Just Desserts (Main Street Merchants Book 4) Read online

  “Okay, I’m ready now,” he said after another few minutes, then led her out to his truck. It was a huge vehicle, just right for his construction business, but it was a lot taller than she was used to and she had to grab the handle and hoist herself up.

  “I’m sorry,” he said. “Maybe we should have taken your car.”

  “No, no, it’s all good. I’m here now.” She patted the seat. “I’m exhausted and out of breath, but I’m here.”

  He shook his head good-naturedly and walked around the truck to climb in his side.

  Maggie had told the front desk at the care center that Quinn and Jonah were expected, so they were ushered straight back without any fanfare. When they reached the room, Quinn noticed that two extra chairs had been brought in—nice ones, not the folding type she’d used before.

  “It’s the window man,” Mr. D said, reaching out to shake Jonah’s hand.

  “Hey, Mr. D. I like your place.”

  “It’s not bad. The tapioca’s pretty decent, but not like Maggie makes.”

  “My tapioca is terrible,” Maggie replied. “That must be his faulty memory talking.”

  Mr. D raised his hand in protest. “My memory of your cooking is perfect, and you have never served me anything that wasn’t divine. That’s what happens when you marry an angel.”

  Maggie beamed and invited Quinn and Jonah to take a seat. “We heard about your father,” Maggie said, fixing Jonah with a sympathetic eye.

  “Yeah, it’s been pretty rough. Thanks for letting me come talk to you today.”

  “It’s not our favorite topic, but if we can help someone else, we’re glad to share,” Maggie replied. “Tell me what you’d like to know.”

  Jonah shifted a little in his chair. “I feel a little awkward prying into your lives like this,” he said.

  “If there’s something we don’t want to answer, we just won’t,” Maggie said with a chuckle. “We’re not shy—we’ll tell you if we’re uncomfortable with anything.”

  “Okay, that’s fair. I guess my biggest concern is this. My dad has always been really active, super sharp and on top of things, and I’m worried about how he’s going to deal with it. Mr. D, if you don’t mind my asking, what’s it like on the inside?”

  Mr. D nodded slowly. “A tough question, but a fair one. Some days are better than others. Today was pretty good. Sometimes I forget little things, like someone’s name, even though I still know who they are. Other days, I don’t know where I am, and I don’t recognize people. I’ve never forgotten Maggie, though. That’s a blessing.” He reached out and took his wife’s hand. “I might forget that we’re old and decrepit now, but I’ve never forgotten how much she means to me.”

  Jonah leaned forward and put his elbows on his knees. “Do you get frustrated? Are you angry?”

  “Oh, yes. All the time. I wonder why I have to go through this, and I feel bad for making Maggie worry. I hate it when I can’t remember something. But then again, Maggie tells me I don’t realize everything I’ve forgotten, so maybe I’m not as frustrated as I ought to be.” He winked at Quinn.

  Jonah turned to Maggie. “And you? Are you angry?”

  Maggie looked thoughtful. “I was at first. I didn’t want to lose this wonderful man I’d married. But he’s still here. Even on his hardest days, I know he’s still my Marco.”

  Quinn sat back quietly and let the three of them talk. She already knew how Maggie felt, but she’d never seen Mr. D share so much about his condition. Then again, she’d never asked him. She’d been focused on keeping things the same as always for him, not trying to learn what his new normal entailed.

  Jonah asked several more questions, and Quinn could tell by the way his shoulders relaxed that he was feeling a little more settled about things. He was the kind of person who moved forward best when he had information, and now he had more to work with.

  Quinn waited until the conversation had turned to other things. Then she presented her idea. “So, I was thinking. Sure, Mr. D doesn’t live at home anymore, but does that mean he has to stay away from the bakery?”

  Maggie turned to Quinn with a surprised look on her face. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, I’m always going to have wedding cake orders, and it’s just not the same without Mr. D there. Do you think you could spare him once in a while—spring him out of here and let him come hang out with me?”

  Mr. D leaned forward. “Do you think I could?”

