Candy came around Darren without even a glance at him and sat down the broccoli stew in front of Matt. It smelled weird, that spicy barbecue broccoli concoction. Candy then sat down his water in front of him. “Five, twenty nine, as agreed.”
“Honey, you don’t need to do that.” Darren muttered closer to her ear. “Say five dollars and twenty nine cents. You’ll get to say that every day soon since us Manners own it.”
Cotton couldn’t help himself. “Showoff Spice man.”
“Vegan.”
“Boys.” Candy chided between the two of them.
“Fine, I’ll be good.” Darren repicked up the water and sat it in front of Cotton closer. “Here.”
Cotton held his hands up. “I would never touch anything you’ve touched.”
“Oh, ouch.” Darren knocked the water over. “Oops.”
Cotton stared at the water on his shirt while Candy mopped up the mess on the table with a rag.
“Sorry, that’s gratis. I’ll get you another,” she said. Turning she looked toward Darren. “Stop screwing with the customers, what do you want already?”
“I have some news.” Darren crossed his arms. “Posh is coming over and, well, we need to discuss some things before she does.”
“Posh? Posh Yum Num?” Cotton could hear the growl beneath Candy’s words. “Why?”
* * *
“If it isn’t little Candy,” a voice called over before Candy could leave. A woman decked out in glitter sequins and showing off far too much skin strolled over to her like she owned the world. From that look and the way Candy looked at her, Cotton knew it was Candy’s competition. Posh Yum Num.
“Posh.” Candy held her ground against the other woman. “What are you doing here?”
“Letting you know that your family is about to fall.” The woman breathed on her hand and showed Candy a pink sparkling cupcake ring. “I found the perfect Spice man. Sweet Meats is about to go down.”
“Yum Num Cakes can’t take down Sweet Meats.” Candy shooed her away, missing the look on Darren. Cotton caught it though, and he knew things were about to get serious. “I’m working, I’ll deal with you later.”
“Your sister wants a husband that has no magic line at all.”
“So.”
“So it’s up to you, and last I looked, you’re screwed.”
Candy took a deep breath. “I already know who I’m marrying, okay?” She gestured toward Darren who politely coughed in his hand.
“Apparently you don’t.” Posh laughed in her face as she shook her ring. “Marriage second, winner first.”
Candy dropped her notepad. Her face was frozen with her eyes wide and her jaw completely dropped. “Darren?” She turned to look at Darren who had his hand on the back of his forehead.
“And the penny drops.” Posh danced around her a second. “Good luck looking for anyone else, he is the top man. He may have chose you, but it took one night, and he was mine. Like I said, pack it up. Soon it’s all over, Yum Num Cakes will be number one.”
Cotton looked down at his table. Oh damn. That was going to hurt Candy.
“It’s not too late.” Candy sneered, her nose even getting wrinkly. “I’ll find someone else, I’m only twenty five. I’ve got a long time to find the right man.”
“You don’t have to give up,” Darren said to Candy. “Just give me some motive to change my mind like she did.” Candy didn’t bother responding back.
“You wish, Candy Sweet,” Posh prodded. “You think we don’t know? Your dad is going to be dead soon.” Posh snapped her finger at her. “The doctors predicted date, Yum Num is having a fifty percent off sale in celebration of it.”
Cotton watched as others posing as customers grabbed Candy and held her back. Cotton jumped up along with Matt second. Things were getting out of hand.
“Stop right there.” Cotton stood firmly in front of Posh with Matt at his side. “You don’t go that far in a restaurant. Powers or not, you start something here, and witnesses will drive your business to the ground.”
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Posh looked like she was ready to start a fight with him, but one of her followers whispered something to her. Her frown turned into an all out grin. Posh snapped her fingers and they all let go of Candy.
Candy didn’t move, but her eyes didn’t leave Posh. “You okay?” Cotton asked softly. He moved closer to her face. People sometimes were so mean.What he wouldn’t give to be her Big Bunny right now so he―
Cotton felt himself getting shoved forward, his lips touching Candy’s haphazardly.
