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"Good," she said forcefully "I want to talk to you"
Nicole only raised her eyebrows
Claire refused to be intimidated "Look I respect who you are and all of your relationships I know Wyatt is your friend I’e that"
"You couldn’t"
Claire felt a little of her strength fading away, but she kept heris you’re not interested in dating him and I aood enough for hiet over it"
"You’re going out," Nicole said, sounding tired
"Yes, we are He asked and I accepted You can fight and pout and protest, but you can’t change what’s going to happen Besides, it would be wrong of you to suggest otherwise"
Nicole stared at her "Anything else?"
"Yes Several things I’m sorry for what happened to you I’m sorry that Drew slept with Jesse I’ot stuck working in the bakery and you think you were cheated out of your life I’m sorry you lost your mom But I lost out, too"
Nicole started to speak, but Claire held up her hand
"I’m not done It happened to me, too And you’ve never once considered that You’ve totally blown ht have had I’ve spent the past ten years trying to connect with you You’ve ignoredYet when Jesse called, I dropped everything to be here with you"
"According to what I hear, there wasn’t h and that’s not the point You’re my sister and I wanted to be here for you It wouldn’t have mattered what I’d had on my schedule I still would have shown up, because you needed ht a sudden wave of emotion "When ere five, you went to a birthday party and I couldn’t go because I had to practice I cried and cried, but ot the chicken pox and they tried to keepsick, either But I just wanted to be with you I crawled into bed with you that night and I got sick, too Because you’re my sister"
"You already said that," Nicole murmured
"You don’t see away this tiure out how to have a relationship and I’ until we do It would help if you acted huratitude You could even be friendly But whatever you decide, you need to get off et to make a lot of choices about her life"
"You’re really pissing me off," Nicole said
"Askat each Claire didn’t knohat to think, she only knew she wasn’t backing down
"Fine," Nicole gru at the floor "Date Wyatt I don’t care"
"Really?"
Her sister nodded "And thank you for corinned She felt lighter and happier "You would have been totally screithout me"
"Don’t push it"
"I still have scars from the chicken pox You so owe me"
Nicole smiled slowly "Yeah, maybe I do"
CHAPTER ELEVEN
"MIXED TWO DOZEN BAGELS," theenough to place the order, then saying, "I need those numbers by the time I walk in the door Nu up the order and handed hihnuts and a large coffee with extra room for etting the doughnuts, then pouring the coffee She took the e and called out for the next customer
A well-dressed woman approached the counter "I want to order a custom cake," she said "I’m in a hurry"
"No problem," Claire told her as she moved to the counter off to the side She pulled out the special order book and took a sheet "What are you looking for?"
"The Keyes cake," the wo, not chocolate"
Claire ses on the Keyes cake We have other chocolate cakes we can customize any way you like, but the Keyes cake recipe is a tradition we don’t mess with"
"Excuse ive me exactly what I want I’ve told you what I want, now do it"
Claire allowed herself aand being attacked by flying sprinkles, then she ss in life that shouldn’t be changed You wouldn’t want the Mona Lisa to suddenly become a nurse or have someone put a hula skirt on the Statue of Liberty"
"You can’t possibly be co your ridiculous cake with either of those"
"Have you had the Keyes cake before?"
The woman sniffed "It’s just a cake"
"I’ll take that as a no It’s beyond wonderful Trust ht So which would you rather have? An honest-to-goodness legend, or one of our other cakes et one of each and have a taste test It uests"
"I suppose that’s a possibility"
"It would be a great ending for the evening"
The woular chocolate cake, with the custard filling and the special Keyes chocolate cake When she’d paid and left, Phil looked at her
"She’s been here before, that woood"
Si inside of her "Thanks"
"I didn’t think you’d rinned "You’ve made my week"
It was only when she’d moved on to the next custo She’d done what needed to be done It was a great feeling and one she wanted to have again
"MAYBE," NICOLE SAID, as she leaned back on Claire’s bed "Are you really going to wear jeans on your date?"
Claire didn’t ht my other clothes were too dressy These have a dark wash and I’h-heeled boots""Very fashion forward," Nicole said as she shoved another pillow behind her head "But Wyatt knows you’re all Park Avenue He’ll dress up and you’ll feel funny in jeans What about those white wool slacks Those are really nice"
"He’s seen them"