What's Life Without the Sprinkles - By Misty Simon
Chapter One
A hush, broken only by the ticking of the antique grandfather clock, fell over the crowd in the spacious room. When one of the three doors on the far wall slowly swung open, the crowd sucked in a collective breath. Within seconds, that collective inhale was released in tears and joyous laughter.
The dressing room of Decadence, the scene of this rite of passage, was filled with every shape and size of woman, seventeen total, gathered on this spring morning to approve their friend’s wedding gown.
The mother of the bride raised her hand dramatically and another hush immediately ensued. Claudia Bradley had seen it so many times it was like a choreographed ocean wave. The noise swelled and receded, depending on the mother’s whim, after the resplendent bride-to-be hesitantly stepped into the throng of women.
Standing alone on the edge of the crowd, Claudia watched as the mother cupped the daughter’s face in her hands and kissed her on the cheek. Claudia’s friend, May Blanchard, who had created the dress, winked at her and turned back to the bride.
Claudia discreetly took her leave and went to the bakery section of the store, where she was far more comfortable. Very few people cried over cake, unless it was her Double Deluxe Chocolate Fantasy with Butter Cream Icing.
An hour later, after stamping the check from the mother of the bride For Deposit Only, Claudia ran back to the tiny office they all shared and grabbed up the phone. Hitting the first speed-dial number, she waited impatiently, dancing from one high-heeled foot to another. “Come on, come on,” she said as the phone continued to ring in her ear. Finally, the line was answered, and Claudia didn’t waste any time with pleasantries.
“You are talking to the proud new holder of an eight-thousand-dollar check,” she crowed, still astounded. They had never been able to charge that much for a dress before. And there would be more where that came from, when the bridal party put in orders for the flowers and the cake.
“Holy cow,” said her best friend, Nate West, his voice rife with disbelief.
“None holier.”
“Hey, hang on, let me turn down the television.”
Claudia smiled. Typical Nate. “No, no. Don’t worry about it. I have to call Zoe anyway, so I have to go, but I just wanted to yell it at you first.” Nothing had ever felt better.
“Well, that’s awesome. We’ll celebrate this weekend, if you don’t have plans.”
“You’re on and you’re buying.” Before he could protest, she hung up and twirled around, almost knocking into the desk chair and the bookshelf.
Once she righted herself, she picked up the phone again and called her sister. She crowed the same few beautiful words, emphasizing the amount this time.
“Get out of here,” her sister Zoe screamed.
“I am getting out. I have to go to the bank and cash this puppy, after I photocopy it to hang on our wall.”
“Well, make sure it’s in that tiny space we call an office, so we can charge even more next time. Why tie ourselves down by announcing that eight thousand dollars is a lot for us? Are they coming back for flowers next week? Did you remember to ask?”
“You are absolutely right,” Claudia said, and laughed. “And yes, they are coming in, and I remembered to confirm. Thanks for all your support.” Eight thousand dollars. And for a dress May had sewn over bowls of corn flakes and reruns of Friends. Outstanding.
Zoe’s voice brought her back. “I can run it to the bank, if you want. I’ll stop by between errands.”
Claudia laughed again. “Yeah, you wish. I got it covered, and I won’t be tempted to go buy a new wardrobe.”
Zoe, as usual, ignored her. “So what’s the first thing you’re going to do with your vast portion of the money?”
“I’m going to find a boarding school to tuck Justin into until he stops leaving his clothes all over the floor, wanting a dog, and tracking mud in the house. Oh, and dropping hints that it would be a good idea if I found a man.” Boarding school wasn’t a bad idea, but not one she’d follow through on. She’d miss her son too much, but God, he was giving her fits lately, constantly asking about her love life.
“You wouldn’t really do that, and you know it. He may be a pain right now, but you would freak if he was more than ten miles away.”
Claudia sighed. “How true.”
“So what are you really doing to celebrate?”
