Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 60487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 60487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 302(@200wpm)___ 242(@250wpm)___ 202(@300wpm)
“Let me help?”
“You would? How?”
“You’d have to set up the cupcakes in the hall kitchen first, right? I’ll do that part, and I’ll stall them from starting the meeting until twenty past.”
“They’ll wonder why I’m not in the kitchen.”
“So you disappeared to the toilet for a minute. Or you’re grabbing more cupcakes from the car. I could even . . .” Carl leaned in and whispered an idea in her ear.
Sage cracked up laughing. “You’re kidding. You’d do that?”
“Why not?”
“You have to be one of the kindest guys I’ve ever met. To do that. For me?”
How happy this idea made her. Made Carl more eager to do it. “Then it’s a deal?”
“I can help you pull it off if we head across to my place after this?”
Carl looked back into the kitchen at Poppy and Grayson facing off across a table as they pressed icing through bags onto their cupcakes. The tension was so thick he reckoned even the baker’s knife would have trouble cutting through it. “We could go right now if you like?”
Sage laughed, tipping her chin up with delight. “They really are putting on a show, aren’t they? Don’t you find it amusing?”
Carl rubbed his jaw. “I don’t understand the need to flex their insanely toned biceps like this. They’re icing cupcakes.”
Poppy blew dusted icing sugar off his bulging muscle towards them in a fine spray. Grayson’s eyes narrowed hard on the show. That was . . . a lot of attention he was paying. An envious shiver rippled through Carl, despite telling himself it shouldn’t matter.
He pinched himself to his senses and focused with all his might on their cupcakes—biceps—cupcakes!
Sage giggled. “I’ve got a feeling Poppy will win this.”
Poppy smirked and threw them a wink.
“Win what?” The curious voice startled Carl and he shifted, letting Leo squeeze between them. “Mum, you’re so wrong. Grayson all the way.”
“You’re my favourite kid for a reason, Leo,” Grayson said. His gaze slid to Carl’s.
“Choose Grayson,” Leo whispered, while Sage giggled and said, “Say Poppy.”
“I think . . .” Carl snapped his gaze from Grayson to Poppy and back again. “I’ll judge by the cupcakes. Come on then.” Get this over and done with. “Show me what you’ve got.”
With a twist and a swivel of their bags, they squeezed out icing and set the first cupcake before the three of them. Leo, of course, voted for Grayson’s. Sage, Poppy’s. Which left Carl with the deciding vote. The cupcakes were equally great. One green, one yellow, Poppy’s with a chocolate swirl, and Grayson’s with chocolate bits.
“Both have me drooling?” Carl said and the hopeful gazes riveted on Carl turned on each other with purpose. They dusted their gloved hands, rolled their shoulders, and raced to decorate the next.
These second cupcakes were outrageous. There was more icing than cupcake. Grayson used chocolate to draw stick figures of children around the edges, while Poppy drew waves, which Carl assumed was for the pool the donations would go towards.
The last cupcakes . . . took the cake. In fact, neither cupcake could be seen under the elaborate wedding-cake-esque icing arrangements. In Grayson’s hands green icing had turned into intricate leaves upon which sat not one but three fully bloomed yellow flowers. Poppy’s cupcake turned into a ball upon which a tiny icing pupil sat eating . . . a cupcake.
Carl couldn’t help but rub his forehead as he stared at the insanity before him. These guys are something else.
He went right back to their first attempts and tapped his finger before the plates. “Half like this and half like that. Pretty and practical.”
“We both win?” Poppy said, disappointed.
Carl blinked between boys and baked goods. “Winning would be putting it optimistically.”
A little laugh leapt out of Grayson and he straightened his hair net. “Let’s get icing then.”
Carl checked the time. They needed to work fast now. “I’m heading to Sage’s place for a few minutes. Can you have them done by the time we get back?”
Carl had barely finished speaking before the next stage of this flirtation began. He couldn’t get outside fast enough. He shook himself in a much welcome breeze. If he should ever behave so foolishly . . .
Like swapping lives with your twin and pretending to be him on multiple occasions? Or what you’re about to do for Sage?
Okay, then.
These guys might in fact be his crowd. What was a little foolishness in the grand scheme of things?
He nodded to himself, followed Sage to her place, and quickly rummaged together the things he needed. When they returned to the bakery, it was to a flurry of movement as Poppy and Grayson competed to finish their last half-row of cupcakes.
Leo glanced at them and did a double take. “Mum? Jason? Why are you . . .”
Finally with a “Ha! I win” from Poppy, two other sets of eyes landed on them and blinked. Hard. Grayson set down his piping bag, wiped his hands on his silver apron, and slunk towards them, eyes roaming up and down Carl’s length. “Why are you both wearing the same dress?”