by Vella, Wendy
“Thanks for the heads-up.”
“So now that your shoulders have dropped, if you want to spill your innards, I’m listening.” Fin looked at his watch. “But then we have to go.”
“Where?”
“Ryker versus Howling. You got the memo I put out about the events we were doing for the bachelor party, right?”
“About that, Fin. Seriously, man, WTF. Who sends out a memo like that for a bachelor party?”
The man wasn’t easily insulted. Ted had noticed that too about the men of Ryker.
“You know these guys, man. It’d be like herding cats to get them all in the right place at the right time. Besides, businessman like you, you should understand the power of organization.”
He had a point there.
“So you go on and gear up, Teddy Bear, and I’ll see you at the courts.”
“I really should work.”
“I thought you took a few days off?”
“I did, but stuff happens—”
“Isn’t that assistant you got worth the ridiculous money you pay her?”
“She is.”
“Then let it go, Beefcake, and gear up.”
“I seriously have no idea why I put up with you guys.”
“You love us, bud.” Fin slapped his shoulder. “And if you need to talk at any time, you know where I am.”
Ted grunted something and Fin walked away, leaving him alone with his thoughts once again. Strange how his brother’s arrival wasn’t bothering him as much now. He was more worried about the fact he’d insulted Mandy about her dress.
Chapter 6
Mandy mixed the batter in the bowl she held and thought about Ted. Why had that man arriving upset him so much?
“You planning on whipping that until it yields?” Rory said, walking in the kitchen. “Your aunts said you were all bent out of shape over something, and I had to come and see as I didn’t know you did that.”
Rory wore jeans with rips over the knee. Her shirt was purple and had the words “I love veterinary medicine because humans are gross” on the front. Her hair was a riot of curls, and with very little effort on her part she looked sexy. Mandy had never achieved that state.
“Did what?”
Mandy got out two muffin trays and spooned the mix in.
“The whole brooding angry thing.”
She finished filling the trays and put them in the oven.
Rory took a couple of steps and leaped onto the bench. She then grabbed the bowl Mandy had been lowering into the sink and started running her finger around it.
“I can get angry.”
Rory snorted, which annoyed Mandy.
“I can!”
“Wow!” Rory stopped licking her fingers. “That was really good.”
“Are you trying to deliberately annoy me, Rory?”
“Not really, but it’s cool to see you angry. This emotion is new from you.”
Was it? Rory made her sound as exciting as a five-day-old muffin.
“I don’t like emotion, it’s messy.”
“And real. You have to show emotion, Mandy, or no one knows what’s going on with you. Just this morning I told Jack that if he didn’t stop throwing his wet towel on my side of the bed I was cutting up his favorite basketball shirt, the one he got signed by that dude in the team whose name escapes me.”
“You didn’t?” Bet he loved that.
“Sure, and while it takes a lot to threaten Jack, he said he’d try. Then we had really good sex so—”
“I don’t really need to hear that, Rory.”
“Sure you do, so you know what you’re missing out on.”
Mandy went to the fridge to get the frosting she’d made for the muffins.
“Why is that in there?”
“What?”
“I was looking for this knife at home last night, and it’s in the fridge here.” Mandy pulled out the carving knife. It was from a set she’d brought herself.
“Why would you even put a knife in the fridge, is more to the point?”
“I have no idea but lately my head’s been all over the place.”
“Random. I do shit like that. Jack found a half-eaten sandwich in his top drawer the other day. I must have put it there while I was cleaning up.”
“You were cleaning up?” Mandy took the knife and wrapped it in a towel, ready to take home.
Weird.
“Moving crap from one place to another, Jack calls it. But getting back to emotion—”
“I don’t like people knowing stuff about me,” Mandy said.
“You’re kidding me, right? You have two aunts that could run the town gossip column. You also live in a town that thrives on knowing each other’s business.”
Mandy got the fillings for the rolls out of the fridge.
“But I’m not like that.”
“Why?”
She buttered the bread while she thought about how she would answer that question.
“Things happened that changed me. I guess I just never changed back.”
“What happened to you yesterday?”
“What? Nothing,” Mandy quickly added. “Why would you ask me that?”
“Because last night you came to Joe and Bailey’s and let us do a makeover on you. And today you’re being more open than you’ve ever been with me.”
Mandy didn’t know how to reply to that. She did feel different today. Like she was maybe a little bit stronger.
“Mandy?”
“I don’t know, Rory. I guess I just want to try harder.”
“Excellent. I’ll help you with that if you need me to.”
“Thanks, I think.”
“For now I will say that your hair looks amazing, but that dress has to go.”
Because it hangs on you like a sack. You have a nice body, why hide it.
Ted hadn’t liked her dress either.
“What’s wrong with my dress?”
“It’s horrible and too big. We need to go shopping.”
“I need some exercise clothes actually, like the ones Bailey loaned me.”
“Good. Okay, we’ll set a day, and I’m sure the others will want to come. Pip looks ready to burst, so we should do it soon.”
“Okay,” Mandy said before she could say no. She usually would, and if not immediately she would do so via text message, which was the easy way to get out of something.
