“No.”
“Okay, so you just came to the conclusion that you don’t want to marry him and you don’t think your relationship has what James and Tamara’s does.”
“Yes.”
“Okay, here’s what I think you should do.”
“I’m listening.”
“Nothing.”
“Excuse me?”
“Don’t do anything. Have dinner, go home, and then call me. You’re obviously upset. Don’t do anything until we can figure out what’s going on and what you really want to do about it.”
“You’re probably right,” she said.
“And if I’m not, we’ll deal with that too,” he said.
She closed her eyes and felt herself calming down. “Thanks, Josh, I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“You’ll never have to find out.”
After she hung up with Josh, she dried her face, put on a fake smile, and walked back to the table. The food had already arrived and Kurt was eating.
“You okay?”
“Fine,” she said.
“Candace, I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”
“About what?” she asked, getting that sick feeling in her stomach back.
“Us. I didn’t want to do this here, but I need to say this before I lose my nerve.”
Please, don’t let him propose! she prayed.
“I think we should break up.”
She stared at him, and then burst out in hysterical laughter.
“What’s so funny?” he asked.
She couldn’t decide if he looked hurt or angry. “Sorry,” she said. “It’s just, I was thinking about the same thing.”
“You were?” he asked. He seemed surprised and definitely upset by that.
She nodded.
“Why?”
“It doesn’t matter,” she said.
“It does to me.”
“Well, then you first. Why are you breaking up with me?” she asked.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
Silence stretched between them. Suddenly she really wasn’t hungry, and she wanted to be anywhere else. She stood up and handed him some money. “See you around,” she said, and then turned and walked outside so he wouldn’t see her crying.
An hour later she was sitting on her couch downstairs, head buried against Josh’s shoulder, and she was still crying. “I don’t get it. I knew it was over; I wanted to break up with him. Why am I so upset?” she asked.
“Even when you know you should break up, that doesn’t make it easy,” Josh said. “You invested several months in him. There were obviously a lot of things you liked about him or it wouldn’t have lasted this long.”
She nodded. Everything he said made sense. It also hurt to get dumped. If she had broken up with Kurt, though, she’d probably feel guilty. Maybe it was better to hurt.
“So, I hear you’re having a slumber party for your birthday,” Josh said, clearly trying to get her mind onto different things.
“Yup,” she nodded. “If everyone can come, there’s going to be six of us. I’ve been to a couple of slumber parties, but I’ve never hosted one.”
“Are guys invited?” Josh teased.
“No! No boys allowed,” Candace said firmly.
“You’re so mean.”
“Yes, I’m the mean one,” she said, rolling her eyes and grabbing another tissue from the box.
“So, what are you going to do at this girls-only club meeting?”
“Eat junk food, play games, and talk about boys.”
“We can’t come, but we can get talked about? Doesn’t seem fair.”
She thought about hitting him with a pillow, but it seemed like too much effort.
“It’s more than fair,” she said.
“So, no freezing each other’s underwear? I thought that’s what girls did at slumber parties.”
Candace smiled. “We threaten it a lot, but I’m not sure how often that actually happens. We’re more likely to play Truth or Dare.”
“Oh to be a fly on the wall during that game,” he said with a grin.
She was glad she had called Josh when she got home. He always seemed to be able to cheer her up. Why couldn’t Kurt have been more like Josh?
The next morning at church, Candace and Tamara met up.
“You look so in love,” Candace sighed.
“And you look so . . . not,” Tamara said.
“What happened?” they asked each other simultaneously.
“Bad news before good,” Tamara urged.
“Kurt broke up with me.”
“What? You’re kidding!”
“Nope. The irony was, I was seriously considering breaking up with him.”
Candace briefly outlined the events of the night before.
“Do you want me to beat him up?” Tamara asked at the end.
“No.”
“Can I anyway?”
“No!”
“Fine.”
“So, tell me about your date,” Candace said.
“Not sure that would be nice,” Tamara said.
“Come on, let me at least live vicariously through your adventures.”
“He took me out to the Hobbit Hole for dinner.”
