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Maia sighed as her fiancée pushed yet another cake away from herself, narrowing her eyes at the assortment of desserts in front of them as though looking at them would change her mind on which ones she liked and which ones she didn’t.
“This one was a little too sweet,” Clary pouted exaggeratedly at the poor caterer who had been trying to satisfy the redhead for the past two hours.
Maia loved her fiancée, she really did, but she sometimes forgot that, of Clary’s flaws, her sweet tooth was by far the worse. After all, Maia knew damn well that the redhead had made her choice almost as soon as they’d walked into the shop – if not before – and was just trying to get some extra slices from the workers. It was cute, in a way, but Maia knew the caterer was starting to get a little worried about not being able to meet Clary’s expectations and the last thing they needed was a stressed baker on the day of their wedding.
“Would you give us a moment?” She smiled at the young woman as politely as possible, squeezing Clary’s shoulder warningly when her fiancée opened her mouth as though to protest. “Clary and I just need to have a quick talk about the options we’ve already tasted before you bring anything else out.”
The caterer nodded, clearly relieved, and Maia turned her narrowed gaze on the love of her life.
Clary was looking at her innocently, twisting her engagement ring around the way she did whenever she was trying to draw Maia’s attention to it. However, Maia knew better than to be fooled by such a simple distraction technique. Yes, the emerald ring looked beautiful on Clary and yes, it still made Maia’s heart flutter every time she saw it on her fiancée’s hand, but she refused to be tricked like that.
What Clary was doing was wrong, and it was time for Maia to put an end to it.
“You’re going to work that poor lady into the ground and then we’ll become her nightmarish customer story,” she muttered underneath her breath, looking in the caterer’s direction to make sure the other woman couldn’t hear them. “I know these cakes are delicious, and I know you would stay here forever if you could, but I also know you’ve already made up your mind on the cake.”
“You can’t know that,” Clary crossed her arms over her chest defensively, spooning another bite of the lemon cake into her mouth and humming happily. “Maybe I’ll find one I like better.”
“No you won’t,” Maia shook her head fondly, pointing at the first ten cakes they’d tried. “Those are your favourite flavours, and I know for a fact that you would never go for anything chocolate for our wedding cake, which means half of those are off the table. Now, are you going to tell me which one we’re ordering, or are you going to make me guess?”
“If you know me so well, you won’t need my help,” Clary smirked, leaning back in her chair and grabbing one of the many chocolate cakes Maia had gestured towards, biting into it with a contended moan.
Maia shivered slightly at the sound but didn’t let it distract her from her task. There were six cakes left out of the ten first ones they’d tried, and all of them looked like something Clary would love – one of the many issues with having such a sweet-oriented fiancée.
The thing was Maia did know Clary well. She knew everything about her fiancée – except that single secret about her childhood with Simon that Clary still refused to tell her about – and she knew that no matter which cake she’d picked, there had to be a meaning behind it.
“Do you want some of this?” Clary asked, waving a spoon of chocolate cake in front of Maia’s eyes and grinning widely as she purposefully missed the brunette’s open mouth, leaving traces of chocolate all over Maia’s chin. “Oops.”
“You’re incorrigible,” Maia rolled her eyes. “But I know which cake you want, so I’ll be able to clean up in no time. As for you, maybe it’s time to put that spoon down and grab your wedding planner instead, so we can schedule another meeting with them for decorations.”
Before Clary could ask Maia which cake she had chosen or how she had known or even try to beg for them to stay a little longer, Maia was calling the caterer back over with an apologetic smile.
“I’m sorry this took so long,” she said. “I’m afraid my fiancée has a bit of a sweet tooth and I’m always reluctant to take that little pleasure away from her. Rest assured that we both loved all of your cakes; Clary just wanted to taste all of them to be sure we had the best one.”
“But you do have a favourite?” The young woman asked, sounding far too relieved for Maia’s taste. Maybe she should have stopped Clary a little earlier, for their caterer’s sake.
“Yes we do,” Maia nodded, pointing at a vanilla sponge layered with strawberry jam. It was one of the simplest cakes on the table, but Clary’s face lit up happily at Maia’s selection. “We went strawberry picking on our second date, and it’s been Clary’s favourite fruit ever since. Honestly, I should have known she would want that one as soon as I saw it.”
“Ah, I do love a cake with a story behind it,” the woman nodded happily, jotting a few things down on her notepad and negotiating the details of their next appointment with Clary.
By the time they left the store, both of them had apologised a dozen or so more times for the inconvenience and Clary was looking even more happy than she had when she’d been trying the cakes.
“What’s got you looking even more cheerful than those cakes?” Maia asked amusedly, taking her fiancée’s hand when Clary nudged their fingers together.
“Just you,” Clary hummed. “I wasn’t sure you would pick the right cake, but you did. If I wasn’t sure I wanted to marry you before, I definitely would be now.”
“Well, I’m glad I passed your test,” Maia snorted. “Now let’s get you home before you crash from your sugar high and have me carry you all the way to our apartment. I’ve done that far too many times since we started planning for the wedding.”
“Because you love me,” Clary grinned happily.
And yeah, Maia really did, which is why she didn’t even sigh when Clary fell asleep in the car and she had to carry her up their four flights of stairs. Again.