Sugar Rush (9 page)

“What is this? The candy mob?” Lila asked.

Dulcie shot her a look, trying to get her to stay out of it.

“Well, then
I
broke your precious code,” Dulcie said. “My grandmother had nothing to do with anything, since she really has very little to do with the shop anymore. Besides, if some rule says we can’t go near each other’s stores, then you might want to have a little chat with your son. He’s been in here several times.” She wanted to add that he came to Candy Land Confections often to sample their treats over the years, but she figured things were already about to get pretty bad between Nick and his dad, and that would only make things worse.

Mr. Sugarman opened his mouth, then closed it. He opened it again, and it promptly closed.

It was rather satisfying to watch.

Finally, he stood and opened his mouth a third time. “Well, stay away from my store. I’ve got enough to think about without worrying over some silly girl trying to steal my recipes.”

Dulcie crinkled her brow. “Sir, I am not trying to steal your recipes. Believe me, I’m in good shape for the competition. I certainly don’t need to go sneaking around.”

He looked like he was trying to read her, no doubt wondering whether she told the truth or not.

“You know, maybe you should go back to your neck of the woods and give those candies Dulcie gave to Nick a try,” Lila said, always one to pipe in at the exact wrong time. “I think you’ll find what she’s saying to be true. She does not need to steal anything from anyone.” Lila leaned back in her stool.

Mr. Sugarman’s nostrils flared, but he didn’t say anything more. Until, that is, he was already halfway through the door. “Stay away from my shop!” he yelled without so much as a glance back.

“Well, he’s a pleasant fellow,” Lila said, her eyes still sparkling from the exchange.

Drama always was one of her favorite things.

Dulcie’s, not so much.

The man gave her a feeling like she had done something wrong.

“You’ll have to thank your Grams for filling you in on this juicy little feud,” Lila said.

“It can’t be that much of a feud if I know nothing about it.”

Lila tilted her head. “Well, your mom did keep you rather sheltered.”

“But Grams didn’t.”

“Other than this feud,” Lila reminded her.

“Yeah, I guess.” Dulcie shook her head. “Anyway, none of it matters. I’ve got to stay focused on the contest.”

Lila smiled…as much as her smirk was a smile, anyway. “And I bet you’re itching to kick his ass now more than ever.”

Dulcie tried not to return her smile, she really did, but it spread across her face without her meaning to. Lila got up to leave, making sure to take her share of the candy at the edge of the counter.

“Can you turn the sign on your way out?” Dulcie asked, shaking her head as Lila plucked one more box from the few remaining.

“Sure,” she said, the top already open on one of the boxes. “See you tomorrow.”

“’Bye,” Dulcie said, chuckling.

The little bell jingled as she left, and Dulcie finally got a moment alone to sit down and collect her thoughts before she had to finish cleaning up. It had been quite a day. The insanity at Nick’s store, perhaps the most important candy making of her career, and then the ridiculousness that was Nick’s father.

All she wanted was to get home and sleep.

Chapter Nine

Lila nodded to Nick as she let him in. “She’s in the back.”

Nick didn’t feel right about just barging in like that, but if Lila thought it was okay, who was he to argue?

Dulcie was wiping the big table in the center of the room, her hair falling softly to the side as she reached.

“I am so sorry,” Nick said, scattering the peace and quiet.

Dulcie let out a tiny yelp, whipping around. “Jesus, Nick, you scared the hell out of me.”

“Sorry,” he said, sheepish. “Lila let me in on her way out. I thought you saw.”

She shook her head, her hand on her chest.

This was not starting well. He forged ahead anyway. “I can’t even believe my father. I’ve never seen him like that before.”

She nodded. “Well, you should have seen him in
here
, then. Went on and on about how we broke some code or something.”

Heat crawled up the back of Nick’s neck. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Oh, no,” Dulcie said, seeming to enjoy filling him in. “He was quite adamant he speak with my Grams. Thought she’d sent me over as a spy to charm you out of your secrets.”

“Oh. My. God,” he said, though the way his face probably glowed red said so much more.

A few moments passed while he processed. Dulcie seemed to enjoy every one of those minutes.

“I am so sorry,” he finally said. “I don’t know what has gotten into him this year. I swear, normally he’s not like this.”

She shrugged.

“No, really. Out of nowhere, he’s become obsessed with the damned contest. He keeps giving me all this time for brainstorming sessions. I mean, I know he just wants me to succeed, but God, it’s torture.”

“You don’t like creating new candies?” Dulcie asked.

He paused, hating to admit he wasn’t as into designing candy as she was. “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “It’s just not something I think about. To be honest, I really don’t feel like candy is my calling.”

“Really? You seemed so enthusiastic when you were tasting our samples.”

