Chapter Three

“What do you mean you aren’t coming home until after 8pm?!  We have tickets for the 7pm showing of Footloose!” Faith cried into the phone.  I called her immediately after I hung up with Mr. Russia.  He said his name was Alex and then something about just call him Sasha, but I really wasn’t in the mood to call him anything but a pain in my ass.

I walked into the back and let the swinging door hit me in the ass, hoping it would hit hard enough to act as a form of punishment for saying yes to getting myself into this last minute mess.  “He’s paying me $1000,” I said flatly.

I heard her make a strangled noise before speaking.  “Oh my God.  Are you serious?!”

“If I wasn’t, I sure as hell wouldn’t be doing this.  Besides, I’m not even sure everything is going to cool off enough to turn out the right way.  It’s already noon and I’m just praying my crème puffs actually puff instead of flatten…” I groaned.

“Wow.  That really is a lot of money.”

“Yeah, it’s a mortgage payment for our house.”

“Okay.  Well then get baking, Julia Child!  I’m sure I’ll want to see Footloose a second time anyway before it goes to DVD…” Faith giggled.

“Sounds good,” I forced a smile and began gathering some ingredients.  We hung up and I began working creating the newly ordered goodies.  Luckily I didn’t have a ton of customers and when I did, everything was status quo in the kitchen, so I wasn’t too burdened when the customers did come in.

“Hey Lana,” Brooks laughed easily, his bright blue eyes sparkling as he motioned to his own cheek to pretend brush something off of it, quickly causing me to turn around and use the coffee machine as an off-the-record mirror.  I had flour all over my left cheek.

“Shit,” I cursed quietly.  I quickly wiped it off, rolled my eyes at myself and spun back around, willing myself to stop blushing.  “Thanks,” I grimaced when I looked back up at Brooks and his bright blue eyes.  Okay, so maybe I had a fair share of hot guys come in, but I am a sucker for blue-eyed boys.

He smiled and shook his head.  “It’s part of the job, right?”

I giggled and nodded.  “Yeah, I guess it is.  So what bring you in here on a Friday afternoon?”  It was probably a little forward of me to ask this, but he was normally a morning customer and there was something refreshingly easy going about the guy.

“I was out for a walk on this beautiful fall day and decided to treat myself to one of your slices of apple tart you have listed on your chalk board outside,” he nodded to the door.

“Oh, sure!”

“Probably shouldn’t be doing this since I’m going to a party tonight, but all I could think about was how good my mom’s apple pie always tasted around this time of year,” he commented as I slid a piece into a to-go container.

“Well, hopefully this will hold a candle to your mama’s,” I smiled, handing over the container.

“I’m sure it will be amazing,” he winked before laying a $5 bill on the counter and turned to leave.  I was about to say that he was owed change but he spoke.  “Keep the change Lana!”

“Thank you!  See ya!” I called back, slightly admiring him until my next customer walked in. His jaw was dropped and he was pointing excitedly over his shoulder.

“You didn’t tell me you have famous people stopping here at your shop!” Garrett exclaimed.  “You dooo know that was Brooks Laich from the Washington Capitals, right?!”

I rolled my eyes, laughed and nodded.  “Yes, I do, but only because Faith and Becky told me.  They’ve been customers of mine for a little over a year now,” I informed him happily.  “So what brings you here?”

“I told you that I wanted to give my compliments to the chef…” he grinned broadly.  He looked completely different than he did the night of the draft party that had already been a few weeks ago.  I actually figured he forgot about me since I hadn’t heard anything from him since.  Instead of being clad in shorts and a Capitals jersey; he was wearing a pair of khaki dockers and a maroon 3-button polo shirt, looking very much like the teacher he was.  He looked good and I instantly felt at a disadvantage.

“Well, howdy and welcome,” I smiled, tucking a few errant hairs behind my ears and attempting to be the strong, flirtatious woman I was supposed to be.

We made some small talk, he told me about his day and I told him about mine.  “So I noticed your hockey team, The Dixie Pixies, aren’t doing so well, especially since Ovie ain’t scoring much thus far…” he commented, totally unable to hide his smile when he spoke the name of my team.

“Ovie?” I asked.

