Those seven women had become a family to me. Lexi and I got close when we were in grad school together, and she helped convince me to start Bite Me! and over one too many bottles of wine we came up with the name. Expanding our little twosome to eight brought a fullness to my life I hadn’t ever known.
I always made sure I had my friends’ favorite cupcakes fresh and ready for our Tuesday night gatherings. It was a struggle to have them pay me but they all insisted. Sometimes I wondered if my business was primarily maintained by my friends.
Almost.
My display cases were half filled by the time lunch rolled around. I brushed my hands on my apron and blew out a breath with a grin. It had been a good morning. Once I got through the lunch rush I would be able to take a break. Some days my lunch involved a few cupcakes. It wasn’t the healthiest option but definitely delicious.
Even though my afternoon would be slow until people were off work, I didn’t like to leave the shop unattended. Since I woke up late that morning I didn’t have lunch ready to go, but eating cupcakes was definitely not a hardship.
As the lunch rush started to die down I couldn’t deny how hungry I was. There was only one blueberry muffin left and it was calling my name.
The bell above the door jingled and a tall, skinny man wearing a Soup’s On sweatshirt walked in. My stomach grumbled immediately, wishing I had a warm bowl of soup for lunch but knowing I couldn’t leave Bite Me! I smiled at the man and asked, “Can I help you?”
“Yeah, I’m looking for Charlotte.”
Confused, I looked him over. Cautiously I replied, “I’m Charlotte.”
No one calls me Charlotte. People who know me call me Charlie, or Charles. I felt my spine stiffen and fear lodged in my throat. The last time I got an unexpected visit by someone who called me Charlotte was when my grandma died.
“This is for you then. Enjoy,” he said as he handed me a large white bag with Soup’s On written on the front.
“Wait, what is this?” I called as he headed to the door.
“Lunch. There’s a note in the bag.”
He grinned at me before stepping out the door and rushing across the parking lot to his car. I watched him like it was all some kind of joke and wondered what in the world was going on.
Then I realized how good it smelled.
I carried the bag back to the kitchen and opened it up. A sheet of paper was inside, like the guy said. When I unfolded it I saw handwriting I didn’t recognize.
Charlotte,
Thank you again for the coffee and muffins this morning. Since you wouldn’t let me pay you, I figured I could at least send you lunch. Without knowing what you liked, I’ve included their four most popular soups, and my favorite. Hopefully you like at least one of them.
It was a pleasure meeting you this morning.
Max
I couldn’t stop the smile that crossed my face. I didn’t have time to get involved with anyone, but he was sweet. And I was hungry.
The bag held French onion, broccoli cheese, chili, baked potato, and minestrone soups. It smelled so good my mouth actually watered. I couldn’t decide which one I wanted to eat so I opened them all and alternated bites between each bowl, snacking on the sourdough mini-loaves of bread, too. Each bite was more delicious than the last.
Somehow I managed to pull myself away when the bell above the door rang. I smiled when I saw Lexi walking through the door, fully dressed in her head-to-toe blue uniform from work. “Hey, Lex, what are you doing here?”
I’d always been a little jealous of Lexi. When we met in our business class we were paired together during a class assignment. During the semester we realized how much we had in common and started getting together outside of class too. Lexi was one of those women that was unassuming. She looked perfectly ordinary, but underneath the overweight shell was a take-no-prisoners woman who’d risen to Building Manager at EAAC Pigments in her early thirties.
Her shoulder length blonde hair and bright blue eyes were deceiving. She looked demure and sweet until she opened her mouth and put you in your place. Lexi was a shit-kicker at work and that confidence attracted her wonderful husband, Mike.
She was also the only person who would have had the confidence to challenge me to go for my dreams.
“I had some supplies to pick up for our event at the end of the week. I’ve got another kaizen in my building and I’m trying to help the Lean manager. I was also hoping I could talk you into opening up early for me to get some coffee and muffins to start the meeting.”
