3. Sarah
Chapter 3
Sarah
The bakery was filled to the brim with patrons. I wasn’t sure what caused the uptick today, but I was thankful for it despite running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I nearly burnt an entire batch of chocolate chip cookies earlier because the line was so long and I couldn’t break away from the cash register.
It also didn’t help that I’d been completely distracted by thoughts of a certain man’s lips and wondering how the hell someone could look so sexy while eating a muffin.
Thankfully, my cousin, Stephanie, came to my rescue and made it just in time for me to pull them out of the oven.
“Holy shit, Sarah. You’ve really made something of this place.” The sound of my brother’s voice cut through the ding of the oven timer that had been going off for a minute straight.
“Theo!” I tossed the cookie sheet onto the metal counter of the island and dashed for him. His chest rumbled against mine as he laughed a full belly laugh. The sound only made me squeeze him harder.
“Easy there, tiger. You’re going to take me out if you squeeze on my ribs any harder.”
“Oops,” I giggled, pulling back to take a good look at my big brother. “Wait,”—I narrowed my eyes at him—“what’s wrong with your ribs?”
He rolled his eyes. “Not much. Just a few broken ones.”
“Theo! What the hell?” I pushed against his chest and he winced.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, drawing my cheeks back in a grimace. “But seriously. What the hell?”
He shrugged like having broken ribs was just part of his job. Which, I guess it was now that he was a bronco rider and all. It was fairly normal for bull and bronco riders to walk away with a ton of injuries—if they walked away at all.
Though I was happy for my brother that he finally stopped living under our parents’ thumbs, I wasn’t exactly thrilled with the profession he chose after he dropped out of law school. I didn’t like the idea of my brother becoming broken beyond repair, especially when he had so much life to live. But it wasn’t my choice to make and I promised myself that no matter what he decided to do, I was going to support him in it.
He’d already sacrificed years of his life doing what our parents wanted him to do so that I could open my bakery without my mother bringing down a literal hammer on me. I was the biggest disappointment of her entire life, but my brother’s success and willingness to pursue law helped to ease the burden of shame I brought to our family.
I didn’t know how things would look now that he had dropped out and was home. Honestly, I didn’t want to know.
“Mom’s going to be pissed when she finds out about your ribs.”
“Mmm, maybe this is a secret we should keep from her.”
I huffed out a breath. “That’s probably a good idea. That woman doesn’t need any more ammunition than she already has.”
“Sometimes, I think she manifests it out of thin air,” he grumbled.
I could feel the weight of it. Our mother’s ambitions. The goals she set for us to maintain her high society image. Every time I thought about it for too long, it felt like someone strapped a backpack filled with rocks onto my shoulders.
My dad wasn’t any help either. Most of the time he was absent and the rest of the time he spent supporting my mom in whatever verbal lashing she decided to give me.
My brother and I stood in silence for a few moments. The realization of what his coming home would truly mean for us as a family was starting to settle in and I hated the feeling of the tightness taking hold in my chest.
So, I straightened my apron and rolled my shoulders back. “When do you start at the Carnelle’s ranch?”
“Tomorrow.”
“And you’re going to work with broken ribs?” I arched a brow at him and he shot me a lopsided grin.
“It’s all part of the job, little sis. ”
“Just promise me you’ll be careful.”
He pulled me in for a side hug and I tried not to squeeze him too hard this time. “I promise.”
“You know…” I drew out the words as I leaned back to look him in the eyes. “At that ranch, there’s a lot more to look out for than just the bucking broncos. I’ve heard Melody Carnelle likes to have her way with all the new riders who come through her family’s ranch.”
His face twisted into a scowl as he groaned. “That woman has always been a viper in the grass, hasn’t she?”
“Yup.”
“Honestly, if there was anywhere else I could train in Pebble Brook Falls, I’d choose it over the Carnelle’s ranch. But this was the only option for me to train and be close to home. Sometimes you have to take the good with the bad.”
