Behind Closed Doors

Delia had been called into work because there was some emergency with a cake. Apparently, Ilsa had dropped one of the wedding cakes that was to be delivered the next day, and they needed to start over. So, Gabe had driven her to work, and then he decided to go back to Alex’s house.

“Gabe, I’m impressed,” Nate said when Gabe came back.

“Yeah, I like her,” Alex told him.

Gabe laughed. “Well, good. She’ll probably be around for a while.”

“Where did you meet her? She’s not your normal type. I mean she actually wore clothes that weren’t meant for a five-year-old! And, she held her own in our conversation,” Victoria told him.

“Yeah, she did,” Gabe said thinking back to their conversation earlier. She had dished it out as much as they had given it to her. He was really impressed with her quick wit.

“Gabe, don’t do anything stupid. This girl actually fits in with us,” Ryland told him.

“I’ll try,” Gabe told them.

Meanwhile, Delia was at the bakery with Madison. Evidently, Ilsa was too busy to come in and help with the cake herself, so she had enlisted Madison and Delia to fix the cake themselves before the next day.

“I can’t believe Ilsa isn’t here to help us!” Delia complained. “Isn’t this her shop? And wasn't she the one to ruin the cake?”

“One day, we are going to be out of here. We’ll have our own shop, and it’ll put this one out of business,” Madison said, talking about the dream the two of them had had together for about the last year. They figured if and when they made enough money, they would both quit their job at A Baker’s Dozen and open their own bakery. Both Delia and Madison hated Ilsa, and they wanted to get away from this job, but neither had the money to do so.

“You’re right,” Delia agreed. “And we will not make our employees come in on Sunday to fix a cake that we screwed up.”

“Exactly,” Madison said. “So, what were you doing before Ilsa brought us in?”

“Um, I was meeting Gabe’s band,” Delia told her, hoping that she wouldn’t still be mad that she was dating Gabe after he had “cheated” on her.

“How was that?” Madison asked with sincere interest.

“It was good,” Delia replied, relieved that Madison had gotten over her staying with Gabe. “They were really cool.”

“So everything’s going well with you and Gabe?”

“Yeah, it is,” Delia said smiling.

“Listen, you know that I wasn’t exactly happy when I found out that Gabe cheated on you, but you seem to be over it, so I will be, too,” Madison told her.

“Madison, I need to tell you something,” Delia said, making up her mind and deciding to tell Madison the truth.

“What?” Madison asked looking over at her. “Is everything okay?”

“No,” Delia said simply. “I’ve been lying to you.”

“About what?”

“Gabe and I aren’t going out. Well, I mean we are, but we aren’t,” she blurted out.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Del,” Madison admitted with a laugh.

“Okay, Gabe and I aren’t really dating. We’re only dating for the press.”

“So, it’s a fake relationship?” Madison asked, trying to make sense of what Delia had just told her.

“Yeah. Roxanna had an idea to have Gabe ‘fake date’ someone in front of the press. That way, they would back off of him, but behind the scenes, he could keep his bachelor lifestyle,” Delia explained.

“And that’s why you weren’t upset when you saw that picture of him and that girl in the taxi,” Madison stated, realization finally hitting her.

Delia nodded her head. “Yeah. He just wasn’t supposed to get caught by the press.”

“Oh thank God!” Madison exclaimed.

“Wait, you’re not mad?” Delia asked.

“No,” Madison told her. “But I am a little hurt that you didn’t tell me sooner.”

“I’m sorry,” Delia apologized. “Roxanna didn’t want anyone to know, and that included you.”

“So what made her change her mind?”

“Um, she didn’t.”

“So why are you telling me now?” Madison questioned.

“I talked to Gabe earlier and told him how I wanted to tell you. He told me to go ahead and do it and not to worry about Roxanna.”

“Well, I’m glad you told me. And, I’m glad I no longer have to hate Gabe Saporta since he isn’t cheating on my best friend,” Madison said smiling. The timer buzzed indicating that the cakes that were in the oven were done. Madison walked over and pulled them out, putting them on racks to cool.

An hour later, they were cutting the cakes into the right shapes and stacking them on top of each other, putting a light layer of icing on them. The front door opened, and Madison and Delia immediately looked up.

“Gabe, what are you doing here?” Delia asked.

“Well, I wanted to see how you were coming along with the cake. You made it seem like you’d be here for a while, so I thought I’d bring you something to eat,” he said holding out a bag from McDonalds. “I know it’s not much, but…”

“Are you kidding me?” Delia interrupted. “I love you!” she said without thinking. All she could think about was how she hadn’t eaten all day, and that the food smelled amazing.

Gabe stared at her for a minute until he realized she didn’t really mean what she had said. For a minute, he was a little worried, afraid that she was turning into a fan girl or something. “Oh, and Madison, there’s food in there for you, too. I didn’t know what you would eat, so I bought pretty much everything on the menu.”

“Thanks, Gabe,” Madison said smiling at him. She looked in the bag and began laughing, as she found out that Gabe had been telling the truth. He really had bought everything on the menu.

“You told her, didn’t you?” Gabe asked Delia.

“What?” Delia asked looking up at him.

“You told her,” Gabe repeated. “I can tell. She’s no longer looking at me like she wants to kill me.”

“Yeah, I did,” Delia admitted. “Please don’t be mad at me.”

“Mad at you? I’m the one who told you to tell her,” he said before looking over at Madison. “You’re not going to tell anyone, are you?”

“Nope, don’t worry. Your secret’s safe with me,” she said.

“Good. So, are you going to be here for a while still?” Gabe asked, turning back around to look at Delia.

“Yeah,” Delia replied in between bites of her salad. “We just put the cake together, but we still have to decorate it, which takes the longest time. Here’s what it’s supposed to look like,” she said handing him a picture of the old cake before it had been demolished.

“Wow,” Gabe said. “Wait, why do you have a picture of your cake?”

“Oh, I always take pictures of our finished cakes. You know, just in case I want to look back on them later on. Ilsa thinks I’m crazy, too, but it did come in handy this time.”

“I didn’t say I thought you were crazy. I just asked why you had a picture,” Gabe told her. “Well, I’m going to get going and let you get back to work,” he said getting up.

“Thanks for the food,” Madison told him.

“No problem,” Gabe said smiling.

“Thanks for stopping by,” Delia said.

“Call me when you get finished here, okay? I’ll give you a ride back home,” Gabe said.

“I would, but it would probably be at like three in the morning,” she told him. “I’m sure Madison can give me a ride back.”

“Yep,” Madison told her, nodding her head.

“Okay, then, call me when you get back home, okay?”

“Sure thing,” Delia said smiling at him as he walked out the door.

“That was nice of him,” Madison said after he had left.

“You sound surprised,” Delia told her.

“Well, it’s just that with the way the press talks about him, I just wouldn’t have figured he’d do something as sweet as that,” Madison admitted.

“Haven’t you heard? Don’t always believe what the press says.”