Kiss My Cupcake(32)

Paul’s eyebrows lift. “Humble much?”

I give him a look. “It’s not ego talking. I was always in theater. I can sing. It’s a fact, and now Ronan is getting the accolades for it.” I hit Play on the video for additional self-torture.

Ronan and I appear on the screen, although only half of me because the focus is on Ronan, at least at the beginning since he’s singing and the center of attention. He doesn’t have a terrible voice, and he’s annoyingly nice to look at. The camera really loves him and all his pretty man angles.

When it’s my turn I nab the microphone from him and start singing. “Damn!” Lars turns the camera around and there’s a closeup of his face and wide eyes. Like Ronan, he’s also nice to look at. “Listen to that voice.” He flips the camera around again, turns it sideways and pans back to me.

“How the hell am I going to beat him now?” I pass Paul his phone back before I do something like throw it against a wall. I don’t have the funds to replace it. “He didn’t even tag me or B&B in the comments! What a jerk.”

“If Tori ends up coming to Seattle, you’ll have a chance to prove you’re the better bar.” Paul gives my shoulder a squeeze. I hate that his expression holds guilt as well. “I can try to help out for a little longer if you need me.”

I wave the offer away. “We both know that won’t work. Especially not with you moving an hour away. I can totally handle this.” I motion to the naked cupcakes. I can definitely do all the baking, but I’m worried about how it’s going to impact everything else. Running a business is a lot of work. Especially with all the paperwork and keeping track of inventory and ingredients. It’s been nice to have the help while it lasted. “Anyway, let’s check this out.” The box is unusually light, so maybe it’s sample napkins or something. The company we bought ours from routinely does that.

I fold back the flaps and a balloon with the word BOOM! floats out, heading for the ceiling. Paul and I give each other a quizzical look as a second balloon rises out of the box. Both of them pop at the same time and suddenly I find myself covered in a shower of hot pink glitter.

“Oh my God! The cupcakes!” I shriek and try to push Paul out of the way so I can save the open box from the glitter bomb, but it’s too late. The cakes are already sparkling. I shout a bunch of nonsense profanity, because Paul’s hard work and two dozen of my income source are now trash.

“What the hell is this stuff?” Paul raises his hand, about to run his fingers through his hair.

“That was a glitter bomb! You can’t do that in here! You’ll make it worse!” I guide him to the back door, hoping to minimize the damage.

“A glitter bomb?” Paul asks as I help him shake the glitter out of his hair and brush it off his shoulders.

I give my own head a shake. My palms are sparkling. “Glitter is the herpes of crafting. It’ll be everywhere for weeks! I’ll never get rid of it.”

“Who would send you one of those?”

“How the hell—” I stop mid-sentence and glance next door. “That sonofabitch. First he steals all the goddamn glory last night and now this?” There’s only one person I can think of who would do something like this. Freaking Ronan.

I spend the rest of the day trying to clean up glitter between customers, but it’s literally everywhere and anyone who comes into the shop is an immediate victim of a glitter attack. Thankfully I have a couple of short breaks between the lunch and afternoon rush, so I have time to de-glitter my café. Apart from a mangled pumpkin spice one and the glitter-covered ones that weren’t for sale I manage to sell out of cupcakes.

I’ll be closed on Thursday for Thanksgiving and will have a skeleton staff the day before and through the weekend so Callie can spend the holiday with her family. I would try to get out of my own family obligations, but I haven’t been home to visit since I opened Buttercream and Booze, and my dad would be disappointed if I didn’t come for dinner. As much as I don’t love their interfering ways, or their general bossiness and insanity, I do love them.

Ronan stops in as I’m shutting down for the day, grinning like a fool. “Hey, super star! You get my awesome present this morning?”

I don’t return the smile. “I sure did.” I spin around and grab the box of ruined cupcakes from the shelf behind me and set it on the counter in front of him.

He tips his head to the side, and lifts his hand as if he’s about to touch my face. I jerk back. “What’re you doing?”

“You have some glitter on your cheek.”

I throw my hands in the air. “I have glitter literally everywhere. It’s even in my damn underwear!”

Ronan’s smile turns into a grimace at my unnecessary overshare, and his face falls even further as I flip the box of cupcakes open. “Oh shit.”

“Oh shit is right. Thank you so much for your kind, thoughtful gift.”

“I figured you would’ve opened it in your office.”

“Well I guess you figured wrong.”

He chews on the corner of his plush bottom lip. “I’m so sorry, Blaire. I thought it would be funny.”

I cross my arms. “Do you have any idea how impossible it is to clean up glitter? I’m going to be finding sparkly crap where the sun doesn’t shine for weeks.”