  Quinn snorted. “Oh, come on. You’re the same man you were a couple of weeks ago—you just moved. You didn’t lose your skills in one of your packing boxes, did you?”

  “No, I could still probably pipe a pretty decent cake.” He turned to his wife. “What do you say, Maggie—take me down to the bakery until I get worse?”

  Maggie used her index fingers to wipe under her eyes. “I think that would be wonderful.”

  Quinn and Maggie talked over the logistics for a minute, and then Quinn bent down to grab her purse off the floor. When she straightened again, she saw that Mr. D’s eyes had gone a little vacant.

  “He’ll need to rest now for a while,” Maggie said softly, nodding toward her husband. “I’ll make sure he’s squared away for the night before I go home.”

  “Will he remember this conversation?” Jonah asked.

  “He will the next time he’s having a good day,” Maggie assured him. “And I know he appreciated your visit.”

  Jonah took Maggie’s hand and squeezed it, and Quinn gave her a big hug. “You are amazing,” she said. “Thank you so much for letting us come tonight.”

  “I hope it was helpful.”

  “It really was,” Jonah told her.

  They both called out a farewell to Mr. D as they left the room, but he didn’t reply.

  “Thank you for that suggestion,” Jonah said as they walked out to the truck. “It helped a lot, knowing what to prepare for. I mean, I know my dad’s situation is different and I can’t expect things to play out just like they have for Mr. D, but knowing he’s still in there, knowing he’ll have moments when he’s himself and he’s remembering—that gives me hope.”

  Quinn reached out and took his hand, and he squeezed it. “Hey,” he said, “you must be starving. It’s kind of late to get in anywhere nice, but can I buy you dinner at the diner?”

  “Are you kidding? I love the diner. Let’s go.”

  Getting into the truck the second time was a little easier, and with a minimum of grunting and complaining, Quinn was in the seat and buckled up. She leaned back against the headrest and looked at Jonah as he drove. He was obviously thinking, a little line between his eyebrows, and he didn’t say much. But then he turned and caught her eye, and grinned.

  “More tomato soup?” he asked.

  “I don’t know. I thought your onion rings looked pretty good.”

  They got seated at the diner and placed their orders, then settled in to wait for their food. “Okay,” Quinn said. “I’ve held off on asking this, but I’ve really got to know. Why are you taking my cake decorating class? Was it the dying wish of your beloved grandmother? Are you trying to get in touch with your feminine side?”

  She expected him to answer her in the same bantering tone she’d used, but his face went serious. “Do you believe in fate?” he asked.

  “Fate, destiny—whatever you want to call it, yes, I do.” He had lost her—she had no idea what they were talking about now.

  “I came into the bakery about two months ago to grab some bread. Becky was running the front, and I got what I needed and was about to leave when you walked out from the back with some new trays of cookies. I don’t think you saw me.”

  Quinn shook her head. She didn’t remember ever seeing him before that first night of class.

  “And I just knew.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “You knew . . . what?”

  “I knew that you were someone who would be very important in my life.”

  Quinn picked up one of her onion rings and brok
e it in half. “Like, as your cake decorating teacher?” She chuckled.

  Jonah reached out and covered her hand with his, onion ring and all. “No. I’m talking about love at first sight, Quinn.”

  She stared at him, the onion ring dropping onto the table. “Love at first sight?” she choked out.

  He nodded. “I know it sounds kind of crazy, but that’s what happened. I was standing there in your bakery, watching you put cookies into the display case, and it was like a voice speaking to my heart and mind at the same time, telling me you were the one. And then when I saw the ad for the cake decorating class, I took a chance that you’d be the one teaching it, so I signed up.”

  Quinn blinked several times. “You took the class just for me?”

  He grinned, looking a little sheepish. “Yeah.”

  “And then you spent the whole time criticizing me?”

  His ears turned a little pink. “Um, yeah, our first meeting didn’t go so well, did it?”

  “Our first meeting, and our second . . .” Quinn looked down at the table and shook her head, everything swirling around in her head like a hyper carousel. “I really don’t know what to say. I’m sorry I didn’t live up to your expectations.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Being snobby and pushy and stuff.”

