I spent the next three weeks waiting for Crystal to come to her senses and ask me to help with the wedding. I could tell she was stressed, and it broke my heart. Finally, I could wait no longer. I would offer my services and pray she accepted.

“I hope you don’t mind, Crystal, but I’ve done some research on the web. Wedding planning basics, that sort of thing.”

“You have?” A look of sheer relief passed over her face. Oh, good.

“Sure. I know this wedding means a lot to you, and I want it to be perfect. So I put my research into a spreadsheet. Everything from the bridal shower to wedding guest list protocol—that kind of stuff. And Cassie and the other girls want to help too. Even Grandma Nellie, but you might not like some of her ideas. One of them involved a piñata.”

That got a smile out of Crystal. For a minute, anyway. “I’ve been so overwhelmed. I mean, Mrs. Frazier at the church is technically supposed to be my wedding coordinator, but she’s so busy right now. Her daughter just had a baby.”

“Right. I heard. A girl.”

“Yes, but even when she’s not distracted, we didn’t quite agree at our first meeting. Her ideas are a little . . . outdated. I haven’t decided how to handle that. And I’ve been so worried about things not getting done. We’ve only got three months left, you know? There’s just so much to do. Almost nothing’s been taken care of yet.”

“Yes, it has.” I laid my spreadsheet on the kitchen table in front of her. “I’ve put together a plan by date. Everything is listed in order, so you don’t have to get overwhelmed. It’s kind of a step-by-step process.”

Crystal looked over my spreadsheet, and then looked at me. “Mari, what would I do without you? I mean, I’ve done what I could, and so has Phillip. We purchased some invitations we found online, but . . . ever since their engagement party for us, Mrs. Havenhurst has been asking questions—”

“What other things are left undone?” I glanced at my spreadsheet, spurred on by that revelation. “Be specific, so I can make sure they’re covered on the spreadsheet.”

“Well, things Sienna’s supposed to be doing, for instance.”

“Ah.” I cringed as I heard the infamous maid of honor’s name.

My sister sighed. “I mean, usually the maid of honor helps plan the bridal shower, but I talked to Sienna this morning and she seems a little, I don’t know . . .”

“Out of it?”

“Yeah. Maybe I’ve asked too much of her. She’s not terribly focused.”

I reached for an apple from the fruit bowl in the center of the table and rolled it around in my palm. “Crystal, I hate to say this, but Sienna’s never been focused.”

She nodded. “Right. I guess I just thought she would take this wedding more seriously. I mean, a bride pictures her maid of honor being really excited. But Sienna’s a little . . .”

“Disengaged?”

“Yeah.” My sister’s eyes took on a faraway look. Just as quickly, she snapped to attention. “Anyway, she’ll pull it together. I know she will. It’s only the middle of February, after all. We have until the middle of May. And to her credit, Sienna is going with me to look at flowers. Her aunt Catherine is a florist.”

“That’s nice.”

“Yes, and I’m grateful. Her aunt is even giving me a discount. So I shouldn’t be complaining. It just helps so much to know you’re taking such an interest, and you’re organized to boot.” Crystal glanced back down at my spreadsheet. “You have no idea how much better I feel, just looking at this. It makes everything seem . . . doable.”

“I love this kind of thing. And remember, I’m only working thirty hours a week at the bank right now and my schedule is pretty flexible.” I took a bite of the apple and leaned back in my chair. For the first time since the conversation began, I noticed a hopeful look in Crystal’s eyes.

“We are getting one thing done today. Are you busy this afternoon at four? Phillip and I have a cake tasting appointment set up at the bakery. We want to get more opinions than just ours. I mean, it’s the guests and wedding party who actually eat the cake. The bride and groom are so busy at the reception, they barely get a nibble. Sienna and Derrick were supposed to come with us, but she’s tied up at work and can’t come.”

“He’s still coming?”

“Yes.”

“Does Sienna know Derrick is going to be there?”

Crystal shook her head. “I don’t remember if I told her that.”

“Well, that’s one way to get her to show up. Just saying.”

“I guess. But she’s not responding to my texts, so maybe I shouldn’t bother, especially if you’re willing. I’d love to have you there, Mari. If you’re free, I mean.”

“I’m free, and I’d love to go. I’m crazy about cake.” And while I didn’t share the same hero worship as the other girls, I didn’t mind the fact that Derrick planned to be there. Not one bit.

At four o’clock that afternoon, after working several hours at the bank, I sat at a table across from a very nice woman at Crème de la Crème, Houston’s most celebrated cake shop. Crystal, Phillip, and I chatted with the sales rep—if that’s what one called a cake salesperson—until Derrick arrived. He rushed through the door, pulled off his sunglasses, and squinted, as if waiting for his eyes to adjust to the change in lighting.

Standing there, with the shimmer of sunlight beaming through the glass door behind him, Derrick looked a bit like one of those old church paintings of the apostles. He had a heavenly glow about him. Fascinating.

Not that my gaze remained on his face. Those broad shoulders swept me in at once. Apparently I wasn’t the only one to take notice of his tall, athletic physique. The minute the good-looking ballplayer took a couple of hesitant steps our direction, the sales rep could barely string two words together. Not that I blamed her. Something about the guy suddenly made me scatterbrained too. And hungry for nacho dip.

Just a few minutes into the taste testing, however, my jitters evaporated. It happened just about the time Derrick shoveled a big bite of white cake with raspberry filling and cream cheese frosting into his mouth.

“Ooh. Mmm.” He closed his eyes and licked his lips before his eyes popped open again. “I’m gonna go with this one.” The blissful expression on his face convinced me. We’d go with the white cake with raspberry filling, no doubt about it. Not that this was my wedding, of course.

