Page 42 of The Baby Dragon Bakery
Lavinia wanted to suggest Theo for the job, but she didn’t want to speak for him, especially not when he wasn’t sure himself. Instead, she said, “In another life, I would love to be your business-partner-in-crime, but unfortunately, in this life, I love being a vet (in training) too much.”
“Ugh, in another life, thatwouldhave been so fun,” Saphira said. “But don’t worry, I know, and I love you being a vet, anyway. Don’t forget about my private island.”
Lavinia smiled. Being around her friends did help her feel better but, at the same time, it also underscored just how much she was missing Theo.
She had no choice but to grapple with that fact when she got home at the end of the night.
In her bedroom, Lavinia met her gaze in the mirror above her vanity, and she saw just how sad her eyes were, though she had no reason to be sad.
What was wrong with her? She never could stop thinkingabout him, and after that kiss it was just a hundred times worse. Tasting him had unlocked all this desire from deep inside of her, the intensity of which astounded her.
Kissing him had been better than she could have ever imagined or dreamed of, and now she wanted more. She was desperate for it, and just the thought sent the blood racing in her veins. Her entire body ached.
Lavinia’s phone lit up on top of her vanity, and her stomach flipped. She snatched her phone, looking at the notification—but it wasn’t Theo. The energy that had shot through her dissipated.
It was Calahan, texting to confirm that they were still good for their date tomorrow. She was a tornado of mixed emotions. While kissing Theo wasn’t cheating on Calahan because she and Calahan were not boyfriend/girlfriend or exclusive or anything that serious, she still felt . . . guilty. And she felt even more guilty by how much Calahan cared for her, even though that shouldn’t have made her guilty, but happy!
The part of her that was mature and logical had been upset when she thought Calahan was growing tired of her, but the delusional and silly part of her that still liked Theo was relieved when she had thought it wasn’t working out with Calahan.
She needed the different parts of her to start aligning real quick, because while they didn’t, she was getting a headache!
The lines were blurring between all her shifting emotions and feelings: burning desire from their kiss and her subsequent outright lewd dreams; the feelings for him from her crush that she perhaps never moved on from entirely; and the fact that he was her best friend, so of course she missed him and wanted to see him all the time.
What she knew for certain was that she neededsomethingto work. She needed her happily ever after. Especially with the way time was moving—winter was creeping closer, and she needed to find her person by then, the same way her mother had. If she didn’t find her person by then, she never would, and she would just be alone for the rest of her life.
Lavinia released a groan, throwing open her vanity drawer. She needed to get her hair out of her face, and she gathered it up into a ponytail, reaching into the drawer with her free hand for a scrunchie.
As she did, she saw a little bottle in the corner. Hidden, but not hidden enough.
Theo’s cologne. Lavinia dropped her hair, letting the strands fall forward. She reached for the bottle, her fingers touching the cool glass. She was tempted to spray it, to inhale the smell of him.
“No,” she scolded herself.
She shoved the drawer shut with a resounding snap.
Chapter 16
The next day, Lavinia went on her date with Calahan. It went well, and at the end they kissed, and it was lovely, really, it was—but she couldn’t help making comparisons. Kissing Theo had made her feel like she was a tree being struck by lightning, lit aflame for a long while afterward, while kissing Calahan was as sweet and comforting as eating a slice of warm pie.
She couldn’t decide which was better, but maybe love wasn’t supposed to feel like a calamity. Even so, as she got ready for bed that night, she found there had been nothing memorable about the day’s events. Surely that wasn’t a good thing?
Or was she overthinking it? Besides, this wasn’t exactly the time to be so picky. If she couldn’t make things work with Calahan—who was basically perfect—she wouldn’t be able to make them work with anyone.
Confusing feelings aside, Lavinia missed Theo. Before going to sleep, she sent him a text:Come over tomorrow for a fall day.
She waited to see if his response would come immediately, the way it usually did. It wasn’t even that late; she knew hewouldn’t be asleep. But no matter how intently she stared at her screen, his reply did not come.
Yet, somehow, she knew he would show up tomorrow, and so she put her phone to the side and got into bed, going to sleep. The next morning when she woke up, she had a text from him, a few hours after she had fallen asleep:Okay, i’ll come by around 1.
She was twitching, but she was sure everything would be fine.
A fall day was something they did every autumn without fail. They went out to the farms, which were especially festive this time of year. Weekends there were always packed in the months of September through November. As such, they always got stuck in standstill traffic on the one-lane road, but it was always worth it.
The farms had apple picking and tractor rides for kids and a corn maze—they used to do all of that as kids with her parents, and then again when Alfie was a kid, but ever since Lavinia started university, she and Theo went just for the food: roasted corn bathed in sweet butter and doused with sharp salt; perfectly baked potatoes topped with butter and Cajun seasoning; and fresh apple-cider donuts, pillowy on the inside and crisp on the outside, covered in a pound of cinnamon and sugar. There were also farm stands that Theo loved to buy fresh produce from, especially apples and butternut squash and figs; things he could use for baking.
After eating brunch with her family, Lavinia got ready. She was so comfortable around Theo that she never put extra effort into her appearance when it was the two of them, and the same was true today, despite all that had transpired between them.She was glad for that, at least. She would hate to feel hyper-aware of her appearance in front of him.
She dressed in chocolate brown corduroy pants with a cream-colored blouse that had embroidered flowers on the collar and little gold buttons down the front. She tucked her hair behind her ears and put on some makeup, then grabbed her purse before heading downstairs, where she grabbed a light jacket and her new heeled booties.
