“How’s business?”
His deep sonorous voice had shattered her musings. “Didn’t Kiera tell you?” she asked.
He shifted on the sofa, the motion bringing them even closer together. “Tell me what?”
“That your mother stopped in one day to order tea cakes for the Volunteer Fireman’s Ladies Auxiliary. The women liked them so much that a number of them came into the shop during the week to place orders for other pastries.”
“Word of mouth does go a long way in a small town,” Dwight said. He paused. “Right now, I’m willing to bet that my mother is trying to get yours to join one of her civic organizations. Victoria Adams is one of the best when it comes to recruiting folks to join local clubs. She complains that most have the same members year after year, because many of them aren’t willing to accept new people with new ideas.”
“It’s called control, Dwight. They don’t like relinquishing their power to others they may deem outsiders.”
“Perhaps you’re right.”
“I know I am,” Sasha countered quickly. She did not want to tell Dwight that most of the women that belonged to the civic and social organizations had a lot in common. Practically all were college educated, and their husbands were either businessmen or had attained some political standing in Wickham Falls.
“Hopefully my mother can convince yours to join the Ladies Auxiliary, because they’ll be hosting a fund-raiser in a couple of months to raise money for a new ambulance for first responders.”
Sasha knew the group met at noon on Wednesdays, and if her mother did become a member, then she would have to man the front of the shop until Kiera arrived at one. The more she thought about it, the more she warmed to the possibility of Charlotte becoming involved with a local civic organization. It would give her mother something else to do other than work in the bakeshop.
“I think it would do Mama some good to get involved in things affecting The Falls.” Secretly Sasha hoped Charlotte would meet a man who might respect her more than her late husband had.
“Now that you’re a business owner, do you plan to join the chamber of commerce?”
Sasha nodded. “It’s funny you ask, because one of the members came into the shop the other day and left an application and a ticket for their annual dinner dance. He did apologize for the short notice because the event is next weekend.”
“Do you plan to attend?”
“No,” Sasha replied. “I’ll pay for the ticket and probably give it to one of my regular customers.”
“You can give it away if you want, but I’d like you to go with me.”
Sasha went completely still once she realized Dwight was asking her to be his date for a semiformal affair. “You have two tickets?”
He smiled, flashing dimples. “Yes. I always buy two because it’s for a good cause.”
She blinked slowly. “You don’t have a date?”
“No. I usually take my mother, but this year she agreed to stay home with Kiera. She’s trying to cut down on the number of social events she attends during the year. She has the Ladies Auxiliary and she’s also involved in several military causes that include the Wounded Warrior Project.”
“Don’t you have someone else who can go with you?” Sasha knew she was asking a litany of questions, but she had to know if there was another woman in Dwight’s life before agreeing to be his date for the night.
“No. That’s why I’m asking you. But if you don’t want to be seen with—”
“Don’t say it,” she said, cutting him off. “I’m truly honored that you asked me to be your date.”
And she was honored. He was the first man she’d found herself liking enough to date since her divorce, and now that Dwight had asked her to go to the fund-raiser with him, her fantasies were about to become a reality. There had been men who had come on to her before and after her marriage, but Sasha always felt that they had an ulterior motive. Before marrying Grant, she’d believed it was because they’d recognized her from the televised cooking competition, and once she was divorced it had been her high-profile marriage to a recording superstar.
But none of that appeared to faze Dwight. To him, she was a small-town girl who’d become a popular celebrity chef, but then left the bright lights to return home and to open a sweet shop. She had lost count of the number of folks who came into the bakeshop to either stare at her or ask about her failed marriage whenever she manned the front. It was as if they were more interested in her personal life than in making a purchase.
“Folks are really going to be shocked to see us attend together.”
Dwight chuckled under his breath. “You’re right about that.” He paused. “What do you think about giving them a preview?”
Vertical lines appeared between Sasha’s eyes. “A preview how?”
“Come with me tomorrow night to the Wolf Den for Military Monday. We can hang out for a couple of hours to give folks an opportunity to see us together. I can pick you up at seven and have you back home around nine, because I know you get up very early.”
It was Sasha’s turn to laugh. “I’m willing to bet gossip will spread throughout The Falls like a lighted fuse. If The Sentinel had a gossip column, we certainly would be included.”
Dwight nodded, smiling. “And like the song, we’ll give them something to talk about.”
Sasha leaned to her right, their shoulders touching. “You’re so bad,” she teased.
“Guilty as charged, as long as it’s a good bad.”
For a reason she did not want to understand, Sasha was looking forward to being seen in public with Dwight Adams. Aside from his good looks, she admired his unwavering devotion to Kiera. When living in Nashville, she’d met and socialized with divorced and single fathers whose priorities weren’t their children but chasing the next woman. And based on their behavior, she had come to believe just paying child support was not the benchmark for being a good father. Her parents may have argued constantly as if their very existence depended upon it, but there was never a time when her father hadn’t been there for his children.
“Isn’t good bad an oxymoron?” she questioned.
“It all depends on the context.”
