The nickname Last-Minute Maddie came to mind, but Olivia thought it best to leave it unsaid.
Maddie took Lucas by the hand and led him toward the kitchen. He reminded Olivia of a huge little boy being taken off to choose his first pony.
While she hurriedly counted bills into the cash register and checked the receipt, Olivia found herself wondering about Lucas Ashford. For such an attractive man, Lucas had left very little impression on her over the years. He was somewhat older, so they hadn’t crossed paths much in high school. She remembered him as a quiet boy, good-looking even then, but not one to chase the girls. As far as she remembered, he hadn’t participated in any sports, despite his height and strong build. She’d seen him working at his parents’ hardware store more often than at school events.
If Lucas had ever been deeply involved with a woman, Olivia hadn’t heard about it. Not that she’d been around all that much after high school. Her mother would be the one to ask. It was a conversation worth having, Olivia decided. For some reason, as yet unclear, she was feeling protective of Maddie. Well, she was her best friend, after all, but it was more than that. Maddie had been engaged, right out of high school, to her first boyfriend, and it hadn’t turned out well. Olivia had spent the summer following graduation helping Maddie piece herself together again. To others, Maddie might seem open to whatever life had to offer, but she had a well-earned cautious streak. Until a few minutes ago, Olivia had assumed Maddie’s ongoing crush on Lucas to be her way of staying in a safe zone, since he seemed unlikely to notice her flirting, let alone respond in kind.
Now, it seemed, the situation had changed. Olivia shifted to mother-hen mode, and protectiveness came with the package.
With one minute to spare, Olivia took a quick walk around the store to make sure all was in place. She was heading back toward the front when she heard a firm knock on the door. Expecting a customer with a fast watch, Olivia opened the door wide. And there stood Tammy, fist raised to knock again. She’d forgotten all about seeing Tammy march toward The Gingerbread House.
“Hi there,” Olivia said. “Weren’t you headed this way about twenty minutes ago? I could have sworn it was you.”
“Of course it was,” Tammy said. She pushed past Olivia and closed the front door behind her. “You can open a minute or two late, can’t you? I can’t stand the suspense, tell me what happened.” At the look of puzzlement on Olivia’s face, she added, “What happened with Lucas? As soon as I saw him knock on your door, I decided to wait. I can’t believe my plans are going so well.”
When Olivia still didn’t respond—confusion had rendered her wordless—Tammy became petulant. “Come on, Livie, I set this up for you; the least you can do is tell me how it went. I’ve set up a little afternoon party at my place for tomorrow, and Hugh will be there, too, and I invited Lucas. You didn’t tell him no, did you? After all the trouble I went to?”
“Tammy, I honestly have no idea what you’re talking about.” As soon as the words left her mouth, that rock-in-the-stomach feeling hit her—the one she used to get when she remembered the correct answer right as the exam ended. Tammy was trying to get Lucas and her together, which was never going to happen. That was bad enough, but she was willing to bet that any second now—yep, there it was, the kitchen door opening. Please let Lucas have left by the back door .
“Livie, fun news,” Maddie called across the store. “You and I are invited to a shindig at Tammy’s house tomorrow afternoon, and Lucas asked me to be his date.” Maddie’s arm was looped through Lucas’s elbow. They both grinned like teenagers posing for their prom picture.
Spotting Tammy, Maddie said, “Hey, Tam, thanks for the invite.” For once, she sounded friendly to Tammy. As Olivia watched, Maddie’s smile sagged and she drew Lucas back into the kitchen with her.
Olivia wanted to follow them.
Tammy’s face had turned a shade that would be, if Olivia were to describe it in icing colors, terra cotta with perhaps a drop of electric purple. “I need you there tomorrow,” Tammy said. “It’s really important to me.”
“Then I’ll be there.”
Tammy sniffled and pulled a folded tissue from the pocket of her skirt. “Good,” she said, dabbing the tip of her nose. “Two o’clock and wear a dress. Oh, and bring along the leftover cookies.”
Three hours into the spring event, The Gingerbread House was packed with customers, and Olivia caught herself scanning for Clarisse Chamberlain’s tall, silver-haired figure. Clarisse had never missed an event at the store. If she were here, Olivia thought, she’d take one look at this crowd, hang her coat in the kitchen, and start working the floor as an unpaid clerk. She would dismiss Olivia’s objections with a wave of her hand, saying, “It takes me back to my youth.”
The crush of customers would ease soon with lunchtime approaching. The flower cookie contest was drawing to a close, and Maddie was about to announce the lucky recipient of a free cookie-decorating lesson. After that, most townsfolk would wander off to their various weekend activities. Most customers from farther away would disappear by midafternoon as well.
From the amount of cash in the register, Olivia figured the event was the most successful they’d hosted so far, but she hadn’t enjoyed it much. She remembered that last summer vacation to Cape Cod, when she was fifteen. Every year her family had traveled to the same lakeside spot and stayed for two weeks. After each visit, they would leave a down payment for the same two weeks, at the same cottage, for the following summer. Six months before that last visit, Olivia’s father had died of pancreatic cancer. He was diagnosed in mid-January and gone by the end of February. Right after the diagnosis, he’d made the family promise to go back to the cottage in Cape Cod, even if he wasn’t around to go with them. They’d kept that promise, even gone swimming every day and eaten dinners at the same little seafood restaurant, but the comfortable joy of it had died with her father. They never went back.
Clarisse had been so much a part of The Gingerbread House’s creation, even before Maddie became half the team. Clarisse had prodded, advised, and cheered every step of the way. Olivia didn’t want to lose her love for The Gingerbread House the way she had for that lovely lake in Cape Cod. She knew she’d have to find out what really happened to Clarisse. Even if the truth came with a high price tag.
Meanwhile, Olivia badly needed a break, and Spunky would welcome a walk. He was willing to use puppy pads, but he hated being cooped up for long. With no customers claiming her attention, Olivia joined the small group surrounding Maddie as she announced the name of the customer who’d identified the most flower cookies. The contenders consisted of seven women and one man—Lucas Ashford.
“And the winner is . . .” Maddie made full use of her considerable theatric sensibility by pausing to meet the eyes of each contestant, stoking the delightful agony of anticipation.
Olivia had a bad feeling right before the winner’s name emerged from Maddie’s mouth. She wouldn’t, would she?
“Our own Lucas Ashford.”
She would.
After a moment of hesitation, the losers clapped politely, mostly because they knew and liked Lucas. However, they dispersed quickly, heads bending toward each other and shaking. The Heights Hardware might sell petunias and pansies in the spring, but Lucas didn’t garden and everyone knew it. Moreover, Lucas had followed Maddie around all day, hanging on her every outrageous word. She and Maddie were due for a private discussion about insider trading.
A few moments later, Maddie joined Olivia at the cash register. Frizzy red tendrils had escaped from the confection of curls she’d created for her role, but otherwise Maddie looked as if she’d awakened from a refreshing nap. Olivia found this irritating.