I shook my head. "She made one too many. Not too few."
They all stopped and looked at me.
"What?" Ethan said.
"She told me once," I said quietly. "On one of those nights I couldn't sleep. She said she always baked an extra roll just to watch us. To see who'd fight for it and who'd let it go."
Silence settled over us—not uncomfortable, just ... heavy.
"Of course, she told you," Levi said finally, his voice softer than usual. "You were always the one she worried about most."
I didn't know what to say to that, so I didn't say anything.
We walked the rest of the way in a strange, comfortable silence punctuated by the occasional comment or jab. It felt surreal—like stepping into a memory that didn't quite fit anymore but still held the shape of something I'd once known.
The bakery was small, warm, smelling like butter and sugar and everything good. The owner looked up when we walked in, her eyes widening slightly at the sight of six large men crowding her shop.
"Can I help you?" she asked, smile polite but cautious.
Levi stepped forward. "We'll take two of everything. To go."
Her eyebrows shot up. "Two of ... everything?"
"Everything," Levi confirmed. "And we'll each put in our own orders, too."
The owner's eyes lit up—not with greed, exactly, but with the kind of delight that came from unexpected business. "All right then. Give me a few minutes."
She and her assistant got to work, pulling trays from the case, boxing pastries with quick, practiced hands.
Caleb pulled out a black credit card I'd never seen the likes of before—thick, matte, with lettering I couldn't read from where I stood—and handed it over without hesitation.
I frowned. "Where the hell did you get that?"
He just grinned. "Perks of the job."
When everything was packed and paid for—a mountain of boxes stacked on the counter—we grabbed our individual orders and crowded around a small table in the back corner.
The huge to-go box sat in the middle like a centerpiece.
Finally, Gideon leaned forward, elbows on the table, and got down to business.
"We were all invited to Charleston," he said. "Same as you."
I stared. "All of you?"
"All of us," Caleb confirmed.
"And Dad?" I asked, the word still tasting wrong in my mouth. "You knew?"
"No," Jacob said immediately. "That was ... new. Very new."
"Very," Levi echoed, his jaw tight.
I exhaled slowly, trying to process. "So you all just ... showed up? No questions asked?"
"We had questions," Ethan said. "But we came, anyway."
Gideon nodded. "Dominion Hall made us an offer we couldn't refuse. And then things got ... complicated."
