Burning Desire

Chapter 11

"Is there any chance your mom could lend us a hand in this? We're running out of time really fast, and we've barely gotten anything done."

"She should be done with the book club within the hour," he said. "I'll call her and see if she can help."

"You're a lifesaver!" I breathed a sigh of relief.

The sound of glass breaking and a metal cookie sheet hitting the floor was my cue to end the call. Obviously, cooking wasn't Kacey's strong suit.

We had sixty cupcakes finished out of the three-hundred-fifty needed, and we hadn't even begun working on the cake or pies. Kacey and I were ready to pull our hair out and start throwing baking supplies out the window to the tune of an angry breakup song.

"This is ridiculous!" she complained, flower and frosting covering her purple apron. "I'm ready to give up! Can I give up yet?"

I giggled, shaking my head. "I'm just as frustrated as you, but we can't, unfortunately. Maybe next time someone asks you to do something like this, you might want to fake the flu or something."

Kacey continued to work on the cupcakes while I started making pie after pie. Luckily, Erica had only asked for cold pies, so no baking was needed, which was a huge timesaver.

I was on my fourth pie when my phone buzzed with a text from a number I didn't recognize.

"Kate, this is Marie Stephens. Alex told me you need some help cooking for a wedding. Text me the address and we'll be right over."

"Kacey, I just got a text from Alex's mom," I said, relieved that help was on the way. "She's going to come over and help us."

"Fuck yes!" Kacey exclaimed dramatically. "Praise the cooking gods!"

I texted a quick reply with Kacey's address, and an hour later, Marie and some of her book club friends showed up.

Marie hugged me tightly when she walked in.

"Alright, Kate, show me where the problem is!" She put her hands on her hips with a smile like she was ready to take on the world.

I introduced Kacey to everyone and explained the situation. As soon as I told Marie that we'd been trying to dish out an entire dessert table, she almost couldn't contain her laughter.

"Oh, sweethearts! What were you thinking? We can fix this. This is an easy fix. Right, Rita?" she asked the tall redhead next to her.

Rita nodded with a smile. "I have a friend who owns a bakery. Since the cupcakes and pies are simple and common, we should be able to get the majority of what's left to do from her, and we can make the extra few ourselves. Marie is an expert at wedding cakes! She made mine and Jerry's. It was beautiful! Let her work on that and we'll take care of the rest, okay?"

I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders. There was no way we would've been able to finish everything on time without help.

Kacey gave Rita a list of what kinds of cupcakes and pies Erica wanted, and Rita and the other ladies were off in a flash to see her friend.

While she was gone, Kacey, Marie, and I began work on the wedding cake. I'd never made a cake in my life. I didn't know the first thing about it. Marie made it look easy, though.

Halfway through the cooking process, Kacey called Erica to tell her what was going on, and Erica said she'd be happy to pay for anything Rita's baker friend could give us. I didn't even want to imagine how high that number would be. I made a mental note to never invite three hundred people to my wedding, and always have a backup caterer.