Page 77 of The Baby Dragon Bakery
Light knocking sounded on her door. “Lavinia?” Theo’s voice. Under the blanket, Lavinia pressed a hand against her chest, curling into a ball against her extra pillows.
The door opened. “Lavinia,” Theo whispered. “Are you awake?”
Her heart pounded. She hoped he didn’t come any closer, or she was going to have a breakdown.
“Lavinia?” he asked again.
The room was silent.
He let out a long breath, then went, closing the door behind him, and she sighed. Her face broke, tears welling in her eyes, and she squeezed her eyes shut. The tears fell out, and Lavinia cried until she finally did fall asleep.
She woke up about an hour later to the noise of them eating dinner downstairs. She could hear that Theo was still here; he must have been waiting to see if she would wake up to eat, and now she had to skip dinner because she was avoiding him.
Lavinia groaned, reaching over to rummage through her side table drawer. She found some candy and half a granola bar, which she ate, throwing the wrappers onto the top of her side table.
It was another hour before Theo finally left, but by then she was too tired to go downstairs to find food, and she knewher parents would interrogate her about not waking up when Theo was here, so she stayed in bed, pouting. She should have brought Biter up here with her for company.
Lavinia fell back asleep, then woke up a few hours later to the sound of tapping. She thought at first that it might have been one of the tree branches bumping against the side of the house, but it was coming from a different direction than where the trees were.
She looked at her door, but the sound wasn’t coming from there either.
Then she realized.Her window.
She got out of bed, heart hammering. It was the middle of the night now, and she felt like she was hallucinating as she pushed aside her curtains to find Theo perched outside her window.
“Are you insane?” she hissed, sliding her window open.
But she couldn’t help the jolt of joy that ran through her to see him, which only made her angrier. Her stupid, stubborn heart, like a weed that kept growing no matter how many times she had pulled it out.
Theo was hanging off a ladder outside her window, dressed in a flannel shirt and dark jeans. His brown eyes were vivid.
Wind tousled his hair. A chill came in through the window, and she shivered in her pajama shorts and cropped sweatshirt.
“Let me in,” he said. Who was he, coming in here and ordering her about?
“And what if I don’t?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.
Hurt flashed over his face. “Why are you avoiding me?”
Lavinia wanted to pull her hair out. She groaned andmoved aside. Theo slipped into her room, shutting the window behind him.
“Lavinia, talk to me,” he said. “What did I do? Why are you angry with me? Are you okay?”
The truth was she wasn’t okay; she hadn’t been since that first night, at Aiden and Saphira’s engagement party.
She had spent all this time burying her feelings for Theo, but they wouldn’t be buried. They were bursting out of her now.
She whirled on him, unable to bear it any longer.
“You’re my person!” she cried. “But you’ll never be what I want you to be. I’ll never be what you are to me.” The words ripped out of her, leaving her chest feeling hollow.
His eyes were wide. “I don’t understand,” he said. God, he could be sostupid.
“I’m in love with you!” she snapped. “Now go away!”
Chapter 28
His mouth hung agape as he stared at her with wide eyes. She was breathing heavily, reeling from what she had said.
