Winning the Baker's Heart

Chapter 12

Rey somehow pulled off the cake. He stayed up Wednesday and Thursday nights to frost and put fondant on the layers. Kyle didn't think he'd finish in time.

Somehow, the kid pulled it off. He stacked the first three layers and decorated the base with green "grass" followed by green mountains. The second layer was open sky with beautiful hand-painted clouds. The third was a portrait of the skyline of the town.

Until Saturday morning, Kyle had no idea what the top two tiers would look like. They'd spent Friday frosting the one thousand cupcakes. That was after they'd found out Rey had filled them with cookies and cream filling. When they'd looked at him, he'd made a mischievous face and went back to work. He was so full of surprises they were shocked every time he pulled something out of his hat.

Friday night, Rey didn't come upstairs after closing. Kyle watched him on the security camera as he pulled the top two tiers from the fridge and sat down to work on them. He faced the camera so Kyle could see his face. Kyle hadn't said anything, but Rey had picked up on that he was watching him from the security camera.

He worked well into the morning, munching on that day's donuts and coffee to keep him awake. Kyle wondered if this was part of his disorder or if he had conditioned himself to stay up just for this. If it was part of his disorder, he would have to refrain from taking large orders at the last minute. He didn't want to push Rey over his personal edge.

He watched Rey until midnight when he went to bed. The young man never came to the room so Kyle had to go search for him the next morning.

Rey had the donuts going when he came downstairs. He didn't look tired, and he told Kyle he'd slept in the office for a couple of hours. Not happy with it but satisfied he'd gotten some sleep, Kyle had helped him. They'd had almost all of the donuts cooked and rested by the time Thomas arrived. He had taken his mother to treatment, and she had insisted on buying everyone breakfast.

When Rey pulled the entire cake from the fridge, Kyle thought he was going to die. He'd seen the bottom tiers Friday night, but the top two had been blank. Now they were fully decorated.

The second tier had the town square painted on it. It was a panorama view of City Hall, Kyle's Confectionery, the Harlan Library, and the old movie theater. In the distance were the police and fire stations.

The top tier had the town's seal and one hundred seventy years stenciled on the white fondant as well as Founder's Day.

Kyle and Thomas stared at the cake. Rey was looking for any imperfections in his work, but the other two were dumbfounded. It was so clean and well put together they didn't want to cut into it.

"How did you finish this?" Thomas asked.

"A lot of long nights," Rey replied. He said it absently so he missed the dark cloud that came over Thomas's face. He looked at the middle man when no one said anything. "What?"

"Did you stay up all night again?" he demanded.

"No, I slept in the office."

Kyle saw the wheels turning in Thomas's eyes. He waved his hands in between them to ward it off. "No, no. We don't have time to do this. We have to get all of this to the square. The parade starts at eleven."

They stopped bickering and started loading the cupcakes and cake. Rey would put the top tiers on at the square so they wouldn't damage it in transit.

It took some maneuvering, but they finally got the cake in the van. Thomas sat in the back to keep it stable and Rey followed in his own car. Once at the square, they unloaded it into City Hall's kitchen until after the parade so it wouldn't fall apart.

Rey put the second tier on first. He had to pipe white buttercream to hide the seam. When he popped the top tier on, red buttercream hid the seam to match the red writing on the side.

Mayor Dunegan came out as soon as he was done. Rey smiled at her as he finished then inspected his work. The mayor looked over the cake with her mouth hanging almost to her chest.

"Did you do this?" she asked.

Kyle strode over just as Rey was getting ready to deny it. "We had a little crisis two days ago. Somehow, he pulled it off." Rey looked at Kyle as he dropped an arm over his shoulders. "He did all the designs by hand."

"These are so good. It wasn't what I thought I wanted," the mayor said. Her smile widened as she looked at it. "But I love it. You did a very good job."

Rey smiled but didn't say anything. He was all too aware of Kyle's proximity, but he didn't want to draw attention to it. He didn't know how he felt about it because he hadn't really thought about it. They'd been so preoccupied with so many different things he barely had time to eat.

Kyle walked to their little booth and relieved Thomas so he could relieve himself. Rey spotted his mother and went to talk to her. He hadn't been home in a few nights so they probably had so much to talk about. They were very close since he'd spent most of his time with her. Spending so much time with his mom meant he was very grounded. But he couldn't leave the booth unattended for too long. So he made sure she knew he was alive.

As the day progressed, all the cupcakes were gone. Everyone who bit into them were surprised to see filling, and it excited them. Kyle took down so many names and numbers for future orders he had to write on the back of his notepad.

Rey returned with a happy smile lighting his green eyes. He started to clean up the containers and cups that had somehow accumulated around their booth. He didn't talk much, but he didn't have to. Anyone could see he was happy.

Mayor Dunegan did her speech after the parade and cut the cake. Once again, people started talking about the design and the flavor. Rey's face reddened at the mention of his name and he ducked his head. Kyle thought it was cute.

They were fielding more and more questions when Kyle recognized an all too familiar figure. Hailie strode over the lawn with a plate in her hand. She was contentedly eating the cake Rey had made. He knew what she was about to ask, but he didn't want to deal with it.

"Well, shit." Rey looked over at Thomas's outburst. He was looking over at their tent. Rey followed his gaze and his face fell. "What does she want?"

Rey didn't ask. He wandered over to finish cleaning up and to eavesdrop. He wanted to hear what she had to say this time. Last time she had upset Kyle, and he knew where that had led.

Kyle felt movement at his back. He glanced over his shoulder to see Rey cleaning up the tables and the trash. His shoulders sagged in relief.

"Kyle!" Hailie called. She smiled at him which he wasn't sure how to interpret. She tossed her plate in the trash in Rey's hands. If looks could kill... "Did you make that cake?"

Rey shook his head over her shoulder. Kyle understood. "Yeah, I made it. It took forever since it was so last minute. I had a lot of late nights."

"I can imagine. Hand-painting was never your forte. I remember when Chef Delaney asked you to make a sun on the child's birthday cake for class."

Kyle frowned. "I worked hard on all of it."

He watched as she picked at the hem of her jacket. It was in the upper eighties today, and she was wearing denim. She had always been over the top, but he knew when she wanted something. She always picked at her clothes when she wanted to ask for something but didn't know how.

"What do you want?" he demanded. His tone was a bit sharp, but she knew how to push his buttons without saying anything.

Hailie smiled and dropped her hands. Her olive skin lit up with so much brightness Kyle knew he was in for a doozy. He glanced at Rey, but he had drifted off to help someone else.

"I need a cake," she said.

"What kind of cake?" He had a sinking feeling he already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear it from her mouth.

Her smile widened, and she held up her hand. A large diamond sparkled on her fourth finger. "I'm getting married, and you make the best wedding cakes. I want you to make one for me."

Kyle's world plummeted at the phrase 'I'm getting married.' Why would she ask that of him? Why?