His Sister's Wedding (20 page)

"The groom?" he questioned gloomily.

"Just be there," Lillie ordered in her best big-sister voice, despite feeling too
tired and dispirited to raise much of a ruckus.

"I'm not the only one," Scott defended. "Mel's dreading it. She says her aunt is a
major ham, always making a big deal out of these social things, but you're right.
If the old biddy wants to give us a party, I'll come. Besides it's Mel's family and
I have to learn to appreciate them."

"You're a peach."

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Oh, I called because I wanted to talk to you about the wedding
arrangements."

"Is there a problem?" she asked warily. Scott was as steady as a rock, but last minute
difficulties were always possible with coordinating emotional events like weddings.

Lillie hoped everything was all right because she wasn't sure how much she could handle
at this point with her own emotions in such a shambles. How was she ever going to
finish this wedding? Go on with her life as if her heart hadn't lost its only love?

"Of course not," he denied. "I'm calling you because I want to arrange a wedding surprise
for Melanie."

"A surprise?" In Lillie's experience, men took matrimonial ceremonies a lot more lightheartedly
than women did. It was amazing the kind of embarrassing 'surprises' some of her grooms
suggested.

Even Scott had his male moments.

"Well, it is kind of late to be changing the arrangements," she hedged.

"It's nothing big. I just want you to tell the minister that I have something I've
written and I want to read it to Melanie after the vows. It's kind of a poem. I'd
tell the minister myself but I may not get the chance to see him alone before the
wedding."

"Aren't you and Melanie writing your vows together?"

"Yeah, but I've been trying to think of some way I can really express my feelings
to Melanie, add something personal to the wedding."

"That's sweet," Lillie said softly, an uprising of emotion clogging her throat.

"Mel's been kind of nervous lately," Scott said, ignoring her sisterly comment, "and
I just want to tell her in front of everyone how lucky I am to have her in my life."

"That's a great idea," Lillie told him, pushing back her own misery. "I'll make sure
the minister knows about it."

"Great. Well, I'll see you at the shower, sis."

"Okay. Take care." Hanging up the phone, she felt the sting of tears behind her eyes.
Lillie sank into a nearby chair, unable to stop the sudden rush of moisture cascading
down her cheeks.

Some women were luckier than they knew. She'd have given almost anything to hear Luke
declare his love so openly. Or declare his love at all.

A flood of memories cascaded through her. The light of challenge in his eyes when
she'd teased him. His heated mouth on hers. Their bodies moving in heart-stopping
rhythm.

She hadn't slept for days.

Since they'd made love that last time and she threw him out, she'd been as weepy as
a crybaby. Sometimes she'd almost wished she could take the question back. If she'd
never asked the question, she wouldn't be crying over the answer.

They could have made love every night, like before, and she would have been free to
lie to herself about his loving her.

The worst of it was not knowing how to face him. Scott and Melanie's wedding drew
closer and closer. Much still had to be done even though most of the arrangements
had been made. They still had to finalize the wedding cake selection.

Lillie glanced at the wall clock. Only three more hours and she'd see him. Hopefully,
they'd taste the sample cakes, pick the cake decoration and leave with minimum of
conversation.

She just had to survive this wedding. When it was over she could make an effort to
put Luke out of her mind and out of her life--as long as she avoided any blended family
holidays and asked Melanie to never mention his name.

Putting Luke out of her heart, however, would take the rest of her life.

*   *   *

Lillie glanced at her wrist watch yet again, resisting the urge to tap her foot impatiently
on the bakery's tiled floor. He was late. Twenty minutes late to be exact, and she'd
spent every minute alternating between mentally calling him names and hungrily watching
the door for his appearance.

Love was not good for her sanity. In fact, loving Luke seemed to have a devastating
experience on her entire life.

She was getting darn tired of sitting here at the little table to the side of the
display cases, waiting for him to find time to fit her into his schedule.

Flipping open the sample book, Lillie made herself blindly go through each page of
rose-encrusted, frosting-laden wedding cakes. She'd seen each of these samples twenty
times, but she refused to keep watch for him.

"Isn't he coming?" Maud appeared beside Lillie, her motherly face nowhere near as
belligerent as Lillie felt.

In her experience, the little baker took most things in stride. It would take more
than a tardy brother of the bride to fluster her.

"He knows when we agreed to meet," Lillie said crisply, trying to suppress her aggravation
in the face of Maud's nonchalance. Not only was the woman a world class cake baker,
she went way back with Lillie. On the occasions when Lillie had accompanied her mother
to the bakery, Maud always managed to sneak her some tidbit.

"He's probably lost," Maud said with a laugh. "Men can't ever follow directions, much
less ask for them."

"If he doesn't come in the next five minutes, I'll make the decisions myself," Lillie
declared militantly.

"Fine." Maud wiped her hands on her immaculate white apron. "He may be upset at not
tasting the cakes, but he'll have to be pleased with whatever you choose."

Lillie watched as the baker headed back into the kitchen. She wasn't sure Luke would
feel terribly deprived if he missed out on the cake sampling.

The bakery door swung open just then and Luke walked in still wearing his working
attire of worn blue jeans and a "Morgan Landscaping" t-shirt.

"Hey," he greeted her as he took off his sunglasses. "So where's the food?"

"I'm glad you could make it," Lillie said, her mouth tasting a little like lemons.

"Me, too." Luke grinned, although the expression in his eyes stayed guarded. "So are
you taking me out to supper afterwards or do we fill up on cake?"

Lillie glared at him, outraged at his casual attitude. "I'll tell Maud to bring the
samples."