Posh laughed as her crew began to leave Candy. “Guess what Candy? You just got kissed by a Vegan!”
* * *
Cotton had to admit, he didn’t plan on Candy dragging him around to the back. He tried to keep it together as they moved through the meat section. Piles of raw food in different sizes, piled up, bleeding and ew! How could people eat like that? He didn’t say a word until he was yanked roughly in front of the main owner of Sweet Meats.
Her face was on TV. Everyone knew it. It was Momma Sweet.
“What’s a customer doing back here?” Momma Sweet asked Candy.
Candy couldn’t speak. She just pointed, harder and harder, drawing her hand back and forth. When she did finally speak all she shouted was “Vegan!”
Wow, what a crime.
“We have vegetables, I don’t understand your point.” Momma Sweet shook Cotton’s hand. “I am terribly sorry, I don’t know what’s come over my daughter. Your meal is gratis.”
Cotton nodded and looked toward Candy. She needed to get it under control, it was just a kiss. Not even a good one, it was off balance and he barely met her lips. He had better rabbit smooches with her than that one.
“No, not his choice in taste.” Candy’s eyes dwelled on her mother. “Not vegan, Vegan. His family line.”
“Oh, Vegan magic, I understand.” Sweet Momma looked toward Cotton. “I never hear about that much.”
“Yeah, that is because all it does is make the women unable to taste sweet.” Heh, sort of. A good enough explanation for her. For the life of him though, Cotton didn’t see the problem.
“Posh pushed him into me.” Candy gestured to Cotton again. “Posh knows Marlen is going downhill. She stole Darren Manner too, she’s wearing his ring.”
Momma Sweet’s mouth dropped. “Why that no good wench! Those Yum Num’s, they can just go to hell.” She grabbed Candy’s hand. “Don’t worry, whatever happened, Darren likes you more. You’re kinder and prettier, a regular princess. It doesn’t matter, we can work this out.”
“She said all that . . .” Candy gestured to Cotton. “Before pushing me into him, making him kiss me.”
This time the ho hum attitude of Momma Sweet was nowhere to be seen. Her eyes were filled with panic. “A Vegan kissed you?” Her hands reached up to her forehead. “No, no! Your sister’s already marrying someone from a normal line, and you’ve kissed a Vegan. Your dad is almost gone, what are we going to do?”
Missing something, Cotton knew he was missing something.
“A kiss from a Vegan? As pure as we’ve kept ourselves?” Her mother covered her eyes. “Cotton. Please, let me discuss some things with my daughter. Go sit down and Candy will meet you later.”
* * *
“You know what is next, Candy,” her mother warned her as she unwrapped a piece of chocolate and popped it in her mouth. Candy spit it out fast. It tasted disgusting. “It’s already begun. You know what must be done.”
“I can’t,” Candy said as she grabbed her head, “it’s crazy. I do not even know Cotton.”
“He is a Vegan. He stole your Sweet power, and soon you will have no Sweet power. The only way to save your Sweet power is to dominate the Vegan power. To dominate, you must be with Darren for his Spice power.”
“I will have nothing left to hold over Posh to make him marry me.”
“Which is why you need to be with the Vegan. Be with him completely, an
d share the power. You will get your Sweet magic back.”
“But the business―”
“Be with him, but marry Darren.” Momma Sweet shrugged. “He likes to fool around. It should make him pine for you even more, knowing a Vegan had you.”
“Momma . . .” Candy fidgeted with her fingers. “Is there no other option?”
“You cannot live in limbo. Pure Sweet and pure Vegan do not mix haphazardly. You know that you will lose more than just your Sweet power.”
“I will lose my life.” It was a question that Momma did not need to answer. With Vegan, it was all the way. It was why there were barely matches between Vegans and Sweets. Too risky.
Knowing Darren, she knew her mother had been right. Those were her only options. Standing up, she went to go clean on the veggie side before she confronted Cotton.
* * *
“It’s okay.” Momma Sweet turned to her daughter Poured as they continued to fix chairs into the night. “The whole plan has moved smoothly so far.”
