Sweets Galore: The Sixth Samantha Sweet Mystery (The Samantha Sweet Mysteries) (9 page)

“Have you seen my checklist? I
feel like there are a million things and a dozen people I have to satisfy
before I can relax.”

“Don’t let your mother get you
down,” he said, wrapping his arms around her. “They’re only here a few days and
then we’re off on our trip. And I’m going to make sure that your family members
are the least of your worries during our honeymoon.”

She gave in to the luxury of
leaning into his warmth for a full two minutes. How was it that he read her so
well?

Beau went downstairs, where he
greeted the dogs in his gentle voice, and she heard the back door open and
close. She picked up her jewelry box from her end of the long dresser and held
it close for a minute. As always, the surface warmed to a golden glow and the
small cabochon stones of red, green and blue began to sparkle.
Energy—give me the energy to get everything
done today.

The wedding checklist was on the
kitchen counter and she scanned it while the coffee brewed, scratching through
a couple of things she’d already done, leaving Beau a note about helping Zoë
and Darryl with the rented tables and chairs.

At Sweet’s Sweets Julio’s Harley
and Becky’s minivan were already there when Sam drove up. Bless them. The smell
of cinnamon and sugar greeted her, and she was pleased to see trays of scones
and muffins already on the cooling racks.

“What are you doing here?” Becky
asked when she spotted Sam.

“I’m not staying long. Figured I
would put the finishing touches on my cake, since you’ve got your hands full
with regular orders. After that, I have a few things to do.” She held up the
list, which now ran two pages long with only a third of the items crossed off.

Jen walked in as Becky was shaking
her head over the enormity of it.

“And this is a simple wedding,
right?” she said.

“Way simpler than most,” Sam
agreed.

“My mom did a lot of the planning
for me,” Becky said. “I was so young and all I knew was that I wanted a fantasy
wedding. At least Mom had a clue how much they could afford to spend on it
which, with two other girls coming along after me, wasn’t much.”

Sam rolled her eyes at the thought
of the extravaganza Nina Rae would have put together.

“Well, I better get the front door
open,” Jen said, picking up a tray of cinnamon rolls moments after Julio had
finished spreading them with glaze.

Sam put her list on her desk and
went to the fridge where she picked up the fondant-covered tiers and carried
them to the worktable. Adjusting her mindset—from harried to creative—she began
piping complex scrollwork. In the background she was aware of the front door
opening and closing, Jen greeting customers, her quiet voice as she made
suggestions and rang up sales. Sam settled into a peaceful place, savoring the
work and the smoothly running business she had created.

She finished the piped garland and
the rows of precise gold dots that added finesse to the edges where the tiers
met, and had just begun to trim rolled fondant into lengths for the ribbons
that would drape from top to bottom—casually elegant.

“Sam?” Jen stood just inside the
curtained doorway. “That man is back. Jake. What shall I tell him?”

How about,
go away
.
This isn’t a good
time.
But there wasn’t really going to be a good time, when it came to Jake
Calendar. And Sam couldn’t leave it up to Jen to get rid of him. She would need
to do that herself.

She sighed. “I’ll be out shortly.
Give him a muffin or something.”

The last of the muffin disappeared
into Jake’s mouth when Sam walked into the sales room two minutes later.

“Jake. You’re back.”

“Yeah. How’s everything going?” He
shifted his weight to the other foot. “I enjoyed spending time with Kelly the
other night.”

A customer came in and Sam nodded
toward the door, indicating that she’d rather take the conversation outside.
They stood on the sidewalk under the purple awning that shielded Sam’s display
windows from the morning sun.

“Kelly came home somewhat upset,”
Sam said.

“I like that about you, Sammy.
You’re so protective.”

“Damn right.” She fixed him with a
firm mama-bear stare.

“Look, there really wasn’t
anything to get upset about. I tried calling her afterward. I don’t know what
set her off.”

“Really? Making a scene on the
street in her hometown wasn’t worth getting her blood pressure up, just a
little?”

