“Of course he was into it!” Dante said, throwing his hands up. “I keep telling you. He’s just somehow more awkward than you are. He’s coming back. You spooked him, but he’ll come back.”
“You’re the spooky one,” I said, wiping down the counter. Again.
“Right, and you’ve polished that counter so much I can see the future in it,” Dante said, peeling the crust off his slice of bread and chewing on it. “You know what I see?” he asked.
“Can I possibly stop you from telling me?” I asked. I felt weird enough about last night without Dante dissecting it for me. If he hadn’t somehowknownsomething was wrong when he walked in here, I wouldn’t have told him.
Okay, that was a lie, I absolutely would have told him. But over a pint of Ben and Jerry’s finest, tonight, while we watched something that either had a lot of explosions and car chases or something I had to watch from behind a pillow, depending on who won the coin flip.
Not in the middle of the bakery, in the middle of the morning rush, when anyone could walk in.
“I see a tall, dark, handsome stranger who isn’t a stranger at all walking through that door behind me. I see him awkward and bashful and adorable, coming to apologize for running off. With either flowers, food, or both. Because that’s what he’s like.”
I opened my mouth to argue when the door swung open.
Dante turned around instantly, but his shoulders slumped as soon as he saw his prediction hadn’t quite come true.
“Morning, Muriel,” I said, trying to muster up some of that fake warmth Milo had been so good at last night. “I thought you were giving up carbs?”
“The scent of cinnamon rolls is just wafting down the street,” Muriel said. “You’ve tempted me to have a cheat day. I’ll take two of them,” she added, peering into the hall that led upstairs.
As though she was expecting a ruffled Milo to come down, wearing one of my shirts or something.
Which, obviously, was exactly what she’d been expecting. She wasn’t in here for cinnamon rolls, she was in here for gossip.
Maybe it was better that Milo had backed off last night. The last thing I needed was to be Otter Bay’s favorite subject again.
I bagged the cinnamon rolls anyway while Dante glared at the back of Muriel’s head like he was trying to spontaneously develop pyrokinesis.
Part of me wished he had, although the rest knew, really, that it was harmless. Small town gossip was just that, gossip.
It was just that the last batch of it made me feel raw and exposed like nothing else in my life. Actually breaking up with Brady was nowhere near as bad as the aftermath. The breakup part felt good, until the rumor mill cranked up to full power.
“I saw your young man getting awfully close to Dawn this morning,” Muriel said. “Helping her into his car like a real gentleman.”
Right.Thatwas why she was here.
“He’s Dawn’s brother,” Dante said before I could decide whether or not to share that information.
The way Muriel’s face changed made my morning. “Oh!” she said, turning back to me. “Of course, Dawn said her brother was coming to town, and that explains why she had you showing him around!”
I smiled at her, and this time it was a genuine smile. Not because I’d suddenly found a lot of love for her in my heart, but because at least she didn’t get to gossip about poor Xander being dumped after a first date.
Not that last night had been a date.
Really.
“They must have been going to one of Dawn’s medical appointments, I saw them head off toward the hospital. You know, I just assumed Dawn had found herself a nicer young man than that last one,” Muriel said, wrinkling her nose as she handed me her card. “I can’t believe he’d leave her like that, pregnant and alone. And with twins! Milo’s a good brother, coming all the way from Seattle to help her out,” she concluded.
He was. He was a good brother. He was a goodguy.
That was the worst part. I still really liked him, and I didn’t want last night to end our friendship, and I was scared it would.
The bell over the door rang again while I was busy passing Muriel’s card and her cinnamon rolls over.
“Milo is genuinely the sweetest, kindest man I’ve ever met. Dawn’s really lucky to have him,” I said honestly.
Then I noticed who’d just walked in the door.
