Page 75 of Sweet and Salty
I link her hand through my arm and lead her toward the picnic tables. “There. More private.”
“Jesse, really. You don’t have to give me anything. You’re free. They’re all in jail. Chris is awaiting trial. You’re out of Witness Protection.”
“I am.” I don’t have to pretend any more. I can live the life Grandma always wanted for me. This starts today.
“Then that’s enough.”
“Well, it wasn’t enough for me.” I sit down opposite her and pull a piece of paper from the back pocket of my pants. “This is for you.”
She arches an eyebrow as she takes the paper from me. “I thought it would be of the jewelry variety.”
I shrug. My accounts have finally been unfrozen and I plan to use a hefty chunk spoiling her, but some things are worth more than money. “Read it.”
Shaking her head, she opens the trifold letter, and almost immediately her eyes widen and her jaw drops. A sound usually heard only by wolves and bats escapes her mouth. “Oh, fuck me!”
Everyone within a five-hundred foot radius turns to look at us, but I don’t care. I reach across the table and take her hand. “Do you like it?”
“How did you do this?” She scans the letter over and over, like its contents might change between readings. They won’t. I’ve already triple-checked.
“It wasn’t that easy. But I had a few contacts, and they had some contacts of contacts.” I shrug. “There’s a lot of free time in the safe house. Finding the email address of the producer fromAmerica Bakes!prevented me from rethinking my beard for the eight thousandth time.”
Tears well up in her eyes. “I can’t believe you did this. They want me to audition?”
“Yup. I thought the original call might have been from Esme, trying to get information on you and me. She confessed to that, by the way. When they arrested her on conspiracy charges, she explained that was how they tracked me down.”
“I am so sorry that I—“
I stop her by wrapping her in my arms. “You did nothing wrong. She took advantage of you. She is the problem. I wanted to make it right. So I talked to a bunch of people at the show, and when I showed them Frosting Monkey’s gallery, they were beyond impressed.”
“Thank you. No one’s ever done anything like this for me before.” It’s okay. I expected her to cry. I take a tissue from my pocket and hand it to her.
“You deserve this, Laura. And so much more.”
“I can’t believe you did this.”
“A good can’t believe or a bad—”
“Good. Definitely good.”
Then it’s like the last few months and the shoulder injury hadn’t happened because Laura is there to make everything feel like sunshine.
Sweet and Salty winning the Sweets Showcase? It isn’t a surprise, just the icing on the cake.
EPILOGUE
LAURA—THE END OF SEPTEMBER
“Oh my Midwestern gods.” Desiree Brooks, the producer fromAmerica Bakes!, stands in my back yard with her hands on her hips, grinning at the floral mural on my wall. “Did you paint this? Jack, get that angle. This is full-on gorgeous. If your bakes are anything like this wall, you’re a shoo-in for the final.”
I blush, and it isn’t just because I’m in proximity to the most gorgeous woman I’ve ever seen. Desiree Brooks drips elegance, from her tailored sheath dress and the way she trots around my yard in three-inch nude pumps to her perfect dark brown twist-out. “Thanks. I came up with the concept, but my sister, Frannie, and our friend, the artist Katrina Stryke, helped me paint it.”
Desiree gestures to the cameraman with a smooth, dark brown hand and shows him exactly how she wants the shot framed. “Perfect. And where is your sister?”
Heck if I know, but my mom and I talked about this. When the camera turns toward me to film my answer, I grin like I practiced, but it feels like trying to open a rusted gate. I’m going to have to work on that before the show starts filming in a few weeks. “Frannie is a locum tenens nurse, which means she goes wherever her help is needed. And it’s everywhere nowadays.”
“Isn’t that true.” Desiree flashes me what I’ve come to think of as her interview face. “And your brother is Bobby Marshall? He plays defense for the Los Angeles Slingshots. How often do you get to see him?”
“Not too often. He’s so busy playing and traveling. Even during the off season, when he volunteers for homeless outreach programs.” This is a fact that Desiree presented me that I’d not previously known.