“That was dumb. I shouldn’t have
yelled at the guy. It’s just, you know. In this business you get hit on by
wannabe no-counts all the time. I didn’t want him interrupting my time with my
little girl. I was hoping to have a great evening with Kelly and that she would
have so much fun she would suggest that you and I make up, maybe see more of
each other . . .”

Seriously?
Hadn’t they already been over this ground?

She thought of Vic Valentino—a
little ‘out there’ and somewhat humorous in his intensity, but everyone deserved
a little respect. Jake didn’t have to humiliate the man.

“Jake. It’s not happening. We
meant a little something to each other once. A very long time ago. I haven’t
even thought about you in years.”

“You don’t even have
some
fond memories of me?” The blue-green
eyes sparkled, reminding her for a tiny moment what she’d found appealing about
him.

She shook her head. “My life is
full and happy now. I’m getting
married
tomorrow.”

“I’d like to come, to bring you a
gift.”

“
No
, Jake. Go on back to California and have a great life.”

“Sammy, Sammy, have a heart. We
mean something to each other. We had a baby.”

Don’t play that card, Jake, don’t even go there.

“I’d like to have you and Kelly in
my life.”

She felt her temper start to rise.
“No! Jake.
We
did not have a baby.
We
had a hot little fling more than
thirty years ago.
I
had a baby.
I
gave birth,
I
was up all those nights when she cried, and I practically slept
through my series of crappy jobs during the day while I struggled to earn
enough to feed her and send her to school and afford braces.”

“You never
told
me about her. I would have helped.”

“With
what?
You drifted. You told me the stories, back then, how you
loved working a job until you had enough money to leave, how you never stayed
one place long enough to grow roots or let some woman tie you down. It was a
matter of pride, Jake, and you weren’t going to change your ways because of me
or a baby.”

“But, Sam, a baby changes
everything.”

“That’s a song title, Jake. And
yes, it changes
almost
everything.
But not
you
. You would have never
stuck with us.”

“She’s my daughter, Sam.” The
blue-green eyes turned pleading and Sam felt her temper rise.

“One sperm does not a father make.
Aside from your eyes and your hair, she’s got nothing in common with you,” she
said through clenched teeth. “She’s a grown woman now. Older and more mature
than the ‘I’m just reliving my youth’
chickie
you had
on your arm the other day.” She started to turn away.

“Don’t you feel like you owe me a
little something for all the years I missed out on?”

Owe me?
That’s what this was really all about.

“Owe you
what?
”

“A little birdie says you’ve come
into some more money, Sammy. Nice little lady last night talking in the hotel bar
with her husband, going on about how wasn’t it romantic that
the kids
were getting this trip to
Ireland for their honeymoon? Wasn’t it fantastic that Samantha got that
inheritance? It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out it was you she was
talking about.”

Her expression froze.

“Sammy, I want you to meet our
producer, Tustin Deor. Come on, you got the money from selling that art book.”

How did he know about that? He
must have researched quite a lot before he uncovered that fact. The thought
chilled her.

 
“Sammy, that thing had to go for at least a
million. And now there’s more. You
gotta
be rolling,
baby.” He reached for her hand but she pulled back.

He thought she’d gotten a million
dollars for Pierre
Cantone’s
book of sketches? It
wasn’t even close to that.

 
“Tustin will be in town this weekend, just for
a day, scouting talent, getting things finalized to go live with the show.”

“I’m leaving on my honeymoon. And
I don’t care about your show.”

 
“Sammy—”

She caught a dangerous glint in
his eye.

“Don’t you
dare
do anything to mess that up for me. Get out, Jake. Don’t you
show up at my wedding—I don’t even want to see you hanging around Taos, and I
sure don’t want to hear your sleazy ideas or how bad you’ve got it financially.
Get a job, a real job, and do what everyone else does. Save your money.”

She felt a little twinge of guilt.
She hadn’t exactly earned the money to start her bake shop. The famous artist’s
sketchbook had come as a nice reward for solving a murder. But she’d been on
the job when it happened, and she’d put her life in danger to find answers. And
the inheritance . . . she still had no idea what that might consist of. The two
windfalls had merely come at convenient times in her life.

