“I guess some things don’t change. I thought maybe they’d done that out of a sense of goodness.”
“I didn’t put them up to the dedication. That was all of them. But I understand how the past may have hurt you and I won’t keep anything else from you, Maggie.”
“No more secrets?” I ask.
“None. No more omissions?”
I shake my head. “We have a long flight ahead of us. Let’s tell each other everything.”
“We might need longer than that.”
“Who goes first?” I make a fist and shake my hand up and down, signifying that we do rock, paper, scissors. “Best two out of three.”
Not to brag, but I win. “What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten?”
“Oh, this is easy. Aunt Maureen came back from a flight to...I forget where. She had this thing called a hundred-year-old egg.” He makes a gagging face. “It was as disgusting as you’d imagine.”
“Then you definitely wouldn’t be interested in Sylvester’s spiced pickled egg relish mayo combo.”
“That would be a solid no. But I am interested in us.” Declan squeezes my hand. “Maggie, you and the guys on the team are my found family. I want to be yours. I want a future together and don’t want the past to come between us.”
“I want the same things. But I don’t want your fame to come between us either, so I’ve decided to let the past go—and accept my childhood for what it was and forgive my parents so that I can be present for us and our future.”
We move in for a kiss and then chat for the rest of the transcontinental flight, talking about life, our hopes, plans, and more.
“So, when we get to LA, I have a lot of training to do, but I will spend every other second with you. I don’t want you to getbored, though, so on the flight from Dublin to Florida, I set up a cupcake crawl for you.”
“A cupcake, what?”
He pulls out a piece of paper and a sketch. “In Ireland and cities like Boston, there’s a thing called a pub crawl where people go from pub to pub. So, I thought you could do the same, but with cupcakes. I mapped out every café, bakery, and restaurant in the city that sells cupcakes. I figure you can visit each one, try out their offerings, write up a review, create a blog, or just do research for fun.”
“Really? This is the coolest thing ever.”
Declan smiles. “Even though I have a demanding job and, like it or not, I will be in the limelight a little, I want to be with you the most. I’ll do anything to make that happen. But I also think it’s important for you to follow your dreams wherever they lead.”
I nuzzle close to him, surveying the list of cupcakeries and the map. “I know where my heart leads, Declan. To you.” I kiss him on the cheek and he turns to me, kissing me fully on the lips.
The plane cruises toward Los Angeles. I haven’t been to my hometown in years. My parents’ office is nearby, but I don’t think about that right now. The sun has set and instead of the stars glittering above, the city shines below. Our kiss deepens, but all the lights on the ground or all the stars in the sky can’t make me feel more electric, more plugged in and connected than I do right now.
“I love you, Maggie,” Declan says.
“I love you too,” I answer.
38
MAGGIE
Afew days pass. Declan has numerous meetings and training, while I happily tour the city, the beach, and the sites while sampling a couple of cupcakes each day.
I also receive my check from Blancbourg and an offer to keep my job if I still want it. Because the other etiquette coaches and I had worked for a month straight, we also have a couple of weeks off. I take the time to figure out my next steps.
Could Declan and I have a long-distance relationship? Could I come up with a job where I can work in Boston and Los Angeles, or manage my own hours, making me available to travel with him when possible? I have a lot to think about, and the city’s energy and the cupcakes are helping to inspire me.
However, my parents haven’t replied to my email. I avoid visiting their office. Likely, they aren’t there anyway, but I feel at peace after reading the article and dedication. They’ve had another Hunks, Honeys, and Heroes story come out about a male model working to help clean up the trash in the ocean.
While checking out bakeries, I worry that the cupcake market is saturated and opening a bakery of my own isn’t a good idea. Plus, it would tie me down to a location. And if I were tryingto spend time with Declan, given his busy schedule, especially during the football season, how could I manage a bakery? Maybe I like eating cupcakes more than baking them.
As I sit at an outdoor table on a sunny day, I hear a familiar cheering sound, like a stadium clapping and hooting for their favorite football player. I look around and a man in a pink and yellow van with a cupcake on top waves at me. I blink a few times, afraid it’s Sylvester. But no, The Declan Printz sits in the driver’s seat of Maggie Cake’s Mobile Cupcake Shop.
