And for me.
“Yeah,” I said, glancing up into his warm eyes, smirking a little to brush off the overwhelming feelings I was having in the moment. “I’m just savoring this for a moment.”
His worry relaxed, and he looked around the busy bakery with a smile. “She’s done something incredible here.”
“She has,” I replied, taking a deep breath and pushing the tension from my shoulders. “And we get to be part of it. Which is wild.”
He chuckled, knowing already that I was difficult to deal with, even if he was still learning who I was inside. For years we created opinions of each other based on the inherent desire to battle and clash. And now we were working on trying to get to know who we were at our core.
Like Goldie did with us.
“Don’t let it overwhelm you, Rhea.” He said gently, brushing his lips against my temple in a very manly way that made my very persnickety personality want to melt into it, and I probably would have, if we weren’t in public and I didn’t have a rough reputation to protect. “This is good.”
“I know.” I rolled my eyes, nudging him with my shoulder to create space between us. I didn’t want the day to become a spectacle of our weird relationship dynamic instead of focusing on Goldie’s accomplishments. “I’m fine.”
“You’re on edge,” Tanner replied with a smirk, but took another step back. “Maybe you should steal Goldie away for a minute to re-ground yourself.”
“I’m fine.” I repeated, picking up a stack of unmade pastry boxes someone had left at the door and started toward the kitchen. “Go shake some hands or kiss some babies or whatever it is you golden boys do around here.”
He chuckled, rolling his eyes as I walked away, but the small dose of affection between us had done its job. My chest stopped feeling so overwhelmed with awe and unworthiness, and something settled between my shoulders that felt a lot like determination.
Determination to prove that not only was Goldie’s bakery going to thrive with its second chance, but that I wasn’t going to get dropped or pushed aside for being too hard to deal with when she was tired from it all.
I was going to earn my place at her side.
One sugary cupcake smile at a time. Even if it killed me.
That sugary dispositionlasted another three hours, the caffeine and carb overload I’d been living off crashed out when I glanced up from the front counter to see two people walking through the front door.
Martinez and his new girlfriend, Celeste.
She wore an outfit similar to the one she wore to the fire station a few weeks ago, all neatly pressed and boringly professional. I probably would have brushed off my instant distrust in her if the entire bakery hadn’t seemed to pause the second they walked in at the same time that I did.
I wasn’t the only one who felt how off the whole dynamic of her presence felt every time she came around.
Celeste took in the busy bakery with a measured glance, lips curved in a polite smile, and distant eyes. Martinez followed through the door behind her, loud and proud, arm snaking back around her waist like he was anchoring her there.
Goldie’s smile flickered as she looked across the room at me, but she just widened her eyes slightly in my direction, reminding me to be good, I was sure. I wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize her business, that wasn’t my style.
But that didn’t mean I was going to be fake either.
The whole town had heard about Celeste, thanks to Martinez’s inability to talk about anything but his sexy new girlfriend. And they all got the same vibe as I did.
Something didn’t make sense between them.
As they approached, I moved away from the front counter, grabbing the carafe of coffee to refill cups or spill it down the front of myself as an excuse to leave early. I smirked as I imagined the dramatics Jasper would let fly if I dared to do something worthy of stealing his spotlight in the crowded room.
Distracting myself with refills worked for a while, but eventually all good things ended and my pot was empty, forcing me to go back to the front of the shop. Glancing around, I saw Martinez leaning on the counter talking to some guys, but the shadow at his side was conveniently missing. And her being unsupervised in Goldie’s safe place made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
Turning, I looked for my sweet hippie lover’s golden curls in the crowd, tuning my ears to try to catch the sound of her melodic voice over the noise. But I didn’t find her. The space felt void and barren without her energy, and my stomach clenched at her unexplained absence.
Unease burned in my gut, instinct telling me to find her as my feet moved on their own. Weaving through the crowd, I saw Tanner at the counter filling an order, and as he sensed me looking at him, he paused with a croissant midway into a box and locked eyes with me across the busy space. I could read the question in his gaze, clear as day.
You good?
Nodding, I went deeper into the bakery, moving toward the kitchen on my hunt for Goldie and her sunshine. I followed my instinct deeper through her space, through the kitchen, and it wasn’t until I made it all the way around the storage racks in the back room that I found her.
She was standing in the corner, a container of fresh cranberries from the shelf in her hands and a smile on her face. But her ease meant nothing when I saw who she was standing with.
