Sweet Dreams (The Bakery Romance Series Book 3)

SWEET DREAMS

Cecelia Dowdy

Chapter 1

Rain pounded on the roof of the stretch limousine. Thin streams of water slid down the closed window. The rain reminded him of his unending tears. He’d never cried so much in his life. Tired of staring out into the gloomy day, Sterling focused on his two brothers. His bottom lip quivered as salty wetness spilled down his cheek. He swiped the moisture away. Toughen up, that’s what he needed to do. He needed to be strong. Burying Dad had been awful and now he had to hold himself together before they had the meal at his home for the funeral guests.

The car swerved. His brother, Leon’s neck-length dreadlocks bounced as he jerked forward. “Watch it!” Leon’s voice boomed at the limo driver.

“Sorry about that.” The driver peeked at the threesome in the rearview mirror. “High winds out there, just hit a rough patch.”

He couldn’t take his brother anywhere without acting a fool. “Don’t pay my brother any attention.”

Leon pulled a small flask from his backpack, poured amber liquid into one of the glasses provided in the back of the limo.

Louis, Leon’s twin, wiped his wet eyes, his mouth mashed down. “Man, don’t get wasted.”

Leon gritted his teeth, clutched his booze. “Don’t tell me what to do.” He gulped the liquid during the hour-long drive from the gravesite. It was mighty tempting to grab that flask and toss it out the window. No, he couldn’t do that. His brother would act even worse if confronted. Ignoring his brother, he focused on the raging Florida storm. The leaves from the palm trees lifted in the wet summer breeze as they passed stretches of deserted beaches.

The threesome remained silent during the rest of the journey. When skyscrapers, hotels and city streets zoomed by, signaling their arrival into Miami, Sterling sat up straighter in his seat. He squeezed his hands into fists, his eyes watering. Again, he blinked his tears away. He focused on Leon. The empty flask tumbled from his fingers, his eyes partially closed. Drool dripped from his mouth. How disgusting.

He grabbed tissues from the box on the floor, shoved them into Leon’s hand. “Wipe your mouth.”

Leon pressed the tissue over his full lips, his hooded eyes appeared glassy and unfocused. Leon dropped the tissues on the floor, his thin body swaying. They’d be home soon. He’d barely have enough time to get everything ready for the guests. He didn’t know what he’d do about his crazy brother.

He closed his eyes, leaned back on the leather seat. Fatigue settled into his bones like hot glue. He’d been awake all night, baking sweet treats in the bakery he ran with his father. He wanted to serve the baked goods during the after-funeral meal as a final memory to his dad.

He closed his eyes. Maybe if he could just rest for a few minutes, he’d find the energy to make it through this day. The limo stopped. Sterling opened his eyes, smiled. Home, finally. He was just one step closer to getting through this awful day. He said a few words to the limo driver before he rushed to his front door. Fat drops of cool rain slithered down his face. He glanced back, spotted Leon shuffling behind him. Louis’s deep angry voice sliced through the humid air while he fussed at his twin.

Sterling unlocked the door, but before he could open it, Leon kicked it, crashing it open. The door swung into the wall, the loud racket filled the otherwise silent house. Leon shoved Sterling aside, stumbled into the house, water dripping from his hair. Sterling grabbed Leon’s shoulder, pushing him into a chair. “Man, would you sober up?” Leon’s hooded eyes remained glassy.

Sterling sighed, rushed into the kitchen to get the boxes of desserts he’d baked. He kept his eye on Leon. His brother continued sulking in the chair like a wounded cow. Gritting his teeth, he placed the cookies on the tray as thoughts of his father filled his tired brain. He recalled how often he and his dad had made these vanilla cookies in their bakery. He hurried with his task, wanting to finish before the guests arrived.

Louis approached the table, clamped his hand on Sterling’s shoulder. “You need some help?”

“No, I’ve got this.” This was his tribute to his dad. He needed to be the one to arrange the treats on the serving table. He’d always been closest to their father.

“Why did Daddy do that?”  Leon’s slurred, drunken voice grated on his nerves. Sterling winced, dropped one of the vanilla cookies. It landed on the floor in a sugary heap. Why did Leon have to refer to Dad’s unfavorable terms on his life insurance policy now? He’d been complaining about it while they drove to the burial site. He figured his brother would at least wait until another day to bring this up again.

