“These are from next door, right?” Dawn asked. “Xander’s a genius. I have to force myself not to go in there and even then, he brings me experiments all the time. If he wasn’t gay we’d be married.”
“Is he single?” I asked, and I was joking, but I was also kind of not joking. I’d never really thought about what I wanted from a boyfriend, but fresh cinnamon rolls that were this good? That wasn’t the worst thing I could think of.
Besides, hewascute. All golden curls and puppy dog eyes and a smile thatdid thingsto me.
“As of last week,” Dawn said. “When the whole town heard him breaking up with a guy he would probably have described as his boyfriend and I would have described as an asshole. Glad he eventually saw that.”
“That’s rough,” I said, taking a picture of the roll with the bite out of it to add to the post so people could see the perfect layers of bread and cinnamon-sugar filling and chopped, toasted almonds, which really took the whole experience up a notch.
“No, he was an asshole,” Dawn said.
“I believe that part. I meant… the whole town knowing you just broke up with someone. Must kinda suck.”
“Oh, like the whole town knows thatmyasshole fiancé ran off the minute he found out I was pregnant?” Dawn asked.
I straightened up and turned to look at her. “Yeah,” I said. “Like that. Honestly don’t know how you do it.”
Dawn shrugged. “They all know, but they pitch in to help. Xander takes the trash out for me. Dante knitted me a baby sweater. Roxie brings me homemade yogurt and frozen meals so I don’t have to cook. I’ve got so many offers to babysit that I’m thinking about raffling off the privilege for charity. It’s nice.”
“Thought you desperately needed my help?” I asked, eyebrow raised as I licked more glaze off my fingers.
“You wanna be alone with that cinnamon roll?” Dawn asked.
“Kinda.” I paused to lick my lips. “Don’t avoid the question.”
“I…” Dawn paused, looked out the window, sighed, and then turned her gaze back to me. “I’m not allowed to lift anything heavier than a cat,” she said. “Doctor’s orders. You can’t tell Mom, she’ll freak out and drop all her plans and she needs a vacation as much as you do, I’m not letting her cut it short.”
“Mom does need a break,” I agreed. “She’ll be here the week after next, right?”
“Right, so don’t worry, you can go back to the big city in just two short weeks.” Dawn smiled wryly. “Besides, Dad hasn’t let you have two minutes off in a row since you started working for him,” she said. “And I was right, you look like hell.”
“I’m flattered.”
I shoved the last of the cinnamon roll in my mouth and pretended to myself that Ididn’tlook like hell and Dawn was just being normal amounts of sibling-mean.
“Think of it as a vacation that comes with a free workout.” Dawn shrugged, grabbing a second cinnamon roll. “The big Otter Bay annual picnic is coming up, we’ll be busy. I do need you,” she added. “Maybe I’m pregnant and alone and a little scared and I need my older brother around?”
If I’d been annoyed at all by being summoned here, I instantly wasn’t anymore. This was my baby sister, and my nibling-to-be.
“I’m here,” I promised. “For you, and the baby. For as long as you need me.”
The relief on Dawn’ face was worth the fact that I was still a little nauseous and the feeling hadn’t quite returned to my ass after the drive. It was worth a hundred more long drives and a thousand more crappy, over sweetened coffees.
“Good. Go nap, you’re no good to me if you pass out and I can’t even drag you behind the counter out of the way,” she said. “Your room’s all made up. Sorry half of it is being taken up by baby stuff.”
“It’s fine,” I said, grabbing a second cinnamon roll for the trip upstairs. “Could just leave me on the floor for people to step over me.”
“People step over you enough,” Dawn said meaningfully. “Go. I’ll leave you another one of those for later.”
I was already licking glaze off my fingers again. I’d changed my mind—seeing my little sister, being helpful while she was pregnant, those were great things. But I would’ve made the trip for one of these cinnamon rolls.
There had to be other great hidden places around here, too. Maybe small town living wouldn’t suck so bad for a couple of weeks, after all.
“I’m going,” I said around a mouthful of perfectly fluffy cinnamon roll, heading for the stairs I could see nestled behind a huge houseplant I wasn’t planning to eventryto identify. A nap sounded incredible right about now, and I didn’t need any more convincing.
“Oh, uh, Milo?” Dawn said, stopping me at the foot of the stairs. “You said baby. It’s, umm. It’s babies.”
I frowned at her, confused, until she held up two fingers.
