Page 20 of The Baby Dragon Bakery
Funnily enough, at least his parents loved each other. He recalled when he was in school, after he’d gone up to his room, he’d hear them talking to each other, laughing. They sounded happy. He could creep out of his room, quietly standing in the hallway, listening. A few times, he even went down, under the guise of needing water from the kitchen. But the second they saw him, the laughter died, and with horror, he realized he was the problem.
Just him. Nothing else.
Even then, he never stopped trying and trying and trying to make them happy, as if one day they could be proud of him. They refused to send him to culinary school, saying he had to get a real degree, so he didn’t go; he did a business degree and took culinary courses on the side. He didn’t mind the business degree—he was good at it, so it didn’t require much from him—but still, that didn’t get him in their good graces, so finally after he graduated he gave up.
He started working at the Rolling Pin since that was whathewanted to do, and it was just confirmation for his parents that he had ended up as the disappointment they always knew he was. They thought he was wasting his time—wasting his life. They were never proud of him, and he had internalized that to a degree so deep, he could never feel proud of himself, either.
His eyes welled up with tears, and he brushed them away, swearing lightly to himself. He needed to not be such a baby and grow up already. People’s parents were shitty. It wasn’t anything groundbreaking.
Theo felt restless. He shouldn’t have thought about all that. He got out of bed and began pacing around his apartment, making laps around the small space, navigating around furniture. He ran both hands through his hair, anxious energy pounding through him.
Theo touched two fingers to his wrist to press against his racing pulse but, instead, he felt Lavinia’s scrunchie there. He didn’t even remember slipping it on before getting into bed, but the sight of it was comforting. He slowed his pacing, looking down at the scrunchie. He should have given it back to her, but for some reason, he hadn’t wanted to.
Theo stopped pacing and sat down on his couch, taking deep breaths, trying to push his parents from his mind. He knew if Lavinia could hear his thoughts now, she would scold him for being so harsh on himself. She was always trying to get him to see all that he’d accomplished, to feel proud of himself, but he never could. He would never feel good enough for himself, either.
It was different for her. She could rob a bank and her parents would be proud of her for pulling off such a complicated task.They always looked for anything to be positive about, and Lavinia was like that too; she kept her chin up. Everyone in her family had love to spare, which was why Theo was always going over there. In his house, he felt like he had to beg for scraps.
The Williamses didn’t mind him hanging around, neither before nor after Alfie was born. He remembered that her parents tried having another kid for years, and then finally Alfie was born—Lavinia always told him that she would have a baby brother or sister one day. She told him with such surety and excitement, which was something he had found astounding at the time.
His parents didn’t want to have him, and when he was around nine, his mother, Amaya, had gotten pregnant again, and he remembered hearing his parents talk about it. He was so excited. Until, one day, she told him she wouldn’t be having a baby anymore. He still remembered the way she had sunk into the couch, relaxed, as if she had dealt with something that was bothering her.
She had been stressed before then, he knew that, but he had been so happy at the thought of a sibling, he hadn’t cared that Amaya seemed unhappy. He always thought that if he had a sibling, he could have a partner in crime—someone of his own.
He had been overjoyed when Beena got pregnant the next year, and he knew with certainty that she wouldn’t terminate the pregnancy because Beena and Garrett had wanted another baby for years. Everyone was so excited; he could tell both of Lavinia’s parents were happy, as if they were getting the greatest gift they could have wished for.
He always wondered what it might be like for children who were so purelywanted, and then he saw for himself when Alfie was born. Garrett and Beena loved each other so fully, and from that love, a child was born. Theo thought he might be envious, but he wasn’t. He loved Alfie, too, and the Williamses all had love to spare. He spent even more time there, wishing he could just stay there forever.
Theo’s family life was tumultuous, so he was always hiding out with Lavinia and her family. She had always been the one good thing in his life, the one constant. He had football and baking and other friends, but Lavinia was always his main source of happiness, the reason he stayed sane amidst everything else.
He took Lavinia’s scrunchie off his wrist and went back to his room, sliding it into his bedside table’s drawer. He needed to stop whatever thoughts or feelings were going on deep inside of him. Maybe he was simply getting mixed up, imagining that he had romantic feelings for Lavinia when he didn’t.
And even if he did, it wouldn’t matter, anyway. Lavinia wasn’t interested, and he wouldn’t jeopardize their friendship.
He couldn’t.
Chapter 8
Lavinia went to work at the Animal Hospital the next day. She had her internship three times a week and lectures every weekday. She had been interning there with Dr. Quan since last summer, and she loved it.
During that time, there had been other interns as well, but most of them stayed for a few months to get a little bit of pediatric experience before moving on to shadowing other vets in the field. Not Lavinia. She enjoyed pediatric work, and enjoyed staying in one place. She had built relationships with many of the patients and loved seeing them.
The Animal Hospital was where the babies were brought, while the grown animals received house calls. Lavinia liked dealing with the babies, and she hoped to eventually work at the Animal Hospital full-time, rather than do house calls. Hopefully, they would offer her a full-time job when she graduated from veterinary school.
She had different appointments and paperwork to do throughout the day, which kept her busy. Around midday, she had another appointment, one she was particularly looking forward to.
“Shall we?” Dr. Quan asked, standing by the door of their shared office. He was a slender man with thick black hair and a clean-shaven face.
Dr. Quan had been a pediatric veterinarian for over twenty years, and as such, he knew everything there was to know, his knowledge and experience vast. He was an excellent mentor to Lavinia, and just as wonderful with the magical animals, patient and gentle. Even the most chaotic babies tended to calm down around him.
“Yes,” Lavinia said, taking off her glasses and setting aside the papers she had been reading through. She stood, following Dr. Quan toward the patient rooms down the hall. When they arrived at the correct room, Dr. Quan pulled the file from the folder hanging on the door. He entered, and Lavinia followed behind him. In the room, Saphira was waiting with Sparky.
The baby dragon lit up when he saw Lavinia, immediately coming over to rub his nose against her torso.
“Hi, Sparky,” she said, scratching his scaled chin. He flapped his wings happily, and wind blew Saphira’s hair back. The vet rooms were big enough for the biggest baby animals, so there was plenty of room for him here.
She recalled when he had come in for his first appointment last year to get shots—how little he had been. How quickly time passed; how quickly things changed!
Lavinia petted Sparky, then waved happily at Saphira. She refrained from hugging her friend, as that would be unprofessional, and she needed to be on her best behavior in front of Dr. Quan, as well as maintain some workplace standards of decorum for herself.
