“We are here because of you, sweetness. Take all the time you need.”
It’s been almost two weeks since our quick trip to LA, and Theo seems content. His smiles more often, his happiness almost palatable.
I also know he is working on something. Not from Theo himself, but my brothers have all insinuated he has talked to them. About what, I know nothing. But he’s got some kind of plan spinning in his mind for his future. I assume my brothers have the expertise to help him figure it out.
The job is his, and if he doesn’t want it, then he can tell me, and I will begin the process again.
When I get off the Gondola after the dinner setting, I find him waiting for me. I raise my eyebrows, excitement churning in my gut. Whatever Theo has thought about his future, he’s finally ready to share.
This is it; I can feel it.
“We going somewhere, sugar?”
Theo nods and I can almost taste his excitement on the air. Theo reminds me of Mulder sneaking up on one of her toys, like she is going to catch it unawares. If he had a tail, Theo would probably swish it in the same quick motion. He does have his lip ring, which gets a few swishes of its own until I come to the rescue.
“The booking office?” I ask, as we walk to the end of the building where Maxine’s is located. The booking office is big, with glass on three sides, used for booking snowmobiling, ice skating, and sleigh rides, or just for giving general information. The building is about halfway down the main pedestrian walkway extending from the parking lot and bus stop, all the way to Black Diamond and the ski lifts.
“Once Quinn is done with the renovation at Silver Spring, he’s moving the office there, so this space will be available. And I have ideas for it. Come, sit.”
Theo tugs me to a table, complete with some slices of cake and wine. “I made these. Do you want to try?”
I groan, my eyes rolling back. After a long day like today, my sweet tooth is very much engaged.
Theo smiles and makes me sit. “Eat.”
“What are you doing while I eat?”
“I’m talking; you are eating.”
I sit where he points and spear a bit of cake, then move my hand to indicate he should talk.
“I want to keep the Hobbit Hole, but maybe you could give up the studio? Like we move in together, but in two places.”
I smile, liking the way this is starting. “That’s an easy yes, sweetness. We have stayed with each other almost every night for a while. Hell yeah. What else you got?”
“Is it okay to keep the space, though?”
“Yes.” I take his hand and kiss it. Theo needs a place that is his, that he earned, even if I stay over each night. “It’s also okay to tell me you need a night to yourself. But you should also partly move into my cabin. I move in with you. You move in with me.”
“Done.” Theo smiles, lighting up his whole face and making it even more breathtaking. “I want to buy this office and turn it into a bakery.”
My eyebrows shoot up, and Theo drops a blueprint in my lap. “I talked to Maxine, and she has no interest in expanding with the coffee shop, but this location shares a wall with her place. The wall with the kitchen, actually. I could buy that part from her, knock out this non-loadbearing wall,” he points, “and expand. That leaves plenty of room for a bakery. Not only that but here,” his finger points to Maxine’s restrooms, “Quinn says we can easily make this a hallway, connecting the two businesses. Entrances to the bathrooms and doors to the businesses on each end. Same concept he uses with Black Diamond but modified. Exit the coffee shop, enter the bakery, all by a hallway. It will look like the same business from the outside.”
“Coffee and bakery distinct, but as far as customer experience goes, they are very close. Customers will have to do two check-outs.”
“Yes.” His eyes dance as he looks at me. “For now. At some point, I think Maxine will sell the coffee side to me, and I have talked with Quinn about keeping that in mind with the reno.”
“Planning your empire?” I tease, pulling a smile for his benefit. Theo with a bakery is not a Theo at Summit House. But what he wants and needs is more important.
“The thing is, Matt, I keep thinking about Glazed. We had a bakery out front serving the restaurant. Customers could enter as a standalone shop, and if they were eating at the restaurant, we provided the items on the dessert menu. Maybe we could try the same thing, just with the bakery down here instead of up the mountain.”
My mind whirls; I hadn’t even thought of this. “So you would have a bakery here, and also supply Summit House?”
“Different products, of course. Like I did with the cake—similar flavors maybe, a tease. I also talked with CJ about the merch with the sketch of Summit House on the front. We could have that here, even exclusively, instead of in the other gift shops. Make it clear the bakery is a part of Summit House.”
Theo slides some mock-ups of a logo for the proposed “Sweetness Bakery,” and I run my finger over it. “Sweetness.” My eyes flick to his. “That’s the name? You know you have the rights to Donahue’s Bakery, if you want to call it that.”
Theo kisses me, humming at the taste of his own frosting on my lips. His eyes heat with a feeling I know all too well. The fucking turn-on of all turn-ons is tasting the flavors I create lingering on his tongue. Only fair he should feel the same way. “On the dessert menu, we can say something like Sweetness at Summit House, if you like.”