He lifted the ruined cookie, tossed it into the trash. He closed his eyes.
Jesus, help me to mend the rift between me and my brother.

He finally pushed the box of cookies aside, rushing to Leon, grabbing his arm. “Man, would you calm down?”

Louis followed behind him obviously wanting to help. “You know how stupid he acts when he’s wasted.”

Leon jerked his arm away, narrowed his eyes. He pulled a pack of cigarettes and a lighter from his pocket. His partially unknotted tie hung loosely around his neck and brown spots of booze tainted his shirt. Leon stood and stormed to the table, grabbing a cookie and throwing it on the floor. He crushed the confection with his foot. Sterling grabbed Leon’s shoulder, turning him around. “Stop it! Now!”

Leon jerked away, pushing a cigarette into his mouth. He flicked his lighter, attempting to light his cigarette.

“Ugh!” Sterling grabbed Leon’s arm. “Cut it out! You know you can’t smoke in my house!” He hated the acrid scent of cigarette smoke.

Leon jerked away, still trying to light his cigarette. Would this day ever end? Sterling grabbed Leon again. Louis attempted to take the lighter away and Leon dropped it, the flame catching onto the carpet.

Louis stomped the flame, creating a black smear. He grabbed Leon’s other arm and they pushed Leon against the wall. Louis spoke through clenched teeth. “You idiot!”

Leon glared at his brothers. When they finally released him, he calmly picked up his lighter and lit another cigarette. He then cursed, his mouth set in a hard, tense line. “You guys can’t tell me what to do. I’m smoking.” Leon puffed on his cigarette, as if daring his brothers to stop him.

Sterling eyed the cookies he’d been setting out before dropping onto the couch, weary, tired, suffering from enough drama over the past week to last a lifetime. Louis plopped down beside him, running his hand over his forehead. “My head’s killing me. You got any aspirin?” 

Sterling made a trip to the bathroom and got the bottle of pills for this brother. He then refocused on the cookies and cakes. He wiped his moist eyes as visions of his dad danced through his head like a non-stop movie. Leon shuffled around the living room, smoking his cigarette, mumbling as if in a trance.

He eyed the desserts he’d prepared in loving memory of their father: Bright red velvet cake smothered in white cream cheese frosting, vanilla sugar cookies, lemon pound cake and a huge batch of chocolate chip cookies sprinkled with nuts. The delicious sugary scents of the sweets were now tainted with the nicotine smell from Leon’s cigarette.

He sniffed, turned away, wiped his eyes with a tissue. Louis glared at his twin. “I hope Leon doesn’t act a fool when everybody gets here.”

Sterling rubbed his tired eyes, downing two of the aspirins with a cup of water. “You tried to stop him from drinking. He never listens to us.” Although Louis and Leon were identical twins, their personalities were as different as night and day. Louis was always apologizing for Leon, as if he felt responsible for Leon’s crude behavior.

Leon’s voice boomed from across the room while he dropped into a chair. “Why would he do this?” He glared, his cigarette dangled from his mouth. “Why?”

Sterling forced himself to stare into his brother’s eyes. “I told you, I don’t know! You’d better get yourself sobered up before the people come here to eat.” The thought of his drunken brother acting foolish around his father’s friends was almost enough to make him puke.

Leon took another drag from his cigarette. “You make me sick. Dad always favored you and treated me and Louis like crap!”

“Would you stop?” Sterling turned away, ignoring the ugly truth that tumbled from his brother’s mouth. He’d always been so close to his dad. He recalled that a lot of his school mates didn’t get along with their fathers.

That wasn’t the case with Sterling. He supposed that their shared love of baking had helped them to create a bond as thick as a corded rope. He took deep breaths, the ugly truth from his brother’s mouth haunting his mind. The twins had always been on the fringes of the close relationship he’d shared with their father – almost as if they were on the outside, looking in.

“Why would Dad make you the sole beneficiary of his life insurance policy? Why?” Leon’s deep angry voice cracked throughout the living room like thunder.

Sterling shot out of the chair, stormed toward his brother. The good Lord knew he wanted to make everything better. But, he couldn’t do that until Leon stopped drinking. “I don’t know.” He took a deep breath.
Jesus, help me.
“I don’t know why Dad did this. We can talk about it later.”

