Read Online Baking Love by Lauren Boyd - Free Book Online Page A

bowler.”
    Kate scoffed. “You wish.”
    Eric nodded in the direction of the lane. “Aren’t you going to bowl your second turn?”
    “Only if you promise to stay out of my way.”
    He tossed up his hands in a surrendering motion. Kate positioned herself, then walked forward and released the ball. Nine. She turned around and narrowed her eyes at Eric. “Sure would be nice to have the turn you wasted so I could try and knock down that last pin.”
    “Maybe next time, you’ll get all ten on the first try.”
    “Punk.” They walked back to the seating area, where Kate was quick to meet Eric’s gaze again. “Sorry, Jess,” she said, without taking her eyes off him. “Eric ruined our chances of scoring a spare.” It’s so much fun to mess with this man.
    “You ruined your own chances,” he retorted. “You could’ve knocked down all ten pins with one roll, but you didn’t.”
    “Next time, wait your turn to bowl.”
    “Next time, bowl your turn faster.”
    “Y’all sound like an old married couple,” Mark laughed. “Eric, do you and Cecilia rant and carry on the way you and Kate do?”
    Eric’s brows flinched. “No.”
    “Oh.”
    Their seating area fell silent.
    “Eric,” Jess quickly said. “What are your and Cecilia’s plans for after graduation?”
    Thank you, Jess.
    “Cecilia is going to work for her dad,” Eric answered. “Once we find out what city we’ll be in, I’ll apply for jobs.”
    “You mean it could be somewhere other than New York?”
    “There are offices around the country, so it’s possible.”
    “Why can’t Walter go ahead and tell you where she’ll be working?” Kate asked. “Graduation is only a couple of months away.”
    “Things are volatile within the company at the moment, so he can’t say for sure until they settle out.”
    “Ah.”
    Eric crossed his arms over his chest. “What about you, Kate? How’s business at the bakery these days?”
    “It got a big boost when Cecilia walked through the door.”
    “Is that right?”
    “Yeah. She ordered an eight-tiered wedding cake.” Kate frowned. “You saw the sketch.”
    “I saw it, but I didn’t count the layers.”
    “Tiers.”
    “Right—I didn’t count them.”
    “Why not?”
    “When I looked at that cake, I saw ‘nice’ and ‘tall’.”
    “Sounds about right,” Jess muttered.
    “Besides, the cake has to be big,” Eric added. “We sent out six hundred invitations.”
    “Six hundred?” Kate and Jess exclaimed in unison.
    “Yeah.”
    “You know six hundred people?” Jess asked him.
    “Not really. The majority of the invitations went to Walter’s business associates. Loraine and my parents invited a bunch of their friends, too.”
    “Did you and Cecilia invite anyone?” Kate asked. “You know, since it’s your wedding.”
    “Yeah, we did. Plus, a lot of our friends are in the wedding.” He glanced up at the monitor. “Hey, it’s my turn.”
    Eric went to bowl, and Kate turned to Jess. “I can’t believe they invited six hundred people.”
    “That certainly does explain the cake.”
    “Mark, did you get an invitation?” Kate asked.
    “I hope so,” he said. “I’m a groomsman.”
    Kate and Jess exchanged confused glances, then Jess looked at Mark. “You’re a groomsman? Since when?”
    “Since Eric asked me this afternoon.” Mark smiled sheepishly at Jess. “Sorry I didn’t tell you before now.”
    “Isn’t it late in the game to be adding groomsmen?” Kate asked.
    “He didn’t add,” Mark clarified. “He replaced.”
    “Who’d he replace?” Jess asked.
    “Matt.”
    Kate froze. Matt is the guy from the tavern. Surely my incident with him didn’t have anything to do with this sudden reshuffling of groomsmen. She forced a casual note to her voice. “Did Eric say why he replaced Matt?”
    “Yes,” Mark replied. “I’m just not sure I’m supposed to tell you.”
    Eric came back to the ball rack. “We should’ve gone to see a movie instead of going