Chapter 5 — Ryan

It's been crazy in the shop all day; people coming in placing orders, deliveries, and lots of questions. Ryan hasn't had a moment to sit down, and even had to call in his cousin at lunchtime, alongside with the delivery driver. Despite the frantic nature of the day, it hasn't skipped Ryan's mind that Trina hasn't come in. He's barely had a second to keep an eye out for her, but he's well aware that the cake is still waiting in the fridge for her.

The shop finally quiets down around five o'clock, giving Ryan and his mother a moment to catch their breaths and prep for the orders coming in tomorrow. With a minute to go until half-past five, Ryan wanders towards the door ready to lock it, mind whirring about how he's going to get the cake to Trina now, when, suddenly, there's the sound of heels clicking on the concrete skids to a halt at the door, looking flustered. Trina startles when she sees Ryan, clearly not expecting him to have his face pressed up against the glass. She smiles as he moves to open the door.

"I'm so sorry—I'm late," Trina says. "My boss stopped by my desk and I couldn't slip away."

"Don't worry," Ryan says, nearly reaching out to put his hand on her arm. "Let me grab your cake, I'll be two seconds."

Ryan darts into the kitchen, completely ignoring his mother's questions as he grabs the box from the fridge. He doesn't know what he's going to say to her and is praying she'll be in too much of a rush to get home to stay behind to interrogate him.

Trina looks nervous as he reappears with the cake, biting at her bottom lip, though she smiles when she sees him.

"Here you go," Ryan says, placing the cake into her arms. Trina looks so uncomfortable, he kind of wants to snatch the cake back and give her a hug instead.

"Hang on," Trina says, looking around for somewhere to put the cake down "I need to pay you."

"No. Please," Ryan raises his hands. "It's on the house."

"But—" Trina starts.

"Please, this is the least I can do to try and make your life easy."

"Are you sure? This is cutting into your profits, Ryan."

"I am more than sure," he says. "It's my pleasure."

"Thank you," she whispers.

"It really is my pleasure," Ryan repeats again, stepping a little closer. Trina too moves forwards and looks up at him through her dark lashes, meeting his eyes and holding his gaze. Several moments pass and neither of them blinks as if they're daring each other to look away. She exhales and bites her lip and he licks his in response.

The sound of Ryan's ringtone—it's his brother calling—interrupts their moment. He curses in his head and mumbles an apology as he answers, though he hardly listens to Grayson as Trina smiles and ducks her head as she turns towards the door. Ryan grabs a business card from next to the register and runs over to her, holding up a finger. Tucking his phone, he takes a pen from his jacket pocket and scrawls his cell number onto it.

Trina's fingers are tentative as she takes the card from him. Ryan covers the microphone. "In case you need help, later? Or, you know, next time you need a cake?" Trina smiles, her cheeks redden. She mouths 'thank you' and nods as he opens the door for her to exit.

"Ryan? Are you listening to me?" Grayson's voice cuts through the ringing in his ears and, in a bit of a daze, Ryan can continue the conversation—about their cousin's Shawn's upcoming tenth wedding anniversary—whilst he finishes cleaning before he closes the shop.

* * *

Trina nearly drops her phone when it vibrates just seconds after she texts Ryan late that evening. She thought he'd be asleep, and wishes she hadn't.

"Ryan, I'm so sorry for waking you. I need your help," Trina texted.

"I'm up. Let's talk." Ryan replied back.

"Okay," Trina responds, her fingers slipping so that her phone's autocorrect has to come to her rescue.

The phone's ringtone goes on for a few seconds, and Trina takes a deep breath.

"Hi," Trina says.

"Hi, Trina. What's up?" Ryan asks so gently that she wants to burst into tears.

"I don't know why I thought I could do this. This cake thing has been a nightmare from the beginning," Trina says.

"Hey, relax," he says. "Now tell me what's happened and I'll see if I can help."

Trina begins telling Ryan about how she started rolling out the fondant, only for her to have not used enough powdered sugar on the surface, so it got stuck. She had rolled it again and used more—she looks around the kitchen and winces at sugar everywhere—but the fondant began tearing and became grainy. Her box of powdered sugar—which has been in her cupboard for far too long—must have dampened.

Ryan hums as Trina explains how she tried to put the powdered sugar on the cake, hoping to disguise it, but then hadn't rolled it out large enough to cover the surface. When she tried to peel it off, she had taken most of the cake away.

"I swear to God, Ryan, I could have dropped it on the floor and it would look better than it does now. It's a total mess." A tear trickles down her face.

"One second." Ryan's quiet for a few seconds and Trina's worried feeling guilty that she's ruined the cake he so kindly gave her. "You still there?"

"I'm here. I'm so sorry," Trina says.

"I'll make another cake for you tomorrow."

"What? No, Ryan, you can't—"

"No, Trina. It's fine, I can put something together in an hour or so."

"I can't let you do that."

"Trina," Ryan says. "What's your job?"

"Oh, why?" Trina was puzzled. "I'm a partner at a law firm."

"Ok," Ryan says. "Wow, that's great." Trina senses Ryan got a little side-tracked. "So, you wouldn't ask me to negotiate or stand up in court or whatever, would you?"

"No. Why?"

"Because this I can do for you, Trina. We're professionals and know how important it is to be on time?"

"If you say so but this—"

"Trina, I want to do this for you."

"Oh—well, if you say so," she says. "I guess I can't convince you otherwise."

"There's just one favor I need to ask of you," Ryan says.

"Okay, whatever."

"Don't tell my mother." Trina attempts to smother her chuckle with a cough. "I know, I know, I'm thirty-two and co-owner of the shop, but she'll kill me if she finds out I've been in there after closing!"

"No, Ryan, you can't do this. It's going to cause a problem between you and your mother. Really, I can go to buy one at the supermarket and get some cupcakes to go along with it."

"Those are not fresh, and probably been sitting there for over a week!" Ryan says. "If it would make you feel better, why don't you come and help me?"

Trina pauses for a moment. Then surprises herself by saying she really wouldn't mind.

"Ok, I'll see you tomorrow?"

In Trina's mind, she pictures him stuffing his hands in his pockets. "Yeah, I'll be there," Trina says. "How's 5:25? I'll be off around then."

"Sounds great," Ryan says. "Bye, Trinnie."

"Bye," Trina replies.

Trina dumps the fondant in the trash, laughing as she cleans up the mess she managed to make.