Louis approached his twin. “Come on, Leon. I’ll drive you home so that you can go to sleep.”

Leon shook his head. “No, don’t want to.”

Sterling checked his watch. The guests would be arriving soon and he didn’t want Leon around. Leon glared at them. It looked like he needed to repeat Louis’s suggestion. “Let Louis drive you home. This is hard on all of us and we need to deal with it.”

Leon cursed again, dousing his cigarette in the paper cup he’d used as an ashtray. “Easy for you to say.” He stood, and jammed his index finger into Sterling’s chest, speaking in a low voice. “Dad made you the sole beneficiary. Is he trying to tell me and Louis that we’re not good enough, that we’re not really his sons?”

Sterling squeezed his eyes shut. “Leon, I don’t know.” He glanced at the wall, sniffed, his eyes again becoming wet. “You and Louis—”

The fist that slammed into his jaw took him by surprise. White hot pain seared his face as he stumbled against the wall, knocking a picture onto the floor. “Ugh.” He held his jaw as Leon attempted another blow. He pushed his brother away, resisting the urge to pummel Leon’s face.

Louis grabbed his twin. “Cut it out!”

Tears streamed from Leon’s eyes as he glared at Sterling, balling his hands into fists, as if resisting the urge for another blow. “I. Can’t. Stand. You.”

Sterling swallowed, stunned. This was the first time he’d seen his brother so tormented and out of control. “Calm down.” 

“No!”

When Leon stormed toward Sterling, his fisted hand swerved toward Sterling’s face. Sterling blocked the clumsy punch. “Ugh!”
Lord, I want to knock the daylights out of my brother. But, I’m so angry now, if I start hitting him, I don’t know if I’ll be able to stop.

Chapter 2

Tears spilled from Leon’s eyes. Sterling blocked Leon’s clumsy attempt at another punch. Sterling ducked as Leon stumbled, slamming into the table, causing the red velvet cake to slide toward the floor. Sterling rushed to the table, holding his hands out. His fingers barely touched the icing before the cake toppled onto the floor into a crimson and ivory heap.

“Ugh!” He glared at Leon. Taking a deep breath, he stared at the cake. He needed to calm down. He closed his eyes for a few seconds. It was just a cake. He could always make another one later to honor his father’s memory.

His brother attempted another blow but Sterling grabbed Leon, and Louis helped, pulling their brother toward the front door. A knock sounded throughout the living room. Their first guest had arrived. Leon punched the wall, his mouth set in a tense line. Sterling gestured toward the kitchen. “Louis, take him out the back door.”

“No!” Leon gripped the doorknob, refusing to budge. “I’m not leaving yet! We’re not done.”

Sterling and Louis gripped Leon’s hand, pried his fingers from the door. Sterling and Louis dragged Leon through the kitchen, each of them pulling one of Leon’s arms. Leon cursed as him and Louis finally tumbled out the back door, in the midst of the raging storm. Lightening cracked the overcast sky while Louis tugged his twin toward his car.

Sterling rushed back into the living room.
Lord, help me through this day.
He eyed the mess his brother created. The knock sounded again.

He opened the door. “Adrian.” His neighbor’s cute, mocha-colored face split into a tiny smile. She folded her red and white cane before entering his home. She pushed her dark glasses up on her nose before lifting her head, as if scanning the room with her sightless eyes.

“Oh, Sterling.” She pulled him into her thin arms. She smelled nice, like lemons and cocoa butter. He took a deep breath, his fatigued brain felt a bit better, just from hugging his good friend.

Taking her elbow, he led her to the couch and she sat. “I don’t hear anybody. Am I the first person to arrive?”

“Uh. Yes, you’re the first guest.”

She frowned. “Where are your brothers?”

He looked away from her sightless eyes. How could he explain Leon’s behavior on the day of their father’s funeral?

“Leon got drunk on the way home.”

“Oh, my goodness. Is he okay?”

He blew air through his lips. “Not really.” He doubted Adrian wanted to hear about his family drama.

Adrian placed her cane into her large handbag. “Humph. I’m not surprised.” She sniffed. “It smells scrumptious in here.” She sniffed again, wrinkling her nose. “But I can tell that somebody’s been smoking.”

He sighed. “Leon was.” He cracked a window and told her about the events that had occurred over the last few minutes. “Now I don’t know what to do. That whole cake is ruined and the pictures need to be re-hung on the walls.”