“Sweet.” Rory leaped off the bench. “I’ll talk to the others, and we can make a date.
“Thanks, Rory.”
Her friend waved her words away and hurried out the kitchens. Rory hurried everywhere.
Be strong in here, Mandy.
“Mind if I invade your space, Mandy?”
She watched Buster Griffin walk into her kitchen.
“Sure. What can I do for you, Mr. Griffin?”
“Buster. I have a cafe in Lake Howling, so I like to visit kitchens when I leave there.”
He wasn’t tall, but solid. Thick shoulders and neck. The men she liked respected him, so she should feel comfortable with him here in her space. She kept doing what she was doing and waited for her heart to stop racing. It would, she knew that, but it would take a minute.
It was a funny thing when you finally took a step back and looked at the person you’d become. She was doing that a bit lately and had to say she wasn’t happy with what she saw.
She wasn’t someone she’d want to hang around with if she had a choice…, which made no sense, but yet did.
I’m clearly going crazy.
“I have a mystery muffin every day. Drives the customers mad.” He spoke in a calm, even voice. “Especially Jake’s wife, Branna. She’s never guessed yet.”
“So you don’t label it?” Mandy was curious now that her heart had settled into its normal rhythm.
“No. Only I know what’s in it. If they guess, they get the muffin and a coffee free.”
His smile wasn’t wide like the Texan’s had been, but it was genuine and reached all the
way to his eyes.
“My aunts do blindfolded tea tasting with some of the locals. Joe’s best at it. He can guess what’s in them down to the last ingredient.”
“That’s impressive, but I’m not telling him that.” He was poking about looking in cupboards and on shelves now. “You want to share recipes?”
“My specialty is lemon and blueberry scones. Do you bake scones, Buster?” She made herself converse. This man ran a successful cafe. Joe had told her.
“I’ll tell you something, Mandy, but I need you to promise not to tell any of the Howling party.”
“Promise.”
“I can’t bake scones very well. Not sure why, as I’m a god in the kitchen, according to my woman, but scones….” He made a clucking noise in his throat. “They’re like algorithms. I never got them either.”
Mandy laughed. “I’ll tell you a secret too, Buster. I’m pretty bad with pastry.”
He made a pshaw sound. “That stuff’s easy.”
“Shall we trade lessons?”
“I’ve only got two more days, but I’d be grateful. Don’t feel bad if they don’t work out though, it’s just me, not you.”
“Deal.”
“I can swap that blueberry and lemon recipe for a chocolate muffin with caramel filling. Jake would sell his firstborn child for it.”
“Fin’s a bit like that with scones, although he doesn’t have a child to sell.”
They talked, and while she filled rolls for the bachelor party’s lunch today, which they wanted after their basketball game, Buster baked some of Jake’s favorite muffins.
“Willow, that’s my wife, she’s an artist.”
“I can’t even draw stick figures.”
He pulled out his wallet and unfolded a piece of paper. It was a drawing of him and a woman, presumably Willow. The detail was amazing.
“She’s good.”
“And then some. She’s pretty much the best part of me.” He said the words matter-of-factly, and yet Mandy knew that he loved his wife to distraction.
She’d never really expected that in her life. Maybe one day that would change too.
“You thought about altering the shop layout at all, Mandy?”
“Lately I’ve been thinking we could make a few changes. I’m not sure what though.” Which wasn’t exactly a lie. A plan had been percolating, she just wasn’t sure she could pull it off yet.
He talked about some options, and Mandy grabbed her notebook and jotted down his ideas.
“You think we should open it up more?” Mandy leaned on the counter as he attempted to make scones. “Don’t play with them too much.”
He raised his hands in the air.
“I think you could get in more tables that way, and maybe a breakfast bar scenario. People like to sit up there and read the paper.”
Mandy slid the scones on a tray ready to go in the oven.
“I’ll come back before I leave and show you what I mean, if you like?”
“Really? That’s very kind of you.”
He was leaning on the bench watching her now.
“You lived here all your life?”
“No. I came when I was nine.”
“Baking in your genes too? Mine came from my mom.”
Mandy shook her head, suddenly nervous for no reason at all except she hated personal questions. Often she had to answer with a lie.
“It’s a cool place.”
She nodded.
“You all good, sweet cheeks? You look a bit pale.”
“I’m okay. Thanks.”
“No worries. You mind if I come back tomorrow? I’ll teach you the secret to making pastry, and we’ll go another round on those scones.”
“Of course.”
“I’m an earlier riser, and those losers would sleep all day if they were allowed…, which they are here, as their women are back in Howling.”
He moved forward, and Mandy stepped out of his way.
“It’s a pleasure to work with you, Mandy.” His smile was gentle.
“Oh yes. And you too, Buster. I—ah…, I look forward to tomorrow.” She shook his hand and then he left, loping out the door like he’d loped in.
She stood there, feeling her hands start to tingle and her chest getting tighter and wondered why now, after months without one, she was having a panic attack?
“Mandy, dear, are those muffins ready, we only have…. Oh no, are you having an episode?”
