Page 41 of Cuddling Carly

“Yeah. But you don’t need an excuse. We’re here,” Katie told her.

Carly hugged her friends.

“I think two locations might work,” she said after the display of affection. “It’s ambitious. But…well…I can do it. I know I can.”

“We’ll work out the details later,” Daddy said. “Right now, I think you have lots of fun waiting for you tonight. Happy Halloween, Little Carly.”

“Happy Halloween, Daddy!”

The Littles trick-or-treated, danced, went through the haunted house again, and danced some more. Of course, they ate lots of cupcakes.

Carly thought that night was absolutely perfect. How could things get any better?

If only she would have known what was ahead…

Chapter Twenty-Five

Six Months Later

Spring had come and the area around Valley Spring was alive with flowers, blossomed trees, and singing birds.

The heat of summer was still far away, but it was about 80 degrees and just perfect in Carly’s mind.

Part of that perfection came from the fact that it was opening day.

Carly’s Cupcakes right on Main Street was about to welcome its first customers in only five minutes.

“It’s time, Daddy,” she told Wade. Drawing a deep breath and then exhaling slowly, she looked down at her hand that rested on the countertop and willed it to stop shaking.

“What if no one comes?” she said, looking straight ahead toward the shades that covered the large front windows of the historic building. “I’m almost scared to raise those and look. I’m not even sure I can flip that sign on the door to OPEN.”

Standing across from her on the customer side of the counter, Wade smiled as he placed his big hand atop hers. “Don’t be afraid. You’ve come this far. You’ve got this and I’m proud of you, babygirl. Always.”

He leaned over and kissed her lips gently.

Carly sighed and then checked the clock on her phone.

“Three minutes until time. We might as well open now. You know?”

“Might as well,” he agreed.

Carly came around the corner and slowly trudged toward the windows and door, having to force herself to take each step.

“Those cupcakes look good,” Wade noted, his eyes darting to the freshly stocked glass case that ran in front of the counter. “Smell good, too.”

“Thanks. Now let’s just hope there’s someone around to eat ‘em.”

Pulling the string toward her on the bottom of the shades, she felt them go tense before loosening and retracting.

“What the heck?”

Wade was at her side a moment later.

Katie, Stella, Eli, Harrison, and Stryker were all out front—wearing “Big” clothes, of course, since they were away from Mountainville—along with their respective spouses and even some other folks from their unique town.

Behind them, three dozen people or so stood waiting, seemingly all eager to get inside and eat cupcakes.

Carly recognized some of them as Valley Spring residents. Others were unfamiliar to her.