brought up properly."

"I definitely was."

I smiled at the pair happily while reaching to grab my own lemon bar.

"Good, good. Policies these days make no sense but people like us do. You are always welcomed here, er . . . Gage, was it?"

"Yes, sir. Gage Rivers," he held out his hand.

"Such manners!" he shook his hand then looked at me. "You sure did pick a good one, Ms. Thomas."

I nearly choked on my lemon bar.

"Oh! Oh no, we aren't like that," I quickly corrected. "Gage is just my--"

"Thank you, Mr. Phillips. I really appreciate your compliment," Gage jumped in with a wide smile. "Although I'm not the true catch in the relationship."

I gawked at Gage who seemed completely unfazed. What was he doing?

"Well, if we are being honest here you're right," Mr. Phillips took a bite of his bar. "Ms. Thomas is as fine as they come."

At that, I couldn't hide my blush. I was never good with compliments, even as a child.

"Yeah she's pretty great," Gage agreed, looking me over with a grin. My blush increased tenfold.

"So how did you two lovebirds met?" Mr. Phillips sat in one of his fold-out chairs and gestured us to join him.

I was about to correct him again when Gage jumped in. "We are neighbors."

"Oh, how nice! Must make for some interesting stories," he waggled his eyebrows.

If my face gets any hotter I think I might explode. This just keeps getting weirder.

"Definitely," Gage reached for a bar. "Like the time she came banging on my door at midnight wearing a robe and bunny slippers demanding for eggs."

"I wasn't demanding. I asked nicely."

"Maybe the first time. But after you kept asking more and more your requests turned into demands," he took a bite of the bar.

"Not true!"

Gage frowned. "It's like you don't remember that special night at all."

Special my butt.

"What happened after that?" Mr. Phillips urged on.

Right when I said, "Nothing," Gage replied, "After that she asked me to work for her. You should have seen how she looked, all big-eyed and pouty. I couldn't say no."

"I was not pouty--"

"And then I just couldn't keep her away from me so I decided why not? And now here we are," he turned to me with a flashy smile that I've seen on used car salesmen before. "Isn't that right, cupcake?"

I added extra acid to my glare that I threw at him while Mr. Phillips cackled happily.

"How nice! I love hearing a good love story. Ms. Thomas never tells me about her love life anymore. At least not since that last guy." I stiffened not liking where this was going. "What was his name? Something like Calvin? Carter? Cale--"

"Gage, it's getting kind of late. Are you still good to stay?" I tried to avoid the upcoming conversation.

"As long as it's before seven I'm fine."

I looked down at my watch. Only five minutes past four.