Cedar stared down at her hands in her lap. “That was weird.” She glanced his way and then out the window where she could watch Teo’s reflection in the glass. “Was that weird for you,too?”
“Yeah.” The light changed from yellow to red and Teo slammed on thebreaks.
Cedar braced herself on the dash for the stop. Waves of angry heat rolled off Teo’s body and slammed into her. “If I had known we were meeting with Darrin, I would have told you about ourpast.”
“Why didn’tyou?”
“Because there was no need. It’s in thepast.”
“Is it—because you seemed kind of friendly backthere.”
“Hewasfriendly.”
“You weren’t stoppinghim.”
“I was taken bysurprise.”
Teo harrumphed and leaned closer to his door. Even though it was just a few inches more between them, Cedar felt the space as surely as she would have felt a wall between them. She twisted her knees so they pointed forward and stared out thewindshield.
A few minutes later, Teo asked. “Are you going to work withhim?”
“I don’t know,” she said so quietly she wasn’t sure he heard her. “I need ajob.”
“You’ve applied to dozens ofcompanies.”
Cedar’s hackles went up. “I’ve applied to a half-dozen companies. None of the positions are my dreamjob.”
“And working with Darrin would be yourdream.”
“No. Building The Cookie Bar would be. It was my idea in the first place. I’d like to see it come to fruition. But—” She cut off, not wanting to express the confusion Darrin had created in her heart. She didn’t love Darrin, he’d hurt her too deeply for her to go running back into his arms. His small arms. Now that she thought about his hug, he really was scrawny compared to Teo. When Teo wrapped her up, she was cocooned and protected and overwhelmed with hormones. When Darrin held her, even when they were together, she didn’t feel allthat.
“But?” Teoprompted.
“But my situation has changed. I’ve changed.” She shifted, turning her knees towards Teo once again. “Darrin and I broke up because I wanted to have children and hedidn’t.”
“You were talking about having kids? That’s serious.” His lips became a thinline.
“We talked about our futures—a lot. It’s what people do when they’re about to graduate. Anyway, he thought kids would be a chore—I thought they’d make life all the sweeter, and we partedways.”
“He made that comment about Deja and the baby being a highpriority.”
Cedar brushed invisible crumbs off her lap. “I don’t know if that was him trying to charm Deja or if he really feels differentlynow.”
“What if he does? Where does that leaveus?”
Cedar reached out and laid her hand on Teo’s arm. “I—I don’t think I want to get back withDarrin.”
“You don’tthink?”
She dropped her face into her hands. “Teo—this is all a big mess, and I haven’t had two minutes to process anything. I want to give you the answer you want to hear. I do. I want to make you happy and wipe those wrinkles off your forehead, but I need to thinkfirst.”
“Fair enough.” He pulled into his driveway and put the car in park. “Elijah says we are legally committed to back the salon. I can’t get out of thecontract.”
“You’d lose somuch.”
Teo waved away her concern. “There’s more important things thanmoney.”
Cedar’s gut twisted at the thought of Darrin walking away with Teo’s money. She put her hand on the door handle. “I’ve got to go.” Her apartment would be quiet and was freshly stocked with cherry soda. She could drown her sorrows while she figured out her future. “I’ll see you in the morning.” At the last possible second, she burst across the console and kissed Teo’s warm cheek. Her heart did a little flip. He brushed her hair over her shoulder. They stared into one another eyes for a moment before Cedar tore herselfaway.
