Two hours later, Darcy arrived with a small crew in tow.
“We have come to rescue you, fair maiden,” Duke teased. “Just give me an apron and point me in the direction of the stove.”
Connie handed him a spatula. Duke peered at it for a moment. “What’s this?”
“A spatula,” she said.
“What’s it do?” he demanded.
“On second thought—” Connie filched the spatula from Duke. “You need to do something low-key, like dipping strawberries into chocolate.”
Waverly stood in the corner of the kitchen, completely absorbed in her phone.
I looked to Willa and then raised my brows at her, asking her to silently explain why her younger sister had tagged along.
Willa sighed. “She was suspended from school, and I can’t leave her at home alone unsupervised. Is it okay that I brought her?”
“Totally. It’ll probably be good for her,” I said. “Was she suspended for cutting school?”
“Yeah. And for leaving campus without permission.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to do. I’m her sister—she won’t listen to me. But Mom is never home, so I’m the only one who even tries to knock any sort of sense into her.”
“Well, she’s here with us, so we can put her to work and keep an eye on her.” I winked. “She’s probably bored.”
“Or wants attention that she’s not getting at home. Doesn’t take a genius to figure her situation out. Absent mother, no father…she acts out, and there’s no one to tell her ‘no’.”
“Hey, Waverly,” I called out.
The teenager looked up from her phone, her expression sullen.
“Have you ever made meringue?” I asked.
She shook her head.
“Want to help me make it? I can teach you if you want?”
Her face transformed immediately with a smile. “Sure!”
She was fourteen years old. She was on the cusp of wanting to be fully independent, but she was still young enough to desire adult attention.
“First we need eggs,” I said as I headed toward the walk-in. Waverly wasn’t far behind me.
I showed her how to separate the egg whites and then measured out the sugar, vanilla, and cream of tartar. And then we blended it all together.
“You want to know how you test to see if it’s done?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said eagerly.
I turned off the mixer and removed the mixing bowl. I flipped the metal bowl over my head, causing Waverly to laugh.
“See? It’s not going anywhere.” I set the bowl down on the counter.
“What do we do with the egg yolks?” she inquired.
“We’ll use them to make custard, which will go in the banana pudding. What do you say? You want to make custard next?”
She nodded. “Yeah, let’s do it!”
By eight o’clock, I was zonked, and everyone else was, too. Because of the extra hands, we were moving along at good pace. The following day, I would dedicate all my time to the wedding cake.
“Let’s call it,” I said, rubbing the small of my back.
“Thank God,” Connie muttered.
I grinned.
“Can I come back tomorrow?” Waverly asked me, big blue eyes pleading.
“It’s okay with me if it’s okay with your sister,” I said.
“Can I, Willa?” Waverly asked as she tromped over to her sister.
Willa reached out and gently dusted flour off her sister’s cheek and then wrapped an arm around her bony shoulders. “Yeah, we’ll both come back.”
“What about you guys?” I directed my question to Savage and Duke.
“We’ll be here,” Duke assured me. Savage nodded in affirmation.
“I can’t thank you guys enough,” I said. “It really…yeah.”
I felt myself getting misty-eyed.
“Uh-oh, hormone central,” Duke said, slinging an arm around my shoulder and hugging me into him.
“Guess this is the part where I take over.”
I whirled. Slash was leaning in the doorway, looking casual and amused.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, wiping the tears from my cheeks. “I wasn’t supposed to be finished for another two hours.”
“I had a feeling you’d be done earlier.” He pushed away from the doorway and came to me. Duke squeezed my shoulder in platonic friendship and let me go.
“You had a feeling,” I remarked suspiciously.
He winked. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“I’m too tired for surprises.”
“You’ll like this one.”
I introduced Slash to Waverly, who was pretending to be all slick and cool, but when Slash looked at her, she blushed.
“We better hit the road,” Willa said.
“Yeah, Gray texted. The tiny humans are giving him hell.” Darcy shook her head. “Lily wanted to come, but I didn’t know how to politely tell her she would be in the way.”
“I promise to make her something special when all this is done,” I said.
“You spoil her.” Darcy hugged me. “I’ll be back tomorrow, too.”
Everyone filed out of the kitchen, and Waverly stole one final look at Slash. I pretended not to see her gaze lingering with curiosity and fascination.
