Page 68 of Peach Tree Family

"That one would lose her head if it wasn't screwed on," Helen said when the lady was barely out of earshot. "And the way you finessed her. Butter wouldn't melt in your mouth."

"I did tell you that Butter is the name of our cat," Theo told her and she cracked up.

Constantly glancing toward the tearoom, Theo could swear that the job interview was taking forever. It wasn't, he just couldn't calm down. Then Theo got busy on the computer and when he looked up, Seth was standing outside the tearoom. He was looking down then toward Theo.

"You looked busy," he said when he came over. "I got it. I got the job in the tearoom."

"Congratulations," Theo said. It sounded bland, meaningless, like he didn't care either way, but he wanted to launch himself over the reception desk and hug and kiss him to death. He couldn't believe how hard his heart was beating, like the power of this news could knock him off his feet. He wanted to laugh and cry and all because Seth got a job and that meant he would be staying.

Seeing that Seth was back, Ace ran over and Theo gave him the news.

"Seth doesn't have to leave!" Ace said way too loud and a few heads turned.

"Should have told him outside," Theo said, but he didn't blame him for getting so excited when Seth leaving seemed like a sure thing. Things were still tense and uncomfortable between the two of them, so Theo kept his own feelings under wraps.

He reached over the reception desk and high fived Ace then sent him off home with Seth. Theo was still mad at him, but that didn't seem to change how happy and relieved he was.

And it did occur to him that if Seth took that job, it meant he didn't really want to leave.

When Theo got home, he wasn't sure what he would say to Seth, but he didn't get the chance to talk to him. As soon as Theo was through the door, Ace was jumping up and down, telling him his idea. "Theo! We should have a party."

"A party?" Theo thought about it. "We have that picnic table. We could make some food, have a few people over."

"A real party, not just us?" Ace said, getting even more excited.

"Yes, a real party." Theo glanced at Seth. When he didn't disagree, Theo got his phone out. "I'll send some texts."

"I'll see what we can feed 'em." Seth then looked in the fridge for a while. "We have this ground beef. I could make something with that."

"I don't think we'll be feeding them dinner," Theo said after getting some replies. "Most of them are saying they can stop by after."

"I'll fry up some meatballs. We can serve 'em up to guests and have meatball subs for dinner," Seth said.

"Not for me. I'll grab something later. I want to mix up some dip," Theo told him and started pulling out ingredients.

"I'll eat later too and just make one sub for Ace. I can make a cheese dip too," Seth offered.

They started making food and even put Ace to work a little bit, but mostly he had his hands full keeping Butter off the kitchen counter. In the end, Theo just had to kick them out.

As he and Seth worked, Theo was very aware of how small that kitchen was and also that they hadn't really talked. This wasn't the time for it, and anyway, Theo didn't know what he would say.

Lara and Gloria were the first to arrive and they brought peach iced tea and some homemade caramel striped shortbread cookies. "It's a new recipe I'm trying," Lara said.

"Looks great," Theo said.

Gloria pointed up at the sky. "Look, Momma, birds are coming back. They are bringing spring with them."

"This girl loves spring," Lara said as Gloria spotted Ace and ran off calling for him and Butter. "I smell good things cooking." Lara was pointing to the open kitchen door.

"We're a little more ready for guests this time thanks to Seth," Theo told her.

"It's great news that he found work," Lara said and then gave him a meaningful look like she knew exactly how he felt about it.

"It is," Theo agreed, but he was also thinking about what almost sent him running. Would Seth be embarrassed again today about people thinking there was something going on between them?

Rico and Mitch only stopped by to drop off Sammy. Theo and Lara went over to their SUV since they weren't getting out.

"Sorry we can't stay. We're driving to a lumberyard," Mitch said.

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