Fake It Till You Bake It(18)

But the latest customer was walking away from the counter carrying a to-go box, and Ella was back to staring at her, twirling one of her shoulder blade–length box braids around her finger. She was a cute girl, a few inches taller than Jada, with curious brown eyes, a round face, and medium-brown skin.

“How long have you worked here?” Jada asked to break up the awkwardness.

“Well, the store’s only been open a little less than three months. I’ve been here since the beginning. I’ve known Donovan my whole life. My family lived next door to his in Oakland. When I moved here for college, I needed a job with flexible hours, he needed the help, so here I am.” Her eyes widened. “Don’t worry. He’s old, and he’s basically my big brother.”

Jada chuckled. Donovan couldn’t be a day over thirty. Then, the other part of Ella’s response registered. She blinked. “Worry?”

“I was here the other day when you came in.”

“Oh.” For some reason, she had a hard time remembering anything other than her umm, spirited, exchange with Donovan from that encounter.

“I also saw y’all when I walked in today,” Ella added, like that explained everything. “It was kinda hot,” she continued when Jada stared at her blankly.

How to respond to that? “Umm…”

Ella snapped her fingers. “Now I remember where I know you from. It’s been bothering me. I saw it on Instagram. You’re that girl from that show!”

Every muscle in Jada’s body froze.

“I can’t believe you did that,” Ella continued. “It was so cool.”

“It was?” No one had said that to her. She’d been the recipient of so much online vitriol, it hadn’t occurred to her that someone could be sympathetic to her decision to decline the offer of marriage.

Ella nodded. “Oh, yeah. If you weren’t feeling him, you shouldn’t have accepted his proposal, and you didn’t, and it was dope!”

It took a second for the compliment, an actual compliment, to sink in. “Thanks.”

Ella scrutinized her for a second, then nodded. “Want to take the lead with the next customer?”

“Um, sure.” Guess Ella had decided to cut her a break. Jada took the lifeline. For the first time that morning, she began to relax.

The bell dinged, and a woman with her natural curls pulled into a puff on top of her head, black leggings, and a T-shirt proclaiming BOOKS R YOUR FRIENDS! walked in. She practically bounced to the counter. To have that much energy must be exhausting.

Ella gave Jada a look. Her time was now. Jada took a deep breath. She could do this. And she wanted to do this. This was her job, and she didn’t want to screw it up. Besides needing a paycheck, she wanted to prove she could do what it took to make her grandmother proud. She wanted to prove to herself that she could stick to something and see it through to the end. This was her chance to be a better Jada. A less impulsive Jada. More mature. She filled her lungs with air, then exhaled. “Welcome to Sugar Blitz. How can I help you?”

The customer stopped her perusal of the display case to look up. “Hi, I’ve never seen you here before.”

Jada smiled. “Today is my first day.”

“I’m Kendra. I own the gym down the street.” She adjusted the tortoiseshell glasses on her nose. “How’s your first day going?”

Jada shifted from one foot to the other. “It’s going. I’m just trying to get the lay of the land.”

“Well, Sugar Blitz has the best cupcakes in the city. I’m a cupcake aficionado. I know these things. I stopped by out of curiosity right after they opened, and I’ve been making at least three visits per week ever since.”

Jada laughed. “How long have you owned the gym?”

“A little over five years. Do you like romance?”

“Um, well…” She didn’t hate it exactly, but given the state of her love life before, during, and after the show, the less thought given to that topic, the better. Was the question a segue into asking about the show?

Kendra waved her hand. “I’ll take that as a yes.” She pointed to her book-lovers shirt. “I run a monthly romance book club, we have a meeting coming up, and we can always use more members. Different, new viewpoints are always welcome. So you’ll come?”

Jada blinked at the rapid-fire invitation. “I’ll think about it.”

Kendra grabbed a napkin off the counter and reached into her purse, pulling out a pen. She quickly scribbled on the paper. “The book we’re reading this month is called No Cowgirl Left Behind. I don’t expect you to remember that, so I’m writing it down. We want to encourage reading in whatever capacity feels right for the reader, so you can do physical book, ebook, or audio if that’s better for you, or check it out of the library.” She gave the spiel all without taking a breath.

Jada took the paper because she didn’t know what else to do. “Oh. Okay.”

“I’m going to also take that as a yes.” Kendra winked. “That’s how I’ve managed to be successful for five years. I’ll take three strawberry vanilla cupcakes and two chocolate peanut butter. It’s one of my staffers’ birthdays and the chocolate peanut butter is her favorite. We work out and then we treat ourselves.” She stared at Jada expectantly.