Sweet Distraction ✔︎

[24] 𝑺𝒖𝒓𝒈𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝑫𝒂𝒚

"Wow." Jupiter spoke around a mouthful of cookie, her eyes wide. "These are really good."

Isabelle took another bite of her chocolate-bacon cookie. As desserts went, it wasn't bad, though she suspected Evan's cardiologist wouldn't agree. She put the plate of cookies by the cash register alongside the Free Sample sign. So far, she'd invented half-a-dozen pastries that were more spicy, savory, or salty than they were sweet, and all of them had been well-received by the bakery's regulars.

Isabelle would never be as happy at the bakery as Jupiter and their mother were, but she took pride in being able to finally, after so many years, make a small contribution to the family business.

Even better, Jupiter had genuinely liked the lemon-thyme cookies, the chili-chocolate truffles, and the rhubarb-lavender hand pies Isabelle had made.

"They'll complement the sweeter stuff beautifully," she'd said.

Her sister's praise eased Isabelle's despair over Evan, which she hadn't been able to talk to Jupiter about-although her sister clearly sensed it. Instead of waiting through Evan's surgery with Josh and the rest of the Kings at the hospital, Jupiter had come to open the Rainbow Palace with Isabelle. They'd spent the morning baking and setting out pastries, helping customers, serving coffee, and working with a compatibility that Isabelle had never experienced before.

They both kept looking at the clock. Jupiter checked her phone every five minutes for messages from Josh, and then relayed the news to Isabelly. He's talking to the surgeon. He's getting prepped. They just took him in.

Then there was nothing to do but wait, which they did in a flurry of cleaning, extra baking, and unnecessarily rearranging the baskets and the tables. Isabelle counted the minutes, trying not to imagine Evan lying unconscious on the operating table. Instead she focused on him-the way the sunlight threaded his dark hair, the brilliant flash of his smile, the clear warmth of his blue eyes. How she loved everything about him.

Could she be happy and fulfilled living in Rainsville and working at the bakery with her sister? If she told Evan she was staying in Rainsville for herself, for Jupiter, for the bakery, for them, maybe they could make it work.

"Try not to worry, dear." Miss Purdy patted Isabelle's hand as she brought a fresh plate of cookies to her and Mr. Becker's table. "My late husband had heart surgery, and he... well, obviously he's not quite fine now, but he was hale and hearty for several years afterward."

"And the techniques they use today are so much more advanced." Mr. Becker nodded sagely. "He'll be right as rain in no time."

"Not to mention he's fit as a fiddle," Freya remarked, lifting an eyebrow. "Heart issues aside, Evan is in amazing shape. Anyone that strong has to have a good prognosis. Right, Gavin?"

Gavin Knight barely glanced up from his laptop, but said, "Statistically, the mortality rate for surgery at the cardiac center is quite low."

"How do you know that?" Freya asked.

He slanted her a glance. "I know things."

"I'll bet you do," she murmured.

Gavin returned his attention to his laptop. Freya blew out her breath in a sigh. Isabelle exchanged amused looks with Jupiter as she went back behind the counter.

"You've really kept this place running smoothly," Jupiter said. "I appreciate it so much. It's just the way Mom wanted it, only better."

"I like it here, too." Only after she spoke did Isabelle realize the truth of her words.

In all the weeks she'd been here, she hadn't even noticed that she'd started to fit at the Rainbow Palace. She knew all the regular customers and what they liked, she'd made friends, she understood the rhythms of the bakery. She cared about both the people and the pastries and cakes they offered. She even knew which dessert was the best.