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network’s celebrity weddings program after she’d picked up her first major client – a reality TV star whose marriage had lasted less time than it had taken her to frost the damn cake – Melanie had been up to her eyeballs in more business than she could possibly take. Which made her appear exclusive. Which only made her orders increase.
    She shipped cakes far and wide. And sometimes, her clients shipped her to the location when they wanted something more elaborate. Other than occasional all-expenses-paid travel, she was able to work from home and bake in her sweatpants, formulating new and exciting flavor combinations and making her own schedule. Like, today, she was able to start late since she’d crashed out at a dingy roadside motel and had spent a couple hours thereafter feeling like death as she recovered from her first ever hangover, and dealing with the horror of what had transpired the night before, both with Joel, the Drunken Cowboy, and Luke.
    But hey, she made her own schedule. So whatever. Who cared if she was squinty and dire at work? Or if she was late. No one. She was her own boss.
    For those perks, she would put up with just about anything.
    And did. And was gearing up to deal with the epic hardship that was working with Nancy Parsons, former Marietta girl turned Hollywood superstar, and her equally famous fiancé, Jared Lovell.
    The order for the cake, and the many cakes, and cupcakes, was maddeningly specific while also being vague. Rustic elegance, new flavor combinations that were also classic. But none of that was new in Melanie’s world. That was just life with brides.
    She had a month to experiment with different concepts, and she had been paid enough that she had very little else she needed to work on during the timeframe. So, all in all, she couldn’t complain.
    The biggest perk of working for a celebrity bride was that she was far too busy to communicate directly. There were assistants for that kind of thing. Assistants to professionally soothe the egos of their bosses and to help make them more palatable for the masses.
    That meant that Melanie would be able to work largely undisturbed. Which was how she liked it.
    She crossed the length of her kitchen, taking her red and white apron off of its hook, and put it on, wandering over to her wall of shelves lined with gallon Mason jars filled with dry ingredients. She kept multiple kinds of flours on hand to accommodate the special dietary needs of her clients. Almond flour, coconut flour oat flour, rice flour, and even standard all-purpose flour.
    She would be utilizing a few different kinds to make gluten-free and paleo cakes, and some standard cakes for Nancy’s wedding. The weird-ass cakes always required a little bit of extra experimentation. Just to get the consistency down perfectly. Different flavors and alternate ingredients added or subtracted moisture which could throw everything off.
    She was looking forward to trying the gluten-free sweet potato cupcakes with toasted marshmallow frosting. Possibly insane, but she wouldn’t know unless she tried. Which meant lots of taste testing and eating icing straight out of the bowl.
    Really, her job was awesome. Which made up for her personal life being lame. Most of the time.
    Of course, her aim was to get both her personal life and work life in order. Stupid Luke.
    Heat flooded her face as she remembered everything that had happened last night. Luke had carried her out of Grey’s over his shoulder like she was a sack of potatoes. And then this morning he had driven her back into town in the same dress she’d been wearing the night before and…
    She leaned forward, pressing her head against the cool surface of the countertop. She knew what people would think. Everyone in town knew Luke. Everyone knew her. Everyone also knew that they were just friends, so no doubt what had been witnessed by all and sundry last night, and this morning, would be taken in with great interest.
    There was a