Page 40 of The Baby Dragon Bakery
“What does that have to do with anything?” Ginny replied. “He’s super hot. He’s old, otherwise I’d totally go for it.”
Aiden’s expression turned pained. “Please stop,” Aiden said, uncomfortable with the topic of conversation.
“Now I can’t even appreciate a gorgeous man without you being a big baby about it?” Ginny asked.
“No,” Aiden replied flatly.
Genevieve ignored him; she and Emmeline loved bothering him, which was amusing to watch. “Ginny,no,” Emmeline said, voice hard. “He broke Millie’s heart, and Millie cried for a week.” To Lavinia, Saphira added as an aside, “Millie is her sister.”
“Yeah, but Millie cries over anything,” Ginny said. Emmeline scowled, and Lavinia sensed she was very protective of her younger siblings.
“Anyway,” Saphira said, changing the topic of conversation to something else. Lavinia listened as the others carried on talking, but her focus was frayed.
Her gaze kept straying to the door, waiting for Theo to arrive. She hadn’t seen his car out front, but he would probably be arriving any moment, and she braced herself.
Until Saphira said, “Pity Theo couldn’t join.”
“Hm?” Lavinia blinked, and Saphira looked confused.
“Theo,” she said. “He told me he couldn’t come. I thought you would know.”
“Oh! Um, we haven’t talked today,” Lavinia said. “He probably texted me, but I haven’t checked my phone.” She played it off, but Saphira gave her a strange look, brown eyes concerned.
Lavinia gave her a bright smile. “I’m going to grab some water.”
She went to the kitchen and ran the tap, waiting for it toget cold. She listened to the water rushing, trying to stay calm. She knew for a fact Theo had no plans today. She was his main friend, so who else would he be hanging out with? And he didn’t have football, either, because Saphira had asked before setting the date.
Which meant he didn’t come on purpose because he was avoiding Lavinia. Her eye twitched.
She mentally scolded herself; she shouldn’t have even been thinking about Theo, anyway. He was not part of her plans or her operations. She should have been thinking about Calahan, about her deadline.
She drank the glass of water, then joined the others, who were heading for the back door.
“We can all say hello to Sparky, or he’ll be upset,” Saphira said, and they followed her out to the yard, which was beautiful and spacious.
The yard was big, with lots of room to play for the dragons. There was also a vegetable garden and flower bushes, and strings of fairy lights that crisscrossed over the patio. Sparky was flying overhead with Torch, Emmeline’s dragon. When he spotted them, he headed down, landing in front of them with flapping wings to receive pets and kisses from everyone. Emmeline held the basket with Motu, and Sparky came over to lick the baby.
“Sparky, no,” Emmeline chided, laughing. Sparky’s tongue was the size of the baby. Still, Sparky watched the baby with big eyes, bouncing on his feet with excitement.
“He’s still a baby, but he thinks Motu is so cute,” Saphira said, smiling fondly. Then, Sparky came over to Saphira, nudging her shoulder with his head. He looked at her withbig purple eyes, and Saphira laughed, seeming to understand whatever it was he was communicating.
“Alright, alright,” she said, then turned back to them. “He wants me to saddle up and show you our progress.” She looked at Lavinia. “As long as it’s alright with the good doctor?”
Lavinia laughed. “The good doctor thinks it’s completely fine.”
Aiden grabbed the saddle, strapping it onto Sparky with an apprehensive look on his face. Once the saddle was set, Aiden checked all the buckles again, then a third time, just for good measure.
“Aiden,” Saphira said, gently pushing her fiancé to the side. “It’s fine!”
He furrowed his brows as Saphira approached Sparky, then put his hands on her waist, hoisting her up, though surely Saphira could have done it on her own. Once Saphira was safely atop Sparky, Aiden’s hands lingered, until Saphira nudged him away with her foot.
Purple eyes bright, Sparky lifted his chin, trotting proudly. “He’s just getting used to my weight right now,” Saphira explained. “We haven’t started flying yet—the most he does is jump.”
Hearing the word jump, Sparky jumped up. Aiden let out a loud gasp, reaching out with both hands, but Saphira only threw her head back, giggling. She was giddy as she petted Sparky’s black scales.
“Aiden! Stop stressing out,” Genevieve said, hitting his arm.
“Honestly,” Emmeline said, voice disapproving. “You’re acting like you’ve never been around a dragon before!”