“I think Waverly just became the definition of trouble,” I said to Slash. I grabbed my purse, made sure I had my phone and left the kitchen.
“What makes you say that?” he asked as he took my hand and laced his fingers through mine.
“She’s utterly fascinated by you,” I announced. “And her sister is best friends with two bikers. I’m pretty sure Waverly is going to want a biker of her very own.”
“What was the kid doing here?” he asked. “She didn’t have school?”
“She was suspended. She’s smart though. I think school bores her. Actually, she was my little shadow today and she was just…hungry to learn.” I smiled up at him. “It kind of made me happy to have a protégée.”
I frowned when he turned in the direction of the lobby. “Where are we going? Parking garage is the other way.”
“We’re not going to the parking garage,” he said.
“So where are we going?”
He winked. “That’s part of your surprise.”
We arrived at an elevator, and he pushed the button. A moment later, the doors opened and we got inside. Slash took a card from his breast pocket and slid it into the slot and then he pressed the PH button.
“What did you do?” I demanded.
“Before you get all bent out of shape, thinking I spent a shit-ton of money on this suite—which I would’ve had no problem doing, by the way—I asked Colt for a favor, and he did me a solid.”
“Did you a solid?” I repeated with a grin. “Is that old person slang?”
“Is that any way to talk to your man? Your man who got the penthouse suite for the next week so we can crash here and not commute?”
“A week?” I repeated.
The doors to the penthouse opened, and my mouth gaped. The living room was bigger than the entire apartment over the bakery, and the suite itself was larger than the house I was renting with Slash.
“Is that—that’s my bag,” I said, pointing to the couch.
“Yep.”
“You went back to Waco to pack me a bag and then booked a penthouse suite just so I didn’t have to drive home?”
“I didn’t want prospects rummaging around in your underwear drawer. That shit is for my eyes only.”
“You mean the lacy black things that you enjoy shredding with your teeth?”
He quirked his lips. “And something else.”
My cheeks flamed. “You brought my vibrator?”
“Might’ve. You should’ve told me you had one.”
“God, you’re trouble.”
“The best kind of trouble.”
“I so don’t get you,” I said quietly.
“What don’t you get?”
“You’re like the Holy Grail of men. You just…for being a Nomad for so long, I don’t understand how you just naturally fall into being such a thoughtful partner.”
His hazel eyes seemed to brighten as he stared at me. “Brooklyn, I—”
My phone rang, immediately pulling my attention. “Sorry, I have to get that.”
Slash nodded. “I’ll order food, yeah?”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “That sounds perfect.” I pulled my phone out of my purse and saw Jazz’s name. “Hey.”
“Hey.” She sounded exhausted. “They’re keeping Mom overnight to monitor her. They’re letting me sleep on a cot in her room.”
“How is she?”
“Still sedated.” Her tone was bleak, bleeding pain. “She’s strapped down so she can’t hurt herself, or anyone else for that matter.”
“How’s your neighbor?”
“Shaken, but she’s okay.” She paused. “I can’t do this, Brooklyn. I can’t keep doing this. I don’t have enough—she needs real help. Help I can’t give her.”
I didn’t know what it was like to have a sick parent who relied on me for everything. Jazz’s life was at a standstill, because all she did was work and take care of her mother. It wasn’t a life at all. For either of them.
“What are you going to do?” I asked.
“I don’t know. But I can’t—the wedding—”
“Hey, don’t worry about it. Seriously, don’t worry about it. I’ve got enough help. Take care of your mom, but don’t forget to take care of you.”
“Thanks,” she said, her voice breaking. “I’ll talk to you later.”
I hung up the phone and set it down on an end table. Slash came out of the bedroom and said, “Food’s ordered.”
Nodding, I sat on the couch and rested my head against the cushion.
“You okay?” He took the spot next to me, and I immediately leaned into him.
“Yeah. I’m fine. It’s Jazz. Her mom’s got early onset Alzheimer’s and it’s taking its toll.”
“Shit way to go,” he murmured. “Slow decline. Not recognizing your home, your family…”
“I got a call,” I said softly. “That my dad was gone. It was like a punch to the gut. I wasn’t prepared for it.”
We were quiet for a long moment and my eyes were drifting shut, but I swore I heard him say, “You’re never prepared for it.”