The Icing on the Cake (12 page)

“Oh, yeah?” she said, biting back a
smile as she resumed walking to the truck.  Joe fell into step beside her.

“Yes.  And why is it you’re not
working?” he asked, as they reached the truck.

She gave a dismissive wave.  “Long
story,” 

To Kristine’s horror, Devon spoke up. 
“Grandma and Mommy got mad at Auntie Kristine ‘cause she stoled you from Mommy,
so Auntie Kristine got her feelings hurt and told Mommy she wasn’t going to
work today and…”

“Devon!” Kristine cried.  “That’s
enough
.”

Joe’s jaw dropped open.  He stared at
Kristine for a long moment.  “Is that … true?”

Mortification washed over her.  She felt
her cheeks heat up and her face turn as red as a tomato.  She prayed a sink
hole would open up and swallow her.  No such luck.

“I … I…  We…”  She snatched Devon’s hand
and began tugging him away.  “I think we’ll have to skip … lunch … today. 
Maybe … another…”  She took off in a fast clip toward home.

“Auntie Kristine!” Devon cried.  “I want
to go to lunch with Joe.  I want to see Gracie!”

“Another time,” she said.

She reached the end of the block,
stopped to allow traffic to pass, and was about to start off again when Joe
grabbed a hold of her arm.  “Krissy…”

She couldn’t look at him and averted her
eyes.  “We really have to go.”

He refused to let go of her.  “Devon, go
back to the truck.”

“Okay!”

“Don’t run too far ahead,” Joe
cautioned.  “I want you within my sight at all times.”

“Okay.”

He jogged ahead, but obeyed Joe’s
restrictions.  Kristine couldn’t bear to look at Joe as he wrapped an arm
around her shoulders and compelled her forward.  When she resisted, he only
tightened his hold.  “You’re not getting away,” he said.  “You and I have some
things to talk about.”

“No, we don’t,” she said, still failing
to look his way.

After assuring Devon was safely beside
the truck, he pulled Kristine to a stop.  He turned her to face him.  “Is what
Devon said true?  You fought with your mother and Lori over … me?”

“No,
they
fought with me over
you,” she said, still averting her face. 

He shook his head.  “I don’t
understand.  Precisely what is the problem?”

“Joe, I’d rather not talk about this,”
she said miserably.

“We need to talk about this,” he
asserted. 

“But Devon…” 

Joe glanced ahead and saw the little boy
was watching them with interest.  Perhaps Kristine was right.  He’d hate for
Devon to overhear their conversation and report back to Ruth and Lori.  He was
stunned to hear that Lori was upset about his interest in Kristine.  It made no
sense.  Wasn’t she romantically involved with a local attorney?

And what if she wasn’t?  He and Kristine
had every right to date one another.  Sure, he and Lori had dated briefly in
high school, but they certainly had nothing in common now.  The truth was, they
hadn’t had anything in common then.  He had dated her because he was the
quarterback of the football team and she was the head cheerleader and it was
expected the two would pair off.  He couldn’t deny now he’d been shallow and
had succumbed to peer pressure and that the relationship had been rife with
turmoil and turbulence.  He’d been a stupid kid who had dated someone
ill-suited, but he wouldn’t make the same mistake now.

He’d grown up.

Kristine was surprised when Joe drove
through a drive-through, ordered burgers all around, and then announced they
were going to eat their lunch at his home.  “Do you mind, Devon?” he asked.  “I
know Gracie would really love it if you would play ball with her after lunch.”

“I don’t mind!  I love Gracie.”

“I know you do,” Joe said, smiling at
the eager little boy through the rearview mirror.

He turned to Kristine beside him.  “Okay
with you?”

She nodded without speaking.  She was
still so embarrassed.  How was she going to explain her mother and sister to
Joe?  He was going to think the lot of them needed professional help.

As he drove along the long drive to his
home and pulled to a stop in front, Kristine felt a sinking feeling in the pit
of her stomach.  Her mother and sister would soon know that she and Joe had spent
time together, and there would be heck to pay.  She was contemplating the
fallout coming her way when she realized Joe had opened the passenger door for
her.  “I can’t get out,” she said numbly.

“Why?”

“Blood is thicker than water?” she said
wanly.

“Nice try,” he said, chuckling, as he
reached for her hand and helped her down.  “We’ll figure this out,” he
whispered.

She shook her head.  “There’s no
figuring my sister out and it turns out, my mother is cut from the same cloth,
er, rather, Lori is cut from the same cloth as my mother…  Oh, I don’t know,”
she groaned, flustered.

Joe smiled as he lifted Devon out of the
truck and then called Gracie.  She jumped down and followed the threesome into
the house. 

Joe directed them to his kitchen and to
the dinette table in a large nook lined with several floor-to-ceiling windows. 
They afforded a gorgeous view of the backyard.  Gracie danced around them until
Joe directed her to her large doggie bed near the fireplace in the family
room.  She immediately obeyed, though she watched them yearningly from her
vantage point curled up on the floor.