  Jonah shook his head. “No, no. You’ve got to forget about all that—please. I didn’t mean it. I was wrong. You’re so much more than I expected, so much more than I even dreamed.”

  She glanced up and met his gaze. He looked so sincere, so hopeful. “Wow. I’m not really sure what to say to that. I think a big ‘thank you’ is in order, for starters, but I’m sort of flabbergasted about the rest.”

  Jonah shrugged. “Which is probably why I didn’t tell you before. I hoped to win you over with my charm and good looks—you know, do things the old-fashioned, not-creepy way.”

  Quinn laughed. “Yeah, not creepy is good.”

  Jonah took a swig of his drink and then wiped his mouth. “So on the way over here, I was thinking that I’d like to go back and see my folks again. When I was there last week, I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. I think I can do it more decently now.”

  “Another visit would be good, I think. Spend as much time there as you can.”

  He nodded. “And plus, I just gave you a lot to think about, and maybe not seeing me for a few days would be a good thing.”

  “What? I’m not sure what you mean.”

  Jonah pushed his plate aside and folded his arms on the table. “I wasn’t joking when I said it was love at first sight, Quinn. My feelings haven’t changed. They’ve only gotten stronger. And when I get back, I’d like to know what you want to do about it.”

  Quinn was totally taken aback. Love? What they were going to do about it? How had things gotten so serious, so fast? She barely knew the guy. They’d just met. But even as she protested in her head, her heart spoke, telling her that she already knew everything she needed to know about him. He was a good, kind man with an incredible work ethic and a compassionate streak a mile wide who sometimes did stupid things and had to apologize for them. In other words, he was human—one of the best kinds of them.

  She nodded slowly. He was asking her to consider what he was saying. She could put aside her fear and do that, couldn’t she? “How long will you be gone?”

  “I think I can spare about three days away from the gallery. I’ll make sure my guys know what they’re doing before I leave.”

  “How many guys do you have, just out of curiosity?”

  “I employ a hundred and fifty, but on this job, I’ve got eight.”

  Quinn nearly choked on the bite she’d just taken. It seemed she was going to choke her way through this entire meal. “You have a hundred and fifty employees?”

  “Yeah. Not all of them are guys, though, so I shouldn’t call them that. It just slips out.”

  Quinn grabbed her napkin and coughed into it for another minute. She really shouldn’t gasp with surprise while eating. It was dangerous. “Wow. You said your business was successful, but I didn’t realize it was that big.”

  He shrugged. “That’s because I’m so shy and modest. Are you trying to choke to death or something?”

  “Or something.” She took a few swallows of water and was able to regain control of her breathing. “So, three days.”

  “Yeah, around that. Will you miss me?”

  “Now it was her turn to give a serious answer to a flippant question. “Yes, I think I will” She took a deep breath. “I have a question, though.”

  “Anything.”

  “You don’t know what I’m about to ask.”

  He spread his hands. “I’m an open book.”

  “So . . .” She felt a little sheepish even asking. “After class—you know, the one you missed because you were at your parents—I saw you across the street. And Ellie was kissing you. I’m really confused.”

  Jonah chuckled. “I’m sorry. I should have explained. I was at my parents when you texted me, but I had to get back and pick up a part I’d ordered. I was a little distracted, Ellie asked me what was wrong, and I told her about my dad. That kiss . . . it was nothing more than her feeling sorry for me. I swear.” He reached out and took her hand. “You’re the woman I’ve been thinking about nonstop, Quinn. No one else is even on my radar.”

  “Are you sure?”

  He fixed her eyes with his. “Absolutely. I’ve never been more sure of anything.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Quinn hardly slept at all that night. She had never anticipated how her date would turn out. Another kiss would have been nice, and she did get one of those before Jonah took her back to her car, but this whole “love at first sight” thing and “what we should do about it”—whoa. Out of the blue.

  When Laurie came in the next morning to get pastries for the bridal shop, Quinn had to ask for some advice. “Okay, so, I’ve decided that you and I must be living parallel lives.”