He nodded. “Oh,
eating
candies I can always get on board with; it’s the candy
making
I can’t seem to stomach anymore.”

“Wow,” Dulcie said. “What does your dad say?”

He looked up at her. “You’ve met him. You really think I’d be able to find a way to talk to him about it? I mean, I’ve tried bringing it up, told him what I really want to do with my life, but if he’s not looking at me like I’m crazy, he acts like I’ve committed treason or something.”

“Well, if he knew you were in here, he’d certainly think so.”

“Apparently. Not that it would stop me,” he said, grinning.

Dulcie looked down at her hands, though she seemed pleased.

Nick decided that something about it all, the competition, the so-called feud, the fact they were supposed to be enemies, made it all so much more…forbidden, like the last chocolate you know you shouldn’t eat. “Look, this is getting ridiculous. Can we please put an end to this stupid feud?” he said, getting serious.

“I would love to,” Dulcie said, “and I’m sure my Grams couldn’t care less about it anymore, since she’s only part of the business as a technicality. But your father…”

He sighed. “I know; he’s being insane. But I also know he lives for drama. He has his whole life. I really can’t see him giving it up now.”

Dulcie sighed, too.

“But,” he said, looking straight at her, “I’m a grown man. He doesn’t get a say in who my friends are or who I can spend time with.”

Dulcie tilted her head, raising her eyebrows. “Intriguing. You’re willing to go against the rules of the family for little old me?”

He took a step closer, shortening the distance between them to the width of the counter. “Yup,” he said.

She took a deep breath. “A little secrecy never hurt anyone, I suppose.”

He nodded. “Absolutely.” He leaned in even more. “What my father doesn’t know won’t kill him.”

“Right,” she said, swallowing hard.

Nick leaned a little farther forward, staring at her lips, and she licked them, making his heart nearly stop.

Nick breathed deeper and stood still…extra still so as not to break the perfection of the moment, but then he couldn’t help it. He leaned even more. He shouldn’t do it. This was all too complicated.

But he did it anyway. He reached over that counter and kissed her.

Her lips were as soft and sweet as any of the candies surrounding them. She leaned in over the counter, just a little at first, then farther, and Nick let his mind go completely. Let himself get lost in the swirl of delicious smells, the blood rushing through his body, and most of all, in Dulcie.

It was all the vanilla and chocolate and sugary goodness he thought it would be.

…

Dulcie could not wipe the dorky grin off her face. Lord knew she tried as she walked home from the shop, but if it stayed that way by the time she got home, Grams would be on her like a starving dog on kibble.

But the grin kept creeping back.

She prayed Grams would be gone on one of her Reiki outings or something.

Unfortunately, her sky blue Mini Cooper sat in the driveway.

Dulcie stood outside for a long time, attempting to compose herself, trying to think of bad things in her life to wipe the smile off her face. But the thing was, most things were pretty good. Of course school was not at an optimal level, but if she were truthful, the past few days of being away had been pure bliss. She shook the feeling out of her head and tried to think about money worries. Of course the shop was doing so much better, it was hard even to stress too much about that at the moment. The contest. She thought about the humiliation of the contest—yes that was it, except…thinking about the contest gave her nothing but excited goose bumps. She could not wait to show off her mom’s Salted Caramel Apple Enchantment.

She grimaced. It wasn’t real, of course, but she plastered one on anyway. Maybe she’d just sneak in quietly and Grams would think she never arrived.

Dulcie sucked in a deep breath and reached for the door handle, her fingers barely grazing the cool metal before it disappeared from her reach, the door swinging open.

“Well, are you ever coming in or what?” Grams asked. “I’ve been watching you with that goofy expression on your face for ten minutes.”

Shit. Why hadn’t she hidden in the bushes or something?

“Oh yeah, I was, uh…trying to release some of the stress of the day before I came in. I didn’t want you to worry or anything.”

“Uh huh, you sure looked stressed out,” Grams said, closing the door behind them.

Dulcie winced. “Well, um, good night,” she said, racing off.

She was so not ready to talk about what may or may not be something real before she even had one night to think about it.

“Hang on a minute,” Grams said, taking her hand.

Grams was nothing if not convincing. It also helped that she held Dulcie’s hand in a death grip.

“Uh, sure,” Dulcie said, trying to think of as many things to get her off the topic of romance as humanly possible.

“So, who’s the guy?” were the first words out of Grams’s mouth.

Dear God, how does she even do that?

“Oh, please,” Grams said. “I know a lovestruck face when I see one. And thank goodness, too, I was beginning to wonder if we had another old maid on our hands. ‘Bout time someone in this family broke the curse.”

“Curse?”

“Yeah, all of us getting knocked up and raising daughters by ourselves?”

