Never Hide

Chapter Seven

Eager to get a moment to myself, to breathe, when clients didn’t know whether they wanted lilac ribbons or citrus ribbons.

Eager to take a break outside of the building when clients were trying to match their wall decorations to cake flavors.

Eager to step away from my clients when they were acting just like Clarissa.

However, instead of letting my dear friend know that she was edging nearer and nearer to full blown Bridezilla status, I smiled back at Harriet. “Hey, Harriet! We were wondering if we could try some of your cupcake samples. Something to go along with the cake we ordered.”

“Ooh, a wedding! Did someone finally sweep you off your feet?” Harriet asked before she looked over at Sky. She paused for a moment, then gave an approving nod. “I like him. He seems sturdy. He’ll be good to have as your husband during a time of great trouble.”

“Oh, he’s not -- we’re not...” I struggled to string a sentence together, way too flustered by Harriet’s assumption.

“It’s my wedding,” Clarissa chimed in as she raised her hand. “I’m the one getting married. Me.”

“Well, then, congratulations.” Harriet smiled again. “How about you all have a seat in that booth over there and I’ll bring you a few of our usual suspects?”

“Sounds perfect,” I replied.

“And for you, Raven, I’ll bring you a muffin. On the house.”

“That really won’t be necessary--”

“Take the muffin, take the muffin! You’re still single. There’s no need to be on some diet just to keep a man around,” Harriet continued as she turned back toward the kitchen. “I’ll be right out with everything, just you wait.”

* * *

Harriet had been right to bring me a muffin.

Because the longer I sat at this booth, the more it looked like I was going to need that muffin to get through the rest of this afternoon. I sat quietly while Clarissa did her own thing. Sky sat next to me, and Clarissa sat across from us.

I was about three bites into it while I watched Clarissa go back and forth between cupcake samples. Apparently, she didn’t want to get her hands messy, because she was using a fork to eat cupcakes. She’d dip her fork into a chocolate cupcake before quickly veering back to a vanilla cupcake. She’d then sigh before dipping her fork into a caramel cupcake, then make a dissatisfied face before bringing her fork up to a red velvet cupcake--

“Clarissa, come on. It can’t be that hard,” Sky suggested, sitting right beside me. “Just pick whichever one you think tastes the best. Isn’t that how this is supposed to work?”

“It’s not that simple, Sky!” Clarissa rolled her eyes in his direction. “If the way the cupcakes taste doesn’t go with the walls, it’s going to throw everything off!”

“Well, if it’s that important, you should probably get Trent’s input--”

“Trent! Shit!” Clarissa shouted, hastily getting up from the booth. “I forgot that his great aunt has that gluten allergy. I need to ask the baker if she can make us a batch of gluten-free cupcake samples.”