Page 9 of The Baby Dragon Bakery
“Men are nice to you all the time!” It was true; boys everywhere were always falling over themselves trying to get Genevieve’s attention—not that she ever gave it to them.
“And ten times out of ten it’s because they want to sleep with me!”
“Well, that’s because you’re you,” Lavinia said. The Sterling women had this effect; she had seen it happen with Genevieve’s cousin, Emmeline, too. Emmeline was older and supermodel gorgeous, and while Genevieve couldn’t care less about strangers’ attention, Emmeline enjoyed flirting and was happy to have fun.
“He is soooo into you,” Genevieve teased.
“Stop it.”
Ginny pouted. “You are so boring! You haven’t dated anyone in forever—you need to spice things up. Do it for the plot!”
Lavinia snorted. She took advice from Ginny with a grain of salt because Ginny could be known to spice things up a bit too much. It was true she didn’t care for the attention of random guys, but that didn’t mean she didn’t have her flings. Lavinia could hardly keep track of all of her friend’s situations.
Genevieve was looking for someone who was her match, someone who challenged her. She was such an exceptional woman that it was hard to find such a person, but she didn’t seem bothered by such tediousness. Whereas Lavinia was downrightexhaustedby all the failed romances of her life—the way hope and excitement always slowly but surely gave way to rejection and heartbreak. She would rise from the ashes like a phoenix, ready to start again, and now she was getting tired of it.
She didn’t know how much more she could take, and she was running out of time. She had three months before her deadline. If she didn’t find love by the winter, she never would.
Which reminded her of last night with Theo. Pain sliced through her.
She was fine, she reminded herself. She was always fine, even if it hurt. She kept her chin up and kept hoping—even if she was afraid that one day she would get knocked down and she wouldn’t have the strength to pick herself up again.
Lavinia didn’t believe she was that picky. She just wanted someone to genuinely like her. Was that so hard? Was it?
Apparently, yes.
She had dated or liked many guys, and it always ended up the same: with her either dumped or rejected. The confoundingpart of it was that guys always liked her in the beginning—she was a likable person!—but then, once the novelty wore off, they got tired of her. There was something about her that made her easy to like but not enough to commit to.
With a sigh, Lavinia took a bite out of the sandwich Calahan had brought her. Genevieve watched, dark eyes intense.
“This tastes really good,” Lavinia admitted. There was nothing bread couldn’t remedy.
“And it doesn’t even have any tomatoes in it,” Genevieve pointed out, brows raised. “You hate raw tomatoes.”
Lavinia narrowed her eyes at Ginny. She usually brushed her friend off about Calahan, but today the gears in her mind were turning a little bit. Maybe it was time to pay attention.
Especially since she was on a time crunch. For the past few months, she hadn’t even worried about such a thing. Because she had feelings for Theo, and thought he might feel the same, there had been nothing to fret over. She believed she already had her person.
But now, she most evidently didnothave her own person.
Which meant she needed to find love more proactively.
Her gaze strayed over to Calahan, to where he was reaching up into a nook to pet an opala baby dragon. The white-scaled creature cooed, leaning into Calahan’s touch. Gorgeous, kind, attentive, good with animals . . .
Now that she had resolvednotto think about Theo, she realized what a great catch Calahan was.
“The gears are turning,” Lavinia told her friend. Genevieve gave her a triumphant smile.
They continued talking, but eventually Genevieve realized no studying was going to be done as long as she was in thecafe with Lavinia, so she finished up her coffee and headed off. Left alone to continue her work, Lavinia began paying closer attention to Calahan.
The way he popped over every little while to check in on her, to ask her if she needed any help, and the easy smiles he offered her. She was beginning to see him in a new light.
Of course, it helped that he was incredibly handsome. He had that bookish look going for him, eyes behind thin-rimmed glasses. He was wearing a sweater vest, for god’s sake!
And he was clever, she knew that already. He was also uncomplicated. Most importantly, it did seem as if he liked her—arguably, the most important thing.
Hmm.
Later in the day, things slowed down quite a bit. The cafe was less busy, just a few tables of seated patrons. A peaceful hum settled over the Baby Dragon, and even the usually mischievous dragons were relaxed, comfortable in the arms of their owners or asleep in little beds.
