He probably would rather do a hundred other less desirable things than act as if they were a happy couple. But he was doing his best to be a good brother and keep his word to Dante—not many people would go to this length.
Like the gentleman she knew him to be, Stefano opened the glass door for her. When she passed by him, she caught a hint of his spicy cologne. She’d never been one to pay much attention to those sorts of things, but in Stefano’s case, she found the inviting scent quite appealing. In fact, she was quite tempted to pause and get a much better whiff.
The chime above the door startled her from her daydream. What was she thinking? She wasn’t in Italy to get involved with a man, casually or otherwise. Her lips pressed firmly together as she held back a frustrated sigh. When the store clerk spotted them, it was with great effort that Jules forced her mouth into a smile.
“Showtime,” she whispered to Stefano. “Remember this is for your brother and my sister.” She didn’t know if the warning was more for him or her.
“Hi,” the saleswoman with a pink-and-brown-striped apron said from behind the counter. “If there’s anything I can do to help you, just let me know.”
“Actually, there is something.” Jules led the way to the counter. “We want to know if you have an opening for a July wedding.”
“Let me just pull up my calendar.” The woman had a friendly smile and a bouncy ponytail. She typed in the information. “Any particular date?”
Jules read off the date as the woman’s fingers clicked over the keyboard. Then an ominous silence came over the showroom. Jules’s chest tightened as she waited for the verdict. The woman said nothing, and then she typed a little more. Behind her dark-rimmed glasses, her eyes narrowed and her forehead creased.
“This summer is so busy. It seems like everyone is getting married.”
Jules wanted to press her for an answer, but she used every bit of willpower not to sound overbearing and pushy. “Yes, it’s a great summer for a wedding.”
Was that a sigh she heard from Stefano? She glanced his way, but he was still wearing that stoic expression as he pretended to be totally absorbed in the array of cupcakes in the display case.
The silence was unnerving. If this place couldn’t help them, she didn’t know what they were going to do. Chances were really good that at this late date every bakery was booked. Lizzie would be crushed. After waiting all this time to find her soul mate, this wedding had to go on without a hitch—or at least go on.
“We’ll take anything you can do.” Jules didn’t care at this point if she sounded desperate. She was desperate.
When Stefano flexed his fingers, she realized that she had a death grip on him. She loosened her hold and lifted onto her tiptoes to peer over the counter, but she was at the wrong angle to read the computer monitor.
The woman glanced over at her. “I know you’re anxious for an answer, but I have a bit of a conflict. I’m checking to see if there is a way around it. If you just give me one more minute.”
“Sure. Whatever it takes. I know this is short notice, but it’s so important.”
The saleswoman smiled. “I understand. You two are a cute couple.”
Jules felt Stefano’s gaze on her. He wanted her to correct the woman, and she would, just not yet. They needed a spot on the calendar before Jules would risk rocking the boat.
“Okay, I can make this work. It just took a bit of juggling.”
Jules released Stefano’s hand and clapped her hands together. She was more wound up about this than she’d realized.
“If you could just give me your name, I’ll add you to the calendar.”
Jules supplied the necessary information. The last part that might mess up this arrangement was the location of the wedding. She hesitantly informed her that the wedding and reception would be outside the city at the vineyard, but the woman barely batted an eye except to tell her that there’d be an additional delivery fee. Jules told her that would be perfectly fine.
They now had dresses, flowers and a cake, of sorts. This wedding was going to come together. And Jules had already figured out what to do about the food. Dante’s family had been anxious to help; they could do covered dishes. From what she’d learned in her short time in Rome, the DeFiore family was a group of accomplished cooks. She couldn’t imagine buying anything that tasted anywhere as good as the dishes they made in the restaurant.
Right now was Jules’s favorite part of the wedding preparations—a chance to sample mouthwatering cakes from dark chocolate to angelic white. Or in this case, sample the wide array of cupcakes. Jules grinned like a little kid as she eyed the display case filled with cupcakes decorated in every imaginable color.
“Relax.” The woman smiled at Stefano. “I promise this won’t hurt at all. In fact, you might enjoy it. If you two would just have a seat at the table over there, I’ll grab some samples.”
“Thank you.” Jules took Stefano’s hand and led him to the table. Once they were seated, Jules turned to him. “Would you relax? You’re making everyone uncomfortable.”
“What?” Stefano glanced across the little white café-style table at her.
“Cheer up. This won’t take long, and you get to taste some delicious cupcakes.”
“Sorry. I was thinking about something else.”
“I’m sure you were,” she mumbled.
“I was.” His gaze narrowed in on her. “I was thinking about the vineyard.”
Apparently she hadn’t spoken quite as softly as she’d thought. “Are you that bored that you’d rather be working?”
“Why must you jump to conclusions?”
She shrugged. Was she wrong? Was it possible he wasn’t wishing he was anywhere but here with her?
“Then why were you thinking about the vineyard?”
He leaned the little chair back on its two rear legs and crossed his arms as though trying to decide if he should take her into his confidence. That bothered her. After everything she’d told him about her past, he really had to decide if she was trustworthy?
Before she could say a word, he spoke up. “It was brought to my attention that I’ve been cutting my father out of the business side of things at the vineyard. I guess I was so intent on keeping busy after Gianna died that I hadn’t noticed that he felt cut out. That was never my intention.”
“And you think your father wants more responsibility.”
Stefano nodded. “He’s succeeded in keeping everything under control while I’ve been helping you with the wedding. And he seems happier. But then again, I don’t know if it’s the winery or if he’s falling in love.”
“What? With whom?”
Before Stefano could answer, the saleswoman returned with a tray full of cupcakes. Jules’s mouth started to water just looking at the beautiful little cakes. With a knife they cut the cupcakes in half. The flavors ranged from lemon with buttercream frosting to red velvet with cream cheese frosting to banana crème. All in all there were eight flavors to choose from.
Jules didn’t know how she was going to make such a truly difficult decision. All of them tasted divine except maybe the vanilla. It was good, but in comparison to the others, it was a bit boring.
“Well, did you make a decision?” the woman asked after returning from helping some other customers.
“I don’t know. They’re all so good.” Needing some help, she turned to Stefano. “What do you think?”
She didn’t normally turn to a man for advice. Typically the men she’d dated never wanted to involve themselves in decision making of any form. It was easier to stand