“I promise there’s not, it’s just late and…” She started.
“What?” I prompted when she didn’t continue.
“I don’t know,” she shrugged, “it just seems like you should do something nice to apologize. He’s really torn up.”
“He’s torn up?” I snapped. “What about me?” I pointed to my chest. “What about what I feel? Huh? The past ten days have been hell for me.”
“I’m not saying they haven’t, but…let’s face it,” she played with the ends of her hair, a nervous gesture, “Jude pursued you, I think it’s time for you to do a little chasing of your own.”
I narrowed my eyes. “This ‘chasing’ you speak of sounds a lot like groveling. I won’t beg him to take me back.” It had nothing to do with pride, but I wasn’t going to turn into a pathetic mess because he wouldn’t take me back—at least not in front of him. In the comfort of my home? Now that was a different story.
“No,” she laughed. “I just think he deserves a romantic gesture.”
“What if he laughs at me?” I frowned.
Rowan sighed. “I’m not saying it needs to be something overly romantic and gooey. Do something from your heart. Something that will make him smile.” She threw her arm over my shoulder. “Come on, we’ll talk about it over dinner. I’m sure between the two of us we can come up with something brilliant to blow his mind.”
Chapter Twenty Eight
“Lucinda,” I walked up to my boss, nervously fiddling with my fingers.
She looked up from the cupcakes she was icing, arching her brow in question.
I decided not to mess around, because if I stalled too long I’d lose my nerve to ask for her help. “I…uh…I made a mistake.”
“With the register?” She asked, flicking gray hair out of her eyes with a shake of her head.
“No,” I laughed, but it came out nervous sounding, “with my boyfriend.”
“Oh, I’m sorry,” she stood up straight. “But I don’t understand why you’re telling me this.”
“You see,” I fidgeted restlessly with unease. “I want to apologize to him, but my friend says I need to do something romantic so I was thinking…”
“Yeah?” She asked, icing more cupcakes while she waited for me to get on with it.
“I want to make him a cake, and I know how to make a cake, that isn’t the problem…”
“So, what’s the problem?” She asked. “I’ll help you in anyway I can,” she smiled, alleviating some of my stress.
“He loves gummy bears, so—”
“You want to make him a gummy bear cake,” she chuckled, setting the bag of icing to the side. Wiping her hands on her apron she said, “I can do that, but you’re helping. I have to head out of here in a little bit, but we can do it first thing in the morning and I’ll give you the rest of the day off tomorrow so you can, hopefully, make up.” She winked and picked up the icing bag once more.
“Thank you!” I cried. I was a bit upset I had to wait till tomorrow morning—probably the afternoon by the time the cake would be done and I could get it to him—but I would take this as a victory.
I returned to the front and Bryce stepped away from the register so I could take over.
“From the smile on your face, I’m going to guess it went well.” I’d already told Bryce my idea and he’d thought it was great. His exact words had been, ‘No man can resist the temptation of a cake and a hot girl holding it.’ He’d looked me up and down then, grinning slowly before adding, ‘You should totally hide in his room and when he opens the door you’ll be standing there naked holding the cake.’
I’d responded by telling him to shut his mouth and that I bet his girlfriend wouldn’t like hearing him say that. Having met his girlfriend, a pretty redhead named Charlotte, I couldn’t help wondering how those two ended up together. While Bryce was loud and said whatever he wanted, Charlotte was quiet and barely spoke. Maybe that’s why they worked. They did say opposites attract, and look how opposite Jude and I were and I loved him deeply.
“It did,” I finally answered him, “she said she would help.”
“Sweeeet,” he rubbed his hands together. “I told you she’d be in.”
“Why are you so excited?” I asked, leaning my hip against the counter. “It’s not like you’re getting any cake.”
He chuckled, crossing his arms over his chest and leaned against the wall. His shaggy dark hair fell forward, shielding his face. He always reminded me of a dog for some reason when he did that. His personality was kind of dog like too—super friendly and frighteningly hyper.