Taste of Romance by Darlene Panzera Page B

“Please.”
    “Kim, I didn’t mean you. I was talking to Andi. Everyone knows you always do your
     best.”
    “No, I don’t,” she shot back. “I make mistakes just like everybody else.”
    “Kim, stay out of this,” her father warned.
    “No, I will not stay out of it. I will not listen to you criticize Andi ever again. What we need
     right now, what we’ve needed ever since Mom died, is your support.”
    Her father stared at her as if he didn’t recognize her. Then he turned and without
     another word went back out the door.
    Andi stared at her, too. “Thanks, Kim.”
    Kim nodded and watched her sister limp toward the kitchen. “Wait! Andi, what’s wrong
     with your foot?”
    Andi cringed. “I think I sprained it while trying to save the cupcakes from hitting
     the floor.”
    R ACHEL AND A NDI cracked eggs, measured flour, sugar, butter and baking powder, and dumped them into
     the big industrial mixer. Eric and Theresa poured the batter into the cupcake wrappers
     lining the molded trays and put them in the oven. And as soon as they cooled, Meredith
     and Kim went to work frosting and decorating. Heather manned the cupcake counter and
     kept Mia and Taylor out of the way.
    “Ten minutes, Kim,” Andi warned, looking at the clock.
    “Finished,” Kim called out as she packaged the last dozen wedding cupcakes into the
     open boxes.
    Mike drove the Cupcake Mobile to the Riverview Community Park and Pavilion, and Kim
     was thankful they’d made it before the wedding ceremony started. She and Rachel jumped
     out and began to unload.
    “You can put the cupcakes over there,” a blond-haired, blue-eyed woman directed them.
     “My brother and his new wife will love these.”
    Kim remembered Nathaniel telling her his parents and younger sister were flying over
     from Sweden for the wedding and this young woman looked just like him.
    “Are you Linnea?” Kim asked. “I’m a . . . friend of your brother, Nathaniel.”
    “More than a friend,” he corrected, coming toward them and giving her shoulders a
     squeeze. “Kim is my date.”
    “I have to work,” she reminded him with a smile.
    “Only part of the evening,” he said. “The other part you can spend with me.”
    “Nice to meet you,” Linnea said, shaking her hand.
    “Are you sure you’ll be able to handle this by yourself?” Rachel asked, glancing around
     at all the people filling the gardens.
    “Of course,” Kim assured her. “Now that the cupcakes are here, all I have to do is
     serve them. You and Mike can leave.”
    “Call if you run into any problems,” Rachel whispered, and taking Mike’s arm, she
     headed back to the truck.
    K IM WATCHED N ATHANIEL’S brother and his bride exchange marriage vows and imagined herself watching Andi and
     Jake’s wedding in September and then Rachel and Mike’s on Christmas Eve. Watching,
     always watching, always alone.
    And with Nathaniel leaving in three days, she didn’t have any prospects of changing
     her single status any more than she could force herself to board a commercial jet.
    “Come with me,” Nathaniel coaxed, his voice low as they shared a dance away from the
     crowd.
    She tilted her head back to look up at him. “Where?”
    “To Sweden. My family has a big estate. You can room with my sister. She’d love to
     visit with you.”
    “I can’t.”
    “You can . I know you can. I have faith in you.”
    For one moment she imagined sitting beside Nathaniel on the plane and touring Sweden
     with her paintbrushes in her pocket, but she grew weak at the notion of being thousands
     of feet up in the air, with no control over her safety.
    “Flying in the hot air balloon and flying in the low-flying seaplane with you helped,
     but I’m not ready to board a commercial airliner yet, especially one flying halfway
     around the world.”
    Nathaniel couldn’t hide his disappointment. It showed through his eyes and was etched
     in every muscle on his face. “ Ja, I know. It’s too