“Have a seat,” he told both Kristine and
Devon, and then he retrieved three plates from the kitchen.  After setting them
in front of his guests, he grabbed three glasses from an upper cabinet and
pulled out a pitcher of lemonade.

Kristine pulled their burgers out of the
bag and put them on their plates.  She followed by divvying up the fries,
giving Joe the lion’s share. 

“Are you sure you aren’t hungry?” he
asked.  “I got you a burger just in case.”

“I had an early lunch with Minnie,” she
said, and then instantly regretted it.  It was yet another piece of information
Devon would probably share with his mother and grandmother.  Unfortunately, she
didn’t feel comfortable telling him to keep secrets from them, so she could
only hope the little boy would keep their outing to himself.  She realized it
was wishful thinking and unlikely to happen.

She would simply have to buck up and be
ready for the inevitable confrontation when he spilled the beans.

She felt a sudden spike in her blood
pressure, just thinking about the reception she was going to receive from her
mother and sister.  The whole situation felt surreal.  Was her sister serious
that she would cast aside her boyfriend for a chance at a future with Joe? 

It would be a moot point if Joe wasn’t
interested in her romantically, and she really didn’t get the impression that
he felt anything at all for Lori.  But then, he had inquired about her several
times at their first meeting.

Was she an interloper?  Had she inserted
herself into Joe and Lori’s ‘would be’ relationship?

“Krissy, are you feeling okay?” Joe
asked.  “You look kind of pale.”

“I’m fine,” she said, forcing a smile. 
“Just thinking.”

“Don’t,” he said, chuckling, and turned
to Devon. “So young man, what’d you learn in school today?”

“Nothin’,” he answered, and reached for
a fry.

“Nothing?” Joe said, feigning shock. 
“You had to have learned something.”

“I learned my mom doesn’t know when I
get out of school early.”

“Hey!” Kristine protested.  “I explained
what happened.  That was my mistake.”

“Oh, Auntie Kristine,” he said, rolling
his eyes, “you would
never
forget me.  I know that.”

She couldn’t help smiling his way.  He
was watching her with eyes that were both adoring and so trusting.  She reached
for his hand and gave it a squeeze.

“Well, Gracie was sure happy to see
you,” Joe said.

“Yeah, she was.  She wagged her tail so
hard I thought she was going to break it.”

“I saw that,” Joe said, widening his
eyes, as if conveying surprise.  “Be careful of that tail, since when it gets
to wagging, she can really give you a good smack with it.”

“Oh, I know.”  He winced.  “She wagged
it so hard when she was coming through the door, she hit it really hard on the
door frame.  I’m surprised she didn’t cry.”

“Gracie’s pretty tough,” Joe said.

“So am I,” Devon said, sitting up taller
in the chair.  He lifted his arm and flexed his muscle.  “You can see how
strong I am.”

Joe smiled.  “Yes, I can.  You’d better
eat your lunch so you get even stronger.”

The little boy dug in as Kristine looked
on.  Joe was so good with the little boy.  It was evident he was going to make
some little boy or girl a wonderful father some day.

Kristine suddenly envisioned a little
boy in her mind’s eye.  Dark, blue-eyed, he was Joe in miniature.  Her heart
gave a tug as she suddenly realized how much she yearned for a family of her
own.  Had her recent difficulties with her mother and sister prompted her
biological clock to begin ticking in earnest?  Or was it having Joe appear in
her life that had caused her to suddenly begin thinking about settling down?

“I’m done eating!” Devon announced. 
“Can I…  I mean, ‘may’ I play with Gracie now?”

“Hey, you learned something in school
after all,” Joe said, smiling.

“Yeah, I guess so,” Devon said with an
answering smile.  “I learned when to say ‘may’ instead of ‘can.’”

“Well, that’s great.  And yes, you may
play with Gracie.”

Gracie heard her name and began thumping
her tail against the floor.  She watched Joe expectantly.  “Go girl, it’s
okay,” he said.

Gracie leapt up and followed Devon out
the French doors and out back.  The two began playing ball.

The adults watched them for a moment,
but finally, Joe turned toward Kristine.  “So tell me, what exactly happened
when I dropped you off last night?”

Kristine hesitated to speak.  Frankly,
she was embarrassed to tell him.  She made several false starts, but finally
gathered her thoughts enough to form a coherent sentence.  “Okay, well…”

She’d no sooner started speaking than
her cell phone trilled in her hand.  She checked the screen.  It was her
mother.  Her timing couldn’t have been worse.

“Hello, Mom.”

“Kristine!” her mother shrieked. 
“Hurry!  The bakery is on fire!” 

The phone went dead before Kristine
could respond.  She leapt from her chair and stared in horror at the phone in
her hand. 

Joe read the panic on her face.  He
pushed back from the table and stood up.  “What is it?”

“Mom…  The bakery…”  She stared
helplessly at him.