Jake stared at her. He’d picked up
her thoughts just now, spotted that vulnerable little place inside her. His
opportunistic little mind went to work, she could tell. He would never leave
her alone as long as he thought she had some money.

“Maybe I’ll touch base again,
after you’re back from your trip,” he said with a devious little smile.

“Don’t even think about it. Leave
me alone, or else.” She turned on her heel and yanked the door open. How on
earth was she ever going to get rid of him?

Chapter
8

Her heart rate had accelerated to
that of a hummingbird and Sam felt her face flush as she stomped back into the
bakery. She crossed the sales room without meeting Jen’s eye and flung back the
curtain to the kitchen. Picking up the pastry bag she’d set aside earlier, she
found that her hands were shaking too badly to work.
Piece of crap Jake. He shows up wanting to make me feel guilty because
I won’t give him money? I’m not buying into that.
She blew out a puff of
air and picked up one of the fondant ribbons to place it on the cake. Her eyes
welled up and she couldn’t see what she was doing. A tear plopped onto the
yellow fondant.

“Sam, what is it?” Becky asked
softly.

Sam dabbed her sleeve at her eyes.
When she focused again she saw that Jen had stepped into the kitchen.

“Don’t let him upset you, Sam,”
she said gently.

Julio held a spatula, like an
armed warrior ready to do battle for her.

“Look, everyone, it’ll be fine.
I
will be fine. Probably just a case of
bridal jitters.”

“Sam, this isn’t about the
wedding,” Jen said. “That guy has been here to see you twice now, and he’s left
you upset both times. Who is he?”

Sam laid down the fondant ribbon
and took a deep breath. “He’s Kelly’s father.”

She swore a collective gasp went
up, but it was more likely just her imagination.

“Jake Calendar is his name. I knew
him a whole lot of years ago when I worked at the pipeline camp in Alaska. We
were young, a flirtation led further, and well . . . When I found out I was
pregnant I left the job and came here. He knew nothing about Kelly until this
week, and it’s had everybody a little upset. I suppose I should have told the
two of them earlier but I didn’t and that’s just the way it is.”

“Does Kelly . . .?”

“I don’t think she wants him
around, but that’s for her to decide. He wants money for a business scheme and
I just want him to quit asking me for it.”

“I could call some guys I know,”
Julio said. “You know, scare him a little.”

“No! I don’t want any trouble over
this. Really, everyone. It’s nice of you to worry about me, but he’ll go away.
Once the wedding is over and I’m away on my honeymoon, this will all seem very
silly. I’m just stressing too much over everything.”

“It’s easy to do right before you
get married,” Becky said.

She launched into a tale of how
upset she got because her party favors had come in the wrong color and there
was no time to send them back, and it took Sam’s mind off her own little drama.
She drank a glass of water and went back to her cake.

Thirty minutes later she
announced, “All we have to do is put the sugar flowers in place right before we
take it to Zoë’s in the morning.”

“It’s definitely the best cake
you’ve done,” Becky said, pausing in her own work to circle the near-finished
piece and admire it. “I love the beading, the piping, the elegant draping. The
flowers will top it off perfectly.”

Jen came in to pick up a tray of
brownies Julio had just finished. “Oh my god, Sam, this is gorgeous. I love the
fall colors. Everyone is going to go crazy for it—it’s perfect!”

Sam glanced up at the clock. “Oh
gosh. Speaking of
everyone
I’m
supposed to be having lunch with the ladies. I’ve got to get out of here or
I’ll never hear the end of it. Can you guys put the cake into the fridge for
me?”

In the bathroom she switched her
baker’s jacket for a clean blouse and grabbed up her pack and keys. Missing this
luncheon was not an option, as her mother had talked for days before they
arrived about how much fun it would be for all the
girls
to get together. Plus, Sam had some fences to mend. Kelly had
to work because her boss,
Riki
, had jury duty, and
Rayleen wasn’t in town yet so it would be Sam, the aunts and her mother. She
drove toward the plaza where Aunt Bessie was to be waiting in front of the
hotel.