Chapter Three

MARIGOLD

The alarm on my phone is ringing but I'm already awake. It's the opening day of Cakeology and I couldn't be more excited. After yesterday's fiasco, I was worried we wouldn't get here, but when I returned to the shop and the firemen were gone, I breathed a sigh of relief. Logan told me they didn't find anything that would keep us from opening but I definitely had work to do.

That's fine. I'll worry about it this weekend, but for today? We're going for it.

Picking up my cell to shut off the alarm, I see a text.

Poppy: Hey girl! It's opening day! I love you and am so damn proud of you! Also, fuck that guy!

I chuckle to myself as I read the text from my cousin. Poppy is my aunt's daughter, on my mom's side, and we've been inseparable since we were kids. Our moms married brothers, which was weird to me as a kid, but now I see how it's so easy to do. When your inner circle is all you hang out with, you fall in love with them. She's a few years older than me, but has always treated me as an equal. We used to get into a shit ton of trouble… she's the one who gave me my first drink, my first smoke and introduced me to my ex.

We'll let that last one slide.

But she's crazy fun, a little feral and loves fiercely, and I miss her so much.

Me: When are you coming to visit? I miss you

Poppy: Soon, baby doll! We're going to get wild in that new town of yours!

Growing up, her and I would spend the weekends with our grandma, baking. It became a weekly event that we would both spend the night at her house on Friday's after school and Saturday we would wake early and bake. I quickly grew to love it and made it a standing weekend event, even when Poppy dropped off. I loved it. I loved taste testing when Grandma wasn't looking. I loved learning special secrets to flavoring but most of all, I loved being next to her. It felt like I was getting one of a kind lessons from an innovative baker. I held onto every little bit she told me and would run home and write it all down when the weekend would come to an end.

Grandma told me she took great pride in being the one everyone in town came to when they needed a specialty cake or dessert. She never accepted payment, she just loved to experience the stories of why the special dessert was needed. And then of course afterwards, hearing how everyone loved it and it made the day even sweeter.

So as soon as I was able, I bought my first place. It was a tiny hole in the wall, but being in my hometown, I thought I would build upon that memory. And with my boyfriend by my side, I thought I could take on the world.

Turns out, he was taking on the world one girl at a time.

Shortly after opening my first shop, things went south quickly. I loved him and relied on his opinions and knowledge. I had never owned a business before, and was excited to do this together. But when he began to chastise my lack of knowledge, and put down any idea I had, I had second thoughts.

And once I found out he was cheating, it was a slap in the face.

I left as fast as I could.

I found this little establishment in the heart of Love Beach and I knew it was just the place for me. I was hoping it wouldn't be another small town disaster like I'd left, but the atmosphere is different here. I already feel like I fit in.

"Good morning! Welcome to Cakeology!" The line in the store is pretty solid. Logan and I are hustling at a good pace. We're taking coffee orders and pulling sweets from the case. We're moving in sync and I can't keep the smile from my face.

Until he walks in.

Before I even make eye contact, I hear the voice and sense Logan's change in demeanor.

"Good morning, Goldie!" Maddox bellows into the bakery.

There's a slight chuckle before I hear Logan say, "Hey, stud." Then I hear a hand slap.

Did they just high five each other?

"I'm heading into the station now so I'll take a coffee to go and the sweetest dessert you have in a box."

Turning to him, I narrow my eyes at his comment. I grab a to-go-cup and fill it with coffee. "How do you take it?"

"Any way you want to give it."

"You'll be wearing it if it was up to me."

He barks out a laugh. "Goldie! Is that anyway to speak to the guy who saved your ass yesterday?"

I spin on him. "Saved my ass?"

"I'd let him save my ass," Logan whispers in my ear and I shove him aside.

He's biting into the brown sugar Danish I made earlier this morning and a bit of sugar clings to his lips. When his tongue snakes out to catch it, it mesmerizes me. Frozen in my spot, I force myself to look away from his perfectly styled hair and amazing square jaw with that little dimple in the middle.

He talks around the bite in his mouth. "Yup. Saved your ass. I could have shut this place down. But your boy Logan here?—"

"Our boy." Logan crosses his arms across his chest with a smirk.

"Excuse me. Our boy told me how much it meant to you to open today, so I did everything I could to make sure that happened."

"Really." I pop my hip. "Everything you could, including cutting a hole in my wall and ceiling? Everything you could including making a report to the town inspector that my place needs to pass code enforcement by the fifteenth of this month? Gosh, I'd hate to see what you go out of your way for your friends for."

Shrugging he takes another bite and looks behind me, pointedly at the coffee cup. It takes all I have not to grab it and throw it at him. "I don't make the rules, I just follow them, Ms. James."

His pompous look tells me he's full of shit.

That pompous look also has my heart racing.

Shut it down heart, not here, not now.

"MJ! We've got customers. Brew that coffee and move it along!"

Hearing Logan's voice snaps me out of my trance. Turning to grab the coffee, I dump some milk and sugar in it, not caring how much, place the top on it and push it across the counter. "That'll be seven seventy-five."

He holds my eyes and reaches for his wallet. Pulling out a ten, he pushes it towards me and grabs his coffee. "Keep the change." And he's gone before I'm able to argue.

"Oooh, girl." I close my eyes at Logan's voice, shaking my head. "Don't shake your head. That man has it bad for you."

"He does not. He's trying to throw his weight around."

"I'd let him throw his weight on me."

"Logan!"

"Ms. James, you have customers. We can argue later." Logan turns his back on me and immediately begins helping the next customer in line.

Taking a breath, I move back to the counter, plastering a smile on my face as I greet another customer. But against my better judgment, my mind is wandering with all the ways I can help the one customer who won't leave my thoughts.