  “Oh? How so?” Laurie sat down at the table, and Quinn joined her.

  “We’ve both been made key players in our jobs, and there’s Logan . . .”

  “You’re engaged to Logan too?”

  Quinn rolled her eyes at Laurie’s attempt at humor. “I mean, he showed up in your life all of a sudden.”

  “Yes, he sure did. Took me totally by surprise.” She paused. “Wait. Are you telling me there’s a guy?”

  Quinn blushed. “Yes, there’s a guy. I’m sure you know him or saw him here—his name is Jonah. He fixed the window of the bakery.”

  “I did notice him. He seems like a really good guy.”

  “He is. And I found out last night that he signed up to take my cake decorating class because he . . . and I quote . . . fell in love with me at first sight.”

  Laurie slapped the table. “Really? That’s so awesome! And so sweet. What did you say in return?”

  “I don’t remember. I know I choked a lot, but that was over something else.”

  Laurie shook her head. “Oh, boy. So, what next? Do you feel the same way?”

  “See, that’s the whole thing. I don’t know. I didn’t get any of those first-meeting zappies or anything.”

  “Zappies?”

  “You know. Electricity. Stuff like that.”

  Laurie pursed her lips. “I don’t think you need ‘zappies,’ necessarily. Sometimes it’s a matter of knowing it’s right. And then the zappies come. Tell me about this guy. What do you know about him?”

  “He’s straightforward and doesn’t pull any punches, which is sometimes painful and embarrassing, but more often, is refreshing. He’s really good-looking—I’m sure you noticed that.”

  “Um, yes, I did. Don’t tell Logan, though.”

  Quinn smiled. “The funny thing is, I didn’t realize how good-looking he was at first because I was so busy judging him. Getting to know this guy has really taught me a lot.”

  Laurie nodded. “That’s good. If you’re in a relationship w
ith someone who can teach you things, and vice versa, you both become better people.”

  “And he’s close to his family, which I like—a lot. And he’s really service oriented. He loves helping people—especially me.”

  Laurie folded her arms on the table. “He really sounds like a good guy.”

  “He is. He’s just also . . . very unexpected. Not at all what I had envisioned for this part of my life. I thought I’d be working at the bakery, getting my career off to the next level.”

  “But that’s what you are doing. You can have a little surprise in there too, can’t you?”

  “I guess you’re right.”

  “I know I’m right.” Laurie stood up. “Now, let me grab some treats before Millie sends the bloodhounds after me.”

  Quinn boxed up Laurie’s selection and put a sticker on the box. As Laurie was taking the package out of Quinn’s hands, Laurie said, “If nothing else, see how it goes. If you wait until you think the timing in your life is just perfect, you might miss out on something incredible.” She waggled her eyebrows before turning and walking out.

  * * *

  Mr. D came in that afternoon to work on a high-end birthday cake. “Hey, Quinn,” he greeted as he tied his apron around his middle. “How’s Jonah?”

  “He’s doing well. He went to see his parents for a couple of days.”

  “Good, good. Family is important. That young man’s a keeper. I’m glad you’re marrying him.”

  “What? No, Mr. D. I’m not marrying him.” She patted Mr. D on the shoulder. “Are you having another one of your matchmaking moments? Are you still trying to hook me up with Tony?”

  Mr. D gave her an incredulous look. “Tony? My son? Of course not. He’s already married, and he’s far too old for you. I’m talking about Jonah, the nice boy who fixed the window. He’d take good care of you. You should marry him.”

  “But I don’t even know if he wants to marry me,” Quinn said, flicking a helpless glance at Maggie.

  “Of course he does. It’s written all over him.” Mr. D patted her shoulder in return. “You’ll see. Now, where is this cake?”

  Between Laurie’s advice and Mr. D’s proclamation, Quinn’s brain was just as swirled up and messy at the end of the day as it had been that morning. Everyone seemed to think that she and Jonah were a foregone conclusion. Was it possible that finding her special someone really could be as easy as him walking into the bakery and falling in love with her while she restocked the cookie trays?