Page 94 of The Baby Dragon Bakery
Beena was taken aback. “He told you he was unhappy?”
“Yes,” Lavinia replied.
“Unhappy withyou?” Beena clarified.
Lavinia paused. “Well . . .”
Her heartbeat quickened as she realized she had been so upset that day that she had perhaps jumped to a conclusion when she shouldn’t have.
“Um,” Lavinia said, sitting up. “I need to call Theo.”
Beena smiled, kissing Lavinia’s cheek. “Good idea.”
Lavinia got off the couch, running up to her room for her phone. It was in her tote bag, and she’d left it on silent for the last two days, ignoring Theo even as he called, which she realized now was cowardly.
Trembling, Lavinia called Theo’s number. Her hands shook as she held the phone up to her ear, listening as it rang. But he didn’t pick up.
Lavinia tried calling again ten minutes later, but again, there was no answer. She was worried he was angry with her—as he should have been—for breaking up with him so callously even when he had asked her not to. She had done so out of fear, but she didn’t want to be the type of person who let fear rule her.
She wanted to be brave.
Grabbing her purse, Lavinia ran down the stairs, throwing on her coat and shoes, calling, “I’m going out!” before leaving her house. The wind was frigid. She screeched against the cold on her bare legs, closing the front of her coat as she ran to her car, adrenaline pumping through her.
Getting in, she drove directly to Theo’s apartment, heading in and not waiting for the elevator. She ran up the stairs, going straight for his place.
She knocked on the door. “Theo!” she called. “I’m sorry! Theo!”
But there was no response. She put her ear to the door, listening. With a groan, she fished around her purse, searching for the spare key, then let herself in.
The apartment was empty.
She deflated.
She went to his bedroom. Her scrunchie was on top of his bedside table, and she touched a hand to it. She had noticed it the first day she’d been over, when he’d proudly showed her the drawer he’d emptied for her.
“I thought I’d lost this!” she had told him, and he had only smiled.
He had held onto it the entire time, this artifact from her.
She slipped it onto her wrist now, sitting on his bed, which was unmade.
Guilt pumped through her. She had doubted him and his feelings for her, when he had given her no cause to, and she had bolted at the first sign of trouble.
She hoped she could fix things—she knew she could. Shewould. She wouldn’t stop until she had.
Lavinia sat and waited for him to return.
Chapter 36
Theo had spent the last two days being miserable, but as he played back their last conversation for the fiftieth time, he finally realized something.
When she had said, “You’re unhappy,” she had been thinking that he was unhappy withher—which was entirelynotwhat he had meant! Once he realized that this might have been a misunderstanding, he drove to her house.
He had been calling her for the last two days, but she hadn’t picked up, and he figured she might need space, but screw that. He needed to see her.
Theo knocked on the door, and Beena answered.
“Theo, hello,” she said, surprised. He hoped she didn’t hate him. “Come in,” she said, and Theo entered.
