Savour the Moment: Now the Big Day Has Finally Arrived, It's Time To... by Nora Roberts Read Free Book Online

and Emma decide on for your bouquets and arrangements—but I’d stick with the color palette. You’re not white icing, Mac.You’re color.”
    “Please don’t hate it,” Mac murmured to Carter.
    “How could I? It’s stunning.” He glanced over at Laurel, gave her a slow, sweet smile. “Plus, I heard chocolate with raspberry. If we’re voting, it gets mine.”
    “Mine, too,” Emma said.
    “I’m thinking you’d better hide that sketch.” Parker nodded at Laurel. “If our clients get a look at it, we’re going to have brides fighting for that cake. Nailed it in one, Laurel.”
    Mac stood to step closer, to take the pad and study. “The shape, the textures, not to mention the colors. Oh, oh, the photographs we’ll get! Which you considered,” she added, shifting her gaze to Laurel’s.
    “It’s hard to think about you without thinking photography.”
    “I love it. You know I love it. You knew I’d love it. You know me.” She put her arms around Laurel, squeezed hard, then did a little dance. “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”
    “Let me have a look at that.” Mrs. Grady took the book out of Mac’s hand and studied the sketch with narrowed eyes and pursed lips.
    Then she nodded, looked at Laurel. “Good girl. And now, all of you, out of my kitchen.”

CHAPTER THREE

    B Y WEDNESDAY, LAUREL JUGGLED BAKING, TASTINGS, MEETINGS, and design sessions. Her cooler and freezer bulged with a variety of fillings, frostings, and layers, precisely labeled, that she’d use to create the cakes and desserts for the weekend events. And she still had more to go.
    With her kitchen TV tuned to The Philadelphia Story for the buzz and pop of the dialogue, she added egg yolks, one at a time, to the fluff of butter and sugar in her mixing bowl. Her board held sketches or photos of this week’s designs, and a printed schedule of tasks to be done.
    Once each yolk was fully incorporated, she added the mixture of flour and baking powder she’d already sifted together three times, alternating it with the milk she’d measured out.
    She was whisking egg whites and salt in a separate bowl when Mac came in.
    “Working.”
    “Sorry. I need cookies. Please, can I have cookies?”
    “Doesn’t Mrs. G have any?”
    “They’re not to eat. I mean not for me to eat. Although, cookies. I need some for a shoot I have in a couple hours. I got this idea, and cookies would work. Emma let me have flowers.”
    Laurel arched her eyebrows at Mac’s pleading smile as she added a quarter of the stiffened egg whites to the batter. “What kind of cookies?”
    “I won’t know until I see what you’ve got. You always have cookies.”
    Resigned, Laurel gestured with her head. “In the cooler. Write down what you take on the inventory board.”
    “There’s another board? A cookie board?”
    Laurel began folding in the remaining whites. “We now have two men in our world. They’re known for mooching cookies.”
    Mac angled her head, pouted a little. “You give Carter cookies?” “I’d give Carter my love and devotion if you hadn’t gotten there first, sister. So I give him cookies instead. He’s over here nearly every day since school let out, working on his book.”
    “And eating cookies without bringing home any to share, apparently. Ah, the chocolate chunk,” Mac announced with her head and shoulders in the cooler. “Big as my hand, traditional, and will photograph nicely. I’m taking half a dozen, well, seven, because I’m eating one now.”
    She took one of the small bakery boxes for transport while Laurel poured batter into prepared pans.
    “Do you want one?” At Laurel’s head shake, Mac shrugged. “I’ve never known how you resist. My shoot’s your tasting today.”
    “Right. I’ve got them on the list.”
    “I love this movie.” Mac crunched into a cookie, then glanced away from the TV toward the display. “What’s this design? It’s not in my book.”
    Laurel tapped the pans on the counter to break up