Chapter 1
Mercy
“Where do you need me?”Shannon Dillon flew in the door, the bell jangling with the force of her entrance. She was tying on her apron as she crossed the store to the display case, her dark hair was already tied back into a low ponytail.
“Fondant please!”
“Got it.” Shannon was my best decorator. She had a steady hand and thrived on stress. I was pretty sure she ate it crumbled over her oatmeal in the morning.
She was a high school teacher but always wanted to be a cake decorator. We compromised and I let her decorate cookies in her spare time. I needed her piping skills to finish up this cake for Sullivan Murdock and Nora Baker’s midnight nuptials.
Sweet Beats, my bakery, was officially closed for the afternoon. I’d already sold out of my daily batch of baked goods but tonight was a very special occasion. It was my first wedding cake delivery.
Of course it had to be on New Year’s Eve.
Why not?
Only the craziest night of the year deserved my first foray into wedding cakes. My secret love.
I was known for my confectionary delights as well as my eclectic record collection which made up the Sweet Beats aesthetic. At the moment, I had Evanescence’s iconicFallenalbum blasting through the speakers. The atmospheric and intense lyrics fit my mood and the dreamy cake.
Nora and Sully had an instant reconnection earlier this year and they wanted a cake to signify their new beginnings. They also wanted to start off the new year as man and wife.
Oh, and they trusted me to pull this off.
Me, Nora’s former sister-in-law. When she and Sully walked into my shop and asked me to make their cake I nearly passed out. Not because I was angry. Nora and my brother had slowly grown apart in the years they’d moved away from Indigo Valley.
I didn’t begrudge her starting over. Especially when I saw just how deeply she loved Sully. We’d never been overly close, but there was one thing I knew for sure. She’d never looked at Booker like she looked at Sully.
And he showed up.
Every day.
Sully Murdock was all about the local businesses of Indigo Valley and he’d put his money where his mouth was for this wedding. Cementing his and Nora’s connection with the town he loved so much.
And, astonishingly, that included me.
He’d only used local people for food, baked goods, and even the dress had been found in the consignment shop a few doors down from me. Nora found a local designer who updated the dress and made it hers.
I’d been one of the few privy to the dress’s design so I could make the cake match along with putting my own spin on it.
Tonight was going to be the wedding of the year. Okay, so it was the last day of the year, but it was going to be the one everyone talked about for months, maybe even years to come.It was the perfect time to launch my cake decorating branch of Sweet Beats.
Shannon hurried behind the counter where I had a startling amount of fondant going through my sheeter. I wasn’t a big fan of fondant taste-wise, but I needed the smooth surface for part of the cake.
“Can I peek?”
I laughed. “Go for it.”
She pushed through the door to the back area where I did most of my baking. I followed her into the war zone of sugar, flour, and empty cake tins. Vanilla and the sharp scent of cherries still stung the air.
It was a six-tiered cake and I’d spent the last two days doing the painstakingly intense lace on the gray and pink layers. I’d mirrored the soft blush pink lace of her dress. Nora hadn’t picked a traditional wedding dress for her second run down the aisle. But what I’d loved most about the dress was the misty gray under layer of the dress that swished around her feet.
It was like she was walking on a misty moor.
“Oh, Mercy. You outdid yourself.” Shannon laced her fingers under her chin as she crouched down to take in all the details. She glanced up at me. “Did you pipe all of this?”
My arms were still screaming. “I sure did. Don’t get too amazed, I did a lot of it on wax paper and transferred it on as a base.” I didn’t need to explain all the hours I’d spent with an X-Acto blade and teeny tiny brush to make sure every inch was positively perfect. Shannon knew and had often done the same with a sugar cookie.
