Doug looked alarmed for a second, and if she didn’t know better, perhaps disappointed. “You’re not staying for cake?”
“Sorry, plans.” With her bath salts and her romance novel, even if he had started to sour her taste for romance.
She swept her eyes around the tent, to the dance floor that had already started to gather a small crowd as the music picked up, and felt a longing that was far too close to loneliness pull at her heart. She loved to dance, but the only dance partners she could ever rely on were her sisters.
“Enjoy your plans,” Doug said, and she felt her smile slip, because much as she was looking forward to soaking her feet in a hot bathtub and escaping into the pages of her novel, she had a very bad feeling that for her, the only place romance existed was in fiction.
Chapter Four
Gabby’s favorite spot in town—though she could never reveal this to her cousin Amelia who owned the Firefly Café—was Buttercream Bakery, the newest food option in Blue Harbor and sole contributor to her tightening waistband. She wasn’t complaining, though. The double chocolate brownies were worth every extra lap around the duck pond, and it wasn’t like she had a hot date to worry about. Or any date at all.
“You’re sighing,” her cousin Maddie observed, as she plated a thick and chewy brownie and passed it over the counter. “Let me guess? Your love life?”
“Easy for you to say.” Gabby handed over the cash, knowing she would put the change in the tip jar. All the Conway girls supported each other this way. They’d grown up working at their family orchard and winery and they’d slowly discovered the joy of owning their businesses. It had just taken Maddie a little longer to find her confidence and go out on her own, but when she did, she’d made a whopping success of it. And found love in the process, with her contractor.
She thought back on her conversation with Doug at the wedding Saturday night, infuriating as it had been. In a world this big, was there any guarantee in finding the person who was meant for you? It was just so easy for some people.
Gabby sighed, then flushed. “Guilty as charged.”
“You know what I’ll say…” Maddie just raised an eyebrow.
Gabby shook her head. She knew what Maddie would say. It was what Brooke said. And Amelia. And Jenna. And her cousin Britt. And, well, everyone. She was too picky.
“I don’t see what’s wrong with holding out for the right guy,” she said.
“Maybe the right guy is right in front of you, and you aren’t even aware of it because you’re too busy checking your boxes and deciding that he’s coming up short on a few things.”
“I don’t have a checklist!”
Maddie couldn’t fight off a smile.
“Well, maybe a mental one,” Gabby finally admitted. “But what’s wrong with having some criteria?”
“A lot of things, judging by the way it’s working out for you,” Maddie said pertly. She turned to take a tray of fresh cookies from her assistant and began adding them to a basket with a pair of tongs. “Face it, Gabby, not all men are like the heroes in your books.”
“No,” Gabby agreed, thinking of Doug again. Clearly, they were not. “But it’s nice to think they could be.”
Maddie just shook her head and moved on to the next person in line. It was crowded today, but then, it was always busy, especially now during tourist season. Gabby scanned the tables, happy to find a spot in the corner where she could enjoy her brownie and her book before she went back to the shop and began working on the florals for the next bride’s happily ever after, because contrary to what her family members were telling her, other people were finding soulmates, and her order forms were proof of that.
She slid into the chair and pulled out her book, breaking off pieces of the fudgy brownie as her eyes scanned the page, quickly pulling her into a world so much different than her own, where a man named—
She paused, startled by the sense that someone was watching her, and looked up to see none other than Doug Monroe looking down at her. There was a definite sheen to his eyes, one she had frankly seen too many times and hadn’t missed in the slightest.
“Good book?” Yep. His mouth twitched.
She closed it firmly and lifted her chin. “Excellent.”
“So I see.” His gaze glimmered. “I didn’t mean to startle you. You looked so immersed.”
She pinched her lips harder. “I was, and if you don’t mind, I think I’ll get back to it.”
“Actually, I was hoping you might be willing to share your table,” he said, looking only slightly apologetic.
Gabby glanced around the room, disappointed to see that every table was completely occupied, including the ones set up on the outside deck, and that she was, technically, hogging the last free chair in the bakery with her handbag.
“Oh.” She felt flustered as she set down her book. “Um, sure.”
Doug wasted no time in dropping into the seat as she hooked her handbag over the back of her chair. She blinked rapidly at her brownie, wishing she hadn’t bought it, or at least had the sense to get it in a white paper bag. Instead, it sat on the pretty painted plate, virtually untouched, meaning that unless she crammed it into her mouth and drew further potential cause for judgment from the man who was now unloading files onto her table, she was stuck sitting here for at least ten minutes. Yes, ten minutes until she could politely make up an excuse and be on her way. So much for a relaxing break in the day.
She stifled a sigh and wearily picked up her book again, miffed to see that she had forgotten to mark the page in her haste.
“Here you go,” Maddie said, coming to the table with a steaming mug
