Recipe For Love by Sean Michael Page A

summer."
    "Ah, right." Now he remembered the name. Annie had not been happy about it. She'd thought Billy and the girl had been getting far too serious. Of course, it had only been a summer fling, so clearly she'd been wrong.
    "What about her?" he finally asked when Billy didn't seem to be inclined to continue any time soon.
    "She's in town. She wants to see me. She's coming here at three."
    "Yeah? And that's a good reason to throw my cupcakes on the floor?"
    "No. Duh. I'm nervous."
    "What's she coming to see you about?"
    "I don't know!"
    It was his turn to roll his eyes. Everything was drama with teenagers.
    "Well, it's only eleven A.M. Do you think you can manage to actually help me out instead of making more work for me for the next few hours?"
    Billy sighed, the sound long and very put upon. "I can try."
    "Terrific. You can start by baking me another two-dozen cupcakes. Lemon vanilla. The recipe is in the book."
    "Yes, Uncle Danny."
    Kids. Dan bit his tongue and grabbed his pastry bag, taking a few breaths before getting back to his piping.
    * * * *
    "I can't do this, Daddy."
    Jack looked at his daughter and counted to fifty again. "You have to. If you didn't want the boy to know, you should have stayed in Boston."
    The waterworks started again. "You...you don't want me here?"
    Oh for fuck's sake.
    "Rachel Samantha Martin, quit it right now." It wasn't that he didn't want her here, he just... Jesus. "I could just cut the kid's balls off."
    They pulled up in front of the address Rachel'd given him. The Sugar Oven. Why the hell were they meeting this boy at a bakery?
    "You can not , Daddy! He's a nice boy!"
    "Nice boys don't get high school girls pregnant, Rache."
    Her eyes flashed, and Jack almost smiled. Almost. "It's not like I wasn't there, Daddy."
    He winced. "Shut up, Rache." Last thing on earth he wanted to think about was his little girl doing the deed with some pimply-faced, octopus-handed Lothario.
    They went into the bakery, and he had to admit the place smelled like heaven. The guy behind the counter making change for an old lady in a purple sweater looked like a slice of heaven, too. Tall, broad, with amazing arms poking out of the short sleeves of his chef's jacket, the guy had a killer smile.
    There were no pimply-faced, octopus-handed Lotharios in sight.
    Jack leaned against the doorframe and arched an eyebrow at Rachel. He wasn't going to leave her here to do this alone. No way.
    The old lady took her change and her bag and headed out, and the stud's attention turned to him and Rachel. "Hi there, can I help you?"
    "I... Uh... Is... Uh... I need to talk to Billy, please?"
    Jack didn't say a word. He just stood and watched.
    The guy glanced at the clock. "You must be Rachel."
    When Rache nodded, the guy called out. "Billy! Rachel's here for you."
    A kid who couldn't have been any older than Rachel came out from the back, wearing an apron over a white T-shirt and jeans, along with a little white paper hat. "Rachel? Hi." He smiled, snatched the hat off his head and came up to her, hugging her tight. "I couldn't believe it when you called and said you wanted to see me."
    He then stepped back, looked down at her belly.
    Rachel turned bright red. "H--hey, Billy."
    "OMG! You're...are you?" he stammered, going as red as she was.
    Something suspiciously like a groan came from the guy behind the counter.
    God had a vicious sense of humor, really. When Caroline had come to him and said she was pregnant with Rachel, he'd at least not had an audience.
    "Uh-huh. I'm sorry. I just... I am."
    The kid stood there blinking at her for a minute. For two. Then he looked over at the guy at the cash register.
    "Okay." Mr. Stud in white came around and put a hand on Billy's shoulder. "Why don't the two of you take a seat?" There were a cluster of four little tables with chairs around them, though the place was, blessedly, empty. "You want some milk or water or something, honey?"
    "Uh-huh. This...this is my daddy, Jack Martin. Daddy,