Page 18 of Heartbreak & Cupcakes
He turned and walked to the door. When he did, I noticed that he was holding it open for someone that was about to enter. I was so busy swooning over what a gentleman he was that I didn’t even notice he was holding the door for my supermodel best friend, Charli.
I wasn’t being hyperbolic. Charlotte James had graced the covers of Vogue, Elle, Alure, and Vanity Fair all before she was of legal drinking age. She’d had a very successful career before deciding to apply to medical school and become a doctor. Yes, that’s right, my bestie was an ex-supermodel turned physician. It was difficult not to have a complex.
Not only that, she had a natural charisma that people gravitated to. You know the saying, the world doesn’t revolve around you, well, in her case it sort of did. People just wanted to be near her. She oozed confidence, charisma, and charm. They wanted whatever she had to rub off on them.
She didn’t try to get people’s attention, she just had it.
Today she wore a pair of non-descript chocolate brown slacks and a plain, long sleeved off-white shirt that on anyone else might have looked matronly but on her looked like high fashion. Everything she wore looked like she should be on a runway. She could wear a garbage bag and look stunning. It also didn’t hurt that she had a sweetheart shaped face, flawless olive complexion, long, shiny, Pantene commercial worthy, chestnut brown locks, cheekbones higher than Snoop Dog, and huge emerald-green eyes which were framed by thick, natural lashes.
Men drooled over her on a daily basis. Again, I wasn’t being hyperbolic. I’d actually witnessed saliva seep from men’s mouths when they’d seen her.
I braced myself for the inevitable sucker punch I would experience when Mr. Smolder checked her out. But, to my great surprise, he didn’t even seem to notice her. Not her beauty. Not her poise. Not her charisma. None of it.
He’d given Mrs. Flores more attention than he’d given Charli.
The second the door shut, Charli rushed around the counter and pulled me into a hug before removing her sunglasses and whispering, “Holy shit!”
“I know, right? That’s him.” I spoke quietly. “That’s Mr. Smolder.”
I’d been telling Charli about Mr. Smolder for months now.
Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in surprise. “That’sMr. Smolder?”
I nodded.
“Seriously?”
“Yes!” I enthused.
She held up her finger. “I’ll be right back.”
“Charli don’t!” I called out, but I was too late she was already out the door.
I stood in shocked silence and watched her long dark hair fan out behind her as she rushed down the street. My heart began to beat wildly in my chest. She was my best friend. She wouldn’t do anything to embarrass me.
Right?
“I think I’ll go with banana nut,” Mrs. Flores interjected tapping on the glass.
“Oh, okay.” I blinked, having completely forgotten that Mrs. Flores was still in the shop.
I packaged up her muffin and told her that it was on the house. I knew that she lived on a fixed income and I’d been using the generous tips that Mr. Smolder left to treat some of my more deserving customers.
“Thank you, dear.” Mrs. Flores took her muffin and headed out. She was moving slower than she’d been even a couple of months ago. She’d been complaining about her hips and knees bothering her. I’d suggested a cane, but that had gone over as well as her trying to set me up with her grandson. The mortician.
As soon as Mrs. Flores left, I grabbed my phone to text Charli and ask her what in the name of all that is holy she was doing, but before I sent the message the door opened again and Charli entered wearing her I-know-something-you-don’t-know grin.
My stomach sank. “What did you do?”
“I bought something.”
That was not the answer I was expecting.
I shook my head slightly. “Youboughtsomething?”
“I was going to show you online, but I thought it would have so much more of a wow factor,” she lifted her hands and spread her fingers like jazz hands, “in print.”
My forehead creased. I had no clue what she was talking about. “What?”
