Page 7 of If You Loved Me

“That’s the plan.” He moved around me and swiped one of the chocolate chip cookies off the tray on the counter.

“Hey!” I chastised, pointing at his chest. “I expect you to pay for that on your way out.”

He laughed around the ginormous bite he took. As his long blonde hair fell over his eyes, I saw the young, carefree version of him that had been stowed away for years. Theo was always the sweet one. Making sure the people around him were happy, even if that meant sacrificing his own joy.

Guilt had my heart clenching as I thought of the sacrifices he made for me. Mostly because I was selfish and allowed him to take the brunt of our parents’ expectations as a burden to carry on his own. I let him do it, knowing that each passing year he spent doing something he hated, his bright blue eyes dulled each time I saw him. The only thing I was focused on was freeing myself.

Now that he was back home and I was witness to the joy that same freedom brought him, I made a silent promise to myself that I wouldn’t shy away from our parents’ shaming and disappointment at his expense. It was Theo’s turn to live free.

“So, what’s this I hear about Willow turning the Baxley estate into a new orphanage?” Theo’s words cut through my thoughts like a knife slicing through buttercream frosting.

While I tried to keep Theo updated while he was in law school, it was hard to cover all the events of the past year over the phone. “You missed a lot while you were gone.”

“Care to fill me in?” he asked, leaning against the counter right before he stole another cookie off the sheet.

I smacked at his hand, but he was much taller than me and evaded my attack before shoving the entire cookie into his mouth.

“You’re diabolical. Do you know that?”

He smiled widely at me, revealing his mouth full of chocolate chip cookie.

I snorted and rolled my eyes.

“One of these days I’m going to kick your ass for being a pain in mine.”

He smiled wider. “You love me too much to kick my ass. Plus, you’re nowhere near fast enough to catch me to do it.”

In a flash, I snapped my hand out and pinched him on his right nipple.

“Agh!” He reared back, covering the spread of his chest with his forearms. “Did you seriously just give me a titty twister?”

I smiled maniacally at him. “What?” I shrugged. “You challenged how quick I was. So, I had to prove you wrong. You might be my big brother, but I’m a hell of a lot meaner than you are.”

He rubbed at his right peck while clutching his ribs and glared at me, sending me into a fit of giggles.

“Are you going to update me on everything I missed or are you just going to torture me some more?”

“Yeah.” I grabbed the sheet of cookies on the counter. “Let me run these out to the case first and then we’ll talk.”

“Okay.”

The crowd of patrons from the late morning rush had slowed a bit, but all the tables were still full as I quickly placed the cookies into the glass display case.

“You doing okay, Steph?” I asked as she counted change for Mrs. Bailey, one of the town’s most notorious biddies. Ever since her husband died a few months back, she’d found herself titled as a hellacious flirt and a vicious gossip. I shot her a quick smile as she took the change from Stephanie and she just stopped, looked me up and down like I was a diseased rat, then sauntered off as fast as her hip replacements could take her.

Stephanie giggled. “I’m doing much better than you are. Knowing Mrs. Bailey, she probably has the rumor mill churning given that look she just gave you. What did you do to the poor woman?”

I shook my head. “I have no idea, but as long as she keeps having her biddie meetings at my bakery and spending her money on my cupcakes, I don’t care.”

“Good point.”

“I’m going to head back to hang out with Theo for a bit. Are you okay to stay up here for a while longer without me?”

“Of course!”

“Thank you! You’re a lifesaver.”

I headed back through the kitchen door. “Okay, Stephanie’s good, so I can chat a bit longer before I need to start the next round of cupcakes.”

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