Page 72 of Peach Tree Family

Chapter 18

Seth didn't sleep much, and in the morning, he was greeted by Theo's glare as he walked into the kitchen. That only made him think how he wouldn't be seeing Theo first thing in the morning and last thing at night any more.

Telling Ace that he was taking the room in Peach Tree was hard. Theo broke the news but then Ace turned his sad eyes on Seth.

"You aren't supposed to leave."

"I'm not moving that far. We'll still see each other," Seth told him but that wasn't good enough. Ace was still sad.

"He's not leaving right now. We're driving into work together," Theo told Ace.

Once they dropped off Ace at school, Seth drove them to work.

"When are you moving?" Theo wanted to know.

"After work today. There isn't all that much to me moving. Everything I got fits in my bag. The room is furnished."

"That's more than you can say for the house. I was going to take Ace to Julian and Rob's after work, but I can do it tomorrow."

"You don't need to change your plans. I can move later," Seth said, but he wasn't dragging his feet and trying to spend more time with Theo. "Do you... I mean. Should I come along and help?"

"You were invited. You can come along if you want," Theo said like it was all the same to him.

"I was thinking to make something, not go empty handed. Maybe some skillet cornbread. It doesn't take long."

"That sounds good."

As they reached the parking lot of the inn, Seth noticed that most of the cars were nice ones and the truck stuck out like a sore thumb. "This truck is an eyesore, isn't it?"

"I usually park on the far edge of the parking lot, over there, behind the delivery vans," Theo told him then eyed him as he parked. "Are you feeling nervous?"

"I admit, this place is scaring me. The tearoom is so fancy."

"Kind of, but you can handle it," Theo told him. "Think about who goes to the tearoom. It's mostly women who are drawn to it. You're a hunk serving them tea and sweets and finger sandwiches. As long as you're pleasant, you'll do fine."

Did Seth hear him right? "A... hunk?"

Theo rolled his eyes at him. "They won't throw you into the deep end on your first day. You have orientation and training. So try and relax."

Of course Theo was right, but there was so much to learn and Ms Silver was real strict. There was a rule for everything, like where to stand when taking an order and exactly how far, how loud to speak, and that was just the start of it. The next day Seth was going to be learning all about tea – how to serve it and everything else there was to know.

As busy as he was, Seth still managed to sneak a peek at Theo behind the reception desk. He was the picture of a perfect employee – sure of himself and smiling just right. It wasn't a real smile though.

By the end of the day, Seth's poor brain was reeling, and it was a relief to be going home with Theo. Of course he wasn't living there any more, but he got to cook for Theo and Ace one more time.

He made a nice, good sized cornbread real quick and some little corn cakes for Ace. Since they wanted to get going, Theo and Seth decided to eat later.

To get to the house, they drove up the hill, past the peach trees that had only a hint of green buds. "This place is going to be something when all these trees start flowering," Seth said, but when he saw the huge house where Julian and Rob lived, he went speechless.

"Such a big house!" Ace said, amazed.

"Get a load of this place," Seth said as he got out of the truck. "Rob seemed just like a regular guy. I didn't think he lived in a place like this."

"It belonged to Julian's family and the Brenners were seriously rich," Theo said.

"Is that from research?" Seth asked.

"Of course."

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