I crossed my arms over my chest. “Unfortunately, when it comes to that family, I think all of it is bad. But, I get it. You’re trying to make multiple things work by pursuing your dream and being home. I’d just steer clear of her if I were you.”
“That’s the plan.” He moved around me and swiped one of the chocolate chip cookies off the tray on the counter.
“Hey!” I chastised, pointing at his chest. “I expect you to pay for that on your way out.”
He laughed around the ginormous bite he took. As his long blonde hair fell over his eyes, I saw the young, carefree version of him that had been stowed away for years. Theo was always the sweet one. Making sure the people around him were happy, even if that meant sacrificing his own joy .
Guilt had my heart clenching as I thought of the sacrifices he made for me. Mostly because I was selfish and allowed him to take the brunt of our parents’ expectations as a burden to carry on his own. I let him do it, knowing that each passing year he spent doing something he hated, his bright blue eyes dulled each time I saw him. The only thing I was focused on was freeing myself.
Now that he was back home and I was witness to the joy that same freedom brought him, I made a silent promise to myself that I wouldn’t shy away from our parents’ shaming and disappointment at his expense. It was Theo’s turn to live free.
“So, what’s this I hear about Willow turning the Baxley estate into a new orphanage?” Theo’s words cut through my thoughts like a knife slicing through buttercream frosting.
While I tried to keep Theo updated while he was in law school, it was hard to cover all the events of the past year over the phone. “You missed a lot while you were gone.”
“Care to fill me in?” he asked, leaning against the counter right before he stole another cookie off the sheet.
I smacked at his hand, but he was much taller than me and evaded my attack before shoving the entire cookie into his mouth.
“You’re diabolical. Do you know that?”
He smiled widely at me, revealing his mouth full of chocolate chip cookie.
I snorted and rolled my eyes.
“One of these days I’m going to kick your ass for being a pain in mine. ”
He smiled wider. “You love me too much to kick my ass. Plus, you’re nowhere near fast enough to catch me to do it.”
In a flash, I snapped my hand out and pinched him on his right nipple.
“Agh!” He reared back, covering the spread of his chest with his forearms. “Did you seriously just give me a titty twister?”
I smiled maniacally at him. “What?” I shrugged. “You challenged how quick I was. So, I had to prove you wrong. You might be my big brother, but I’m a hell of a lot meaner than you are.”
He rubbed at his right peck while clutching his ribs and glared at me, sending me into a fit of giggles.
“Are you going to update me on everything I missed or are you just going to torture me some more?”
“Yeah.” I grabbed the sheet of cookies on the counter. “Let me run these out to the case first and then we’ll talk.”
“Okay.”
The crowd of patrons from the late morning rush had slowed a bit, but all the tables were still full as I quickly placed the cookies into the glass display case.
“You doing okay, Steph?” I asked as she counted change for Mrs. Bailey, one of the town’s most notorious biddies. Ever since her husband died a few months back, she’d found herself titled as a hellacious flirt and a vicious gossip. I shot her a quick smile as she took the change from Stephanie and she just stopped, looked me up and down like I was a diseased rat, then sauntered off as fast as her hip replacements could take her .
Stephanie giggled. “I’m doing much better than you are. Knowing Mrs. Bailey, she probably has the rumor mill churning given that look she just gave you. What did you do to the poor woman?”
I shook my head. “I have no idea, but as long as she keeps having her biddie meetings at my bakery and spending her money on my cupcakes, I don’t care.”
“Good point.”
“I’m going to head back to hang out with Theo for a bit. Are you okay to stay up here for a while longer without me?”
“Of course!”
“Thank you! You’re a lifesaver.”
I headed back through the kitchen door. “Okay, Stephanie’s good, so I can chat a bit longer before I need to start the next round of cupcakes.”
Theo was leaning against the counter with his arms crossed over his chest. “Where were we?” I asked.
“You were going to update me on the town’s juicy gossip.”
My heart shot through my stomach as I recalled the events of this past summer. There certainly was a lot of juicy gossip. The town had seen more in the span of a few months than it had in an entire decade.