* * *
Dwight covered Sasha’s hand resting on the cushion with his. He threaded their fingers together. Her hand was cool, but not as cold as when she’d admitted to having cold hands and a warm heart. He knew he had taken a chance and risked being rejected but hoped beyond hope that she would agree to go to what had become the social event of the year. Everyone who owned a business in Wickham Falls would be there. And having her agree to go to the Den with him would be an extra bonus.
The fund-raiser gave folks a reason to dress up and let their hair down once dinner was over and dancing began. The local dry cleaner did a brisk business cleaning tuxedos and dress suits, while women made certain not to be seen in the same gown or dress they’d worn the year before. Dwight always enjoyed the gathering because residents were more than generous when it came to support of their local businesses.
He gave her fingers a gentle squeeze before releasing them and stood up. “Don’t move. I’m needed to help carry the food to the table.”
He walked past the dining room and into the kitchen and picked up a large platter with fried chicken. Victoria, after viewing an infomercial, had purchased an air fryer and sang its praises in her attempt to fry chicken without using oil. Not only was the method faster but also healthier than frying it on the stove. After that it had become her go-to appliance for cooking chicken and meat. Dwight set the platter on the dining room table. Kiera joined him as she filled goblets with sparkling water.
“I think Grammie cooked too much food,” she said sotto voce.
“Not to worry, sweetie. None of it will go to waste because we’ll be eating leftovers for the rest of the week.”
“I heard that,
Dwight,” Victoria called out.
He gave Kiera a sidelong glance. “Your grandmother must have ears like a bat,” he said between clenched teeth.
Kiera nodded. “I know, Daddy,” she whispered.
Dwight returned to the kitchen and picked up two more platters, one with braised beef short ribs and the other with caramelized pork chops. Whenever Victoria volunteered to cook Sunday dinner it wasn’t the ubiquitous Southern menu of fried chicken, sweet potatoes, collard greens, corn bread and pound cake or peach cobbler for dessert, but a variety of meats and sides that would become leftovers for lunch and dinner for several days.
Today she’d prepared her celebrated potato salad, sautéed carrots and garlicky spinach, and a field-green-and-apple salad. Victoria had taught Dwight to cook as soon as he was tall enough to look over the stove. She’d said she did not want her son to depend on a woman to feed him because he was unable to put together a palatable meal for himself. He opened a bottle of red wine and a rosé to allow them to breathe before filling the wineglasses. A carafe of sparkling lemonade was positioned at Kiera’s place setting. Dwight seated his mother at the head of the table, and then Charlotte at the opposite end. He sat on his mother’s right, while Kiera and Sasha sat together.
Victoria raised her water glass, everyone following suit. “Here’s to friends and family. May this not be the last time we eat together.”
“Are we going to do this every Sunday, Grammie?” Kiera asked.
“We certainly don’t want to put your grandmother out every Sunday,” Charlotte said before Victoria could answer her granddaughter. “I’d like to host next Sunday—that is, if you don’t mind. It’s been many years since I’ve cooked for more than one person. And that only changed recently since Natasha’s come back.”
Victoria looked directly at Dwight. “I can make it, but you’ll have to ask Dwight about his intentions, because now that the weather has changed, he spends most weekends at his lake house.”
“Daddy says once he gives up drilling teeth, he’s going to become a professional fisherman.”
“What happened to Dwight and Daddy speaking for himself?” Dwight questioned as he glared at Victoria and then Kiera.
Kiera ignored his slight reprimand when she said, “He’s tried to teach me to fish, but the only thing I want to do with fish is eat it.”
Sasha’s pale eyebrows rose slightly. “What do you catch?”
Remnants of his annoyance with his mother and daughter lingered around the fringes of his mind when he shifted his attention to Sasha. “Rainbow trout and smallmouth bass.”
“Do you clean and cook your catch?”
He nodded. “What I don’t cook I clean and bring home and freeze.”
“Daddy, can Miss Sasha come with us the next time we go to the lake house?”
Suddenly Dwight felt as if he was being put on the spot. First his mother had disclosed his future weekend plans and now his daughter was asking if he could include her employer. The few times Kiera had accompanied him, she complained about having nothing to do or no one to talk to. She didn’t like getting up early to stand in water waiting to reel in fish, and she’d complained incessantly about cleaning their catch, but then said it was worth it when she sat down to eat grilled fish.
“That’s something I’ll have to discuss with Miss Sasha, because she just may have plans for her weekends.” His explanation seemed to satisfy Kiera when she picked up the glass of lemonade and took a long swallow.
Dinner continued with Charlotte complimenting Victoria on her amazing buttermilk air-fried chicken, molasses-braised short ribs and potato salad. “I don’t know whether I will be able to come close to matching this scrumptious feast.”
“Mama’s being modest, Miss Victoria. She’s also a great cook.”
Victoria winked at Sasha. “I’m sure she is.”
Charlotte sat up straight. “Does this mean we’re on for next Sunday?” Everyone sitting at the table nodded.