Slipping behind the display counter, she swung open the door. "He's finally here,
Maud. Shall I help you with the samples?"

"Never mind," Maud said. "I have them on a tray like always." She hoisted the tray
and went through the door Lillie held open.

Luke sat at the table, occupying the seat Lillie had vacated.

"Good afternoon, sir," Maud said, her voice pleasant.

"Good afternoon." A smile curled Luke's mouth.

Balancing the tray, Maud swiftly unloaded each small sample cake onto the table. "I
didn't include the ice cream cake," she said to Lillie. "You said you wanted to keep
the cost down."

"That's right. Thank you, Maud," Lillie said as the baker disappeared back into the
kitchen.

"I would have at least liked to sample the ice cream cake," Luke said softly, a mischievous,
trouble-making gleam dawning in his eyes.

Oh, how she loved him...and hated him.

She'd seen that look in his face before, an expression that said he knew she was mad
at him, but he was going to keep after her till she caved in. It seemed incredible
that he was acting as if nothing had changed between them.

"Well, that's too bad. No ice cream cake. You'll just have to make do with these."
Lillie sat down in the opposite chair, picking up the serving knife.

"Am I being punished?" Luke's eyebrow climbed but the smile on his face didn't waver.
"Are you and Maud feeling crabby today?"

"You were more than twenty minutes late," Lillie snapped, suppressing the urge to
assault him. "And Maud's never crabby."

"So it's just you I have to sweet talk?" Luke leaned forward, his shoulder almost
brushing hers.

"Can we just taste the cakes and get this over with?" she asked with frustration,
trying to ignore the tango her heartbeat did whenever he was near. How dare he be
so flippant when her heart was breaking? She knew he preferred to ignore emotion,
but did he honestly think it would work at a moment like this?

Truthfully, she'd have given a lot to be sweet-talked by Luke, but she wanted him
to really mean it, not just to flirt with her like she was a casual date.

"I'd rather give you a hard time than taste cake," Luke said, his voice low as she
sliced through one sample after another. "It's the most fun I've had all day."

Lillie shot him a murderous look. "I'm sorry your day has been so dull, but I don't
have time to play with you."

"No time at all?" he teased, his eyes hot.

"Eat this." Lillie shoved a plate into his hands. Several mouthfuls of cake might
slow his heckling tongue down.

Balancing the plate in his hands, he obediently took a bite. "Too flat." He put the
plate on the table. "Don't you want to go back out to the lake with me? We don't have
to be formal. We could pick up some burgers and go skinny dipping."

She knew he was just trying to get a response from her, but that didn't keep her blood
pressure from rising.

"Try this one." Lillie slapped another sample piece on his plate and started slicing
through the next one. If she could get through this without doing him physical harm,
she'd be doing good.

Luke took a forkful. "Too sweet," he said, dropping his fork. "The lake will look
so beautiful with the moon up."

Trying to ignore his persistent entreaties, Lillie concentrated on moving the next
slice of cake from the platter to his plate. Balanced on her serving knife, the small
wedge wobbled and then tumbled to the floor just before she could scoot it onto his
plate.

"It'll be great," Luke said. "A romantic evening picnic for lovers by the shore."

Lillie's fingers closed around the fallen piece of cake just as the word "romantic"
left his mouth. His casual reference jolted through her with enough voltage to crackle
in her ears.

Without thinking, she straightened in her chair and let the piece of cake fly.

Luke's expression of shock, dotted with Swiss Amaretto flecks, just made her madder.

"What the--?" he sputtered, swiping at the crumbs on his face. "What did I do?"

"Your romantic evening for lovers," she ground out between clenched teeth.

"What? Gets me cake in the kisser?" he asked incredulously.

"Yes!" Lillie could feel anger throbbing through her veins.

"Well, two can play that game," he said grimly, lifting the slab of chocolate of his
plate and lobbing it at her.

Ducking too late, she felt the cake slam into her forehead and stick there, the thick
chocolate frosting acting like glue as chunks broke off and began sliding down her
nose in slow motion.

Luke broke into a belly laugh, clutching at his side and pointing at her.

Goaded beyond endurance, Lillie grabbed for the closest slice of cake and hurled it.
The spongy confection bounced off Luke's chin and landed squarely on his chest, obliterating
the "Morgan Landscaping" under a generous portion of orange-flavored frosting.

His laughter died quickly as he stared down at his chest and then lunged for an untouched
cake. He hefted the white cake in his hand. "So, you really want to play dirty?"

"No, you don't, you jerk!" Lillie heard herself squeal as she too groped for larger
ammunition,

her attempts made more difficult by the need to dodge Luke's approach. Her fingers
closed around the lemon chiffon sample just as she felt the wet thud on her shoulder.

"Aaeeeiiiii!" Grabbing at the cake as it slid down her arm, Lillie spun and slung
the crumbling chunks back at him. In the fraction of a second it took for him to dodge
the shot, she managed to snag a whole cake from the table and heave it randomly in
his direction.

Already grabbing more ammo from the table, Luke didn't even hesitate when the cake
sample broadsided his left cheek. Flicking frosting out of his eyes, he scooped up
two cakes and advanced on her with deadly menace.

"No, no!" Lillie yelled, her fingers clutching for the last remaining cake.

Before she could even get her mouth closed, vanilla sponge cake slammed into her face.
Lillie ducked and pulled away from Luke's grasp, half-throwing the last cake from
the table as she squirmed away from him.

Within seconds, every sizable piece of cake was demolished, exploding into crumbs
on impact. Chunks of it littered the table, chairs and floor beneath their feet like
multi-hued confetti. Cake pieces clung to the wall next to the table and decorated
a nearby display case.