Chapter One
Josh leaned against a tarnished 1950’s parking meter outside the small town’s bakery. He’d been there for a good half hour watching the owner through the display window covered with decorated paper cupcakes. She had a booming business in the small town, but no surprise there because she was a top-notch baker. Her customers always left happy and smiling. He wished like hell he could walk in there, chat, and walk back out with a smile but he was afraid his exit would be much more dramatic—like through her storefront window, and he’d be paying for the replacement glass to boot.
He was probably better off just going back home. Why he thought he could just walk in there and have a civil conversation was beyond him. The worst part of his current situation was that he’d already
promised his best friend, Brian, that he would drop off the payment for the cake. Their wedding was tomorrow and Julie, the bride-to-be, was already stressed out enough without him causing any more trouble.
“As the best man,” he recalled Brian stating, “consider it one of your before-the-wedding, best-man duties buddy.”
Brian then gave Josh a hard slap on the back and a laugh.
Duty my ass.
Those two both knew about the feelings Josh still harbored for Annie. After he’d gotten over his stupidity for leaving her in the first place, he’d been working so hard to avoid her around town even though she occupied his mind every waking moment. He had a sinking feeling they were setting him up, forcing him to see her. And he should be happy because that’s what he really wanted. He wanted to see her for him but didn’t want to see her for what she probably thought about him. In the end, he had no real reason not to take care of this, the weekend wasn’t about him so how could he let Brian down at this point?
“No time like the present,” he mumbled as he pushed away from the meter. He couldn’t stand there all day anyway.
“She probably hates me, so I have nothing to lose. What’s a little pride and dignity, no big deal.”
He shook his head and puffed out his breath.
Just like in one of those spooky movies where the guy needs to go in the door at the end of the hall, it seemed to get further and further away the more he walked toward it. Maybe that was his psyche telling him he should have just gone home. Not doing this though, would cause more problems with people that meant a lot to him, and he didn’t want everyone mad. One was bad enough.
Against his better judgment, he reached for the old brass handle. Through the glass he could see Annie inside, standing at the counter and his stomach instantly started to churn. Did she have to be so beautiful? The way her curls lay soft on her suntanned shoulders made him remember how soft it was when he ran his fingers through the silkiness of her brunette locks. And she possessed a smile that made her own eyes sparkle bright. Just her presence gave him goose bumps. That was exactly the reason he’d been purposely avoiding her. He couldn’tcontinue to torture himself by seeing her all the time, even though he wanted to so badly.
Idiot just get your ass in there!
In his anticipation, he pulled at the door with a little too much gusto, forgetting she had a bell attached to alert her to customers. The door sprang quickly and closed behind him, jingling the bell a second time which caught her attention.
When their eyes met, he froze. Her ten seconds of focus stretched out like hours but was gone in a flash when a customer gained her attention once again. Crazy, but in those ten seconds, his chest warmed clear to his soul, then just as quickly turned cold as ice as he witnessed a myriad of emotions cross her beautiful heart-shaped face. Emotions he recognized from their last horrible encounter, a day he would never forget.
Damn it, he shouldn’t be there. He’d been avoiding any contact with Annie because he knew her too well. Yes, he was scared to death of what she might say, but more so of what she didn’t have to say. She’d pretty much always been an open book, and he knew he’d be able to see the disappointment on her face. Love had never been a problem between the two of them. She never had the ability to hide those genuine feelings from him but the way her eyes showed lingering discontent sent his gut wrenching.
The hurt they’d inflicted on each other, intentional or otherwise, was something he would regret and live with the rest of his life. Just when he’d made the decision to leave the bakery before any more damage could be done, the inevitable happened.
***
“Hello Josh…”
Even though the whole scheme was her own idea, which she had started to second guess, Annie was still a little bit surprised to see Josh standing in her shop. She hoped he’d do what his friend asked of him without question, but he was a stubborn man so it could have gone either way. She had the feeling he’d been avoiding her around town for a while now, hiding away in his very own personal mountain retreat. She noticed he had even been ready to turn and follow her last customer out when she mustered the courage to say his name. Now, as he hesitantly moved closer, she couldn’t help but abandon the edible flowers she was creating at her counter to hold her stomach for fear that all those imaginary butterflies would leap right out.
Okay, yes, she was nervous. There was no question about how she still felt for him and when she’d concocted this hair-brained scheme with her friends Julie and Brian, she had no doubt she would be able to tell him—had already known what she wanted to say as she had been practicing the speech for weeks. Now however, she felt like a mental case. Just seeing him put her heart into a serious tailspin. She was like a lovesick schoolgirl on Valentine’s Day. Kind of made her sick to her stomach to think about it that way.
Knowing he’d rather walk out than have to face her kind of hurt a little, but who could blame him? They’d ended their relationship so badly and at first, she put all that on him but now she only blamed herself. There were a lot of things she’d said then that she regretted; mean things that now seemed unimportant after the last few months without him. She’d had plenty of time to think and beat herself up about the bad choicesshe’dmade and the way she acted toward him.
Annie had been threatened by the fact that Josh was so secure and focused on his career, he’d loved his job and was allabout planning their future together. At the time however, none of that was clear to her. She’d only been thinking about herself. She was struggling to keep things above water and wanted his full support as she furthered her own career, making a name for herself but selfishly enough, she didn’t notice that all he ever did was support her and she did nothing to acknowledge him in any capacity. Finally, he decided he couldn’t take it anymore.
She’d always been proud of him for working so hard to overcome his military career ending and his choice to follow in his family’s footsteps to become a third-generation detective. It was his dream and meant a great deal to his family as well. How she couldn’t see that she’d treated him so badly she didn’t know. At every turn she dismissed his needs and took for granted the relationship they had until it was too late.
She was determined to make amends if that was even possible. With the help of her friends, she would use their wedding venue to get them in the same place to do what she could to make up for the things she’d done. And in the process she would make the best cake she’d ever done, an Annie’s Place special.
Unfortunately, because she was making the cake, it was kind of a conflict of interest for her to be able to be in the wedding, but Julie had plenty of sisters to fit the bill. On a positive note, Josh and Brian were best friends and Josh was the best man so hewouldbe at the wedding. Too bad she wouldn’t get the opportunity to walk down the aisle with him.
When Julie first came to Annie about the cake, she’d wanted to give it to her friend as a wedding gift, but Julie wouldn’t have it. Little did she know at that moment it would work in her favor in the end. When the time came, Brian would convince Josh to unknowingly be a part of her plan.
If he ever did find out which he would, Josh probably wouldn’t forgive her and that bit of reality more than once almost had her convinced to cancel the whole charade. She was over her head, but she had to try something. If she were fated to live without him for the rest of her life, she wanted to know she’d spoken her mind by apologizing profusely and done everything possible to get him back. He might not see it that way, but her end goal was to be in Josh’s arms at the wedding reception. That was her focus and she refused to accept an alternate ending.
Chapter Two