Adrian shook her head. “You can’t salvage any of the cake?”

He shrugged, again looking at the ruined cake. “I might be able to save some of it.”

“Can’t you just take the cake and cut off the portion that touched the floor?”

He stared at the cake, closing his eyes, recalling the times he’d spent with his father eating his favorite red velvet cake. Tears rushed to his eyes, and he quickly blinked the moisture away. He really needed to make a better effort of pulling himself together before the other guests arrived.

“No, it’s ruined. I can’t serve this.” He lifted the moist cake and carefully placed it back onto the platter. If Adrian could’ve seen the cake, she would’ve known that he would never be able to salvage it for the guests.

She folded her arms in front of her chest, as if she wanted to take charge of the situation. “Well, just take it away and we can decide what else needs to be done.” He took the cake into the kitchen and returned. “You can remove the pictures and not worry about re-hanging them right now.” He attempted to do the things that Adrian suggested. “You got a vacuum cleaner? If you show me where the cake landed, I can vacuum while you clean up.”

He removed the vacuum cleaner from the hall closet and guided her mocha-colored hands over the contraption. He pushed her fingers over the ON button. “This is how you turn it on. Just push it straight ahead. There’s nothing in your path so don’t worry about running into anything or knocking anything over.” Adrian nodded, turning the vacuum cleaner on.

While she vacuumed, he placed more food onto the table. He eyed a splatter of cream-cheese icing on the wall. He rubbed his sore cheek. Why couldn’t Leon find another way to control his rage?

The loud guzzle of the vacuum cleaner ended when Adrian turned it off. She wrapped the cord around the plastic hook. “All done. What else do you want me to do?”

He took a deep breath. His head still ached. Maybe he should take some more aspirin. He pulled her over to the table. “Could you un-wrap these paper plates and place them at the end of the table?” His voice wavered. She touched his arm.

“You sound awful.”

“It’s been an awful day, Adrian.”

She ripped the plastic wrap off of the plates. “You know, I’ve been doing pretty bad since my roommate left and got married. I miss having a sighted person around to take me to work every day and to do grocery shopping and errands.” Adrian’s calm cool voice filled the room.

The thought of Leon’s crude behavior evaporated like a fine mist as he focused on Adrian’s problems. “You know I-—”

She reached over, felt around until she found his arm, halting his speech. “I know you’re willing to help. I appreciate how you’ve helped already, but, I really don’t want to take advantage of you.” She paused, setting more plates onto the table. “I have a cousin who’s moving in to help me. She’s having some problems at home and she feels it’s time to move out.” She gripped the stack of plates. “She’s twenty five, so she’s a little bit younger than us. She’s always lived with her mother and her sisters. She’s never lived on her own. She’s found a job down here and everything, but she’s not used to the area. I was hoping you could show her around when she moves in.”

He blinked, rubbed his sore jaw. “Hold on. I’m going to get some ice for my face.” He went into the bathroom and turned on the light. “Good grief.” He glared at his complexion. His eyes were red and ringed with dark circles. His cheek sported an angry blue-black knotted bruise. He touched his sore cheek, wincing from the pain. Still plagued by Leon’s behavior, he went into the kitchen. He grabbed some ice and shoved it into a sandwich bag, placed a washcloth over it, and held it to his sore jaw.

He returned to the living room. Adrian had finished setting out the plates. She’d made herself comfortable on the couch. Taking a few deep breaths, he pushed Leon out of his mind, again focusing on Adrian’s news. “So, you’re trying to set me up with your cousin?”

She shook her head so fast, a few strands of hair escaped from the fashionable bun at the nape of her neck. “No. I know you’ve been sad since your dad passed. I’m just trying to get your mind off of it.” She stopped speaking, placed her hand on his arm. “I’ve been praying for you every day since your dad died.”

“Thank you.” The simple words warmed his heart, making his grief a bit easier to deal with.

He eyed his friend. She sat up straight, her small hands now folded in front of her. He’d been worried about her over the last few weeks, helping her out when he could, but it’d been hard. He’d had to work more hours in the bakery after his dad had gotten sick. Now that he knew she’d have a roommate, he wouldn’t worry about her so much. “So, when’s your cousin supposed to arrive?”