He took her shoulders.  “Take a deep breath…”

She swallowed over the lump in her
throat and took a breath.  Finally, she cried, “Joe!  The bakery is on fire!”

He nodded without speaking and hurried
to call Devon into the house.  The little boy detected by Joe’s tone that
something bad was happening.  He hurried in without protest.  Joe passed by
him, in order to put Gracie in her dog run for safe keeping.  Once she was
secure, he hurried back into the house.  He scooped Devon up and grabbed
Kristine’s hand.  “Let’s go!”

As they drove toward the bakery, he
asked, “Did they call the fire department?”

His answer came when they heard the
sounds of sirens in the distance.  He reached across the seat and grasped
Kristine’s hand.  “Everything’s going to be fine.”

 She shook her head, unable to speak.  How
could anything be fine?  Her beloved bakery was apparently up in flames.  How
could it have happened?

“It’s my fault,” she murmured.  “If I’d
just gone into work today, it wouldn’t have happened.”

“That’s not tr—”  Joe paused.  He
couldn’t tell her that the fire would have happened anyway, because he had no
idea how it had started.  He felt helpless to put her mind at ease.

She turned to him, her eyes agonized. 
“I should have gone in as usual.  I was punishing Lori and Mom for…”  She shook
her head, wishing she could have a do-over and could restart her day.

“Krissy, it was time you got a break
from work.  You needed a day off and you know it”

“But…”

When Devon stretched to reach her and
patted her shoulder reassuringly, she suddenly remembered he was in the truck
and listening to her conversation.  He had overheard everything she’d said and
she felt sick about it.  He was too young to be privy to adult problems and
guilt descended over her like a heavy blanket.

Joe looked her way, frowned, and when she
indicated Devon with a slight nod, he understood.  He should have remembered
the little boy was in the seat behind him.

“Auntie Kristine,” he said, his lips
beginning to tremble, “is our bakery ruined?”

Kristine attempted to turn in the seat
and see his face.  His eyes were wet with unshed tears.  “Honey, we won’t know
anything until we get there.  But don’t you worry,” she said.  “Everything will
be fine.”

He was quiet for several seconds, but
then cried out, “Is my mom okay?”

Kristine gasped.  It hadn’t occurred to
her that someone might have gotten hurt?  Presumably her mother was okay, since
she was able to make the phone call, but Lori…

Kristine reached for Devon’s hand and
held it tight.  Together they prayed for the safety of Lori and his grandma and
anyone else who might have been in or close by the bakery.  Seemingly soothed
by the prayer, he calmed down and stared ahead.

Thankfully, they arrived at the bakery a
moment later.  Fire trucks were there with hoses extended.  Kristine was
relieved to see her sister and mother standing a safe distance away from the
fire that was nearly extinguished. 

Joe parked half a block away and helped
both Kristine and Devon from the truck.  He grasped both their hands and they
hurried to reach Ruth and Lori.  When they did, they saw Lori was now being
tended to by paramedics.  Her face was blackened by smoke and she was coughing.
A paramedic slipped an oxygen mask over her mouth and nose.

“Are you all right?” Kristine cried. 
“Mom?  Lori?”

Her mother nodded wordlessly.  It was
clear she was fighting back tears as she watched the firefighters continue to
hose down the smoldering fire inside the bakery.  When she turned and saw Lori
in an oxygen mask, she began crying.   

When Lori spotted Kristine, her eyes
narrowed as she took in the sight of Joe holding her hand.  She suddenly thrust
the oxygen mask off her face and rushed toward them.  “Joe!” she cried, as she
flung her arms around his neck.  “It was awful!  One second, everything was
fine, and the next, the bakery was engulfed in flames.”

Joe looked at Kristine, uncertain what
to do.  Lori was holding onto him for dear life and he was still holding onto
Kristine.  Kristine extracted her hand and reached for Devon’s hand, which was
still entwined within Joe’s.  The little boy seemed hesitant to let go.

She and Devon stepped away from her
sister and Joe.  The situation was awkward at best, wholly uncomfortable at
worst.  Lori held onto Joe for dear life and he was now awkwardly patting her
back.  He sought Kristine’s eyes, but she quickly averted her face.

Guilt crashed over her once again.  If
she’d just gone to work this morning...  If she hadn’t been intent on teaching
her mother and sister a lesson.  Now, her bakery was ruined.  After years and
years of providing baked goods to the citizens of Cooper Glenn, the landmark
business was gone—up in smoke—just like that.

Kristine moved to stand beside her
mother.  “What happened, Mom?” she asked gently.

She shrugged and turned to her briefly. 
“I don’t know.  I was working the front counter when suddenly, Lori let out a
scream and…  It all happened so fast.”

Her mother glanced over at her older
daughter again.  She seemed to notice Joe for the first time.  She smiled
softly at the sight of him, holding Lori in his arms and comforting her. 

Kristine read her mind.  Maybe something
good would come from this tragedy.