There were a few people in Savannah who’d had enough of the two lovebirds, though. To Caden’s cousins’ dismay, Maggie and Caden were viewed as the powerhouse team to beat. The tack board at the SSGBP headquarters began to fill up with their schedule for the event. Maggie and Caden’s ideas dominated the itinerary with few from other teams getting traction with Kit. Celebrity judges, guests and entertainers were confirmed. They made hotel arrangements for the guests to come down and stay at the Brutti Hotel after Caden called in a few favors with his friend Gianni Brutti, owner of the luxury hospitality line. Caden got the Southwood GRITS for STEM girls and their teacher, British Ravens, Kenzie and Maggie’s friend, involved in helping.
Ten different senior centers were ecstatic about being included in the pageant. The eight weeks leading up to the main competition gave them the chance to host their own pageants in their centers. Each winner would go on to win a Miss Senior Southern Style beauty pageant. Maggie and Caden traveled to watch a few of the contests and enjoyed their own takes on consolation prizes they’d devised for each event. There was the Best Blue award, for the best shade of blue hair, Best Runway with and without a walker, and Maggie’s favorite, Best Smile—dentures or not.
Maggie and Caden weren’t the only ones with their eyes on the president seat. Some others’ ideas got the okay from Kit, as well. Just last week Jason and Chase found the band from their mother’s original pageant, or at least who was left of the band. Heath and Spike brought a group of ten young ladies to the pageant weekend who were all in competition for a full college scholarship. Caden’s cousin Bruno got his mother, Em, to approve a men’s contest. At some point this weekend, the world was going to witness men competing in a swimsuit and talent pageant.
Everything was perfect. Keyword—was.
Thursday night, one more day before the main pageant was supposed to take place, the local bakery was struck by lightning. Their kitchen flooded, and there’d be no way to make the cake for the big event. Maggie panicked. She needed everything to be perfect. Surprisingly her first instinct wasn’t to jump onto social media and scan her followers to ask for help. But her second instinct was. That’s when a nagging voice reminded her of her trust fund deal. She’d been doing so well with staying off social media. She couldn’t rely on it now. Not when she was so close.
Dressed in a blue terry-cloth lounge-around romper, Maggie paced the floor of Caden’s kitchen in in Savannah, where she’d spent most of her summer. Caden sat at the table and tried to calm her down.
“Just hop online and ask one of your party people to help out,” he suggested.
“I can’t,” Maggie responded with a tight-lipped frown.
Caden’s eyes narrowed on her. “Maggie, I applaud you for keeping things old-school, but it is okay to use new technology.”
“No, it’s not okay, Caden.” Blood pounded in her ears. She needed air to focus.
“Well, fine, I will make the call.”
Since it was her idea to go for the cake from the original bakery, Maggie felt responsible for it. “No, I’ll take care of it myself.”
“You’re going to make the cake?” Caden asked in disbelief.
Maggie crossed her arms over her chest.
“How soon I forget,” Caden recalled with a chuckle. “You’ve made a thousand cupcakes before. My kitchen is gourmet, but it’s not industrial strength.”
“I can go up to Southwood,” Maggie suggested.
“We’ll go together.” Caden loafed around in a pair of gray sweats. “Remember when we worked together at The Cupcakery?”
The idea sounded nice, but someone needed to stay next to headquarters. The paintings Maggie had snagged for exhibit were due for arrival, and the only person Maggie trusted to sign for them was Caden. Jason had already tried to erase their name off the catering order. Fortunately, Ebony caught him in the act. Tension began to settle between her shoulders.
“I need to call Vonna to see if she can help. I’ll drive up and bring everything back down in my Jeep.”
“With the check-engine light still on?”
Maggie rested one hand on the counter and her other on her hip. “When was I supposed to have time, Caden?”
The concern in his voice came from a good place, but right now she didn’t need to hear it. A lot of things had slipped from her personal to-do list.
“Relax,” he replied casually. “We can get through this.”
Everything she’d worked hard for was about to come crashing down around her, and Caden just smiled with his easygoing grin. She hated and loved that about him.
At the thought of the L word, a pang flashed in her heart. All this time she thought she was making strides toward becoming the new president of SSGBP. Instead she was falling in love with Caden. This love thing caught her off guard. Irritation washed over Maggie. She narrowed her eyes on him and his bare chest, all shimmering from a morning workout. This is what he did. Distracted her.
“Why are you on edge all of a sudden?” Caden asked. He picked up a peach from the fruit bowl and tossed it in the air. “I’ll call in Ebony and my mom’s cook, Helen.”
Of course he’d be able to call up friends for help. Maggie didn’t have that luxury. Her minutes were eaten up on her cell phone. She couldn’t reach out to her friends via social media and get them to pitch in and help at the last minute. “It’s not that simple, Caden.”
Caden set the peach down and crossed the floor to take hold of her shoulders. She hated herself for craving his touch. Everything had been so perfect, but this cake thing was a fiasco. “Maggie,” he began, stroking his hands up and down her arms. “What is really going on? The pageant is in three days. There’s time. I’ve talked to Aunt Em. I heard from Uncle Samuel, and he has been impressed with the promoting we’ve done online and the tickets we sold. I even suggested all proceeds should go to charity.”
“Wait, what? When did you do that?” Maggie looked into his eyes and asked.
“I stopped by the office on the way from Kofi’s.”