Summer Love by Piper Rayne
Chapter Eleven
Zoey was on a legitimate rollercoaster of emotions. One second everything had been great—Sweet on You had happy customers, some already coming back for a second or even third treat. Then terror had set in as she smelled smoke and someone yelled fire. Instinct had gotten her to the fire extinguisher quickly and she hadn’t hesitated to run towards the smoke, desperate to save her business and prevent those around her from being hurt. Disbelief had clogged her lungs as the flames dampened, eventually snuffed out under the white foam.
How could this have happened?
She’d done everything Mack suggested. The insurance guy had been very impressed with her preparedness. Could she have missed something? Would people think this was her fault?
Her heart had almost split in two with the snide remark Mrs. Harris made—loud enough that everyone could hear. The old bat had hated her family ever since her mother was in high school. For a moment, Zoey wondered if everyone saw her that way. Inept. A genetically assured failure.
But now this… Mack standing up in front of the people in their town and declaring his feelings in a very un-Mack-like way.
“Zoey.” He reached for her hand. “You taught me a valuable lesson. Making a mistake doesn’t define you. What defines you are the steps you take next—your reaction to the mistake, your commitment to try again.”
“I do believe that,” she said with a nod.
“I’m here, owning up to my mistake.” He sucked in a breath. She’d never seen him like this before—strong and vulnerable in equal measure. Open and bare and raw. “Zoey, will you forgive me for being a complete tool? Not saying I loved you back is the most inauthentic thing I’ve ever done.” His eyes looked almost golden in the bright midday light and the sun giving a warm glow to his brown hair.
She opened her mouth to respond but he held up a hand.
“Wait. That’s me taking the easy route again. The safe route. Zoey…” The air seemed to crackle around them. She could see the change in him—the change she’d helped make. “I have loved you ever since I was a teenage boy with more hormones than brains and you were my best mate’s quirky little sister. I have loved you more and more every year and now it feels like my life would be appallingly incomplete without you.”
Her mouth hung open. Words raced in her brain like a flock of seagulls being chased and scattered into the air. Mack had always loved her? Just like she had always loved him?
“I love you, Zoey, with my whole heart.”
She blinked, unable to form a response. Maybe it was the rapid lows and highs of the day, but the world felt as though it was tilting beneath her feet. She’d been miserable after leaving his house a month ago, convinced that she’d tried for the last time.
“Did I fuck it up so bad that you really don’t know what to say?” he asked, his voice soft so that only the two of them could hear. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you speechless before.”
But she was.
Because even after he’d hurt her, she still loved him. Nothing would ever shake that as long as they both lived. Even when he’d been with his ex and she’d tried to date around and forget him… she couldn’t. Mack was it. Her forever guy.
“I uh… I’m going to call Melody, too,” he said. “You made me realise that I’d been pretty hard on her over this whole thing.”
“I’m so proud of you.” She threw her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his.
When his strong arms wrapped around her, holding her tightly to him, it felt as though everything would be okay. Whatever the issue with the food truck was, she would fix it. Whatever damage her reputation had taken, she would fix it. Whatever mistakes she made in the future, she would fix them all.
And she could, because she had Mack at her side.
Someone wolf-whistled in the crowd and Zoey’s face burned. Pulling back, she glanced in the direction of the sound and saw Sean flashing her two thumbs up. Best big brother ever.
When she turned back to Mack, there was hope in his eyes. Excitement. Her stomach fluttered, the possibility of the future like fireworks shimmering in the sky.
“I love you too, Mack,” she said to the handsome, rock-solid man in front of her.
“Sorry for taking so long to see it.” He brushed his lips against hers, softer this time but no less wonderful. “And we’re going to make up for lost time.”
“I like the sound of that.”
A flash of movement broke them apart, and the event coordinator strode towards them. “Zoey? Umm, can I have a word?”
“Whatever you need to say, you can say in front of Mack.” She reached for his hand and clutched it tight. It felt good to be a team. “And Gwen.”
She motioned for Gwen to join them. The man with the bald head shooed the rest of the crowd away, asking them to get back to enjoying the event.
“Okay.” The event coordinator nodded. “We happened to have Pete from the fire department volunteering today because his daughter is one of our vendors. He took a look at the fire and it appears to have been lit by a cigarette butt. Someone must have flicked it onto the ground and it caught on some napkins that had blown out of a rubbish bin. The wind helped it to spread to the grassy area which, unfortunately, was right near your truck. From what I can tell the fire was mostly on the grass, however.”
“Thank goodness.” Zoey let out a long breath. She’d been too caught up with putting the fire out and then hearing Mack out that she hadn’t gotten around to thinking about whether or not the Westfalia would make it out alive. This was very good news, indeed.
“I’m afraid you can’t get back to operating out of the truck until we’ve had someone come in an official capacity to deem it safe, but we’ve freed up a stall for you to use inside. If you’re happy to take that table at least you should be able to sell through the rest of your product.”
Zoey sighed. It certainly wasn’t the way she’d hoped the day would end up, but that was life. Sweet on You would live to sweeten another day.
“We’ll be looking at the security footage to find out who dropped the butt.” The woman touched Zoey’s shoulder. “I would hate for your business to take the hit of this, so we’ll be issuing a statement about what happened as well. I’m so sorry you were affected.”
“Thank you.” She nodded. “I really appreciate that.”
As the woman walked away, Mack slung his arm around Zoey’s shoulders. “Come on, we’ve got a stall to set up and people to feed.”
She looked up at him, heart full of love. “Are you saying you want to work at Sweet on You?”
“Nah, how would I get any work done having a boss as hot as you?” His eyes sparkled mischievously. “Speaking of which, I don’t suppose you still have that little white bikini hanging around somewhere?”
She laughed. “I’m sure I could dig it out of my closet.”
“Excellent.” He leaned down and let his lips brush against her ear. “Because I’ve been thinking about seeing you in it again for a full month now.”
In front of them, Gwen rolled her eyes and clapped her hands together. “Enough of that, lovebirds. We’ve got a business to run!”
“Yeah, we do.” Zoey grinned. “Let’s go sell some desserts.”
The three of them worked together to bring everything inside, and she had never felt more loved and supported in all her life. With the right people around her, no dream was too big, and no obstacle was too difficult. Knowing that she and Mack had finally come together—and that mistakes were not the end of the world—meant the world to her.
After all, relationships were the sprinkles on the cupcake of life, and Zoey intended to make every day even sweeter than the last.
* * *
Thank you for reading Sweet on You! I hope you enjoyed Zoey and Mack’s story. If you had fun visiting Patterson’s Bluff, you can grab another book from this world free here. Happy reading and I hope you visit Patterson’s Bluff again.
With love, Stefanie.