“I know. I didn’t bother telling Darren everything, so it’s risky. He sure didn’t mind the Posh part,” her daughter Poured Sweet said, pushing in the last chair. “Candy is going to hate this, mom.”
“Candy will have to understand. If the business collapses, she has no one else. If the world ends though?” Momma touched Poured’s hand. “She will understand, have faith in that. We must do this.”
“I know. It’s the best thing. For the business, for the world, and for everyone.” Poured grabbed the broom and swept up the ground. “I feel bad for the guy though. This is sick what we have to do. Plus, Darren. He’s kind of scummy, but this isn’t going to be nice to him either.”
“He had Posh, it makes it fair. If he wants Sweet Meats, he’ll stick with the plan.” It wasn’t nice but there wasn’t a choice. Posh ending up with Darren was Momma Sweet’s plan. Posh pushing Candy into Cotton was also her idea. Eventually, Darren would come back and take Candy’s hand in marriage.
But before then, she needed to be with Cotton Tail.
Their prophecy of the end of the world was just as mysterious as anything else. Momma Sweet never thought about it when she named her second born Candy. There had been many Candy’s in the family line. She never thought about it until at the age of five, Candy woke up one night screaming for her.
//“Momma!”
Momma Sweet moved to her daughter’s room. It was two o’ clock in the morning and her little Candy was crying for her. When she came to her room, Candy’s hands were rubbing her eyes. Momma Sweet sat down next to her on the bed. “What is it, Candy? Did you have a bad dream again?” She expected to hear her daughter talk about a monster under the bed, or maybe something in the closet. Instead, she heard something that she would never forget.
“I dreamed of the apocalypse. There were these people that weren’t people, mommy. Their skin was flaky and their eyes were light blue. They wanted me. I ran but then a dragon flew over my head and these miniature bodies were falling on me like rain. I called for you over and over, but the ground and everything faded away and I was trapped in blackness!” She grabbed onto her mommy’s shoulder.
Apocalypse? She was five, how could she know that word? Those visions. Momma Sweet held onto her tightly. “Candy, where did you hear that word from?”
“A boy. He tried to say something, but I ran away from him. I don’t like boys, they have cooties, and Michael has the most cooties. Michael always chased me on the playground, and he was chasing me in my dream. He chased me and I told him to stop it and he didn’t. So I ran. And he chased. And then all that stuff happened.”
Momma Sweet swallowed but held her daughter tight. That was no ordinary dream. For as long as time had been, the world had a prophecy that one day healthy and sweet would meet. The terms were very prophetic, not easy to understand. In fact, it was an entire book which hardly had any complete sentences. Yet, it was the oldest book on the planet, and no one knew how it ever existed or who wrote it. The most their ancestors could make of it was that one day someone from a pure Sweet line named Candy would have a child with someone purely Vegan named Cotton Tail. As her daughter began to cry, all the strange lines came crashing back to her.
Candy was supposed to end up with a Vegan to save the world. However, she was Momma Sweet’s only daughter. They held a magic business called Sweet Meats, and if Candy married herself to a Vegan? She would never get the Spice power she needed.
Momma Sweet would need to have one more daughter, and pray that she found someone who held the magic of Spice. Spice and Sweet created the sweet and savory barbecue business that had been running their family line for over two hundred years.
There was no way to sell a magic business. If it went kaput, it was the end. “It’s okay, Candy, it was just a dream. Go back to bed, sweetie.” She tucked her daughter back in, calmed her down some more until she was ready to go to sleep, and left the room.
She would have to tell Marlen they had to have one more child for the business.
