“Maybe because you’ve been going at it ever since I met you. You’ve been working nonstop. Do you even know how to relax?”
“Yeah…in a pond.”
His eyes light up. “Well, then don’t mind if I do.”
He takes my hand in his, but I stop him. “I still have more to do here.”
“No, I think you’re good.”
“Theo, I’m serious.”
“So am I. You’ve already mowed several lawns today, you’ve painted someone’s fence, and then you came here to change out a vanity. It’s past eight, and frankly, I’ve been here since the wee hours of the morning, battling mice, mouse poop, and expired jelly beans. I say we call it a night, grab our swimming costumes, and go to the lake.”
“That’s what you think?” I ask.
“Yes, that’s what I think.” Then he takes my hand and leads me out of the shop, making sure to lock up with my key.
“You know, you can be very demanding.”
“I’m aware,” he answers as we make our way down the street, right to the corner store, where Theo leads me inside.
“What are we getting in here?” I ask.
“Some of those cookies. I’ve been thinking about them all bloody day.”
Chuckling, I follow him to the cookie case. I grab a brown bag and he opens the case just as someone says, “I heard you were distracted, but I wasn’t sure it was true.”
I glance over my shoulder to find Marjorie standing behind me, with a cart full of watermelons and champagne, looking oh so pleased with herself, as if she has caught me red-handed.
“What?” I ask.
Marjorie gestures to Theo. “There’s been talk that you’ve been wasting your time with a tourist, and it looks like everyone was right. Just as we suspected would happen when we gave you the candy store: you wouldn’t follow through.”
Embarrassment heats my cheeks as I find the right words to respond. But I don’t get a chance as Theo steps right in.
“Who the fuck do you think you are?” Theo says, shutting the cookie case.
“Theo, it’s fine.” I press my hand to his arm.
“The fuck it is,” he says, stepping up to Marjorie’s cart. “Did you really just come up to Renley and insult her? Not even a hello, not even a check in? Just straight to insult?”
Marjorie lifts her chin. “Please, the dramatics are not necessary.”
“Look in the goddamn mirror, lady. Jesus Christ. We’re over here getting cookies after a hard day of work, and you decide to start trouble for no reason other than to act like a massive cunt?”
Marjorie clutches her pearls. “I beg your pardon?”
“Please don’t beg me for anything. Here’s your one and only warning—stay the fuck away from Renley, keep her name out of your mouth, and leave her be. Got it?”
“You…you can’t talk to me like that.”
“The fuck I can’t. Trust me when I say, I have so much pull in this world that if I wanted to, I could end you. So leave her the fuck alone.” Then with that, Theo loops his arm around my shoulders and walks me toward the front of the market, grabs us two lemonades, and then pays for our food.
When we’re outside, far away from Marjorie and headed to our houses, my mind wanders to what he said, how he was so quick to defend me, without even giving it a second thought. She insulted me, but it was almost like she insulted him.
He took charge.
He owned her in that moment and put her in her place.
