Semi-Sweet Read Online Free PDF Page B

I agree. I won’t give up before your birthday.”
    “You promise?”
    “I promise.”
    “Good. We’ll have the mother of all parties then, two things to celebrate.” They approached her house.
    “I told you to leave a light on,” Adam said, frowning at the darkness beyond the glass panes in the front door.
    “I know—I forgot.”
    They were almost exactly the same height. They’d been friends for more than twenty years, since they’d signed up for the same
     swimming class at the local pool. Hannah still swam as often as she could, and while Adam’s interest had waned somewhat around
     the time he discovered girls, he’d migrated by then to Hannah’s circle of friends, and over the years the two of them had
     grown closer.
    Funny how they’d never been drawn toward one another romantically. Hannah loved Adam, but he was a brother, not a potential
     partner. The thought of being in a physical relationship with him had simply never been an option for her, and she was fairly
     sure it had never occurred to him either, thankfully. If they were both romantically involved at the same time, they might
     go out as a foursome, but other than that, their love lives didn’t intersect.
    “You busy this week?” she asked.
    “A meeting tomorrow, hopefully some new business. Other bits and pieces to finish off.” He designed Web sites, working from
     the small flat he’d invested in around the time Hannah had bought her house. “I’ll be in on Wednesday,” he said, “to collect
     my free cupcake.”
    “Only if you buy some,” she reminded him.
    “God, you’re hard. You’ll go far.”
    They reached the door, and he put his hands on her shoulders. “Best of luck—not that you need it. You’ll be great, I know
     you will.”
    She smiled. “Thanks.”
    He hugged her, enveloping her in the leathery scent of his jacket, kissing her cheek loudly. “Night-night. Put the chain on
     the door.”
    “Yessir.”
    The house was cold. Now that the heating bill was Hannah’s alone, she had to economize. She filled a hot-water bottle and
     set her alarm for eight. The next couple of days would be busy; shopping for ingredients, organizing her kitchen, setting
     everything in place for Wednesday morning, when her new life would begin. When she’d rise at three in the morning to make
     and ice 144 cupcakes for the first time.
    She’d practiced, she’d timed everything. Four trays into the big oven at a time, four dozen cupcakes baking for twenty minutes
     while she put the next batch of mixtures together. The first batch cool enough to ice by the time she’d filled the last of
     the second batch of paper cups and made up the various icings. Eight varieties each day, fifteen different tastes rotating
     as the week went on.
    Five hours from start to finish every morning, breakfast grabbed somewhere along the way, as soon as she was awake enough
     to feel hungry.
    Load the van, drive to the shop, and unload. Fill the cupcake tree that sat on the counter with one of each variety. Arrange
     half of the 136 others in the display cases, leave the rest in the back until they were needed. Open at nine, close at five.
     Bag the leftovers, drive home, eat dinner, and get to bed by nine at the latest. Up at three to start all over again.
    Was six hours enough sleep? It would have to be. Could she keep that up for seven months, six days a week? What had possessed
     her?
    She undressed quickly. This was the worst time, going to bed by herself—and waking up alone came a close second. Maybe she
     should get a cat, or maybe a small dog that would curl up at the end of the bed and help her to feel less unwanted.
    She burrowed under the duvet, trying to think positive. Adam was right: This was what she’d always wanted, since she’d begun
     working in Finnegan’s Bakery all those years ago. She used to imagine running her own place, selling exactly what she wanted
     to sell, answerable to nobody. If only she had the money.
    And