“Nothing really. Get back to work, I guess.”
“You’re killing me, Claudia. Mom said she’s taking Justin for the night, so I know you have a whole night to yourself and you have no other plans? What kind of life is that?”
A safe one, Claudia thought, but said, “I do have plans. I’m going out with Edward.” Then she cringed—on her end of the phone, where Zoe couldn’t possibly see her.
“God save me from dear old Eddie.” Zoe’s sarcasm came across the line loud and clear. “Oh, pardon me, it’s not Eddie or Ed, but Edward. Didn’t he say it sounded more dignified? Sounds to me like he has a stick up his...”
Claudia broke in before this spiraled into a conversation where Zoe used all the swear words her first boyfriend had ever taught her. “Please don’t start. It’s a date. I’m doing something other than staying home and drinking margaritas alone. You should be happy.”
“I would be,” Zoe said, exasperation evident in her tone, “if it was anyone but that pony. Remember our little talk about stabling the pony and harnessing a stallion? What happened to the resolve to drop this dork and find someone worthy of your time?”
“He’s not a dork. He’s a very nice man our mother introduced me to.” That was her story and she was sticking to it.
“He’s a pony.”
“He is not a pony. We have a very good time together.”
“I can tell, since you always get so formal whenever you talk about him.” Zoe’s breath came out in a huff over the line. “Look, if the pony/stallion scenario isn’t working for you, then maybe this one will…”
Claudia held her breath, not sure what her sister would come up with next.
“Let’s say Edward is a dessert.”
Claudia groaned.
“Bear with me. So if I had to pick Edward out of a dessert case, I would say he was the three-day-old cookies on the clearance rack at the grocery store.”
“That’s not fair.”
“Regardless, he is stale cookies, and what you need is cake. Preferably cake with butter cream icing in the swirly patterns I love to watch you do, Claudia. Lots of cake, with sugar and excitement. When are you going to ignore Mom and her ridiculous matchmaking and go out and grab some delicious cake? Find someone worthy of your time?”
A pause hummed along the line. Claudia squeezed her eyes shut and hoped Zoe wouldn’t say it. So, of course, she did.
“Someone like Nate, maybe.”
Argh!
“Don’t start. I’m happy with Edward.” It was only a tiny white lie. While he might not be cake, she wasn’t willing to call him three-day-old stale cookies from the grocery store, either. That wasn’t fair to him or the relationship she had been trying hard to cultivate over the last three months. She tuned back to the conversation before she could look too hard at the fact that the relationship with him was already work and they hadn’t even slept together yet.
“The day I see you truly be happy with Eddie is the day I turn my hair green,” Zoe said, then added, “on purpose. That botched bleach job doesn’t count. And I still think you should go jump on Nate.”
The bell above the door tinkled, Gratefully, Claudia looked up to see one of the women from the earlier bridal crowd walk back into the shop. “I have to go,” she whispered. “Customer.” Without a moment’s hesitation, she hung up on Zoe’s continued slamming of Edward’s character and possible toupee. Her comments about cake weren’t helping, either. Claudia had been on a steady diet of no sweets for over ten years. There was no need to introduce them now, especially not with Nate, her best friend.
****
After dropping off the check at their bank and grabbing some lunch, Claudia took a drive around town. She had nothing else going on today in the shop, and May had everything under control. If she needed Claudia, May would call and Claudia could be back in moments, such was the joy of a small town.
With the windows rolled down, she enjoyed the light breeze of mid-April in Central Pennsylvania. It was one of her favorite times of year. Plants and trees were in bloom, animals were coming back to life after sleeping away the winter, and summer was just around the corner.
In fact, today felt more like summer than spring. Claudia enjoyed the way the sun beat into the car and the warmth on her elbow where she had it cocked out the window. Tunes played on the radio, no one was bugging her about her love life, her child wasn’t giving her fits with pre-teen angst, and her sister wasn’t plaguing her with things she couldn’t have and didn’t want. Not much could go wrong right now.
