The Trouble With Love by Beth Ciotta

to the fullest. She’d given Chloe, who’d just graduated from culinary school, her first job as a personal chef. Treated her like family. Introduced her to the Cupcake Lovers and rekindled her love of desserts. Daisy had encouraged and supported Chloe’s infatuation with her grandson and, knowing Chloe was strapped for cash, had offered to foot the entire start-up cost of Moose-a-lotta. Not that Chloe had agreed to the latter. Making her own way financially was a huge issue. Maintaining control over her career decisions was also personally vital to Chloe. Something she’d had to impress upon Devlin, a born and schooled genius when it came to business and finance. As much as she loved the man, he was an opinionated control freak. Overprotective, too.
    “Earth to Chloe: Here comes our temporary staff. I’d let them in, but between my ankle cast and this bulky costume—”
    “On it!” Chloe’s heart and heels kicked at the sight of her best friend, Monica, and one of Daisy’s oldest friends, Ethel, peering in through the storefront window, grinning and waving like idiots. Chloe waved back while scrambling to unlock the door. “Right on time!”
    The two women, one in her thirties, one in her seventies, burst over the threshold.
    “Reporting for duty,” Ethel said.
    “Smells great in here,” Monica said. “Oh … my … God. Daisy! Your costume! What a hoot!”
    “Wait’ll I put my head on.”
    “Not yet,” Chloe cautioned.
    “How do you breathe in that thing?” Ethel asked, pointing at the moose head.
    “Through the nose,” Daisy said. “Ready for a mob? Because I plan on bringing in a herd!”
    “Are you really going to stand outside and wave down customers?” Monica asked.
    “She’s going to sit outside and entice interest,” Chloe said to her friend. “We’ll drag one of these comfy chairs onto the sidewalk a couple of minutes before we open. Daisy promised she’d do her acting from a throne.”
    “I’m not an invalid,” Daisy groused.
    “No, but you do have a cast on your ankle,” Ethel put in. “What if you aggravate that injury? The sooner you’re in tip-top form, the greater help you’ll be to Chloe and the café. Right, Chloe?”
    Chloe smiled at the older woman, thankful for her subtlety. “Absolutely, Ethel.”
    “The Cupcake Lovers’ display looks wonderful,” the older woman went on. “It was really sweet of you both to set aside space for our charity efforts.”
    “Chloe’s idea,” Daisy said.
    “Our pleasure,” Chloe said. “And it’s not like Moose-a-lotta won’t benefit. Anyone who buys a cupcake will probably purchase a beverage as well. Besides, I love sharing the scrumptious cupcakes of our members.”
    Everyone had jumped at the chance to share a batch of cupcakes on different days of the week. A chance to show off new recipes and edible decorating ideas. All proceeds, as was dictated in the club’s mission statement, would go to someone or some place in need. In this case, for the next four weeks proceeds from Cupcake Lover sales via Moose-a-lotta would go to Sugar Tots. Surely they could at least kick-start the new playground fund.
    “When our recipe book comes out,” Daisy said, “we’ll sell those, too.”
    “How’s the publishing deal going anyway?” Monica asked. “Any more news from Rocky?”
    Chloe blushed with a half-truth. “Not today.”
    “Only what we relayed to the club yesterday,” Daisy said. “Don’t know what’s on the agenda today.”
    Just then Chloe’s and Daisy’s cell phones chimed in tandem with a text message.
    Daisy pointed to the counter. “Ethel, would you grab my phone out of my purse?”
    “Sure does blip loud,” the woman said.
    “That’s so I can hear it,” Daisy said.
    “It’s from Rocky,” Chloe said, reading her own screen. “Thinking of you. Viva Moose-a-lotta!”
    Daisy squinted at her own phone. “Mine says the same. I’ll text back and ask what’s happening with the