I waved my hand dismissively. “You know I’ll always open for you. If I’ll open for the snowplow guy I’ll open for my best friend.”
As soon as the words were out I knew I would regret admitting it. Lexi had become like a shark since she and Mike got married, constantly wanting to hook me up. I kept telling her I wasn’t interested in a relationship, but she thought it was just something I said because I hadn’t found the right guy.
It was partly true, but I also hated being set up. I was perfectly capable of finding my own dates.
“What snowplow guy?” Lexi asked with a wag of her eyebrows.
I rolled my eyes at her… because she deserved it. “The guy who plows the lot stopped by this morning when he was done. He said he forgot his coffee. He saw the lights on and I took pity on him.”
“Is he cute?”
I shrugged and turned away, busying myself with lining up the perfectly ordered cupcakes and muffins. Heat crept up my neck and I knew Lexi would catch it. She didn’t miss anything.
“Ooh, he is cute. You so like him!”
“No, I don’t. He’s cute. He was nice. That doesn’t mean I like him.”
Lexi took her time appraising me, and I could tell she was trying to figure something out. Knowing Lexi she would end up being right, but I didn’t want to hear it. Whatever was going to come out of her mouth next, I wasn’t ready for it.
“Lex, don’t give it another thought. I’ve got too much going on with moving my whole life. I don’t have time for a man. Next subject. What muffins do you want and how many?”
Lexi pursed her lips and I could tell she wanted to say something else. Thankfully she dropped the subject. “There will be 17 in the group. I was thinking three dozen muffins and however much coffee. Could I pick it up around six?”
I nodded as I wrote everything down. “No problem. Flavors?”
Lexi shrugged. “Whatever you think. I’d say a variety of stuff. You’d know better what people will like. You know I’ll want blueberry.”
“Yep, I’ll send blueberry, banana nut, chocolate chip, and a few bacon and egg. Mostly men?”
Lexi nodded and pointed to a chocolate mousse cupcake. I handed it over. “Yeah, 14 men, three women.”
“That works. I’ll work on that first thing. Are you coming tonight?”
Lexi took a bite of her cupcake and moaned. “So good,” she mumbled. “Yeah, I’ll be here later. I gotta run back to work. Love ya babe.”
“Love ya,” I answered with a wave. Lexi was out the door with half her cupcake already gone. I went back to my lunch and smiled, glad I kept my mouth shut about my special delivery. She would never have let up if I’d let that slip.
~*~
My phone rang late in the afternoon. It was the real estate agent I’d been working with, Elizabeth. I wiped my frosting covered hands on my apron and answered the call before it went to voicemail.
“Hi Elizabeth. How are you?”
“Hello Charlie. I have some news for you, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”
My stomach dropped. She didn’t have to say anything else. “Do you know who got the site?”
“No, I don’t. They wouldn’t tell me anything. The listing agent called me this morning. She said they got our paperwork, but the building owner had already signed a lease with someone else. We barely missed getting in. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, Elizabeth. But I need to find something else.
That place was perfect. Well, almost perfect.”
“I know. I’ve got a few other listings we can look at. None that have an apartment attached, but they could still work for you. Can we get together tomorrow to look at them?”
“Yes, definitely. I have an anniversary party the second weekend in January and I have to have a kitchen to work in to fulfill the order. Besides that, I need a place to live.”
“I know, Charlie. We’ll find something. I’ll see you tomorrow afternoon.”
I thanked Elizabeth and hung up. I had no idea what I was going to do, but I wasn’t going to give up. Something would happen that would make the whole thing work out. It had to.
~*~
Thankfully, the rest of my afternoon was quiet, although filled with cupcakes and frosting. Kendall, the high school student who worked part time for me, showed up around four and handled the customers out front while I baked and frosted everything I could get my hands on.