And even though she was not looking forward to dinner with Edward tonight as much as she had before her talk with Zoe and her ridiculous cake references, she would get her enthusiasm back any minute now. In the meantime, she drove past the high school and then past the elementary school building where Justin was hopefully learning and not getting into any trouble.
“Eleven o’clock and all is well,” Claudia said to herself.
Seconds later, though, she almost ran the stop sign at the corner of Broad and Keller because of a guy out in the front yard of the house to her left. He was maybe ten yards back from the street, his booted feet planted next to a bucket of paint and a ladder to the second floor where apparently the window frames were being repainted. But the paint didn’t hold her attention for long, since the abs on the guy taking a break from the painting were about all she could truly focus on.
He had his shirt up from the hem, wiping his forehead with the tag end of the white fabric. His strong forearms moved and tensed with the swiping motion, making the saliva all but dry up in Claudia’s mouth. She would bet that last check for eight thou that Edward did not look like that under his neatly pressed button-down shirt. This man was toned and lightly golden even at the beginning of spring. His muscles contracted as he took one last swipe at his face, wiping right at his brow line. The sleeves of the white T-shirt hugged him like a second skin. His jeans rode low on his hips and were rimmed by a tool belt with a wrench and a drill. Was it dirty that she was drooling this hard over someone who was just doing his job?
Must be sweaty work, she thought as she continued to sit at the stop sign. Maybe she could offer him a drink of water, and perhaps she could fan him with the bank slip she’d just picked up. Lust came freight-training through her, and she let it because this was a random guy she might not see again. And even if she was looking for safe in dating, that didn’t mean she was dead.
In fact, she wouldn’t mind licking some icing off that flat stomach. Whew, boy!
A horn beeped behind her, and she realized two things at once. She was still sitting at a stop sign with three cars behind her, and when the shirt came down from the guy’s face, she saw it was Nate, waving at her.
Holy Mary, Mother of God, she was going to hell. And it was all Zoe’s fault.
****
“I have a schedule to keep today, Logan,” Nate West said as his younger brother walked up the sidewalk through the late morning sunshine. Claudia had just driven by, and he’d waved to her, but she had looked stressed. He made a mental note to give her a call later to see what was going on now in her often chaotic life. The phone call about the check had been brief, and then he’d had to leave for an appointment. He’d gotten some work done ahead of Logan’s arrival and planned on doing more after he left with the specs.
“Yeah, yeah, keep your shorts on. I’m only five minutes late, bro.”
“Well, that’s five minutes I could have been doing something else. And the sun is only getting higher.” Nate walked along the outside of the Victorian house. They needed to get the specs to make a bid for the rest of the job. Right now they were proving themselves to Old Mrs. Finkey by painting the windows, but she wanted the whole thing remodeled. Nate definitely wanted to be the one to have his hands on this old beauty. The architecture was awesome, and the job challenging enough to make his fingers itch to get at it.
“So what did the old man say about this job?”
“He’s going to give us the material costs when he gets back to the office, but for right now we just need to look around and see how much work the house is going to need.” This was one of the aspects of construction Nate loved. Taking something old and making it new. That was what had drawn him to the family business in the first place. Sure, it was nice to build from the ground up, but it was better to remake and strengthen.
They spent about thirty minutes going over the various repairs and build-outs needed to give Mrs. Finkey what she wanted.
Taking one more turn around the property, Nate knew they could do this and probably come in under budget. He could even work it in around the repairs they were doing on Decadence for Claudia and her partners. It would be a nice boost to his checking account at the same time, too.
“I don’t see why we couldn’t do it,” Logan said, running a hand along the siding. “It should fit right in with what we’re doing at your girlfriend’s place.”
Nate caught the sideways sly look and the gleam in his brother’s eye. But he wasn’t going to rise to the bait. No way. “I don’t see why not, either.”
