Adams Grove 03-Wedding Cake and Big Mistakes Read Online Free Page B

didn’t seem to notice.
    “Yep. Took me nearly all day to match the flowers to her color swatches.”
    Connor could picture that soft-coral color in his mind with no problem.
    “That wedding cake might be my best creation yet. The beaded design will match Jill’s dress, and it’s taken some doing, but I think she’s going to love it.”
    The woman in the chair piped in. “All your creations are fabulous, but I think the cake you’re designing for the grand opening of the artisan center is going to be my favorite.” The woman smiled wide. “Hi there. Sorry, I couldn’t help but overhear.”
    “No problem. I think we’re all fans of Mac’s work around here. Do I know you?”
    Mac stepped closer to the woman. “Y’all haven’t met? Sure you have. Anita’s from up the road in Hale’s Vineyard.”
    “I’m sorry. I’m not always good with names.”
    “I’m friends with Katherine. She was in my yoga class.” The dark-haired woman smiled. “Nice to meet you again, Connor.”
    Anita looked like the yoga type. Graceful and at peace with herself. At first glance, he’d thought she was in her early thirties, but now, closer, the lines that accented her smile disclosed a few more years on her.
    “I didn’t realize Katherine had made any friends while she was in town. She’s a sweet gal, but Adams Grove plucked the happy right out of her.” Just one more example of relationships destined to go nowhere from the start.
    Anita had been talking, but he’d missed most of what she’d said. “I was so sad when she went back to Chicago,” Anita said. “I’m trying to get Mac to do another one of those competitions. Katherine was telling me about one up in Chicago. I should call her.” Anita put the fork down from her left hand and pulled a napkin in front of her. “Mac, honey, let me use your pen.”
    He pulled the pen from his coat pocket and handed it to her.
    Anita jotted down her phone number. “When you talk to her again, tell her I have a new cell phone number. It’s been too long since she and I have talked.”
    Connor took the napkin, and Anita kept right on talking. “Anyway, she was here with me the first time Mac ever baked his famous vanilla-almond layered cupcakes. Miniature wedding cakes—absolutely to die for. I swear, if they won’t make two people fall in love, nothing will.”
    Mac was enjoying the ego massage Anita was giving, no doubt about that. “Well, both almond and vanilla are known to increase passion and lust in the ladies. The creamy marzipan filling is the magic.” Mac winked at Connor. “I’m no magician, but I always keep a few on hand, if ya know what I mean.”
    I think I do. “And they say a way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Sounds like you’re on to something here that’ll work on the ladies, Mac. Toss a couple those into a box for me, too.” Maybe those magical little cupcakes will cure what’s ailing my mood today.

Chapter Three
    As Connor walked up the block and got closer to his office, he resisted the temptation to spin the stacked bakery boxes on his finger like a basketball. He’d been able to do that back in the day, but there was surely no good sense in potentially wasting Mac’s famous bear claws, even if the five-second rule applied. That sixteen-year-old boy inside of him still often tried to take over. Even now, seeing the old bank building, he got the urge to press his nose to the window and daydream of the olden days—bank robberies or a withdrawal from the big vault to keep a family indiscretion secret. The abandoned building had always evoked a strange magnetism to him. Maybe it was because of the stories his granddaddy had told him from back when he was the president of that bank.
    Buying that old bank building was definitely one of Connor’s proudest achievements to date. Once a grimy abandoned piece of history, the building still had good bones, and he’d been able to restore its place as one of the gems of Main Street’s