The Icing on the Cake (16 page)

He held her for a long moment, stroking
her back.  “Are you okay?  I’m so sorry about the bakery.  I wish I could be
here to help out right now, but…”

“No, no,” she murmured.  “Your dad’s
health is far more important than a building.”

He seemed reluctant to let her go, but
time was passing and he had a three-hour drive ahead of him.  “I’ll call you,”
he said.  “And please call me if you need me.”  He finally pulled back and
sought her gaze.  “I know Gracie’s a handful.  I’m sorry to impose like this…”

“You’re not imposing,” she assured him. 
“The truth is, I sort of needed a place to go.”

His eyes narrowed with concern.  “Are
you all right?”

“I’m fine.  Mom and Lori aren’t
particularly happy with me, but then, what else is new?”

She saw a flash of anger in his eyes. 
“Stay here as long as you need,” he said, and watched her for a long moment. 
“Krissy, you remember the pep talk you just gave Gracie?”

She nodded.

“I think you should take your own
advice.”

With that, he gave her a quick kiss on
the cheek and left the house.

As much as Kristine was enjoying the
comforts of Joe’s beautiful home, she was going stir crazy.  She’d been working
her entire life and wasn’t accustomed to a life of leisure.  It had been three
days since Joe had stopped by and she missed him terribly. 

It was odd.  She hadn’t known him for
long—well, she’d known him for years really—but hadn’t been around him for a
long time.  Yet, she felt as if there was a hole in her heart with him being
out of town.   

Perhaps losing the bakery was the core
reason for her melancholy, but she knew in her gut that losing Joe to Lori was
far more painful.  He had suddenly appeared in her world and she experienced a
hopefulness she hadn’t felt before, as if the world were full of
possibilities.  He’d caused her to think about her future and to yearn for a
family of her own.

She tried to cast aside her thoughts,
but just couldn’t get Joe off her mind.  She remembered their conversation the
other morning.  His parting words to her were that she should take her own
advice.  Advice she’d given to a dog…

She furrowed her brow, thinking.  What
exactly had she told Gracie?  She turned to the dog, presently lying beside her
on the couch.  “Do you happen to remember the particular details of the pep
talk I gave you the other morning?”

Gracie barked in reply.  “Good girl,”
she cried.  “You barked.  You actually barked.”  She wrapped her arms around
the dog and gave her a hug.

“Okay, so…  Take my own advice?”  She
gave Gracie a squeeze.  “Did Joe essentially tell me to learn to bark?”

Gracie barked in reply.

***

“Have you heard from Joe?” Minnie asked,
as the two had lunch together in the café down the street from Branton’s.

“Yes, he called this morning.”

“Have you talked to your mother and
sister?”

Kristine shook her head, but her eyes
widened when she happened to look toward the café’s entrance.  Her mother and
sister were presently walking into the establishment.

She instinctively ducked behind her
menu, but realized she was being ridiculous.  The café was small and they were
sure to spot her soon enough.

“What’s wrong, Kristine?” Minnie asked,
following her gaze.  “Oh.”

“Oh, is right,” Kristine murmured.  “I
don’t know if I’m ready to talk to them.”

“Well, get ready, because they’re headed
our way.”

Kristine braced for the encounter.  When
they reached her table, she turned and forced a smile. 

“Kristine, Minnie,” her mother said, her
voice absent any inflection.

“Mom” she replied.

“Hello, Ruth, Lori,” Minnie said.

“Minnie, Kristine,” Lori said, directing
her attention to her sister.  “How are you?  Have you heard from the fire
marshal yet?”

Kristine watched her curiously.  It
seemed an odd segue from ‘hello’ to ‘fire marshal.’  But then, they were
waiting to hear from the insurance adjustor in hopes of receiving a settlement
for the damage.

“I’m fine, and no, I haven’t heard
anything,” Kristine answered.  She looked intently at her sister’s face,
attempting to read her—to no avail.

“Will you let us know when you do?” her
mother asked.

Kristine nodded.