“Unless you have to watch Justin again so Claudia can go out and make time with another man while you sit at home, playing games with the kid and trying not to think about her sleeping with someone else.”
Nate tried to ignore the jab again, but he was nearing the end of his rope. “Just let it go.”
“Well, I’d love to, but it pains me to see you moping around all the time.”
“I do not mope, you ass. She and I are friends, have been friends, for years. I don’t know why you obsess about what she’s doing and who she’s doing it with. And I happen to like the kid, and so do you.”
Logan ignored all but what he thought was important. “Yes, you do mope. You moon around after her, doing everything for her...”
Whatever else Logan said was lost in the roar filling Nate’s head. His eyes couldn’t believe what he was seeing cruising along the road. It was like being thrown back over ten years to high school. Radio cranked up, windows down, top lowered on the vintage Mustang he’d driven all those years ago, Peter Drake breezed through town as if he owned it.
Shit.
“Hey, have you heard anything I’ve said?” Logan said, tapping Nate on the shoulder.
“What?” What the hell was Peter Drake doing back in town? He should have been tucked up in Ohio, not glooming up the skyline in Pennsylvania.
“I was telling you you’re being an idiot with Claudia.”
“Whatever. I have bigger things to worry about right now.”
“Well, that’s certainly a different tune for you. Normally, you obsess about her.”
Nate dragged himself back from wondering about Peter and hit Logan in the arm. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll put the bid in with Dad and go from there. I have something to do that can’t wait.”
“But what about the other two jobs?” Logan scratched his head, then crossed his arms.
“I don’t have time for this. There’s something I have to do.”
****
“Emergency girl meeting.”
Claudia opened her mouth to tell May she couldn’t possibly leave what she was doing, as the other woman breezed past. She’d just gotten back from her ill-fated car ride and needed to do some serious decorating to distract herself from the image of Nate with his shirt half off. She’d already ignored three calls from him on her cell. She couldn’t talk to him until she figured out a way to not picture him as she’d seen him near the stop sign. And the thought struck her that he was going to be working on Decadence in that capacity, too. She hoped she and her sanity survived.
In the meantime, May was yelling her name from the back office. Okay. She finished piping the icing around the edges of the top layer of the three-tiered cake for tomorrow afternoon’s senior tea and set down the white plastic bag. After washing her hands, she ducked into the back room and found Zoe already there. Why did everything seem to be such a crisis lately? She didn’t think she could take another one.
“What’s going on that you had to interrupt everything?” Zoe asked the question before Claudia could get it out.
“Claudia, I have something I have to tell you, and you’re not going to like it.” May took the seat behind the desk, leaving the two garage sale bargain chairs for Claudia and her sister.
“Should I sit down?” Claudia laughed a nervous laugh and gripped the back of the chair.
“I think you should.”
A million things ran through her head as she came around in front of the chair and took a seat. Was something wrong with Justin? No, that wouldn’t have been a subject for a girl meeting. Girl meetings were for things where everyone needed the strength of the others to get through it. But her mind drew a blank as to what else it could be.
Zoe grabbed her hand, and Claudia shot her sister a grateful look. Whatever it was, they could get through it together, just like everything else.
May tapped her fingers together under her nose, scooted back and forth on the chair, and cleared her throat.
“Come on. I can take it, whatever it is. You can tell me.” Claudia braced herself for the news. It had been bad enough when May’s father had a heart attack a month ago, requiring the most recent girl meeting. Claudia and her former father-in-law, Roger Drake, hadn’t ever been close, but it was still sad to see her son’s grandfather in the hospital.
“I just wanted to warn you...”
Claudia leaned forward in her chair, taking her sister with her. “Yes?”
“Well, I just wanted to warn you that...”
“I’m not going to survive this if you only say one new word every time.”
May made eye contact with Zoe, who tightened her grip on Claudia’s hand. “I just wanted to warn you that Brad and I are going to have a visitor for the next week or so.”
