“I want to.” I licked my lips.
What Iwantedwas to be as brave as he was, but from here, that seemed impossible. Aiden was soconfident.
The bell above the door rang, and my stomach dropped as I looked up to see who’d just walked in.
“Shit.”
Aiden glanced around, fingers tensing on his coffee cup as he watched my mom head straight for the counter.
She was between us and the door. There was no sneaking out past her.
“I’ll handle it,” Aiden promised. “She just wants an apology from me. It’ll be okay.”
“You don’t have anything to apologizefor,” I said, knee already bouncing nervously under the table. “She should be apologizing to you.”
“I don’t say this a whole lot,” Aiden began. “But sometimes, you gotta pick your battles.”
Aiden didn’t really seem like the kind of person whodidpick his battles—or at least, he seemed like the kind of person who pickedallof them, and maybe grabbed a couple that weren’t his for good measure.
He was saying this for my benefit, and I didn’t want that.
But on the other hand, I had no idea what else to do. I wasstillnervous about standing up to my mom yesterday.
I moved my foot away from Aiden’s and felt instantly guilty about it, curling up in my chair to make myself as small as possible.
Mom caught sight of us in the next instant, her face changing as she looked at Aiden.
Aiden, who smiled and gave her a cheerful wave, like she hadn’t reduced him to tears yesterday.
I had no idea how he did that. How he could be so…cool, all the time.
“You,” Mom hissed, marching over to us with daggers in her eyes.
Aiden’s fingers tensed on his cup again, but he didn’t look away like I did. He held his head up high.
“What do you think you’re doing here?” she asked him, venom in every syllable. “Howdareyou.”
Aiden wet his lips. “Well, I’m pretty sure I’m having breakfast,” Aiden said, voice perfectly even. “In a bakery open to the public,” he added. “Donut?”
Mom looked down at the offered donut—the last one, which I’d been leaving for Aiden—like it’d just tracked mud all over the house after coming in uninvited.
She glanced up at Aiden again, and the look on her face didn’t change at all.
“You,” she said, turning her attention to me. “You knew this was where your sister’s wedding cake was being made, and youdareto show your face in here?”
There was that word again.Dare.
Having breakfast with a boy I liked shouldn’t have beendaring, but it’d felt like that since the moment Aiden had woken me with a kiss and told me to get up before he left without me, laughing the entire time.
I’d felt like I was doing something I shouldn’t have been, like I was breaking the rules.
I was hiding the badge Aiden had been wearing proudly yesterday on the inside of my coat, hidden from view.
What the hell could out-and-proud devil-may-care Aiden possibly want with me?
“I… I didn’t…” I swallowed, unsure what else to say. I’d had no idea this was the bakery making Hallie’s wedding cake, and I probably wouldn’t have come in here if I did.
Aiden couldn’t have known, either. Why would he? He hadn’t even known about the wedding until I’d crashed into his life, dragged him along to this, and made him deal with my mother.
