Henry followed, balancing a pot of coffee and a stack of papers. "Morning, Emma, Beth."
"Hey, Henry." Beth greeted him with a nod and a smile.
"Thanks for breakfast," I said, accepting a plate Daniel handed me.
"Anytime," he replied, taking a seat beside me. His eyes met mine for a moment, a silent conversation passing between us.
Henry plopped down across from us, eagerly shuffling his papers. "So, I've got seating charts and playlists to go over."
"Hit us with it," I said, picking up my fork.
"Okay, so first things first..." Henry began, but I was only half-listening, my mind still on Beth's situation with Wade.
TWO
Emma
Later that morning, I sat with Carol and Beth at the little table in the kitchen watching Deva move around her kitchen with calm movements as she hummed. As always, I was amazed by absolutely everything involving Deva and Deva’s Delights. The place was literally speckless, so pristine and clean it sparkled. Everything had its place and was put in it, and she moved about the kitchen like a queen in her castle, even after a long day of work.
"She’s kind of amazing, isn’t she?” Carol said from her seat next to me. Her knitting needles, that hovered above her knitting basket on the floor, even paused their work with her words.
Beth laughed. "She is! Henry is so lucky she’s going to be making his wedding cake. Whatever we choose, it’ll be good. No matter what, because Deva made it.”
As if on cue, Deva laid out small plates in front of us, each with a square piece of cake so perfect it looked like it belonged in a magazine. There was vanilla cake, a yellow cake with something red in it, a pale orange cake, and a bright orange cake with off-white frosting. All decorated like someone important was goingto be trying them today instead of us. My gaze jumped between them as I licked my lips, wondering which one we’d get to start with.
There were only a few things Henry and Alice cared about for their wedding, and they’d made those things clear. Other than that, they’d begged me to make the rest of the decisions. They didn’t care about all the small details, just that they were together, so I’d readily agreed to help them out. The cake tasting was easily the best job they’d given me though.
"Okay, ladies," Deva said, placing the last plate on the counter. "Let's start with the classic vanilla bean."
Vanilla? Heck yeah! It might not be everyone’s favorite, but I loved me a good vanilla cake.
Carol leaned in, her nose twitching slightly as she smelled the cake. "Oh, that's lovely," she murmured, using her powers to cut a small piece without touching the knife.
Beth dug in the regular way, with a fork clenched in her hand. Closing her eyes, she chewed really slowly. Her cheeks moved like she was swirling the piece of cake around inside her mouth. Apparently, she’d decided to take her role helping me pick the perfect cake really seriously.
"Too plain," Beth declared after her first bite. She jotted something down on her notepad.
Deva glanced at me, waiting. I took a bite and chewed thoughtfully. The vanilla was heavenly, but Beth was right. It was plain, and Henry and Alice wanted anything but plain. It would pair well with a fruity ice cream, though, but wasn’t meant for this event. "It's excellent, but let's try the next one."
"All right, here we go." Deva presented the next option. "Lemon zest with raspberry filling."
Everyone dug in, and the room went silent as we chewed and tasted. Deva’s fingers stapled together, and she regarded us thoughtfully as each swallowed. Then, all eyes were on me.
"Ooh, Henry might really like this one," I said. The tangy lemon made my taste buds tingle in the best possible way.
"Too tart for my liking," Carol commented, pushing her glasses up her nose with a flick of her finger and pulling a sour face.
Beth laughed, crumbs dusting her chin. "Your face, Carol!"
"Your face!” Carol said, pointing to the crumbs.
Beth laughed again and wiped them off.
"Next, we have almond with apricot." Deva slid the plate forward.
We all took a bite, and there was a collective silence as we savored it.
"Deva, this is divine," I said finally, unable to hide my smile.