“What time should you expect us?” Dwight asked.
A network of faint lines fanned out around Charlotte’s blue eyes when she smiled. “Four. Is that too late for you?”
“Not at all,” he replied. “It’s just that the chamber’s dinner dance is the night before and I’ll probably need time to recuperate from the festivities.”
“Dwight and I are going together.” Sasha’s announcement appeared to stun everyone as a swollen silence ensued.
Dwight peered at her over the rim of his wineglass at the same time amusement shimmered in his dark eyes. Well, he thought, the cat was truly out of the bag. Sasha accompanying him as his date was certain to have tongues wagging. The only and last woman he’d dated from Wickham Falls he married. And he’d been forthcoming with Sasha when he told her he liked being single. But even more important, he had no intention of contemplating getting serious with a woman until his daughter left for college.
He also did not want a repeat of his last relationship, where he had been forced to choose between her or Kiera. It had been the second time in his adult life where a woman had issued an ultimatum. The first had been when his daughter’s mother wanted him to choose between living in Wickham Falls and New York.
Victoria pushed back her chair and stood. “It’s going to be a while before I bring out dessert and set up the Viennese table, so I’m going to show Charlotte my place and the gardens.” A slight blush suffused Sasha’s face at the mention of the number of desserts.
Dwight also stood. “I’ll clear the table and put away the leftovers.”
Sasha rose to her feet. “I’ll help you.”
Kiera drained her glass of lemonade. “Daddy, can I go to Alexis’s house to study for our chemistry test?”
“Okay. Just don’t come back too late.” She and the next-door neighbor’s daughter had played with each other whenever Kiera had come to spend the summers with him. Dwight waited until he was alone in the house with Sasha and said, “I do believe you shocked everyone when you mentioned going to the dinner dance with me.”
Sasha clapped a hand over her mouth to smother her laughter. “Did you see my mother’s face when I said it? I thought she was going to faint away.”
Dwight smiled as he stacked dishes and serving pieces. “And I can’t believe my mother did not have a comeback.”
Carrying a platter of chicken, Sasha followed him into the kitchen. “Can you imagine what their reaction would be if we told them we were getting married?”
He went completely still and then set the dishes on the countertop. “No, I can’t.”
“Neither can I. The first time I married it was for all the wrong reasons, and I promised myself if or when I did marry again it would have to be because of love.”
Dwight gave her an incredulous stare. “You weren’t in love with your husband?”
“I tried to convince myself that I was, yet in the end, I knew I was deceiving him and myself.”
“I know this is a very personal question, but did you marry him because he was a superstar recording artist?”
Chapter Five
Sasha’s eyelids fluttered wildly. “No.” Grant was not only charming, but he projected a larger-than-life persona she hadn’t been able to resist.
“How long had you been dating?”
“A little less than three months. But even if I’d dated Grant for a year, I realized in the end that I wasn’t cut out to be a celebrity wife.”
“Maybe he couldn’t accept that his wife was a celebrity in her own right.”
Sasha’s jaw dropped. She tried to speak but it was as if her voice locked in her throat. She did not want to believe she was that transparent, or maybe Dwight was just that perceptive. She nodded instead.
“Did he hurt you?”
“Not physically, but emotionally, where the scars weren’t visible,” she admitted as tears fille
d her eyes.
Taking a step, Dwight pulled her into an embrace, his chin resting on the top of her head. “It’s okay, sweetie. He can’t hurt you now.”
Sasha buried her face against his shoulder and wrapped her arms around his waist. Feeling Dwight’s warmth and strength, she felt safe, protected. The strong, steady pumping of his heart against her breasts had become a soothing salve as hers pounded a runaway rhythm. “My marriage was a mess.”
Lowering his head, Dwight brushed a light kiss over her parted lips. “I don’t want to ruin what has been a wonderful afternoon talking about him right about now.”
Sasha knew he was right. The afternoon was as close to perfect as she could have wanted. His family had invited hers into their home, making her and her mother truly welcomed and a part of theirs. Dwight kissed her again, this time on the forehead.
Easing back, she smiled up at him, and she was rewarded with a dimpled smile in return from him. She dropped her arms, turned on her heel and returned to the dining room to gather more plates. Sasha had been ready to bare her soul to Dwight, to tell him things no other person knew other than her mother, if only to unburden herself. In the end, Charlotte had blamed herself because she hadn’t set the best example for her daughter to follow. Both had married men who’d felt the need to control their wives.
Sasha and Dwight made quick work of clearing away the remains of dinner and storing leftovers in microwave glass containers with snap-lock lids. She’d just lined the buffet server with plates filled with an assortment of desserts when Charlotte and Victoria returned.
Forty-five minutes later, Sasha settled Charlotte in the Corolla, waiting until she secured her seat belt, and then rounded the compact car to sit beside her. They’d spent more than four hours with the Adamses and Sasha looked forward to going home and relaxing with the knowledge she would not have to get up early the following morning because the sweet shop was closed on Mondays.
Second-Chance Sweet Shop Page 7
