On Any Given Sundae Read Online Free PDF Page A

of the affection she felt radiating from her friends. They
choked her up and left her buoyant. They made her feel as though
she could handle this enormous responsibility. And she wouldn’t
freeze the next time she had to talk to Rob. No! She’d be cool,
like ice cream, and smooth and—
    “Hi, everyone,” Rob said, surprising them by
entering through the backroom door. “Sorry I’m late, but I picked
up bagels and coffee for all of us.” He deposited his goody bags on
one of the tables and managed to elicit Oohs and Aahs from her
cadre of helpers. The traitors.
    Her friends introduced themselves to Rob and
then quickly turned their attention to the treats. As they spread
strawberry cream cheese on their cinnamon-raisin bagels and
doctored their coffees to their liking, she watched Rob watching
them, and she realized she hadn’t heard the backdoor bang before he
entered. Had he just gotten here? Or had he been here already,
lying in wait, listening to them? Had he overheard their discussion
of his ‘hot’ body?
    The possibility of this made her blush, and
she suddenly wished she hadn’t given him his own set of keys to the
shop yesterday in her panic. Then he wouldn’t have been able to
sneak up on them today.
    “Good morning, Elizabeth ,” he said,
speaking her name with noticeable deliberateness. “And how are you
doing on this bright Friday?”
    “F-F-F—” Oh, hell! “F-Fine.” She
gestured an “And you?” with her nearest hand.
    “Long night, last night, to tell you the
truth,” he said. “Kind of stressful, actually. I locked up the shop
about a half hour after you left. Spent some time with my family.
Dinner. Discussions. More discussions…”
    She couldn’t help but notice the way he eyed
her every move while he spoke. Goodness, what was he looking for?
Did he think she had any connection to his family? She barely knew
them.
    “What did you do last night?” he said.
    “I-I—” She made a scribbling motion in the
air but Nick took this opportunity to jump right into their
conversation. Bless him.
    “Oh, man, she’s an awesome writer. She’s only
twenty-seven and she’s co-written a couple of books and gotten a
three-book contract for her own dessert cookbook series.” Nick
turned to her. “I know your deadline’s during the summer, but
when’s the publication date for book one? Thanksgiving?”
    For a reason she wasn’t able to analyze, her
voice unfroze. “No, just before Christmas. The s-second book is
supposed to be released b-by Thanksgiving next year.”
    “That’s right,” Nick said. “And the third one
around Halloween of the year after.”
    “And the first one is going to be fantastique ,” Jacques added, “because my éclairs will grace
the cover of the pastries section.”
    “His are long,” Nick said appreciatively.
    And Gretchen laughed, which made Elizabeth
laugh, which made Rob look at them all like they were more than a
little psycho.
    “So, we should get organized here,” Gretchen
said. “Elizabeth needs to get a lot of work done, and all of us
have other part-time jobs to return to. Who’s got the opening shift
today?”
    Rob pulled out the schedule Elizabeth had
scrawled on the notebook paper yesterday. “Looks like Elizabeth and
Gretchen are on the docket for round one. But—” He waved the page
in the air before dropping it and letting it float to the
tabletop.
    “But what?” Jacques asked.
    “But it seems to be in all of your best
interests to have Elizabeth concentrate her time on finishing this
cookbook. Isn’t that right?” Rob said, scanning their faces as he
spoke.
    “Oh, absolutely,” Gretchen agreed
heartily.
    “You bet, man,” Nick said.
    Jacques squinted at Rob. “But of course. This
is why we’re here. This is what friends are for.”
    Rob gulped down some coffee and turned his
gaze fully on Elizabeth. “And your having to work these extra
shifts is dramatically cutting in to your writing time, right?”
    “R-R-Right,