The Chesapeake Diaries Series (127 page)

“Thank you,” she said. “If you hadn’t grabbed onto the box on the bottom when you did, I might have lost all of them. And then I’d really be screwed.”

“Cupcakes, right?” He gestured toward the boxes on the ground.

She nodded. “They’re probably mush now. Orange mush. Yum.” She couldn’t believe this was happening.

He leaned over and lifted the lid of a box at his feet. “These don’t look too bad. You might have lost one or two, but you can salvage most of them.” He closed the lid and looked into the next box. “These, too.” He looked up at Brooke. “When you get inside you can touch them up and no one will be the wiser.”

“She’ll know,” Brooke told him. “She’ll know and she’ll be feeling really really smug about the fact that I screwed up.”

“I thought you guys were all friends.”

“I meant Deanna. She’s the caterer. She has the reputation for only serving things she’s prepared herself when she does a job, but Dallas told her they wanted me to do the desserts, so she had to let me. I spoke with her on the phone a few days ago and she has a major attitude toward me, like she’s sure my cupcakes couldn’t possibly live up to her standards. I, of course,
assured her that they would.” Brooke tried unsuccessfully to blow an errant strand of hair from her forehead. “Now I have a mess and I’m late on top of it.”

Jesse picked up one of the boxes from the sidewalk and opened it, held it so she could look inside.

“You don’t think you could salvage any of these?” he asked.

She peered into the box.

“Maybe a few,” she conceded, “but I don’t have time to go all the way back to the farm and then back here again.”

“What would you need to fix them?”

“A knife, for starters.” She looked into the box again. “Maybe some orange rind.”

He picked up the other boxes and stacked them neatly, then lifted them carefully. “You go on inside with those, I’ll take these with me. You tell the caterer you have more and you’ll be back in a minute with the rest. Then you run around the corner to my house—”

“You live around the corner?” she asked.

“I’m renting a house on Hudson. Three houses down from the corner here. You drop those off—”

“Please. Not the D-word.”

“Sorry. Take a deep breath, take the cupcakes inside, then come over and do whatever repair job you need to do, then bring them back. No one needs to know.”

“It could work,” she said thoughtfully. “I could at least fix up a few of them.” She nodded as if convincing herself. “There’s a bag in the back of the car with
some fruit that I brought to use in the presentation. Maybe I could—”

“You can. Of course you can.” He walked backward for a few steps in the direction of the corner. “Four twenty-nine Hudson.”

“Thanks, Jesse. I don’t know how to thank you.”

“The front door will be open.” He turned and jogged off.

Ten minutes later, having been chastised for her tardiness by the caterer from hell, Brooke all but ran up the steps at 429 Hudson Street. The door, as promised, was open.

“Jesse?” she called.

He stepped into the narrow foyer through an arched doorway. “Come on back.”

“I cannot believe what a bitch that woman is.” Brooke stripped off her jacket on the way to the kitchen. “You’d think we were serving dessert first instead of last. And she was still arranging the canapés, so it’s not as if she’s ready either.”

“Got chewed out, did you?”

“A little.” Brooke looked around the kitchen of Jesse’s rented house. Wooden cabinets, walls, old Formica counters—all in the same shade of dull green. “Wow. Haven’t seen this much green since, I dunno, maybe never.”

“It’s depressing if you stare at it too long,” he agreed, and handed her a butter knife. She noticed then that he’d taken all the cupcakes out of their boxes and placed them on the table. “I thought it would save you time if you could see all the patients before you started to operate.”

“Thanks, Jesse.” Brooke took a quick inventory of the damages. “You’re right. I can do this. Maybe not every one of them. But a good many …”

She started with the cupcakes closest to her and began to remove their decorations. “I can’t use these pretty little flowers. They’re too messy.” She glanced up at Jesse. “Do you have a really sharp, small knife?”

“Maybe. The cutlery’s all in this drawer, if you want to take a look.” He opened the drawer and stood aside. “Anything I can do?”

“Thanks, but no. I’m going to have to figure this out as I go along.” She smoothed the smooshed frosting on all the cupcakes that had bits of orange rind on them before rinsing the knife, drying it, and starting over with the lemon.

“If you don’t need me, I’m going to run upstairs and grab a shower and get dressed. Just close the front door when you leave.”

“Jesse, I can’t thank you enough.”