“Alexander Ovechkin?”

“Oh, yeah, him.  I don’t know, does he usually score a lot?” I asked, completely clueless.  Inwardly I groaned because as usual, I was not in the mood to talk about sports, especially with a guy I was kind of looking to impress.  This non-relationship, relationship is already doomed.

Garrett laughed and nodded his head.  “Yeah, he’s only like the most talented player in the NHL…”

“Oh.”

There was a slight awkward silence that fell between us before he cleared his throat and began talking again.  “Um, so I am not only here to say hi, but I got tickets for the Capitals game tomorrow night and I was wondering if you were still interested in going to a game with me?  We can do dinner beforehand, drinks afterwards…Ya know, make a date of it.”

I bit my lip so I wouldn’t smile too broadly and nodded my head.   “Sure.  Sounds like a good idea.”

“Good.  I’ll pick you up at 5pm?”

“Okay,” I nodded, allowing myself to smile fully this time.  I really was excited, even if it was a date to a hockey game.

“Awesome.  Alright, see you tomorrow,” Garrett grinned and out the door he walked, leaving me bouncing all around for the simple fact I was going on a date!

Things of course never go as planned when you need things to go smoothly.  The crème puffs flattened and the éclair pudding wouldn’t come out right the first time.  So, I found myself pulling up in front of the address Alex had given me around 8pm.  My mouth dropped when I got out of my car.  The house was obviously not that old.  The beautiful brick, complimented by an old-fashioned brick driveway and pristine cement steps was something out of a magazine for the rich and famous.  It was huge and out front sat a number expensive looking cars.  I guess $1000 is nothing to this guy.  I wonder if he’s apart of the Russian Mafia or something.

I was just having a small team get together for the guys.  Being captain, I liked having everyone over to promote team bonding, especially this early in the season.  I heard some loud commotion from the foyer but I wasn’t sure why until I heard her voice.  The southern accent immediately caught my ears, especially when she laughed.  It was a cheery, sincere laugh, one that makes you smile even though you don’t even know what she’s laughing about.

I walked out to the foyer and found Mikee carrying an open flat cake box; barely able to maneuver around people for the simple fact he was too busy picking out the biggest éclair.  Carly was following him with another box; his eyes were as big as saucers.  By the time I got to the door, Brooks was chatting happily with the familiar southern voice and familiar looking girl, but she was not at all the blonde girl I had expected.

When she finally looked over at me, the look of surprise on her face most likely matched the one on my face.

I was attempting to balance two of the boxes while trying to conquer the unfamiliar, steep, front steps, but it was turning into a bigger challenge than I planned.  Between my height (hello! Short arms!), the size of the boxes, and the evening shadows it was a losing battle until I heard a familiar voice behind me.

“Lana?  Stop, I’ll help you take them in…”

Brooks.  I followed his command and just turned my head, giving him a grateful smile.  “Well I didn’t know ya’ll would be here.”

“I’d say the same to you, but with the way Alex has been raving about your bakery ever since we took him there the other week, I can’t say I’m surprised to see you,” he mused, taking both boxes from me with ease.

 “Are you sure you have them?” I asked worriedly as I watched him maneuver up the steps a lot better than I had been fairing.  I was also still a little confused on who he was talking about because I couldn’t picture the guy he mentioned, but I didn’t really have time to think about it when Mike came bursting out the door, instantly grabbing a box from Brooks.

“Lana!  Oh my gosh, I’m going to make love to Alex for ordering the desserts from you!!” he gushed.  Before I could make a comment he was yelling, “Carly!  Get out here and get this other box from Brooks!”

I shook my head and turned back to the car to grab the cookies.

“You’ll have to excuse us.  Amazing bake goods definitely bring out our fat kid tendencies,” Brooks laughed, taking one of the two boxes of cookies from me.

“I’m afraid no one will get to try any of those eclairs,” I laughed as we walked into the gi-normous home that was filled with a large group of well dressed men and beautiful women.  I felt terribly out of place in my jean capri’s and flip-flops.  At least I changed out of my flour covered clothing.