Just before six I ran upstairs to take a shower and eat more soup for dinner. It was so good I couldn’t resist it again. I was excited for our girls’ night. Over the years our group had grown and changed. With everyone else married, many weeks one or more of the men tagged along. Being Mandy’s last week before she went on maternity leave all the men were staying home.
In clean jeans and a green sweater, I dried my peanut butter cup hair and dotted on lipgloss. I knew Addi would be downstairs already so I rushed to sit with her for a while. Addi was the one I’d gotten to know first. She was sweet and a little dirty, but that likely came from teaching high school kids. It never failed that I was laughing at something Addi said by the time the others arrived.
Addi was in what had become ‘our table’ in the back corner when I pushed out from the kitchen. In front of her sat a plate with a cupcake and a half and a cup that I knew held a mocha. When I originally set the place up I had two and four person tables scattered around the small area out front. The bar at the end of the display case had stools for people who wanted to sit there, many who liked to talk like I was a bartender. Overall I could seat about twenty people inside. When the weather was nice I added a few tables outside for sidewalk seating too.
When Addi, Sam, Mandy, and Claire started coming to Bite Me!, they always sat at the same table. It wasn’t long before they were pulling over extra chairs or pushing tables together. When Lexi and I started joining them on a regular basis we were already up to eight people if Xander and Aidan tagged along. I made sure to push two tables together in the back of the dining area so we could all sit together without creating a problem with other customers.
By the time our group reached 17 we would take up the entire inside seating section, leaving only a couple bar stools. I started to consider moving to a new location with more space before I got my eviction notice. Most of the time customers picked up their cupcakes and left, but occasionally I would catch some eyeing tables and looking disappointed when they couldn’t find an empty one on a Tuesday night.
I dropped into a seat next to Addi and gave her a quick hug. “How was work?”
“Ugh,” Addi groaned. “Is it winter break yet? My classes are driving me nuts this year. I swear some of those kids think I’m only there for their entertainment.”
“Are they mean?” My first thoughts always went back to the horrible kids I went through high school with. I knew Addi was heavy in high school too, but she didn’t seem to have the same angst I had. God knows I’d never willingly go back to high school every day for the rest of my life.
“No, they’re not mean, just pranksters. Someone brought in a snowball today and left it on my chair. When I sat down, it had melted so I looked like I pissed myself all afternoon.”
I struggled not to laugh. “You’re kidding me.”
Addi snorted. “I wish. Little shits thought it was hilarious. My thong froze into my ass crack and I almost wet myself right then and there. I can now sympathize with what Mandy is going to deal with in a few weeks. I’ll have to warn her to stay home so her water doesn’t break in the middle of a store or something.”
I laughed and Addi joined me, both of us imagining Mandy with soaking pants trying to hide what was happening. Mandy was wonderful, but she embarrassed easily. She’d be mortified.
Carrie and Riley showed up next. They took seats on the other side of Addi and jumped into our conversation. Carrie was married to Mandy’s husband’s business partner, Drew. They’d met at the launch party and Mandy had gotten Carrie a job as their assistant. Which Carrie found out about after they’d fooled around in his office, neither knowing who the other one was. Riley was our resident wealth of knowledge. She owned an independent bookstore in town, READ, and seemed to have read just about everything out there. Her other half was Connor, a total hottie who was becoming addicted to fantasy novels like Riley.
Fantasy as in fictional worlds and creatures. Think Tolkien and Lord of the Rings. Not 50 Shades of Grey kind of fantasy. Although I was sure Riley had read those, too.
As we talked the others arrived and joined us. I should have known something was up when Lexi winked at me, but I was slow. It didn’t occur to me anything was off until she taunted, “Charlie met a guy this morning.”
Three
I rolled my eyes and groaned. I should have known better. Lexi and Mike had been together for longer than any of the others since they were friends with benefits before they admitted they were in love. Lexi turned into the biggest fan of love after she found it.
Admitting I’d met someone had Lexi after me like a bloodhound. I don’t know why I didn’t notice it before.