“I like the chocolate cake, though.” My sister looked at Phillip, and he nodded in agreement.

“We have a new dark chocolate hazelnut you might like to try, then. It will take just a few minutes for me to bring you a sample.” The sales rep left for the room in the back.

“How are we ever going to decide on just one?” Crystal shook her head. “This is too hard.”

“You’re right about that.” Phillip looked just as confounded. “Who knew it would be this hard? I thought we’d just walk in, take a couple of bites, and order a cake.”

Derrick took another bite, and this time a look of contentment came over him. “You don’t have to settle on only one. Each tier can be a different flavor.”

I nodded. “Sure. People do it all the time. How many tiers is your cake going to be, Crystal?”

“I don’t know.” My sister looked panicked. “Haven’t even thought about it. Should I know that?”

“How many guests are you expecting?” Derrick asked. “The number of tiers depends on the number of guests.” He went on to share details about how many people each tier could feed, depending on the overall size of the cake.

“How do you know all that?” Crystal looked as amazed as I was.

“I know my cakes.” Derrick waggled his eyebrows. “My mom bakes wedding cakes.”

“What? Your mom is a baker?” Crystal slapped herself on the forehead. “Then what are we doing here?”

Phillip cleared his throat. “My parents suggested Crème de la Crème because all their friends use it. I think it’s more of a social thing. Their friends expect it.”

“Right.” Crystal nodded and sighed.

Derrick shrugged. “No biggie. I think a wedding cake for three hundred might be more than my mom could handle, anyway. She’s up to her eyeballs in other events around that same time, I think. But if you need anything for a bridal shower, for instance, I’m sure she’d love to be involved. She’s pretty amazing.”

Hearing the man talk about his mom made me smile. So . . . he was easy on the eyes and a family guy as well.

My sister smiled too. Well, until her phone rang. She glanced down and sighed. “It’s Sienna.”

“Ah.” I should’ve come up with a more enthusiastic response, but nothing came to mind. My gaze shifted to Derrick as I tried to gauge his reaction. He was too busy staring at the cake samples to notice.

As Crystal turned her attention to the phone call, Phillip engaged Derrick in a conversation about an upcoming ball game. I tried to pay attention, but I found myself distracted by a loose strand of hair on Derrick’s forehead. I wanted to take my index finger and nudge it into place. Instead, I cleared my throat and focused on the plate of cake samples, which proved to be equally as tempting.

My sister continued her conversation with Sienna in hushed tones, but I couldn’t help but overhear. “It’s okay, Sienna. Really. I understand.” A pause was followed by, “Oh, we’re still sampling cakes.” Another pause. “Who? Oh, me, Phillip, Mari, and Derrick.”

I could hear the squeal come through the phone. Crystal pulled it away from her ear and made a face, then put it back. “You’re hurting my ear, Sienna.” A long pause on Crystal’s end followed. “Okay, okay, I’ll give him the phone.” Crystal held out her cell to Derrick and sighed. “She wants to talk to you. Is that okay?”

He shrugged. “Guess so.”

A lengthy conversation followed between best man and maid of honor. I couldn’t tell from the expression on Derrick’s face if he was just tolerating Sienna or if he actually enjoyed talking to her. Either way, he handled the back and forth bantering with grace and ease. My sister seemed more than a little put off by the distraction from the cake tasting, and I didn’t blame her, though it certainly wasn’t Derrick’s fault.

When the sales rep returned with a large piece of the dark chocolate hazelnut cake, Derrick ended the call. He handed the phone back to Crystal, jabbed his fork into the new cake sample, and took a bite. Another look of near delirium appeared on his face. “Mmm. Okay, I’ve changed my mind. Forget the white with raspberry filling. I’m going with this one.”

I laughed and then reached for my fork, ready for a taste. I took one bite. Then another. Then another. Derrick jabbed his fork into the cake sample once again, our forks battling it out for the last tidbit of yummy goodness.

“Out of the way, Southpaw.” He gave me a wink as he nudged my hand away. “I let you win the first round with the nacho dip, but this one’s all mine.”

“First round?” Phillip seemed perplexed.

“Nacho dip?” My sister gave me a curious look.

I didn’t take the time to explain. I was too busy looking at Derrick and trying not to giggle as I remembered that night we’d met over the nacho dip. “Oh yeah?” I gave him a playful “You’d better watch out” look, then pushed his hand away. “Over my dead body.” I took another bite, then licked my fork clean. “Mmm.”

Okay, so maybe I flirted . . . a little. Who would blame me?

Across the table, Crystal cleared her throat. “Mari?”

I glanced her way and realized she was glaring at me. “What?” I wiped my lips with a napkin.

She pointed at the empty plate. “Excuse me, but Phillip and I didn’t even get one bite of the chocolate hazelnut. You two ate the whole thing.”

“Oops.” I laughed.

“Guess you’ll just have to trust us that it’s the best.” Derrick flashed a boyish smile. “And if you can’t trust your best man and maid of honor, then who can you trust?”

“I . . . I’m not the maid of honor, remember?” A little shrug followed as I fought the temptation to allow jealousy to surface. The look of compassion in Derrick’s eyes brought comfort and wiped away any feelings of angst that might threaten to rise up. Was this guy great, or what?

It took him a moment, but he eventually nodded. “Oh, right. Well, you might as well be, Mari.”

Thank you! I knew I liked him.

Crystal mumbled something under her breath about Sienna, but I didn’t hear all of it. I was too busy staring at the smudge of chocolate frosting on Derrick’s upper lip. I gave him a little nod and gestured to it. He reached for a napkin and wiped his mouth, then leaned back in his chair with a satisfied look on his face.

I felt pretty satisfied, too, but it had nothing in the world to do with cake. It had everything to do with the handsome guy smiling at me from across the table.