She felt Aunt Marla take her hands.
“It’s only temporary, Mandy. You’re safe here with us, you know that, love.”
Mandy focused on her aunt’s voice as she talked about a whole lot of nothing.
“There, there, Mandy. Nice deep breaths for me now.”
Her aunt talked, she listened, and slowly she grew calmer until she felt her body return to normal.
“I’m sorry.”
“You have nothing to be sorry for. What I want to know is why you experienced a panic attack now? You haven’t had one for ages.”
“I don’t know. Buster was in here, and to start I was nervous, but that passed.” Mandy shrugged. “Maybe it’s the changes I’m trying to make?”
“It could be, but you can’t let what just happened stop that from continuing, dear.”
“I-I’m not going to let the fear control me anymore. I don’t want to.”
“Oh, baby, do you know how long we’ve waited to hear you say that?” Her aunt sniffed loudly, her eyes bright with tears. “Don’t let me cry, Mandy, my new blue glitter shadow will rub off.”
Mandy laughed and fell into her aunt’s arms.
“I love you.”
“What have I missed?” Aunt Sarah asked.
“Mandy doesn’t want to be scared anymore, Sarah.”
“Lord have mercy, the day has come!”
Mandy sat then, as her legs felt a bit wobbly.
“I’ve never really known how to change, and you never pushed me to,” Mandy said. “But I know it must have been tough on both of you when you’re so strong.”
“Firstly, we’ve always been proud of you, Mandy, never doubt that,” Aunt Marla said. “But the doctors we spoke to told us we shouldn’t push you, and that if you didn’t bring up what happened, then you would likely forget the horror you experienced.”
Mandy snorted. “I may have been nine, but that night is something I’ll always remember.”
Her aunts looked at each other.
“We’re sorry if we got this wrong, Mandy. Many times, we’ve thought about talking to you. Seeing if we could send you to someone who would help you deal with it. But you never mentioned it and seemed happy enough, even if you were shy and timid.”
“None of this is your fault,” Mandy rushed to add. “You saved me. Without you I would have ended up a ward of the state.”
“But now you want to make some changes. Start really living life?” Aunt Sarah said gently.
“Yes, but I want to take it slow.”
“So no pushing, is that what you’re delicately trying to say?”
“I guess so, but then neither of you have ever pushed me.”
Her aunts smiled.
“Whatever you want, darling. We’re just pleased that at last you want to do something.”
“I may not change, you realize that, don’t you?”
“You already have.”
Aunt Sarah said the words as she walked out the kitchen with her sister on her heels.
For the first time in years, Mandy felt something fluttering inside her chest. Hope, she labeled it. But she had no time to dwell on that. She had a lunch to deliver.
Chapter 7
“Move your feet!”
“I’m trying,” Ted muttered as Jack roared at him.
“Try harder!”
Harder… right. Ted had never been into team sports like others, but these bastards always roped him into a game of something, and he always forgot how much he hated it.
“Get off your lazy ass and catch this bal
l, Ted!”
He ran to the basket, cut right, then came in on the baseline and leaped. He caught the ball Jack threw at him and managed to lob it at the basket. The real miracle was that it went into the hoop.
The roar was deafening from the Ryker boys. The Howlers were not impressed.
“You coached him!” Ethan said. “That’s cheating.”
His blond hair was slicked back with sweat, and his Texan accent was thick as he glared at Jack and Ted. Beside him his brother did the same.
The genes in those two were strong at that moment.
“Suck on this.” Jack wore a huge smile and raised his middle finger.
The Texans laughed.
“I love this town because it’s like Lake Howling, though not as pretty, and the people aren’t as cool,” Brad said. “But I think it may just be my second favorite from now on.”
“And we have the Redwoods,” Jake said, wiping his forehead on Buster’s shirt.
“And the lake… let’s not forget that,” Cubby said. He wore a large set of fake breasts and a tiara, courtesy of his friends. “Sure as hell don’t know how women carry these around for real.”
“But sure glad they do,” Newman said, wandering over to the seats on the sides of the rec center. Ted had already noticed the man didn’t do anything in a hurry. He was usually found lounging on some piece of furniture eating something.
“Last point, and whoever gets it wins,” Luke said, jogging up to Ted. “You need to stay on your game now, bud.”
“Fuck off,” Ted muttered.
“Aww, now that’s no way for the pillar of our community to speak to another pillar. I mean, I put out fires, bud. You don’t want to go pissing me off.”
“I give you free drinks and spas,” Ted rasped, still trying to breathe. “Then there’s those rooms I let you have at good rates.”
“You got me there.” Luke slapped him hard on the shoulder, propelling him forward several steps.
“What is this fucking obsession you all have with running about the place abusing each other? It’s just plain wrong.” Ted straightened. “I mean, what happened to golf… or a gentle walk?”
“Aww, come on, Nana, I’ll have Jack knit you a shawl for cold winter nights,” Joe said, running past him. Ted took an elbow to his stomach and was instantly winded.
“You need to harden up there, Teddy Bear,” Fin said.
