* * *
We end up at CeeGee Cakes. I love the cupcakes at CeeGee’s, and Sophia and I come here at least once a month for a treat.
The four of us take our time picking out what flavors we want to try. I wind up with a lemon strawberry mix, and Brayden goes with the all chocolate one. Sophia and Slammer can’t stop making out with each other in line, so I eventually order for the both of them.
“Yum,” Sophia says as she takes a big bite of hers on the way to a table. “Key lime with raspberry filling. Good choice, Lei.”
I would like to paint a still of these cupcakes. The key lime one is the most beautiful shade of green, and the raspberry is in at least three different tints of red.
We take seats at the back, and within seconds, Sophia and Slammer are mouth to mouth again.
I roll my eyes at Brayden, who reaches over and, taking hold of the back of my chair, gently turns me so I’m facing him instead of Sophia’s back.
“Good idea,” I say.
We chat for a few minutes about the bike race. “My parents showing up was a surprise,” I say. “My mom promised she’d be back before…” I don’t want to bring up my wedding. “Before too long.”
“Your parents seem cool,” he says.
I nod quickly. Explaining Nina and Fred Wills to anyone is difficult to do.
“So you speak for your parents and you write for your sister,” Brayden says. “What do you do for you?”
“I’m a cheerleader, I suppose. For pretty much everyone.”
“Your speech was great, by the way.”
I raise my eyebrows in surprise. “It was horrible.” I laugh. “Probably my worst ever.”
“I thought it was great,” he insists. “I can’t imagine public speaking like that.”
“Speaking of Save the Soil,” I say to him in a low voice. “I took a quick look at the sample under a lens. It looks off.”
Brayden’s eyes narrow. “How off?”
“Enough that I asked someone to send it out for analysis.”
“Shit.” He runs a hand through his hair. “That’s not good.”
“No. But the analysis will go into a lot more detail. I’ll let you know as soon as I find out the results.”
Brayden offers me a bite of his cupcake, and the chocolate blends nicely with the strawberry taste I already have in my mouth. I wonder if CeeGee Cakes could make a dessert for my wedding reception. I know Phillip won’t like the idea.
But I’m in too good of a mood to care.
I walk up to the counter. “Could I schedule a tasting for my fiancé and me?”
“Of course. And we make cupcake-tiered cakes if you’d like that,” she says.
“That sounds amazing.”
“How’s the night after tomorrow?”
“I’ll take it.”
I return to the table as Sophia peels her face away from Slammer’s long enough to ask Brayden when his team’s next home game is.
“This weekend we have one in Wilcox,” he says. “But our big home game of the season is the next weekend against the Tigers, our long-time rival. The coaches have a bonfire party after for all the ‘adults’—” He chuckles. “And our friends. This year, I’m throwing it at Big River Ranch.”
