“I’m doing fine, dear. I wanted to come over and welcome you, but it looks like my son is doing that and more.” She caught sight of the bag of ice Leanna was holding to her head and her expression became instantly concerned. “Oh, my goodness, Lea! What happened?”
One of Brody’s hands squeezed her side–he could have just been flexing a hand cramp or something–but she had a feeling it had more to do with the situation with his family. And she knew she had to help him.
Even though he was the reason for all her issues right now.
Smiling, she pulled away slightly from him and faced his mother. With a small laugh, she explained, “I’m afraid I had a bit of a mishap this morning. I lost my footing when I got out of the van and hit my head on one of the doors.” She shook her head–which hurt a little–but laughed again. “Luckily, Brody was there to help. He immediately ran for ice for me.” Then she smiled at him. “It was really perfect timing on his part.”
Sylvia looked between the two of them and her smile was firmly back in place. She actually looked pleased!
“I’m so sorry you got hurt,” Sylvia said before focusing on Brody, “but look at you, being a superhero and helping out!” She squeezed his arm–which was still wrapped around Leanna.
“I’m just glad I could help,” he said humbly and Lea wanted to kick him.
“Is there anything I can do for you?” Sylvia asked her. “Should I call a doctor?”
“No, but thank you. Brody already offered, but I’m fine. Really. The ice is helping and once I take a couple of ibuprofen and maybe have something to eat, it’ll be like nothing ever happened.”
But Sylvia spotted the tray of ruined cupcakes. “Oh, no! All your hard work! Were these for today’s events?” And yeah, now she sounded a little less sympathetic and a little more frantic.
“Part of them, but don’t worry,” she quickly added. “I’ve got plenty of extras with me that just need to be frosted. Nothing is ruined for today. I was planning on baking a lot more once I got set up, so this one tray isn’t a big deal. Trust me.”
Sylvia didn’t look quite so relieved, but she smiled. “Okay, then. Why don’t I send over some lunch for you–and Brody–and let you get back to work?”
“That would be lovely. Thank you, Mrs. King,” she replied.
“It’s not necessary for me, Mom,” Brody added. “I can just…”
“Nonsense!” his mother interrupted. “Stay and keep an eye on Lea. Food will be over shortly. Bye!” And with a smile and wave, she was walking back toward the door. It wasn’t until she was gone that Lea breathed a sigh of relief.
And immediately stepped out of Brody’s arms. “So, um…do you have the Advil?”
Nodding, he handed her the bottle and moved out of her way while she went to get herself some water. She saw the tray of ruined cupcakes and groaned. It wasn’t like it was that big of a deal, but it was just one more thing to do when she had her schedule completely fine-tuned to her liking.
“How come your trailer is set up all the way over here instead of on the other side of the property with the rest of the setup?”
“Charlene didn’t want any of the scents cross-contaminating.”
“Um…what?”
She nodded. “Yeah, she didn’t want to risk any of the smells from the barbecue or anything else getting on the cake. I told her it didn’t work that way, but she didn’t believe me.”
He just shook his head and sighed.
“And how are you supposed to move all the desserts from here to there without driving your van across the lawn?”
“Apparently, there’s a food utility golf cart arriving soon. It’s refrigerated and has racks for everything and all I have to do it drive it over to the party tent where staff will set up. Fortunately, my job is to simply make the desserts. There’s a staff over there specifically to set up so I can be a guest at the festivities.”
She refrained from adding a snarky, “Lucky me.”
“Okay,” he said, moving in close behind her again, interrupting her thoughts. “What can I do to help? Where do we start?”
Ugh…as sweet as his offer was, the last thing she needed was taking time explaining everything to someone who had no clue how to do what she did.
Turning, she smiled. “I appreciate the offer, Brody, but…I think it would just be easier–and faster–if I work alone. But thank you.”
He looked at her as if she were crazy. “But…I told you I can help. It’s my fault you’re having to deal with all of this and…” He paused and crossed his massive arms over his chest. “And I’m here to help whether you like it or not.”
Popping the pills in her mouth, she quickly drank some water before glaring back at him. “But it’s not necessary. I have a system and…”
“Then give me something else to do. I get not wanting me to decorate those things,” he said with more than a hint of distaste, “but surely there’s something else you need help with.”
“I needed help bringing all this stuff in an hour ago,” she said tartly. She placed her hands firmly on her hips because she seriously did not appreciate his tone. “Now it’s all here and you’ll just be in the way. Again.”
The incredulous look on his face was almost enough to make her laugh, but…she didn’t. Heck, she couldn’t even believe she was being this forward and snarky with him. If Josie and Skye were here to witness this, they’d be giving her high fives.
But suddenly it didn’t feel so good.
It just felt mean.
And Leanna hated mean people.
Feeling more than a little ashamed, she apologized. “I’m sorry. This…I don’t know why I said what I said. That’s not who I am. And if you still would like to help me, then…I’d appreciate it.”
His own features softened as if he was uncomfortable, and after raking a hand through his hair, he mumbled a gruff, “No problem.”
Leanna walked around and tried to think about where she needed to start. “Okay, if you can find us some large trash bags, I think that’s the best place to start. We’ll need to throw out all these ruined ones and I’ll get everything set up to start icing their replacements.”
With a curt nod, he began looking through the cabinets while she went to get all of her tools set up. It didn’t take long for her to get out one bucket of icing and her piping bag and tips. When she had everything on the prep table, she noticed that Brody already had the dirty tray in the sink and was washing it.
Okay, that was incredibly helpful.
Before she seriously got to work, she set up her wireless speakers and pulled up one of the many playlists on her phone and waited for Beyoncé to start singing. At the first few notes of Single Ladies, Leanna smiled and knew her mood was about to improve.
Walking over to the bag that contained her aprons and gloves, she pulled out what she needed and went and grabbed a fresh tray of cupcakes from the refrigerator and put them beside everything else. That’s when Brody joined her.
He glanced at the speakers and then at her. “You need music to work?”