Part 10 (1/2)
”You're still my best friend,” Andi told her.
”And mine,” Kim added.
Jake appeared in the doorway, gave everyone a big grin, and held up the cupcake trophy. ”Look what Officer Lockwell found in Hollande's French Pastry Parlor.”
”Gaston took it?” Rachel asked.
”He also released the rat,” Andi informed her. ”Your YouTube clip caught him standing by the shop's side door and releasing the thing from a cage. As a result, everyone we've talked to in Astoria plans to boycott his bakery.”
Kim smiled and quoted their motto borrowed from The Three Musketeers, ”'All for one, one for all.'”
”I'm glad we don't have to worry about any more thieves,” Rachel said and frowned. Didn't she set a plate of Hidden Berry cupcakes on the back table? Her gaze swung from the empty s.p.a.ce to the outward swing of the front door, then back to the group.
”Nothing is going to tear us apart,” Andi vowed, her voice firm. ”Or you and Mike. You need to go after him and tell him how you feel.”
Kim nodded. ”I saw him down by the waterfront. If we move fast-”
”Wait,” Bernice said and placed a handwritten check in Rachel's hand. ”Take this for your grandpa's treatment.”
Rachel gasped. ”It's too much-”
Bernice shushed her. ”I'm old and rich. Very rich. Now, go. And don't let anything stand in the way of true love.”
”I won't,” Rachel promised. And with the other women's promise to watch over the cupcake counter, and Andi and Kim by her side, she rushed out of the shop.
Chapter Ten.
To love a person is to learn the song that is in their heart, and to sing it to them when they have forgotten.
-Arne Garborg OUT OF BREATH, Rachel reached the waterfront walk. ”I don't see him, do you?”
Andi shook her head. ”No.”
”He can't be far,” Kim encouraged.
The sky was dark and churning and held the threat of a storm moving in. The wind whipped their hair back, and a foghorn blew somewhere in the distance. Then, appearing out of the gray landscape, the pale yellow-green-and-maroon restored 1913 Astoria Riverfront Trolley jingled as it came up the track and stopped in front of them.
”If we board the trolley, we can look for him along the whole two-and-a-half mile stretch,” Andi suggested.
”Do you have a dollar for the fare?” Kim asked.
Andi looked in her purse. ”I'm broke.”
Kim's pockets came up empty. ”So am I.”
”I have some singles,” Rachel offered, but when she opened her purse, all of the contents fell out on the ground.
Andi and Kim bent to help her scoop up her large array of lipstick, mascara, apple-blossom perfume, nail polish, hairbrush, keys, mints, and other miscellaneous items.
”We have to leave,” the white-bearded conductor told them. ”It's a holiday weekend, and we're on a tight schedule. You can catch the trolley on our next trip back.”
”No, please wait.” Rachel held up three singles. ”I've got it.”
Andi and Rachel took seats on one side, while Kim dropped onto a deep-polished wooden bench opposite them so they wouldn't miss Mike if he was on either side of the tracks.
The bell sounded, and as the trolley moved forward, the conductor began to recite its history. Rachel scanned the dozens of people they pa.s.sed, but Mike was nowhere in sight.
”Up ahead the trolley goes over a stretch of water,” the conductor continued. ”We haven't had an accident yet, but be advised the person sitting next to you is your nearest floatation device.”
Rachel prayed the trolley wouldn't fall into the water this time either, but with her luck, she wasn't too sure. A few minutes later the trolley returned to dry land and stopped for a long line of people waiting to board. Not willing to waste any more time, she got up out of her seat.
”What are you doing?” Andi called, jumping up to follow.
”I can't wait,” Rachel said. ”I might miss him. I'll go the last stretch on foot.”
As they hurried down the waterfront path, she feared she'd missed him anyway. They were almost to the end. The trolley was catching up to them, and Rachel moved into one of the three-by-six-foot railed, wooden deck cut-outs to get off the tracks. Andi and Kim followed, and the trolley pa.s.sed by and stopped a few yards ahead.
Rachel looked out over the wide mouth of the Columbia River, toward the red and green lights set to guide the ocean-bound s.h.i.+ps in the right direction, and wished she had such a beacon.
She shook her head. ”I've lost him.”
A card swirled into the air in front of her, and she reached out and grabbed it. A Creative Cupcakes business card?
She spun around, and Mike, dressed in a suit and tie, stood in front of her, his dark hair ruffled and a bright smile lighting his handsome face. Rachel drew in her breath. He didn't seem to be unhappy with her at all. In fact, he seemed mischievously pleased, like he knew a secret she didn't.
Andi and Kim also wore huge smiles on their faces as if they also knew something. What were they keeping from her?
”I was online less than an hour ago, replying to a job inquiry when I saw you,” Mike said, his voice calm.
”Me?” Rachel asked. ”From the video clip filmed last night?”
”No,” he said with a grin. ”From the video clip filmed today.”