Her mother watched her as intently as
she’d been staring at Lori previously.  “When are you coming home?”

Kristine wasn’t prepared to have this
particular conversation with her mother.  She had decided she wasn’t going to
return home to live, but would return at some point in order to retrieve her
things.  She was twenty-eight and should have moved out years ago.  She’d only
stayed because it really hadn’t occurred to her to move out.  She hardly spent
any time there anyway.  It had simply been a place to sleep at night, since her
days at the bakery had always been long and tiring.

“And where are you staying?” Lori asked.

“With me,” Minnie spoke up.

Kristine gave her a startled look, but
recovered quickly enough.  She blanked her face and nodded.  “Yes.  Minnie was
kind enough to let me stay with her.”

Her mother didn’t look pleased.  “You
need to come home.”

Kristine was surprised to hear her
mother speak those words.  Her heart warmed, until Lori spoke.  “Mom and I
agree that you’re being very selfish.  You know we need your help at home.  And
have you given any thought to your nephew?  He misses you.”

“And I miss him,” she said, meaning it. 
“But to be honest with both of you, I don’t feel particularly welcome there at
this point.”

Her mother gave her a pointed look.  “We
won’t discuss this in front of Minnie.”

“Oh, discuss away,” Minnie said, glaring
at her.  “Let’s be real here,” she said, her protective instincts flaring. 
“You, Ruth, miss having a full-time housekeeper, and you, Lori, need Kristine
to assure Devon isn’t snatched by some stranger when you happen to forget where
you’ve left him.”

“Well, I never!” Ruth cried.  “Minnie,
you have no right talking to me like that.  If you’ll remember, I’m your
employer.”

“Not anymore,” Minnie said, seemingly
unaffected by the implied threat.

Lori apparently decided to ignore Minnie’s
remark.  Kristine soon learned why as her sister resorted to guilt to achieve
her goals.  “Kristine, Devon is devastated that his auntie has turned her back
on him.  He adores you.  In fact, he was asking me this very morning if he
could see you this afternoon at three-thirty.”

“Oh, so the six-year-old specified a
precise time?” Minnie clarified, chuckling to herself.  “Sure he did.  I
suppose you and Chad have plans?” she queried.

“Well…  I…”  She appeared to be
gathering her thoughts.  “I
am
seeing Chad this afternoon, but only
because I need to tell him that I’ve fallen in love with someone else.”

“And who would that be?” Minnie asked.

“Kristine is well aware of whom I am
speaking,” she enunciated carefully.  “And it’s only fair that I be honest with
Chad about the situation.  This is a small town and we’ll inevitably be running
into one another.  I don’t want it to be awkward when we do.”  She gave a
shrug.  “I need to handle this properly.  I hope Chad and I can part friends.”

“So you and Joe are dating?” Minnie
inquired.  “I haven’t seen him around.  Have you, Kristine?”

“No, I haven’t,” she said truthfully. 
He was out of town.  It wasn’t a lie that she hadn’t seen him.

Lori made a play of studying her
perfectly manicured nails, and then glanced up coyly.  “Yes, of course I’ve
seen him.  Joe took me to breakfast this morning and…”

“Joe took you to breakfast,” Minnie
repeated doubtfully.

“Well, yes.  We’ve been spending a lot
of time together.”

“Uh, huh,” Minnie said.

“Anyway, Kristine, can you watch…?  I
mean, will you be able to spend some time with your nephew this afternoon?  As
I said, you’ve hurt him deeply by suddenly cutting him out of your life.”

“Will you drop him by my place?” Minnie
inquired.

“It would be more convenient for
Kristine to pick him up at home.”

“Convenient for you,” Minnie said
drolly.

Kristine felt bad that her family
members and friend were now antagonistic toward one another on her account, but
she couldn’t help feeling grateful Minnie had her back.  If not for Minnie, her
mother and sister would have bulldozed right over her, assuring she did exactly
as they told her to do.  Well, enough was enough.

