Lily joined the conversation then. “Oh, where are you headed?”
“Camping at Big Sur,” Byron said.
Erik flicked a glance at Richard’s slim-fit suit and shined-up shoes, and the man raised a brow. “Don’t let my fine exterior fool you. This Georgia boy can hunt.”
“Oh boy, here we go.” Byron sighed. “And we made those plans before my new lack of mobility.”
“Then we’ll just have to get a hotel room and spend all our time in bed,” Richard murmured, and once again Erik was reminded of what it looked like when two people were truly in love.
Once the kissing had died down, Lily asked, “Can I steal them now to finalize the flowers?”
“Sure. I’ll start boxing.” Erik stacked their empty plates and moved his portion of the show-and-tell off the countertop, carrying it all into the back room where he rinsed the plates and set about transferring the remains of the cake to the glossy box he’d brought with him for that purpose. Before their… whatever… Josie had ordered large stickers with his logo and contact information on them, and as he’d stuck them on a few boxes that morning, he’d wondered if she’d be pleased he was bowing to her branding efforts and plastering his face on something.
His hands stilled as he closed up the box. He was a baker with his own bakery. It was real, thanks to her. And Josie had vanished from his life, a little sooner than expected, but better now than later, after he’d gottenreallyattached, right? The past week had only felt a little bit like torture.
He dawdled in the back as long as he could before pushing through the swinging door to face Josie’s friends once again. He set the box in front of Richard and, transaction concluded, prepared to gather his things and depart.
“Hey, Man Bun.”
He turned slowly, frowning to mask the pang in his heart at hearing Josie’s pet name for him. Richard tapped a finger to his lips and studied him for a long moment.
“You’re the one setting up the cake next week, right?”
Erik nodded, already dreading whom he might bump into there. Okay, dreading bumping into Josie. It would probably be smart to set it all up early and get the hell out.
“Have you got plans afterward?”
“I— No. Why?” he asked suspiciously.
Richard glanced at his fiancé, who inclined his head.
“Consider yourself invited to the wedding,” Byron said. “Set up the cake and stay for the whole thing.”
Erik opened his mouth to decline, but Richard jumped in. “Please. We had a few last-minute cancellations, and you’ve been so kind to us. Just come and watch us say a few vows. Then you can enjoy the sight of everyone demolishing all your hard work.”
“We promise not to smash any cake into each other’s faces,” Byron said with a delicate shudder.
“Thanks, but—”
“Oh, come on. Live a little.” That last voice belonged to Lily, and he turned to her in surprise. She shrugged. “They just invited me and Grant too. We can sit together at the oddballs table.”
“No oddballs at our wedding,” Richard said. “Just old friends and new ones. We’re grateful to you both, and we have a few empty seats to fill. No pressure. And it would mean so much to us.”
No. Say no. For God’s sake, man, open your mouth and say no.But one thought strangled his vocal cords: filmy blue fabric. He hadn’t been able to forget the dress Josie would wear as Richard’s attendant during the ceremony. It was soft. It was short. And God, did he want to see her in it even if she spent the night freezing him out, as he deserved. The dress had come to represent everything elegant and untouchable about her since she’d shown it to him when he’d visited her apartment, and it had featured in more than a few of his solo shower fantasies since then. And now he was being offered the chance to see her wearing it in the flesh.
Only an idiot would say no. Only a masochist would say yes.
“Thank you. I’ll be there,” he said gruffly, and this time Lily joined Richard and Byron in a round of meaningful glances.
Dammit. This was a setup, wasn’t it? They were plotting a scenario presumably involving Josie and either his humiliation or his apology. He should tell them all to go to hell.
And yet.This would give him the opportunity to explain things to her in person since she was only communicating with him in terse emails ever since last Sunday. Question was, did he have enough words inside him to do it?
He didn’t have an answer by the time he left Lily’s shop, rode the train home, and walked the block to his apartment. Well, Gina’s apartment now; she was officially his subletter, and he was officially moved into the second floor of the bakery.
He let himself into the transformed space; in less than a week, she’d turned it from a hovel into a home. His feet sank into the jewel-toned rug on the floor, and he set his serving supplies on a coffee table decorated with oversized art books and a decorative bowl of some sort. In the corner, Gina was engrossed in a project on her elaborate computer setup.
“Hi.” She swiveled in her chair to face him. “How’d it— Whoa, why do you look shell-shocked?”
