“All right, no family discount.”
“The thought never crossed my mind.”
Enzo switches to Italian as he tells Dominic the name of the wedding planner and that he’ll give her the name of the head chef, and he asks what number to give her. Confirming the number for the club, he ends the call.
“My cousin’s club will do the
catering. Here’s the number of the chef, Stefano. Tonight we’ll go over and do a tasting.”
The wedding favors are made easy by Enzo suggesting a bottle of Macallan whisky and Krug champagne. Candice suggests also doing a small gift basket of macarons and chocolate truffles the baker we’re using is popular for.
We take Enzo’s car, with Everett driving us to the bakery a few miles away. The baker is a sweet younger woman named Eleanor who doesn’t look a day over twenty-one. Her chubby face is red with excitement as she takes us through a book filled with pictures of cakes.
“Their colors are silver and pink.”
“How pretty. Favorite cake flavor?”
Without hesitation I say, “Red velvet,” At the same time Enzo says it too. For the first time in what feels like forever, we share a smile. This crazy, insane day feels better with him here now, us going through all of this together like a real couple.
“I also don’t want any fondant. The stuff tastes like crap, I want a real cream cheese frosting.” Enzo frowns.
Eleanor smiles weakly as she nods. “Okay, I, um, I understand, not everyone is a fan of fondant. We bakers like it because it’s easy to work with, but I can do cream cheese icing.”
“I like that one.” I stop at a simple two-tier circle cake in a pale lavender on the bottom cake, with a smaller white cake on top. I look up to Enzo. He nods.
“We can do the bottom in pink and the top in white, but what kind of pink soft, bright?” She flips the book to the back, where there’s a long line of variations of pink I wouldn’t have thought of. I pick a color.
“I don’t like the ribbon though that separates the two layers.”
“How about silver sugar balls instead?” she asks as she flips to a cake that has what she’s talking about. I nod. “Okay. How about on the top for interest? Maybe roses?” Another cake with roses on top.
“I’ve never been into roses.”
“Hmm...how about...” She flips to another page with nothing but flowers.
“What are those? I really like those.”
“Those are peonies. They are popular wedding flowers and they smell amazing.”
I look to Candice. “I definitely want those.” She nods and makes a note.
“How about a small bouquet of three in pink and silver?”
“I like it.” Enzo, who smiles and nods.
“Okay, let’s start tasting some cake truffles so you can decide which ones you want in the gift bag.”
Almost an hour later, we leave with a bag full of goodies. I learned Enzo loves chocolate; he smiled more in that hour than I have ever seen him smile.
We drop Candice at her office. “I know we just had way too much sugar, but I’m hungry for real food. Want to grab dinner at the club so we can taste test our way through the menu?”
“Yes, please. I’m actually feeling a little queasy.”
“You need protein and plenty of water to get the sugar out of your system. Come on.”
I’ve seen the private club often, but I’ve never been inside. The rumor is it’s one of the best restaurants in the city. And that there’s gambling in the basement.
We’re shown to a quiet table in the back. Dominic arrives at our table almost ten minutes after we’re seated. I’m not surprised when Dominic and Enzo hug; I am surprised when Dominic offers me one. “Are you going to forgive me?”