She giggles, and I feel like I’ve won the lottery. “Well, we were left with an extra pan. I wanted to make sure we had enough good ones to sell, and I ended up making too many. So, Knox helped me deliver the pan to the bakery and we took the other one to Tansy’s.”
“Oh?” I ask as I pull off the main road and head toward the vineyard. “How did she like them?”
“She loved them, Walker,” she says, her voice growing more excited. “It was Knox’s idea to take them over to The Gilded Lady. We walked in with them and Tansy was pretty busy, so we sat off to the side and just sort of waited. And guess what?”
“What?”
“People started coming up to me and asking what they were. Asking how I made them. All sorts of stuff. When things slowed down, Tansy came over and asked me how much I was selling them for.”
“What did you tell her?”
She shrugs. “I gave her the first one for free, just so she could enjoy it. Cinnamon rolls without any sort of icing are always hit or miss with crowds, but the compote I use for these cherry-rhubarb becomes so syrupy after baking that what rises to the top sort of acts like an icing, you know?”
“I did not know, but now I do.”
She squeezes my hand, her voice growing more excited. “So, anyway, she sits down with us. Knox and I end up having a cinnamon roll as well. And guess what Tansy asks?”
As we pull through the main gate of the vineyard, I chance another look at her. “Let me guess. She wanted to know if you could make a pan for her.”
She balks. “How did you know?”
I can’t help the grin that slides across my face. “Because you’re good at what you do, beautiful. It doesn’t shock me one bit that Tansy wants to know what else you can contribute.”
The blush that covers her cheeks makes me want to kiss her.
It also makes me crave to make her flush with that color in other places.
“Well,” she says as I park my vehicle in a little detached garage off to the side of the main building of the vineyard, “I ended up giving my information to Tansy. I told her that my specialty is danishes and pastries, but I have a love for custom cakes. I’m not the best at decorating them, but coming up with flavors and compotes to put in the middle? Love that stuff.”
“Did she take your information?”
“With the promise of giving me a call once she gets swamped with wedding cake season.”
I roll the top up on my convertible before getting out. I jog around to her side just as she’s opening the door, and I catch it from her hand before offering her mine. She doesn’t hesitate to take my help, and it swells my chest with pride.
This is going well so far.
Then again, it went well with Rachel during our first date, too.
“Summer’s a big wedding season around here,” I say as I link her arm with mine and usher her out of the garage. “Sounds like you may have picked up a new client.”
“I’m hoping so.” She places her other hand on my forearm, allowing me to guide her. “Bakeries in the big cities always have competition, so I never worry about looking like competition there. But in small towns like this with only one bakery? I’m always so afraid of stepping on people’s toes.”
“Competition is healthy in the business world,” I say as I open the door to the main building for her. “The Gilded Lady’s only competition are the pies the diner makes in-house. There’s plenty of room for everyone in this town as far as sweets are concerned.”
“Knox told me I should give them a go, too, since the pies at the pie-eating contest were such a hit.”
I chuckle. “He would know. Knox has never won those eating contests before, though he tries every year.”
“Wait, seriously?”
“Seriously. He’s never been a quick eater, always comes in dead last. But he inhaled your pie. I think you should give it a shot with the diner if it went well enough with Tansy.”
“Huh. Maybe I will.”
Good.
Very good.