“Ooo-kaayy.” Claudia drew out the word, feeling her stomach sink. No visitor of May’s would ever be a problem for her except one. And that one person was the only one who would necessitate an emergency girl meeting.
“Peter is on his way home.” May’s words tumbled out over each other.
Yep, that was the one.
“What the hell?” Zoe took the words right out of her mouth again.
“Yeah, what in the world is that all about?” Claudia gripped Zoe’s hand until her sister winced. “Sorry,” she said, letting her go, trying to settle back into hard plastic.
“No, that’s all right. It’s a shock to me, too.”
“Explain, May. Why didn’t we know about this earlier?” Claudia tried to get comfortable in the chair and failed miserably.
May dropped her head into her hands and shook her hair. Her speech was muffled by her hands when she said, “Dad called him after the heart attack, and Peter is coming to help with the house. I didn’t know exactly when he was coming, and I didn’t want to alarm you, in case he backed out.” She tried a smile, but it failed, as far as Claudia was concerned. “Also, I thought if I gave you less time, you wouldn’t have a chance to make excuses to not come to my house when I invite you this Sunday.”
Claudia rocked back. She couldn’t process it all. “Your father called Peter to come help with the house? Your father—the man who wouldn’t even tell Peter that his son was born, because it was finals week—is going to pull him away from his precious work to help with the house you already run by yourself? And Peter’s coming back to town?” Life just didn’t get any worse than this. The bad chair at her back didn’t help the bad news, either.
“Yes, to both, and you’ll see Peter Sunday at the lunch for my dad.”
“No, I won’t.” Apparently it could.
“Please.” May broke out the sad eyes, but Claudia was determined to ignore them.
“I really do not want to be in the same room with...Peter...if I don’t have to.” She’d almost said “the bastard,” but that wouldn’t help things, as this bastard was May’s brother. It was no secret how Claudia felt about the man who’d walked out on her before their son was born. Sure, for the most part it had all worked out for the best. Life with Peter would have been worse than what she’d managed on her own. But that didn’t mean she wanted to have contact with the man who hadn’t even bothered to send his kid a card since his third birthday.
“You have to go,” May said, finally lifting her head from her hand and piercing Claudia with a look. “I’ve known you for a lot of years, but you don’t owe my father or my family anything, Claude, I get that. But I’m going to have to pull the friendship card and ask you to please be there.” The puppy-dog eyes were used shamelessly. “You can even bring Zoe. My dad has some weird notion that he has to distribute his worldly possessions now, while he’s still alive, to see them go to the right person.”
“You’re damn right she’s bringing me.”
A headache roared behind Claudia’s eyes, compounded by the metal digging into her elbow and the plastic trying to work its way under her shoulder blades. She couldn’t think for all the emotions, memories, and anger running through her. But beneath all of that, a part of her wanted to see what May’s dad had to say. And Peter no longer had any effect on her. It had been over ten years since he’d walked out on her at three months pregnant, seven years since she’d heard from him at all. His power to hurt had long since faded. She was sure of it. It hadn’t been tested until now, since he’d always stayed far away, but she could stand being in the same room with him for an hour or so without puncturing his head with her high heel.
“Fine,” she said, raising a hand to stop the bickering going on between Zoe and May. It wasn’t worth fighting over. He wasn’t worth fighting over. And if she didn’t like what Roger Drake felt her son needed, there was nothing that said she had to keep it.
“Fine?” Zoe and May said at the same time.
“Yes, fine. I’ll go. Peter has nothing on me anymore. In fact it will be interesting to see him after all this time. It’s not like I haven’t thought of him in one way or the other over the years.” Like when she had used one of his yearbook pictures as a dart board. “We did share something, but he can’t hurt me at this point.”
“Wow,” Zoe said. “You’re a lot bigger person than I am. But we need to do some serious shopping, if you’re going to see an old flame. He needs to know what he missed out on.”