Dulcie’s jaw dropped to the floor. She had certainly never heard this little tidbit of info before.

“Uh…I thought Grandpa died.”

“Well, yeah, he did,” she said, waving her hand. “But we never got married and it’s not like he was much good for anything anyway. Well, other than taking care of certain needs.…”

“Oh God, stop!” Dulcie yelled, a very unwanted visual clawing its way into her brain.

“And then your father, well…he was a cutie for sure, but not much in the responsibility department. I think he meant well, but it was for the best when he left. I mean, honestly, he was as much trouble for your mom to take care of as the baby on the way. I don’t think she could have done both at the same time.”

Dulcie smiled, thinking about her mom. Sure, it would be nice to meet her father, and she’d thought about him a lot growing up, but she couldn’t say she was traumatized by not having him in her life, since she didn’t know the difference and never had that strong a yearning for a dad. She’d always had two parents around anyway: Mom and Grams. Which seemed plenty enough…especially in her teenage years.

“But, stop changing the subject. Tell me everything.” Grams leaned in, no doubt desperate for some juicy details.

Dulcie wasn’t quite sure how she was the one who changed the subject, since Grams was the one talking about curses and everything, but she knew better than to argue.

“Oh, uh, here,” Dulcie said, waving a small white box in front of her face.

Dulcie had one last ditch effort to distract her, and if anything would do it, candy might. “This is the entry for the Chocolatier’s contest.”

Grams’s eyes widened. “Finally,” she said, snatching the box from her hands.

Dulcie couldn’t help but giggle at her enthusiasm, and at the fact her distraction plan had worked.

Grams bit into the chocolate, her eyes rolling into the back of her head. “Your mom was a genius,” she said. “Sometimes I can’t believe someone so talented came out of me.”

“Uh, Grams, you speak four languages and could kick Chuck Norris’s ass in martial arts.”

She shrugged. “But I never had a true talent. Sure, I work at a lot of hobbies, but never anything I was completely passionate about.”

Dulcie shook her head, thinking about all the gorgeous flowers on the balcony Grams had grown from seed, the dancing competitions she continuously placed in, the chili cook-off last summer where she’d brought home the blue ribbon. Not a soul on Earth would think she was anything but an overachiever.

And yet, as with so many overachievers, she never quite seemed to live up to her own standards.

“Well I, for one, wish I was more like you. If I had your energy and interest in everything, I’d have a lot less trouble with school, I’m sure,” Dulcie said.

“Don’t ever say that,” her grams replied, her voice changing to a scolding tone. “I’ve worked a lifetime to find one passion, my true dream, and you’ve already found yours.” She shook her head. “I was always in awe of your mother and how she knew what made her happy.” She paused. “You’ve got it, too, you know. It’s a real shame you don’t even realize it.”

Dulcie crinkled her brow. “Of course I love making candy, Grams, who wouldn’t? I mean, it’s
candy
.”

Grams shrugged. “
I
didn’t. I mean, I like to sample a little every now and then…”

Dulcie giggled. “That’s putting it mildly.”

She shot her a mock stern look. “But I was never into creating like you or your mother.”

“Grams,” Dulcie said, annoyed. “You know as well as I do I only make Mom’s recipes. I don’t create.”

“Oh, please,” she replied. “You create candy every day. You’re so lost in dreaming up new things most of the time, I’m afraid you’re going to walk into something. It’s a miracle you haven’t broken a bone yet the way you wander in a cotton candy cloud all day long.”

Dulcie’s face burned. “I do not think about candy that much.”

Grams snorted. A real manly snort, too. Dulcie was surprised chocolate didn’t come out of her nose. “Sure.”

“I mean, I guess I think stuff up every now and again, but I am not obsessed like you say I am.”

“Oh, please. I just thank my lucky stars you finally have an interest in something other than the eight million ‘not-recipes’ in your head,” she said.

Dulcie pouted. Obviously she was a bit old to pout, but Grams was not in a mood to be argued with and she had no other defense. Grams made it clear she would never believe anything else, even though the truth was Dulcie didn’t think about candy recipes that much. Pretty much only when she was bored in class, which, let’s face it, was most of the time. Or when she walked to work. And maybe sometimes when she made candy, because who could help but be inspired by that?

But it was definitely not an obsession like Grams liked to think.

Really.

“So now that we’ve established you’re capable of thinking of something other than candy,” Grams said, leaning way in, “tell me everything!”

Dulcie’s face burned again. Well, it still burned from a minute ago but now it was on fire. “There’s nothing to tell.”

“You are the worst liar in the history of the world. How do you even get through life? What do you do when someone asks if you like her new muumuu?”

“Uh, I really don’t have many friends walking around in muumuus, Grams.”