“Wow, I’ve never even been there,” Candace said. It was a very upscale restaurant that only served a few tables each night.
“Me either!”
“Now that is impressive,” Candace said, managing a smile. She could have sworn that Tamara had been to all the best restaurants around.
“It was very romantic, and the food was amazing.”
“And?”
“And then he took me to Scandia.”
Candace burst out laughing. Scandia was an amusement area that featured miniature golf, laser tag, bumper boats, and mini racecars.
“I can just see you trying to get into one of those racecars wearing that dress!” Candace said.
“It was practically impossible! I ended up with my dress almost around my waist. I beat him, though.”
“Good, he deserved it,” Candace said, still giggling at the image. “Please don’t tell me you went on the bumper boats!”
“Nope. I put my foot down. On his, if memory serves,” Tamara said, looking smug.
“Well, sounds like you had a much better evening than I did.”
“Yeah. Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s not your fault Kurt and I aren’t right for each other.”
Tamara nodded. “Oh, and look what James gave me,” she said, turning so Candace could see the necklace that she was wearing. Two gold hearts were intertwined on a slender chain. It was beautiful.
Candace sighed. She wanted perfect, but she’d settle for beautiful. When church was over, they headed to the youth building for Sunday school.
When they walked in, Candace spotted Jen, a freshman girl whom she had made friends with, and approached her.
“Hi, Candace,” Jen said.
Candace invited her to her slumber party, and the other girl accepted eagerly.
“Are you going to invite everyone from the Bible study?” Tamara asked as they took their seats.
“Nope, just her.”
“Rumor has it a new round of Bible studies is going to be starting up soon. I’m betting they’ll want you to lead another one.”
“Yes, because I did so well with the Christmas one,” Candace said sarcastically.
“You did. Everyone said so.”
“I’m too busy right now, but I totally think you should lead one,” Candace said.
“Not me,” Tamara said, folding her arms across her chest. “They’ll just have to find another guinea pig.”
“Not this guinea pig. I’m completely booked.”
“School, work, play rehearsals, that’s what I call overbooked.”
Candace had to agree.
At school, her drama class had been rehearsing for a few weeks already for the production of Man of La Mancha they would be putting on. Candace still couldn’t believe she had landed the lead role of Aldonza. She was pleased that after a few short weeks, even she could tell her singing was improving. Mr. Bailey seemed pleased too.
“Now, everyone, take a stack of fliers and go out there and put them up on anything that will stand still,” he instructed. “Also make sure you take a ticket order form and get your friends and families signed up.”
Candace stared at the ticket order form in her hand and wondered who she should invite. A few weeks ago she wouldn’t have wanted anyone to come see her make an idiot of herself. As the performances drew closer, she found herself getting more excited about the whole thing.
“We also could use a few extra pair of hands to help us with set building in the next few weeks. So, if you’ve got friends you can beg, bribe, or bully into helping, hop to it.”
The bell rang, and Candace turned to Tamara. “So, are you going to make James help?”
“No, I’m going to strongly encourage him to help,” Tamara said with a smile.
“Nice. I’ve been on the receiving end of encouragement from you; he doesn’t stand a chance.”
“Not if he wants to live.”
Tamara dropped Candace off at The Zone. As she walked toward the Candy Counter, she felt a lot more relaxed than she had on Saturday. She even allowed herself to stop and stare up at the sign for a moment. “My name’s Candy too,” she whispered.
She walked inside and was greeted enthusiastically by her new coworkers.
“So, where do I start?” she asked.
“Traci will show you,” one of the women said.
Traci was one of the only people Candace actually remembered from Saturday. They were roughly the same age. Traci walked over and shook Candace’s hand. “Let’s get to work.”
Traci took Candace into the kitchen area, and after they both thoroughly washed their hands, she gave her an orientation. The kitchen was massive and immaculate. Everything had its own place, and Candace’s head spun as she wondered how she would keep track of it all.
“The most important thing is to clean as you go, so you’ll always have utensils and equipment available when you need them,” Traci explained.
“Sounds like what my mom says,” Candace admitted.
