Cade laughed. “Mine are way better.”
Were they only lines?
“I heardeverythingand came as fast as I could.”
Rosalyn twisted around at the sudden female voice behind her, in time to see a woman carrying a white bakery box breeze across the office.
She tossed the package on Cade’s desk. “Not to be dramatic.”
Cade’s face lit like a New York City skyline. “I don’t know what you heard, Zoey, but I hope whoever told you tells you again tomorrow.” He eagerly reached for the box marked Bayou Beignets, stamped with a black and sage green fleur-de-lis logo.
“Flattery will get you everywhere.” The woman dropped into the desk chair beside Rosalyn with a flourish and extended her hand. “Zoey Lakewood, resident baker.”
“Rosalyn Dupree.” They shook. Then Rosalyn pointed to the box. “Is that your shop?”
“It is.” Zoey lifted her delicate chin and beamed. “I opened it about a year and a half ago.”
“Already award-winning too. Best dessert on the island.” Cade made a show of deciding which beignet to choose from the carton.
Zoey wore a loose black tank front-tucked into jeans. She seemed pretty familiar with Cade. Another old friend of his? Or…
Zoey squinted at her beneath thick, dark bangs. “Wait…Rosalyn. I think I saw you around school.” She snapped her fingers. “You were valedictorian, weren’t you?”
“Ugh. Youhadto remind her.” Cade dug into the bakery box.
Zoey ignored him. “I was a few grades behind you, but you were in the same class as my best friend, Elisa.” Her cornflower blue eyes widened. “Aren’t you famous now?”
Rosalyn shifted in her chair. “Not ex?—”
“Yes.” Cade gestured with the pastry in his hand, sending a sprinkling of white dust across his desk. “She is. And she’s here for the circus.”
“Ah. So you’re going to save Magnolia Bay.” Zoey pulled her legs up in her chair to match Rosalyn’s crisscross position. “Awesome.”
Again, with the pressure. “I don’t know about?—”
“Theseare what’s awesome, Zoey.” Cade interrupted again. “And you threw in Cajun kolaches! You do love me.”
A strange sensation lit in Rosalyn’s stomach, a mix between a squeezing vise and a jabbing thorn.
Zoey grinned. “You’re my best customer—especially when you’re stressed.”
Cade brushed his hands together over his trashcan, ridding himself of excess powdered sugar. “So what did you mean byyou heard?”
Zoey folded her arms over her stomach. Her thin frame and short stature gave Rosalyn the impression of a dark-haired woodland fairy perched on oversized furniture. “That you needed help.”
Cade spun from the trashcan to face them. “Let me guess. Noah and Linc?”
Zoey made a noncommittal noise in the back of her throat. “I thought a sugar rush might help you be more productive.”
“You’re right. But why is everyone so suddenly concerned over my to-do list?” Cade sat back in his desk chair. “I’m not standing in Linc’s boat telling him how to crawfish.”
Zoey scoffed. “Well, of course not. That’d be ridiculous.”
“Exactly.”
“You have no idea how.” Zoey laughed.
Okay, maybe she liked Zoey. Rosalyn hid her smile behind her hand.