 She held her head high when she said,
“As you know, Lori, I adore Devon.  You have no idea how much I love that
little boy, or, actually…  I think you do.  But I’m going to have to say ‘no’
to watching him today.  I’ll call you when it’s convenient for me to take him,
and perhaps I can keep him for an entire day.”

“I don’t think so,” Lori said, her brows
lowered in anger.  She spun on her heel and stormed out of the restaurant.

“I guess you’ll have to watch Devon,
Mom,” Kristine said, unaffected by her sister’s fit of temper.  It was typical
Lori.  If she didn’t like what one had to say, she didn’t stick around to hear
it.

Her mother watched Kristine for a brief
moment and then followed Lori out of the café without as much as a ‘goodbye.’

Once she was sure they were truly gone,
Kristine collapsed on the table.  Resting her forehead on her folded arms, she
shook her head from side-to-side.  How had she been so blissfully unaware of
how dysfunctional her family really was?  She had finally asserted herself and
her family treated her as if she had committed murder.  As long as she did
everything they expected of her, and maintained the status quo, all was well. 
But as soon as she showed a little independence, they gave her the cold
shoulder.

If only her father were here.  He
wouldn’t have allowed them to team up against her.  He would have been the
first to point out the error of their ways.  But would he have had a word or
two for her too?  Would he have scolded her for falling for Joe when her sister
purported to also have feelings for him? 

Kristine wished desperately that Joe was
in town.  She sensed he was in her corner, but then, her instincts had failed
her before.

She remembered falling for a boy when
she was a senior in high school.  She had believed he cared about her too.  She
later discovered he was using her to gain access to Lori.  When he came over to
her house, it was with the hope that Lori would be there.  When he finally
confessed to her that it was Lori he was interested in—and in front of Lori—her
sister had only smiled smugly.  She hadn’t considered Kristine’s hurt feelings,
or embarrassment.  In fact, she still laughed over the incident years later.

Finally, Kristine glanced up and met
Minnie’s gaze.  “Thanks for having my back,” she said, and then added with a
humorless laugh, “but you’ve done it now.  You are officially on my mother’s
bad side.”

“Not to mention Lori’s,” Minnie added
with a delighted laugh.  “Oh, the look on Lori’s face when you told her ‘no’ to
watching Devon…  I wish I’d had my phone camera-ready.”

Kristine sighed.  “Am I doing the right
thing?  I do miss Devon so much.”

“I know you do, and they know you do. 
They use him as leverage against you.  It has to stop.  And frankly, it’s about
time Lori started putting Devon’s needs before her own.”

“I know…”

Minnie shook her head, her eyes dancing
with humor.  “Can you believe Lori?—suggesting she and Joe had breakfast
together.  That must have been difficult, being as he’s in Norton—three hours
away.”

“Maybe he drove home to see her,”
Kristine said numbly.  “It is possible.”

“I don’t think so.  Why would Joe give
you a place to stay while he’s seeing your sister…?”

She shook her head.  “I don’t know. 
Maybe he’s not the man I think he is.  Maybe he’s playing both of us.”  She
gave a shrug.  “I don’t have much experience in these matters.”

“I suspect that’s part of your appeal,”
Minnie said, patting her hand.  “Joe isn’t playing you, honey.  And he isn’t
stupid.  He knows a good girl when he sees one.”

“I hope so,” she mused.    

***

Later, after Kristine had returned to
Joe’s place, her cell phone trilled in her hand.  She’d been about to call Joe,
to check on him and his dad, but noted the insurance adjustor was calling.

She took the call, eager to hear what he
had to say.  “Hello,” she said.

“Hello.   Is this Kristine?”

“Yes, yes it is.”

Was she mistaken, or did she hear the
adjustor sigh with relief.  “Okay, good.  I was hoping to connect with you. 
Your sister called earlier and…  Well, er, anyway.  I just wanted to let you
know we’re still awaiting the report from the fire marshal.  I tried to explain
to your sister—again—that we cannot release payment until we have a full
report.”

“I understand.”

“I have called the fire marshal, per
your sister’s request, but I don’t have any authority to hurry them along.”

“Okay.  Well, thank you for the call.”