He smiled. “I’ll see you at Vanessa’s.”

She looked up to see him leave the room on long tanned legs, then took a second look. The lawyer looked damned good in shorts. How had she not noticed?

The story around St. Dennis was that the previous occupant of the house Vanessa Keaton shared with her guy, Grady Shields, was still in residence—in spirit only, of course, Alice Ridgeway having passed from this life about two years ago. Brooke was one of the skeptics, however, so when the chatter at Steffie and Wade’s engagement party turned to a possible unseen guest, she excused herself from the conversation and took the opportunity to slip into the kitchen.

“I was just going to send someone to look for you.” Deanna, the caterer, glanced up from the counter when Brooke entered the room. “We’re going to start cleaning up from the dinner buffet. Start getting your desserts ready.”

“Good timing,” Brooke replied. Hoping to ingratiate herself with Deanna, she added an honest compliment. “By the way, everything was delicious. You guys earned an A-plus in my book.”

“Thanks.”

Deanna passed a stack of empty plates to one of her helpers.

Vanessa swept into the room in a tea-length rose chiffon dress. “How are we doing in here?”

“We’re doing fine. I’m just getting the desserts ready. The party is fabulous,” Brooke told her.

“The party
is
fabulous, thank you. Deanna, the food was everything you promised. Everyone’s raving about the Asian beef and the roasted vegetables.”

Deanna’s “thank you” was overlooked as Vanessa paused to watch Brooke stack cupcakes on one of several three-tiered displays she’d brought with her. “Oh, look. These match my dress.” She pointed to a trio of dark rose cupcakes that were still in the box.

“That one’s raspberry,” Brooke told her. “It has a little bit of ganache inside as a little surprise.”

“Oh, yum.” Vanessa picked one out and peeled the paper back. “Sorry. I can’t wait.” She took a bite. “So delicious. So … oh, man, that ganache just blends perfectly with the raspberry in the frosting. Wow, Brooke. Just … wow.”

Deanna’s head lifted and her eyes shifted to the cupcakes.

“Glad you’re enjoying it.” Brooke’s smile was sheer satisfaction. She’d worked for several hours to ensure that the flavors of the ganache and the frosting balanced each other. The look on Vanessa’s face told her she’d succeeded. “Ness, you have frosting on the right side of your mouth.”

“I’m so happy that everything worked out just right tonight.” Vanessa grabbed a napkin and touched it to the spot. “Did I get it?”

Brooke nodded. “Everything looks beautiful. I love the decorations.”

Deanna’s head came up again and she sighed heavily, as if disturbed by the chatter.

“Steffie loves those little white fairy lights. She says she’s going to have her entire wedding reception built around them.” Vanessa rolled her eyes. “As long as she doesn’t set them all to ‘blink’ at the same time, it should be fine.”

“Speaking of which, Dallas just told me that she and Steffie have agreed to have their weddings on the same day at the inn.” Brooke went back to stacking the cupcakes.

“I saw her speaking with Grace in the foyer a few minutes ago. I wonder if she’s told her about needing a more experienced wedding planner.”

“She did and Grace agreed.” Steffie came in through the door that led into the dining room and deposited an empty champagne bottle in Vanessa’s recycling bin. “Deanna, everything is to die for. Your reputation is well earned.”

“Thank you,” Deanna replied somewhat stiffly. “I’m glad you’re satisfied.”

“Totally,” Steffie assured her.

“So Grace is going to talk to Lucy?” Vanessa asked.

Steffie shook her head. “Grace suggested that Dallas call Lucy directly. She thinks it will have more of an impact if Dallas asks her, and she’s probably right.”

“How does an event planner say no when Dallas MacGregor asks her to do her wedding?” Brooke nodded. “Makes sense to me.”

“Right. So Dallas is going to give her a call tomorrow.” Steffie watched Brooke open another white box of cupcakes. “Can I have that white one? The one with all the coconut on top?”

Brooke handed it to her.

“I love vanilla. It’s my favorite flavor,” Steffie told them.

“I thought lemon was your favorite,” Vanessa reminded her.

“That, too.” Steffie bit into the small cake. “This is too delicious for words. I want these for my wedding.”

“Since I understand that’s going to be a shared event, you might want to discuss it with your future sister-in-law,” Brooke pointed out. “She might have other ideas.”