Getting the rest of them to chime in was only going to make my day worse. I’d already spent the afternoon thinking about Max, not that I was going to tell them. As I baked I wondered what flavor cupcakes he might like and if he was going to come back. When I ate my soup for dinner I imagined sharing it with him, or, even better, sharing my bed with him.
I’d come to the conclusion it’d been waaay too long since I’d shared my bed with anyone. The last two months I’d been singularly focused on saving my business, but even before that I hadn’t been out with anyone promising in a while. It was pretty depressing.
“Charlie, quit holding out on us. We want to know about him,” Addi declared for the group.
I looked at her excited and curious face, the same one that matched the rest of our friends, and wondered why I’d bothered to tell Lexi anything.
“Lexi is blowing it way out of proportion. There’s nothing to tell. He plows the parking lot and stopped by this morning because he needed coffee. I gave him muffins with his coffee and he sent me lunch. That’s it.”
“You didn’t tell me he sent you lunch,” Lexi accused.
“Because it didn’t really matter. His note said he felt bad about not paying for breakfast and wanted to make it up to me so he sent me a bunch of soup.”
I glanced around at the astonished faces surrounding me. Obviously I’d missed something. Confused and irritated at Lexi, I just kept talking.
“You guys are all making too much out of nothing. It isn’t like we went out on a date or he even asked me out. He happened to be around and I fed him, just like I do all my customers. He bought me lunch because he felt guilty that I didn’t charge him. I was still in here baking when he knocked and it didn’t seem right to make him pay when I wasn’t even open.”
Riley waved her hands to stop me from talking. “Wait. Don’t you bake in here early in your pajamas? Like, no bra pajamas?”
I cringed. I’d hoped they wouldn’t figure that part out. My oversized breasts were likely what attracted Max and made him want to send me lunch. It was a common problem. Every man had a favorite body part that always kept him coming back for more. It was clear Max was a breast-man.
With my eyes closed against their too insightful stares I nodded. The gasp around the table was palpable. I didn’t want to open my eyes and see the laughter on their faces. As big women we’d all shared many time
s about the torturous feeling of wearing a bra all day. Each and every one of us waited as long as possible to put one on and took it off as soon as humanly possible.
Addi patted my arm as she spoke, pity filling her voice. “He got more than he bargained for when he knocked on your door this morning. Breakfast and a show? A breast-man was probably in heaven. Was he a jerk?”
I shook my head. “I think that’s the worst part. He barely glanced at my chest and seemed like a nice guy. He said I was beautiful but he didn’t ogle me like most men would have. I was wearing my apron though so maybe he didn’t see anything.”
Shaking my shame with a bit of hope, I looked up at my friends. Their expressions said it all. They didn’t think my apron covered any more than I thought that morning. I’d given Max a show, and we all knew it.
Carrie leaned in. “Sometimes first impressions don’t tell the whole story. Not all men are pigs that stare at your chest and grab your ass when you walk away. Of course sometimes it’s more fun when they do.”
Mandy laughed and nodded. “I agree. We got some of the good ones. Maybe Max is too.”
“Give him a shot, Charlie,” Carried said firmly.
“I’ve got too much going on you guys. You all know this.”
“Love waits for no man. Or woman. Or bakery,” Carrie teased.
God, all the happily ever after crap was making me nauseous. Between the diamonds glittering in my eyes, the pregnant belly keeping Mandy from sitting close to the table, and the blissful looks on their faces, I was starting to wonder if I was going to need some new friends.
Single friends.
Man-hating friends.
Ah, shit. I was going to have to start hanging out with lesbians.
Frustration wrinkled my nose and irritation made my stomach flip. I didn’t want happily ever after. Well, okay, I did. But I didn’t have time for it.
Desperate to change the subject I latched onto the only thing that would get the focus off me. “Mandy, how’s the baby doing?”
Fluffy & Fabulous Page 2