I almost laughed out loud like a crazy person from the simple thought of Becky and Faith flipping shit when they found out I delivered bake goods to what looked to be the entire Washington Capitals team.  Instead I bit my lip and focused on where I was walking and what Brooks telling me about Alex having a small get together for the team, since he was the team captain and all.  While attempting to scan the little more of the crowd, I spotted Brooks and Mike’s Russian friend and slowly things began clicking.

“Where is Lana?”  I asked, as Brooks walked the dark-haired girl over to me.  I was confused, especially since Lana said she’d be the one to drop off the order.  Not that this girl wasn’t cute, but she definitely wasn’t long legged and blonde.  I did notice, however, that she did have a nice set of tits that had obviously been covered up the other time I had seen her at the bakery.  Tonight she was in a plain, v-neck, t-shirt that hugged her, a pair of dark-jean capris, and a cheap, pink pair of flip-flops that matched the paint on her toe-nails.

“Um, I am Lana,” she said in the familiar southern accent I had talked to over the phone.  She looked at me curiously and raised an eyebrow. 

I looked over at Brooks who nodded in agreement but threw me a confused look and then back at the girl proclaiming to be Lana.  “Then who is the blonde girl at the bakery?”

“Oh, that’s my assistant, Dawn…” she smiled shyly.  “I probably would have been here sooner with the order if I hadn’t sent her home early for the day, but between working on this large order and waiting on customers,” she paused, looked over at Brooks and shot him a joking look to which he just laughed easily at and then looked back at me, “I hope it’s not too late,” she finished, looking up at me with worried, chocolate brown eyes.

I just stood there staring at her, feeling slightly awkward until Brooks waved his hand in front of my face and grabbed back my attention.  “Um, I’m sure the girl would like to set these cookies out so people can enjoy her hard work…”

“Oh, yeah. Um, this way, Lana,” I said her name slowly as if I was saying for the first time all over again.  She smiled politely and followed me into the kitchen after I took the other box from Brooks and motioned for him to go pull Mike away from the éclair box.

“Do you have trays?  I’ll lay these cookies out to make them a little more presentable,” Lana asked cheerfully, setting her cookie box on the counter.  “Normally I would just set them up on trays I have at the shop, but my customers haven’t returned them and I don’t have any at the moment,” she continued, but sounding more shy by the end.

“I have trays,” I said, immediately heading for one of the corner cabinets.  I didn’t use my kitchen often, so I wasn’t having much luck finding things.

“Are you sure ya have trays?” she asked several minutes and cabinets later, sounding amused at my confusion.

I spun around and gave her a pleading look.  “My mom is the one who set up the kitchen…”

“May I?” she asked, already moving around my kitchen looking in places I hadn’t yet before I even could give her an answer.  I smiled when she squatted down in front of the oven and pulled out the drawer underneath it.  Her shirt pulled up, revealing a sliver of her pink polka-dotted cotton panties and a small daisy flower tattooed on the small over her back.  There was something completely wholesome about her and it was kind of a turn-on.  Don’t get me wrong, she wasn’t as sexy, hot as the tall blonde, but I was seeing what Brooks and Mike were talking about the other day when they thought I had been talking about her.  She was cute.  I was pulled from my thoughts when she called out, “Woot!  Found them!  This is where I keep my trays at home, too,” she smiled brightly, holding them up above her head for me to take.  I took the trays from her hands and then pulled her up from the floor.  She popped up like a gofer and giggled at herself.  “Sorry, it’s been a long day.”

I laughed and shook my head.  “I’m sorry for making it longer…”

“No problemo,” she sighed and immediately began laying her cookie creations out on the trays in a way that only a professional could do.

“Alex!” Nicky Backstrom called out, his mouth full of some pastry and Mike attached to the back of his shirt whining about wanting the last bite.  “These are fucking amazing!”

I burst out laughing and pointed to Lana.  “She’s the master.”

She looked over at me, blushed and then looked over to Nicky and nodded.  Mike instantly jumped in front him and slid down onto his knees and grabbed Lana’s hand.  “Marry me,” he proclaimed.

“You not be able to skate onto ice if you married her and she fed you her food!” I busted up.

“Listen to your captain!” Nicky piped up, putting himself in front of Mike and taking Lana’s hands into his own.  “You marry me, Lana,” he grinned.