“We already talked about it. We’re having wedding cake
and
cupcakes.” Steffie took another bite. “Everything frosty white, like snow, since it’s going to be winter. Except you guys are all going to wear plaid.”

“Plaid?” Vanessa and Brooke asked at the same time.

“Uh-huh.” Steffie took the last bite, then wiped her hands on a napkin. “The MacGregor tartan. You’ll love it.”

“Does this mean Wade is going to wear a kilt?”

“Brooke, what a great idea.” Steffie nodded. “I like it.” Steffie turned as one of the waitstaff carried a tray in and set it on the counter near the sink.

Vanessa opened the refrigerator. “We need more champagne for the toast.”

“I’ll take care of it,” Deanna told her. “You just go on back out there and enjoy your party.”

“Oh. Well, in that case, sure.” Vanessa took Steffie’s arm. “Come on, guest of honor. Let’s find your guy and get ready for some toasting.”

“You, too, Brooke,” Steffie told her.

“I’ll be out in just a minute.” Brooke finished setting up the tiered displays and stepped back to admire her work. “Nice,” she said to herself.

“We’ll take it from here, Brooke.” Deanna held the door open as her staff filed in, carrying the plates and bowls and trays they’d removed from the dining room. “If you’re finished …?”

“I have a few trays to do, but you can go on and put those displays out as soon as the dining room table is clear.” Brooke arranged cupcakes on silver trays along with some chocolate-covered strawberries and champagne truffles she’d picked up at the gourmet shop on her way over. From a cooler, she selected several white orchid blossoms and used them to decorate the all-white cupcakes that she’d placed on the white doilies on one tray, and added purple orchids to the tray of chocolate cupcakes. Pleased with the finished product, she stepped back and told Deanna, “They’re all yours.”

Deanna’s gaze went from tray to tray. Finally, she said, “They’re beautiful. I love orchids. They add
such an elegant touch. Usually I like to put the desserts together myself, but I couldn’t do a better job than you did. You really do have a knack for this.”

“Thank you. That’s really nice of you to say.” A startled Brooke removed the apron and hung it in Vanessa’s pantry.

“Oh, I’m not being nice,” Deanna assured her. “I’m impressed. Any chance I could talk you into doing some work for me over the holidays? I have a lot of parties on the calendar, and after seeing what you’ve done here, I’d love to be able to include your cupcakes in the portfolio when I meet with my customers.”

“We can talk about it. Sure.” Brooke nodded.

“Great. I’ll give you a call.” Deanna popped open several bottles of champagne.

Brooke drifted into the foyer, a small smile on her lips. It was all she could do not to pump her fist in the air and shout “YES!” If Deanna Clark contracted some work for her this winter … well, she could almost smell her success.

Feeling more optimistic and more relaxed than she had for days, she stood in the living room doorway. From there, she could see into the dining room and the small sitting room in the front of the house.
Standing room only
, she mused.

“Is there anyone in St. Dennis who isn’t here tonight?” Jesse Enright appeared at her elbow.

“I was just thinking the same thing.” She glanced from room to room. “And I can’t think of anyone. Steffie probably should have held this at Wade’s aunt’s house over on River Road. It’s much larger and has more rooms than Vanessa’s bungalow.”

“I’ve been past that place,” he said. “Berry Eberle’s place, right? The big house on the point right where the river hits the Bay?”

Brooke nodded. “But I understand why Vanessa wanted to be the one to host the party. She and Stef are best friends.”

One of the waiters approached carrying a tray of champagne flutes. Jesse took two and handed one to Brooke.

“I’m guessing you could probably use this,” he said.

“More than you know.” She took a sip. “Thanks. I mean, thanks for everything. For coming to my aid earlier, for all the help. I was so rattled when those boxes fell, I don’t know that I would have had the presence of mind to have done anything but toss the fallen cupcakes and cry.”

“Nah, you’d have figured it out,” Jesse assured her.

“I don’t know. When I say I was rattled, I mean, my mind turned into a big black void.”

“How’s the dragon lady?” Jesse nodded toward the kitchen.

“Deanna? She was pretty testy there for a while, but once she saw my pretty little cupcakes and saw how Vanessa and Steffie reacted to them, she took a closer look and decided she liked what she saw.” Brooke leaned a little closer to Jesse and added, “She wants to talk to me about possibly working with her on a few holiday parties.”