Takes the Cake

By Michael Bracken

“Whose birthday is it this time, Nancy?”

“Not a birthday,” I told Gordon, the proprietor of Takes the Cake, the bakery where I ordered all the special event cakes for the law office where I worked as a receptionist. “Baby shower.”

“Don’t tell me,” he said. “It’s for Andrea. Didn’t I just bake her a wedding cake?”

“Six months ago,” I told him, “and already they’re starting a family.”

“Six months,” he said as he shook his head. More flour dusted his dark hair than when I’d first met him. At least, that’s what I hoped because he couldn’t possibly be going grey faster than me. “Time sure flies. How long have you been coming to me for all your firm’s goodies?”

“Almost three years,” I said.

“So, why haven’t I ever baked a birthday cake for you?”

“I guess it’s because it’s my job to order the cakes for everybody else. I don’t feel right ordering one for myself.”

“And nobody ever thinks of you?”

I shook my head. “That’s okay,” I told him. “I’m fine celebrating alone.”

“That’s a shame,” he said. “So, what kind of cake do you want for Andrea, and how do you want it decorated?”

“A sheet cake, half vanilla and half chocolate,” I said, “with vanilla frosting.”

“Do we know what the baby is?”

“Andrea hasn’t said.”

“So, pink and blue balloons,” he said. “When do you need it?”

“Friday.”

The next time I visited Takes the Cake was to order a chocolate sheet cake for a senior partner’s birthday. Gordon wasn’t there, so his daughter Melissa, who usually delivered the cakes to the firm, took my order.

“I’m surprised your father’s not here,” I said. “I didn’t think he ever took time off. You’d think he was married to this place.”

“He practically has been since Mom passed away.” Melissa shook her head. “That was five years ago, and he hasn’t looked at another woman since. Anyhow, I’ll let him know you stopped in. He’ll be sorry he missed you.”

I had reached the door when Melissa called my name. “Did you see the contest we’re having?” She pointed to a small display next to the door. “Winner gets a cupcake a day for a month. You should enter.”

“I never win anything,” I said, but I filled out the entry form anyhow, providing my name, address, phone number, and other information. Then I stuffed it in a glass jar filled with entries.

I didn’t win the cupcake contest, but I did start receiving weekly emails promoting various specials. I suspected that was Melissa’s influence on her father, pushing him into the future. I continued visiting Takes the Cake almost every week for the next few months. During that time Gordon baked several birthday cakes and a retirement cake for my co-workers.

During one visit, he said, “Most of my regular clients have started ordering online.”

Surprised, I asked, “Would you prefer that I did?”

“Heavens, no!” he said. “I look forward to your visits, Nancy. You are the sweet frosting on the cake of my day.”

Was Gordon flirting with me? I felt my face warm as if I might be blushing. “I enjoy seeing you, too.”

Though I had hoped he might continue flirting, Gordon instead turned his attention to business, and I completed my order for a strawberry sheet cake.

My birthday a few weeks later started much like it had the previous two years. No one at the firm acknowledged it. Heck, some of my co-workers didn’t even acknowledge my presence as they hurried past the reception desk.

“Good morning!”

I looked up to see Gordon’s daughter Melissa holding three Takes the Cake boxes. She placed them side-by-side on my counter, and I stood to look at them through the boxes’ cellophane tops. There was one word written on each cake.

Happy

“There must be some kind of mistake,” I said.

Birthday,

“I didn’t order all these cakes!”

Nancy!

“No,” Gordon said, “but someone should have.”

Surprise, I looked up and saw him approaching the reception desk.

“They’re all for you.”

Not one, but three birthday cakes, one for each birthday that no one at the firm had remembered!

“How did you know it was my birthday?”

“Your entry form for the cupcake contest. I made my daughter wait on you that day. I thought you would be suspicious if I told you about the contest and you saw ‘birth date’ as one of the questions.”

“I would have been,” I said.

“So,” Gordon said. “If you don’t think you’ll be full after eating all these cakes, may I take you to dinner to celebrate?”

This time I know I blushed. “Yes, Gordon,” I said. “I would like that very much.”

“Well, that just takes the cake!”

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Michael Bracken (www.crimefictionwriter.com) has written romance and women’s fiction published in True Love, True Romance, True Story, and many other publications.