He missed out on his son’s whole life, Claudia thought, but she wasn’t going to bring that up. In fact, she wouldn’t bring up Justin at all, other than to say thanks or no thanks at the meeting. She didn’t even have to make contact with Peter during the lunch if she didn’t want to. But she would look astounding, in case he decided to look at her. Nothing better than having a chance to make an ex-boyfriend regret that ex part.
“All right.” She put her hands on her knees and rose from the uncomfortable chair. “Anyone have any appointments this afternoon?”
When the two other women shook their heads, she said, “Then shopping it is. And while we’re out, we really need to get some new chairs for this office. These are ridiculous. We need to be happy, rich owners, not stiff ones.” And she needed to have her head checked, if that was what she’d decided to cling to so she didn’t have to think about sitting in the same room with Peter again.
****
“I’m worn through.” Claudia threw her bags onto the side table in the entryway of her apartment over their shop, then threw herself on the couch. She could happily sleep, or at least rest, for the next ten to fifteen days.
“Me, too.” Zoe lowered her bags to the floor and stretched her back. “Power shopping is not my idea of a good time. I much prefer being able to look at the stuff in a leisurely manner instead of feeling so rushed. I like to shop, but not like we’re on some sort of recon mission. Jeez.” Zoe took the big chair in the corner and rested her head against the low, rounded back.
“May had to go home and deal with some family stuff. We needed to get done as soon as possible.” And Claudia couldn’t be happier. Her feet were killing her, and her stomach churned with all the things she hadn’t let herself think about since May’s announcement. Three more calls from Nate, and now she wasn’t sure she wanted to answer him at all. He was not going to be pleased that Peter was back in town.
“I hate to leave you alone right now, but I really have to get back to Decadence to see if I have any other orders to fill.” Zoe said but made no move to get out of the chair.
“Eh, don’t worry about it. I’m just going to hang out here for the next twenty minutes, until Justin gets home from school, and then I’m taking him to Mom’s.”
“And then you have the pony date. Excuse me, the stale cookie date. Have fun with that.”
Claudia frowned at her sister.
“You know I’m right, but you’re so stubborn you’re going to have to see it yourself. I get it.” Zoe rose from the chair and whisked her pale blonde hair over her shoulder. “At least you can put Justin to bed when you get home from said date and kick back, since it’s a school night. Maybe he won’t give you any lip for at least one night.”
Claudia spent a moment wishing she looked as fresh and young as Zoe. Three years separated them, but sometimes Claudia felt it was more like twenty.
“Justin has a lot going on lately.” She pressed her fingers to her temples. “This whole new morbid pre-will thing from Roger certainly isn’t going to help with that.”
“Not unless he gets something really cool. Then I bet he’ll be fine.”
“But what about Peter being in town?” Her stomach churned again. “Do you think I should ask him to see Justin while he’s here?” That was the big question that had been gnawing at her for the past few hours. Would Justin be devastated if he knew his father had been here but hadn’t bothered to see him?
“Absolutely not. I don’t think you should let that scum near you or Justin beyond the lunch you’re determined to go to. He gave up that privilege a long time ago when he left without a backwards glance.” Zoe stomped to emphasize her point and Claudia was reminded again how young she was. Twenty-five and still relatively ignorant of the way things worked. Though she had the operation of the flower shop down to a science, she hadn’t been tested much in matters of the heart.
“I’m not sure what I’m going to do. But I do know we need to at least be civil to Peter at that lunch or you’re not going to be in the room for too long. I don’t want to antagonize him. I don’t even want to look at him. So don’t call attention to me by being a brat.”
Zoe’s answer to that was sticking her tongue out as she took the back stairs down to Decadence. Nice. Sunday ought to be a freaking blast.
And now she had to go get ready for her date with Edward-of-the-possible-toupee. What had happened to her excitement about the eight-thousand-dollar check and feeling as if her life was finally on the right track?