For without the business, they would lose everything. The houses, the cars, and the traditional fame of the Sweet family. He would have to agree. Otherwise, Momma Sweet didn’t want to imagine the choice she’d have to make against her little Candy.//
* * *
Candy wiped the back tables on the veggie side. Matt had left, and only Cotton was in the restaurant. Her mom and sister were back on the restaurant’s meat side, straightening it up she presumed. It was night and the doors should have been locked, but Cotton and her still needed to have a big talk. A real big talk. She wiped down the table for the last time. They were starting to shine having been cleaned over and over just to ignore the talk, but she couldn’t stop the inevitable. Knowing that she’d have Big Bunny’s comfort when she went home, she headed over toward Cotton’s booth. She sat down on the other side and tapped her fingers on the table. “What do you want to do?”
Cotton lifted his eyes toward her. She hadn’t noticed before, but he had a beautiful set of emerald eyes like her rabbit. Hopefully that was a good sign. He unfolded his arms and relaxed his body. “What is the big problem?”
He was joking, right? No one grew up without knowing this basic information. Candy tapped the table again. “Twenty to thirty days I need to have this resolved.”
“Twenty to thirty days. Okay.” Cotton nodded. “Let’s get out of this place, get to know each other, and you can give me the specifics.” Cotton held his hand out to her for a handshake. “Deal?”
“Get to know each other?” That wasn’t the best idea. “I’m getting married eventually to Darren. I mean, well, I should. Somehow. I’ll get past Posh.”
“He treats you like crap and you know it. You are going to be begging and pleading for him to take you back?” Cotton rolled his eyes. “You’re a real piece of work.”
Judgmental. Candy stuck her tongue in her cheek. “He’s not much different than my dad was with my mom. It’s the way things are with Spice men usually.”
“So Spice pushes Sweet around?”
“Nobody pushes me around.” Candy moved further away from him in the booth, preferring the far end. “My dad is dying soon. Our business is about to fold. I have no one to take care of me, and at my mother’s age she’ll be taken away. I have no authority to start another business. My sister will be on thin ice herself. Most of all? I don’t really care for anyone. If I don’t love anyone, and every thing is about to be taken away, what would you do? I need to preserve the business first.”
“You could go out and get a regular job.”
“I’ve never done anything else. I’ve been groomed since birth to take over the business.” Candy wasn’t going to give in to that. “I don’t have any of the certifications children received when they were younger.” She expected him to ask about certifications or equality tests, but he didn’t.
“Okay then, let’s go out.” Cotton stood up. “Do you need a jacket?”
“Out.” Candy slid out of the booth
. “Fine. The sooner we get this over with, the sooner I can go back after Darren.”
“Well that’s great ‘cause I hate that guy. Postponing him makes me happy.” Cotton headed to the front door. “Besides, you should enjoy this too.”
She should enjoy this? “Why should I enjoy this?”
“A chance to make him jealous?” Cotton looked back at her, straight into her eyes. He kept staring uncomfortably. “There isn’t an ounce of jealousy in your eyes.”
“Business.”
“Have you ever dated anyone except that guy?”
No, of course not. She needed to stay free for Darren. Only Poured dated around when she was younger, and she was exclusively taken now.
“Well, come on, I’m hungry.” Cotton held the front door open. “Your overpriced water on my shirt wasn’t fulfilling.”
“I don’t know.” Candy fidgeted. “I have a pet at home, I should really get back to him.”
“It is just a pet.”
“Big Bunny is not just a pet, he is my pet.” Candy sighed. “Never mind, you would never understand. “
“One drink. You’ll be back to your little guy before you know it.”
“Fine. Where are we going then?”
“You’ll see.”
* * *
Candy sat down on the unfamiliar barstool in front of the metal counter.
“Hey, Kit.” Cotton slapped his hand against the waiters. “Two broccoli stews.” He gestured toward Candy. “She’s never had the real thing.”
“Coming up.” Kit moved away from Candy’s sight. She turned to look at the scenery. The smells were different than anything she’d ever smelled before. Her nose must have been changing too. “Unfamiliar world,” she muttered softly not thinking anyone would hear.
“Exciting new world,” Cotton said from beside her. She lifted her eyes to his. “Give it a try, Candy. You already know what your future is supposed to be, always have. What’s it hurt to try something new?”
For Love of Mister Cotton Tail: An Apocalyptic Fairytale (Single) Page 2
