Page 29 of Icing on Top

I took Bash’s hands in mine and clapped them together as I bounced him on my knee, letting his giggles distract me from the knot in my stomach.

“Yes…”

“Text him.”

“But—”

Jada lifted her head enough to raise an eyebrow at me. We both knew that I had no excuse not to. Except for the fact that I was developing a major crush on him. Having spent time with him alone, I’d gotten to see more of his personality. Not only finding him physically attractive, but enjoying being around him as well was very dangerous territory. And I was about to walk right into the lion’s den.

“Fine,” I muttered, reaching for my phone.

Her expression turned smug as she resumed typing. “The mom look always works.”

“I’m not Bash.” I adjusted said toddler in my lap so he couldn’t grab my phone. “You can’t use your mom tactics on me.”

“Oh, but I do. You just don’t realize it.”

The door from the garage opened then, and Levi entered, kicking off his boots in the mudroom before joining us. He hesitated in the doorway, bright blue eyes jumping from me to Jada and back again.

“Do I want to know why my wife looks like the cat that got the cream?”

I opened my mouth, but Jada beat me to it. “Zo got asked to go to that hockey player’s house to help him and his daughter bake cupcakes.”

“Langfield?” Now Levi was excited, too.

“Ex-hockey player,” I corrected.

Jada just waved her hand dismissively. “Potayto, potahto.”

If I really wanted to be petty, I would have pointed out that the real saying was “tomayto, tomahto”, but I kept my mouth shut and returned my attention to my phone. I had gotten as far as opening my contacts app, and that was it.

I was making a mountain out of a mole hill in the extreme. Jeremiah would probably think nothing of getting my text. As Jada had pointed out, it was a logical question to ask. I didn’t want to assume they wanted vanilla cupcakes when it was the most basic flavor by far. If Charlie was going to have the best baked goods at the sale, she shouldn’t be bringing basic cupcakes that anyone could make.

His name was the first to pop up when I typed the letter L, and I quickly tapped the message icon before I could second guess myself anymore. As if he knew this was important business, Bash sat completely still in my lap for once, his eyes locked on the lit-up screen. Thank God he couldn’t read yet.

I tapped the side of my phone as I waited, not daring to glance up at Jada or Levi.

My traitorous lips curled up into a smile.

I’m looking forward to it? Could I be any more of a dork?

Chapter 13

Zoe

Jada was going to be sorely disappointed. The Langfield home was a modest, run-of-the-mill ranch house located in one of the suburbs surrounding the city. However, it was still a decent sized home, especially in comparison to the bungalow my aunt and uncle lived in.

I took a deep breath in an attempt to settle the kaleidoscope of butterflies that had taken up residence in my stomach as of late. They’d been idly fluttering throughout the day when things got slow enough at work for me to remember that I would be in Jeremiah’s home tonight for a lengthy period of time.

At some point, I was able to talk myself up enough to actually press the doorbell. I shifted the bag from one hand to the other as I waited. Jeremiah had requested a list of the ingredients needed, but I’d brought my trusty hand-mixer and other cooking utensils that I thought the average person might not have on hand in their kitchen. Especially someone who rarely, if ever, baked.

There was the sound of solid footsteps drawing near before the lock clicked and the door opened to reveal a very casual-looking Jeremiah in joggers and a plain white tee. The magical effects of a basic white t-shirt on a man really needed to be researched.

“Hi,” he greeted. Then his eyes locked in on the bag. “Here, let me take that from you.”

It took me a second longer than normal to respond.

“Oh. Sure! Thank you.”