“Exactly.” Adam nodded. “And leave all the boring, overwhelming stuff like choosing the cake to someone else.”
“But there’s more than just the wedding cake to pick out.” Brittany looked at Charlotte for the first time in ten minutes. “We’ll need desserts for the engagement party and the wedding shower next month. And maybe the rehearsal dinner.”
Wait a minute. That was a lot of business. Charlotte straightened. She might even be able to deal with a little B-Rex if it meant dessert-catering a wedding and multiple parties. After all, she needed to start saving for Christmas presents soon, and she still owed the hospital from when they’d taken out Zoe’s tonsils.
Brittany’s hysterics rallied for round two. “But I can’t just abandon—”
“Stop. It’s not abandoning.” Adam held up one hand. “Just think of it as getting to tell people what to do three times.”
Brittany's mouth opened, then shut, as if even she realized she couldn’t argue with that. “Okay. But who would do it? Who would pick all this out for us?”
Adam turned toward Will.
Charlotte didn’t know a lot about hunting, but she saw, right now, right here in her bakery, a ten-point buck caught in the crosshairs. Will’s eyes widened. He stepped backward, arms raised in surrender, shaking his head. “No way. Don’t even think about it.”
“Oh, come on. You’d be perfect. You’re already in this place, like, what, once a week?” Adam gestured wildly around the bakery. “You know. For Melissa.”
It was Will’s turn to glare and Brittany’s turn to sweeten it up. “Yeah, Will, and we all know you like to eat. You’d make great choices.”
There again with the double insult-compliment in one. The girl should audition for the role of a Disney villain.
Will’s hands went to his stomach—his totally flat stomach, that no doubt boasted a six-pack of abs under that shirt. “Me? Why me?”
“Because you have good taste in food, and you’re the best man.” Adam clapped his hand on Will’s shoulder and whispered, “And besides, choosing a wedding cake won’t make you certifiably crazy.”
Brittany’s head snapped back to Adam. “What’d you say?”
He backpedaled quickly. Again, probably not his first rodeo. “I said, Will wouldn’t be lazy. In getting all this planned out. You know Will.” Adam patted Will’s shoulder again. “He used to be in the military. The dude thrives on a schedule. He’ll get all this taken care of in no time.”
“Right. No time. As in, not at all.” Will ran a hand over his five o’clock stubble. “No way, guys.”
Adam’s voice lowered an octave, and the humor fled his tone. “You know Melissa would think you should do it.”
Will glared at Adam. “Fine. As your best man . . . I’ll do it.”
Brittany squealed. Adam slapped him a high five, and Will sighed like a man heading toward a frosted guillotine.
Charlotte plastered on a smile as she tried to dissect the emotions coursing through her body. Relief. Trepidation. New business—that was a good thing. And Brideasaurus Rex was now out of the picture—also a very good thing. Besides, she’d get to work with Will from here forward—
Yeah, that. Maybe not such a good thing.
She drew a tight breath. Regardless of how she felt, facts were facts. She’d been handed a lucrative baking contract on a silver platter . . .
Along with the opportunity to prove to herself that she had what it took to resist the wiles of handsome, charming—and unavailable—men.
“I’m sorry you had to see that.” Will waited until the bakery door swung shut behind Adam and his crazy fiancée before he apologized to Charlotte, who now leaned against the counter as if it were the sole thing keeping her on her feet.
Not surprising. In the six months since Adam proposed, he had seen Brittany lay out enough emotion for ten brides. Just watching her was completely exhausting. “I warned you a minute ago that you might regret meeting me.”
Of course, that was when he thought he was simply apologizing in advance for Brittany’s erratic behavior. Now he’d been shanghaied into this wedding cake task for his best friend’s wedding. A wedding he barely had time to even attend, much less perform a starring role in.
But he and Adam went way back, and if he’d learned one thing from his time in the army, it was that duty ruled. He owed it to his friend to be at his side during his wedding.
After that, the dude was on his own.
Will shuddered at the idea of being stuck with someone like Brittany, day in and day out. No thanks. He’d been with his share of selfish, vain girls over the years, living the illusive frat-boy dream, and he was done with that life. Melissa had seen to that. He sobered immediately at the thought of her.