Page 36 of Redeemed

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw dark eyes and a ponytail peeking through small windows in the doors to the kitchen. Ah, the ex-girlfriend who he was not obsessing over and who was definitely not breaking his heart and causing those dark circles under his eyes. Time to stir the pot a little and see what floated up. Sometimes a little push was in order to get people past their stubbornness.

She walked over to JT and put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. She leaned in a little. "Hey, JT, is that Sofia girl going to be helping us at the wedding? She's just a waitress, right? It's probably not necessary?" Cassie asked, looking like she was whispering in his ear.

JT didn't raise his head from his work, but his shoulders inched up toward his ears and she could see his jaw tighten. "Yeah, one of us will need to go over it with her, and Sofia isn't a waitress," he answered, his voice sharp. "She's a manager and is a big part of the event planning side of the business. She won't have any problems learning it all quickly. Since Maggie won't be able to be on her feet all day, Sofia will be helping to expedite and coordinate everything, including the food."

'One of us'. That was interesting. She massaged his shoulders a bit, moving them down to their normal position. "Um, shouldn'tyoudo it? You're the boss and everything," Cassie said, trying to push his buttons a bit. She glanced over her shoulder. The eyes were gone from the window.Damn!

Cassie had hoped her little show would have had the woman coming in the kitchen to establish herterritory, but apparently not. And now, she wasn't even getting a rise out of JT. She'd learned in the past that getting his temper to show itself was often the only way to find out what was really going on with him. He was very good at pushing all his feelings down and working himself almost to death to avoid pulling shit out and looking at it.

She, the twins, and JT had all bonded over pastry class, which all of them but Julio had loathed, and had been fast friends since. Being the 'girl' in the group, however, somehow gave her an in to get JT to open up about things that were bugging him while the brothers stayed in the 'bro zone'. Getting him angry made that shell crack faster than any talking or tequila ever could.

JT glanced over at her, his eyes narrowing but only said, "We'll see."

Cassie huffed and chewed at her lip in thought as she returned to her station. It's down that deep, huh? She met Ramon and Julio's eyes. They shrugged in unison. She'd just have to keep at it. Somehow, she needed to find out exactly what happened because, obviously, JT and that little firecracker needed to be together. Cassie could feel it.

Chapter thirty-four

Tres Leches and Baby Booties

SofiamarchedfromCommonGrounds and out to her car. She got in, slamming the door fiercely behind her. She turned over the engine and waited for the heat to kick in as the afternoon had turned chilly. Her knuckles turned white as she gripped the steering wheel in frustration. She didn't know whether she wanted to cry or go start throwing pans across JT's precious kitchen. She took several deep breaths. It had taken all of her willpower not to march in that kitchen and rip the supermodel's hand's off of JT's shoulders. She was supposed to be in there cooking, not touching her man. Sofia sat fuming.

If he'd only listen to her for five minutes! Just five minutes and she could clear the whole thing up. That he believed the worst in her and wouldn't even hear her explanation hurt her worst of all. She'd thought he might even love her. But could you love someone then totally turn your back on them like he was doing to her? No matter how much she lovedhim, it didn't matter if he didn't reciprocate. And now there was this gorgeous Cassie woman sharing his kitchen. She straightened her shoulders and sniffed defiantly, wiping the tears from her traitorous eyes with the back of her hand. They were not over. They couldn't be. She wasn't giving up yet, however, there was no use in ruminating over it now. She determined to go have fun at Maggie's, immerse herself in cute toys and tiny booties and shove JT's stubbornness to the back of her mind.

Maggie was too attuned to her friend's feelings, however, and she didn't want Maggie worrying about her. She needed a distraction. Glancing at her watch, she realized Betsy's Bakery would still be open. She'd take something sweet to Maggie's house. Since she'd been pregnant, she couldn't seem to get enough cake. That should help keep Maggie's attention off her swirling emotions. Then they could look at all the baby goodies and Sofia could forget about her problems with JT for a little while. Yes, that's what she'd do. Feeling slightly better to have a modicum of a plan in place, she put the car in gear and headed to the bakery.

Twenty minutes later, Sofia stood at Maggie and Zane's house with a pink bakery box in hand. Betsy had luckily had several pieces of tres leches cake left and Sofia knew that was one of Maggie's favorites as well as her own. She heard a 'Come in!' from inside when she rang the bell. She entered and found Maggie sitting in what she had deemed the parlor in a brown leather club chair with her feet on a matching ottoman. A pile of romance novels sat at her side on a dark brown, mission-style table. The chair and table sat in sharp contrast to the rest of the furnishings in the room which tended toward calming greys, whites and blues. Sofia stifled a giggle at the sight. If Maggie allowed the man to have his chair, as it was obviously Zane's, in her perfectly coordinated room, it must be true love.

Maggie smiled at the sight of Sofia and the pink box, resting a book calledCollidewith a hot, shirtless cowboy on the cover, on top of her belly. "You brought goodies!" she said, licking her lips. "What is it?"

Sofia waggled the box a little and grinned. "Tres leches cake. I got lucky and it wasn't all gone yet."

"Mmmmmm, you know I love her tres leches," Maggie said, putting down the book and starting to haul herself to her feet.

Sofia put the box down on a side table to help her friend up. As they clasped hands, Maggie looked up into her eyes and immediately frowned. As soon as she was upright, she asked, "What's wrong? And don't tell me nothing. Your eyes are red. You've been crying." She put her hands on her hips. "Has my idiot brother done something?"

"Let's have some cake, okay?" Sofia asked, shaking her head slowly. Best laid plans…She should have known she couldn't get anything past Maggie. "It's a long story."

"Shoot! I miss wine!" Maggie groused, as she wrapped her arm around Sofia's, and they walked to the kitchen for cake.

"So that's what happened." Sofia blew out a long breath and took a sip of the wine that Maggie had insisted Sofia have though she couldn't join her. The four pieces of cake had been demolished into nothing but crumbs on their plates. "And now he's got this, this Cassie in his kitchen all day long. She may even be staying at his house! I know Julio and Ramon are."

Maggie wiped her mouth and sat back. "What you're telling me then," she said slowly, "is that my brother is being a jealous jackass."

Sofia's eyebrows rose with the use of the word jackass. Maggieneverswore. Maggie's lips twitched when she saw her friend's expression. "That is not a swear word," she insisted. "It's an animal and completely descriptive in this case."

She took Sofia's hand across the table and squeezed. "I know he's crazy about you, Sof. He just has to get over his own stupid insecurities after the Shawna debacle. And I wouldn't worry about Cassie. I don't know the whole story there, but I know they were never together. He never talked about her other than as one of the gang. I'll talk to him."

"No! Please don't!" Sofia begged. "I don't want you in the middle. We'll work it out one way or the other. You concentrate on those two in there." She patted Maggie's belly affectionately.

Maggie pursed her lips. "Okay, I'll butt out, but only until after we get this wedding done. And, if it affects his work, all bets are off. Deal?"

Sofia shrugged. "Deal. Now, let's look at stupidly cute baby stuff! I can't wait to see what you've done to the nursery!"

"It's so stinking cute, I can barely stand it!" She laughed. "You should have seen Zane trying to follow the directions to get the cribs put together. The man is brilliant but putting together furniture is way out of his comfort zone."

As they walked slowly up the stairs to the nursery, Sofia snaked her arm around Maggie's and squeezed. No matter what happened with her and JT, she was happy that she had Maggie as a friend. She couldn't imagine having a better one.

Chapter thirty-five