Read Everyday Hero: The Volunteers - a Darling Bay Short Story for Free Online

said. Then he opened the other half of the double doors. “Wide load,” he said. “Oh, I don’t mean … ”
    Ruby said, “It’s not the first time I’ve heard it said about this cupcake.” The engine whirred as she made the short distance to the counter where Mabel Mellor presided. Ruby could feel her cheeks going as pink as the fake frosting all around her.
    “Hi Mabel,” she said as smoothly as she could. “Can I get one maple pumpkin latte, please?”
    Mabel, who had run her eponymous cafe for the past nine hundred years or more, didn’t miss a beat. “Sure, honey. You got a cup holder in that thing?”
    The regulars at the counter who had been waiting with bated breath to hear what Mabel said roared in appreciation. Cup holders was passed up and down the cafe, and Ruby regretted her decision to replace the man’s coffee.
    The nice thing was that Noah didn’t seem to mind a bit. He had greeted at least four people at the counter by name, grinning easily and laughing with them. It took a man comfortable in his own skin to wheel a cupcake into a cafe, that was for sure.
    “Three fifty,” said Mabel.
    It was then Ruby realized that unless she got out of the cupcake car and freed her arms, there was no way she was going to be able to pay for the coffee. And in this state? At the bakery, it had been hard enough to fold herself up inside with Josie’s help. It would probably take three people to pry her out.
    She looked up at Noah. Laughter danced in his incredibly nice green eyes. “Allow me,” he said.
    ***
    Was it wrong to feel so attracted to a cupcake? Noah had spent the past fifteen minutes telling himself that it was normal to think that a woman sitting inside a low frosted snack—who couldn’t even hold a cup of coffee—was hot. He had no idea what she looked like inside the cupcake, after all. For all he knew, she was naked.
    Well. Now that was an idea.
    “You know,” he said, as she rolled next to him toward the marina, “if this doesn’t work out you can probably get a job doing bachelor parties or Lions Club birthdays. They usually prefer a woman to jump out of a cake, but I’m sure the lower budget version could do well, too.”
    The strawberry on top of her head tilted in thought. “Good idea. Josie isn’t exactly paying me a fortune for this.”
    “This is … advertising?”
    “Supposed to be. So far, it’s just been embarrassing. I’m hoping she gets her money’s worth from me. But now I know that I enjoy being inside baked goods, I can sense a whole new world of job opportunities opening up.”
    Noah grinned. “What do you normally do?”
    “I was a nanny, but I’ve been in town helping my sister recently. You want to sit over here?” She nodded toward an open bench that faced the water.
    “Sure.” He sat and she stopped her cupcake next to him.
    In front of them, Darling Bay sparkled in the autumn sun. It seemed as if the view was showing off just for them—piles of cotton-soft clouds were banked on the horizon, and the water, often gray, was a deep, clear blue. Boats bobbed at their moorings, their furled sails clanking. On board Her Fuzzy Navel , Thom Grandy waved at them. Noah knew him from the volunteer firefighter meetings.
    “Couldn’t have a better morning for it, could you?” Thom yelled.
    For sitting next to a pretty cupcake while sea gulls wheeled in the blue sky? Noah didn’t think so. “You’re right about that,” he called.
    “See you at the fire station tomorrow?” Grandy bellowed.
    “See you there!” He took a sip of his coffee which was better than anything maple should be allowed to taste. “You want some of this?” he asked, holding out his cup.
    Ruby’s brown eyes danced. “Really?”
    “Sure. Why not?”
    “Okay. I’d like that. I didn’t get my caffeine quotient this morning.”
    “Me, neither.” He leaned over and held the cup to her lips. She sipped, and Noah felt himself stir.
    He was letting a hot cupcake drink his maple