“I know. I never cleaned up my dishes until I started working here,” Traci said with a laugh. “Three weeks here and you won’t be able to stand the sight of a dirty pan.”
“My mom will want to thank you personally,” Candace said.
“It happens. Every time we get a note from a family member, we frame them and put them up in the storage area. We’ve got several thanking us for teaching cleanliness, but quite a few more thanking us for teaching people how to cook.”
“Yeah, I bet that would make a lot of husbands happy,” Candace said.
“Boyfriends too. Sorry to hear about you and Kurt by the way,” Traci said.
Candace thought about being surprised, but the truth was she was getting used to the fact that news traveled around The Zone lightning fast.
“It’s okay. It just frees me up to find the guy of my dreams,” Candace said.
“I love it.”
“So, what do we make here?” Candace asked, hoping to change the subject.
“Fudge, taffies, peanut brittle, truffles, you name it. Our specialty, though, is our candy apples.”
“I’m not surprised,” Candace said.
“Oh, have you had one before?”
“No, it’s just that I seem to gravitate to everything candy in this park.”
“Because of your name?”
Candace nodded.
“Well, it could be worse.”
“How?”
“You could be Pat Moptop.”
“Who is Pat Moptop?” Candace asked.
“She started out as a sweeper, now she cleans the referee restrooms. Basically, she’s always mopping up.”
“You’re messing with me,” Candace accused.
“Nope, honest.”
“Then you’re right. It could be a lot worse. Tell me more about the candy apples.”
“Well, we coat the candy apples in sugar and cinnamon, and then we have fun. We can put all sorts of different candies and chocolate on them. We also make caramel and chocolate caramel apples. Those come with and without nuts.”
Before Candace could say anything, the kitchen doors burst open. She turned and saw Gib and Roger come in, followed by a couple other Muffin Mansion employees. Roger was dressed similarly to the others with the exception that his shirt was all white. She couldn’t help but stare at the blank shirt. All referee shirts had a stripe, no matter how subtle.
“Oh, no,” Traci whispered beside her.
“What’s going on?” Candace asked.
“You’ll see.”
“Why is Roger’s shirt white?” Candace asked.
“Because he needs to earn his stripes,” Gib growled. “Until then, no stripes.”
He sounded so fierce, Candace found herself backing away from him.
“Now look here, you galley rat,” Gib said, clearly addressing Roger. “If you want to work at the Muffin Mansion, then you have to prove your worth.”
“Sir, yes, sir,” Roger tried to shout. It came out as barely more than a whisper.
“Take a good look around you. Notice everything about this place. I’ll give you sixty seconds. Go.”
Roger raced around the room. Candace watched in fascination as he opened cupboards, counted ovens and inspected the storage area. He looked like a madman. He came back front and center just in time for Gib to call time.
“Close your eyes,” Gib ordered.
Roger did as he was told.
“Now, tell me the five biggest differences between this kitchen and the one at the Muffin Mansion.”
“There are two more ovens here, but all of the ovens are smaller than the Muffin Mansion.”
“Go on.”
“No beakers, test tubes, Bunsen burners, or any other scientific equipment.”
“Continue.”
“Flour is stacked in the storage area instead of being dispensed from a barrel.”
“What else?”
“Only one sink here instead of three.”
“And the last?”
Roger went completely pale. “I-I-don’t know.”
“Open your eyes,” Gib growled.
Roger did, flinching when he saw the angry expression on Gib’s face that was only inches from his own.
“What is the fifth thing?” Roger asked.
“It’s clean!” Gib bellowed.
The forcefulness in his voice caused Candace to back up until she bumped into one of the refrigerators.
“And do you know why that is?” Gib asked.
“Because I don’t work here?” Roger suggested.
“That’s right! Every pan clean all the time. And when you knock over the flour, clean it up! Don’t stand there writing love notes in it.”
Candace bit her lip to keep from laughing.
The next day Candace and her team met to decide how they were going to handle Talent Show. Pete and Sue she knew well. Traci she was getting to know, but Corinne was a mystery. What on earth could they all do together for the talent show?