“I guess the best place to start is that Willow finally got what was owed to her by her grandmother. We still aren’t completely sure what led Madeline Baxley to give over her estate to the one person she tried to keep out of her family. The only thing we can think of is that Madeline wanted the estate to stay in her bloodline, even if the only surviving family member had tainted blood.” I spat out the last words because the idea that my best friend wasn’t considered pure due to her biological father being poor was such an archaic thought process. Cut us open and we all bled the same color and experienced the same pain. Money didn’t change any of that, no matter how much some people wanted it to.
“I never liked the woman. Even when she smiled, it looked like she was frowning.” Theo’s face twisted in disgust.
Closing my eyes, I shook off the memories from last summer because I never wanted to see my best friend in that much turmoil ever again. “I’m just glad to see Willow putting all that money to good use. Honestly, I’m not sure if I would have the willpower to give up that gorgeous estate. But she seems perfectly happy living with Johnny in his house.”
He nodded. ”It takes a special person to be that selfless. I know she didn’t have the best time growing up and it sounds like she wants to give to the future generation of kids who were just like her.”
“Yeah, she’s pretty amazing.” I smiled.
“So are you, sis. Just because you weren’t given an opportunity to give back in that way doesn’t mean you wouldn’t. I know you say it would be hard for you to give up something as grand as the Baxley estate, but I don’t buy that for one minute. You’ve always been generous, kind, and thoughtful. I know you would give back in whatever way you could. ”
I blushed. “Thanks, Theo.” He always saw the best in people. Even when we couldn’t see it ourselves.
His big palm splayed over my bicep and he gave it a gentle squeeze. “I also wanted to say I’m sorry I wasn’t here for everything that happened last year. I know you probably didn’t get much support from mom and dad.”
I snorted. “I hardly saw them all summer. Mom even robbed me of my largest account in some screwed-up attempt to teach me a lesson. She thought that by showing me that she was the one who actually controlled the citizens of Pebble Brook Falls I would fall in line and do something more worthy of my time than be a bakery owner.”
Conflict danced in Theo’s eyes. The anger that swelled from being pressed under our mother’s thumb for too long was warring with the love he still had for her. I could see it because it was the same conflict that I felt swirling in my soul all the time. I didn’t hate my parents for what they wanted for me. They were simply products of their upbringing and the pressures that society put on them. I just wanted them to be the ones to break the cycle. To realize how much their actions were tearing our family apart. That it didn’t matter what Theo and I did for a living, as long as we were happy.
But, I’d grown to understand that hell was more likely to freeze over than my parents realizing the error of their ways.
“Let me talk to her, I can?—”
“No,” I cut my brother off. “No. You’ve already done enough to protect me. It’s my turn to take the brunt of things for a while. Give you some space to live your own life. ”
Just as he opened his mouth to give me a retort, my phone pinged in my apron pocket. Not even a second later, Theo was fishing his phone out of his jeans pocket after his dinged as well.
“Speaking of the she-devil.” He showed me the screen of his phone where our mom had sent a group text to both of us.
I reached into my apron and tried to stall the reflexive reaction of my heart plummeting through my stomach every time I saw my mom’s name flash across the small screen. But there was no stopping it as I swiped my thumb across the screen and opened the message.
Mom
It’s been a while since we have had a family dinner. I fully expect both of you to be home this Sunday evening by six o’clock sharp.
I groaned. “I thought we were done with family dinners.”
Theo’s sigh was a mirror for the internal upset I felt strangling my gut. “At least we’ll be together?” he offered.
“Yeah. At least we’ll be there together.”
We stood in silence for several long minutes. Feeling the heaviness of what was to come from that family dinner put me right back into the countless times when my mother told me I wasn’t good enough. All the moments I saw a disapproving look from my father. The moment I learned that my own mother had robbed me of my largest baking account two summers ago when she told little Tommy’s mom to choose another bakery for his elaborate birthday party.
But as I looked at my big brother and saw the same worries etched on his face, I knew I had to be stronger this time. It was my turn to jump into the line of fire so that he could finally have his moment of peace.