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Jacqui automatically knew, of course, who had sent the flowers And, sure enough, an especially lovely bouquet in the middle of the room carried a card which read:

I hope these flowers brighten your evening the way you brightened ards, Khizar

Jacqui sighed The irl swoon, that much was certain

Early the next ements into the bakery They made the small space look especially cheerful, and

The bakery had an unusual a, too New custo around like they couldn’t quite believe they were there Each of them ordered several items, and some of them stayed to eat at the tables

Jacqui stayed busy allA few of the customers came back to the counter and ordered a dozen pastries or a whole cake to take back to their offices It was definitely the bestfor the business in a while

Around ten that , in a lull in the unusual rush, the door opened and Jacqui looked up to see several suited men enter the bakery

“Gentlemen, I promise that once you try Ms Bauer’s cakes, you won’t want to eat any other kind of dessert Please, indulge yourselves”

Khizar stood back and watched as the group deliberated over what to purchase He encouraged theet several different items, and waited patiently as each man ordered

Jacqui hurried to pull things out of the case and box the looked nice

Once each man had received his order and paid, Khizar walked up to the counter and winked at Jacqui

“I’d like three dozen brownies and a slice of whatever cake you like best today, please”

She raised her eyebrows, but put the order together When he pulled out his wallet to pay, Jacqui tried to wave him off, but he laid a hand over hers and shook his head

“No argue And I’ brownies into a jewelry shop I want to negotiate with is an excellent ice-breaker”

Jacqui laughed “So that’s what you’re doing with all these?”

He waved a hand toward the group ofthe jewelers to the bakery”

“I’ll have to re fro her head