Chapter Twenty-two
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
NATALIE
The bakery hosting today’s bake-off was too small for all those who wanted to join in the fun, so they set up a large tent out front and put up three rows of five tables. There are two people per table, and the cheery energy is contagious.
“Do you know everyone here?” I lean back to ask Tobias. It wasn’t exactly a whisper, but the tables are close enough together that I don’t want anyone to hear me.
“Most of them, yeah. I’ve been coming here for ten years. I should know them.”
“I’ve been coming here for that long, too, and I don’t.”
“I come every other month. You come once or twice a year. It’s different.”
“Okay, so who is our biggest competition?”
“Planning to win, are you?”
I shrug. “It would be fun. What’s the prize?”
“A free box of donuts once a month for a year.”
“From there,” I say and point at the bakery.
Tobias laughs. “Yes.”
“Oh, we have to win now. Have you had her Oreo donut with the crushed cookies in the dough?”
“I have.”
“My mouth is watering just thinking of having one.”
Tobias pins me with a look I can’t decipher, and I smile.
So, he did hear me in the kitchen earlier. That's good. I can’t have him looking at me with that smirk and smoldering eye thing—not anymore. I like this new look. Even if I don’t know what it means.
“Afternoon beer?” Hudson, the guy from last night, comes up to us. He’s got a tray of pints.
“Sure,” I say, and Tobias takes one too. “Thank you.”
“Of course. Good luck.”
He wanders off to the next group, offering more drinks.
“Is that normal?” I ask.
Tobias nods. “He owns the bar next door to the bakery.”
“Oh, neat.”
“Neat,” Tobias repeats the word teasingly. I turn to poke him, but he catches my hand and spins me around. “You have to be faster than that.”
“I think your abs broke my finger,” I say.
I know I should move out of his hold, but he’s got one arm draped across my chest as he holds me against him.
I absorb the moment for a minute longer, but when I’m ready to tell him this should be in our off-limits rules, a commotion erupts at the end of our row.
“I told you not to do that.”
“It’s not ruining anything. You’re overreacting.”
“They’re here to bake, not drink.”
“They can do both. Relax.”
“Do not tell me to relax. If you want your own event, take it up with the town next year.”
“It’s really not that big of a deal, Sadie. Here, do you want one? It could help you relax.”
Sadie, I assume since that’s what Hudson just called her, rears her head back as if he’d slapped her.
“Gross, no.”
“Come on,” Hudson says, leaning in. “You know you want it.”
“Don’t mind them,” the lady next to us says, having caught me watching the show. I feel bad that I was staring, but they made it hard not to. “Those two have been at each other’s throats since the day they could walk.”
“Oh, did they use to be friends or date or something?” I ask.
“Oh no. Never. Hudson is good friends with Sadie’s older brother, but Hudson and Sadie have always been?—”
“Are we all ready?” Sadie’s voice commands us to the front of the tent.
“Ready!” someone shouts, and Sadie smiles.
“Perfect. Let’s get baking!”
* * *
“That’s not how you’re supposed to do it,” Tobias says, reaching for the dough.
“It’s fine.” I raise my elbow to make him back off.
“Seriously, let me try.”
“Need I remind you of your baking skills, Tobias Banks?”
“We’re just mixing the ingredients. I can’t mess that up.”
“Um, an eggshell in the first batch of cookies you ever made for me begs to differ.”
“One time. Once.”
“Once is enough.”
“Sooooo,” the woman, Candy, as she introduced herself, appears next to me again. “How long have you two been together?”
I’m not about to jump the gun with my auto-response like I did last night, but also, after last night, I don’t want to offend him either.
“We're just friends,” Tobias says calmly.
“Oh, by the amount of flirting you were doing, I just assumed you were a couple.”
“No, we’re?—”
“I told her I wanted to kiss her last night, but she turned me down.”
The gasp that comes from my lungs is so loud, the row in front of us turns to look at me.
“Oh really?” Candy asks. “And she said no?”
Tobias nods slowly. “She did. Said she just wants to be friends because she doesn’t want to lose me.”
“Oh, well, that’s sweet.”
“It is, and I respect her choice, even if it sucks.”
I try to ignore him, tending to the gingersnaps we’re supposed to be making.
“Maybe she’ll change her mind,” Candy goes on.
“Maybe. I think it’s my clothes,” Tobias says, now soaking up all of Candy’s attention.
I roll my eyes but finally start to make headway with the cookies, so I’m still winning.
“Your clothes. Well, that can’t be it. You look dashing.”
He’s milking it now.
“Thanks, Candy. That means a lot.”
Candy taps me on the shoulder. “You should think about getting contacts or glasses.”
“She should,” Tobias adds quickly.
“Remind her about it later. I’m sure she’ll change her mind.”
“Thank you.”
Candy goes back to her table, leaving me with a smirking Tobias.
“You’re doing it,” I say, refusing to comment on what just happened.
“Doing what?”
“Smirking.”
“Sorry.”
“Sure.”
He helps me switch out the cooking sheets. He bumps my arm, so I bump his back.
“I like that you think I’m funny,” he says, and I laugh sarcastically.
“I like that you think I think you’re funny.”
The gaze that he gave me last night before we started dancing last night is back.
If only I knew how this could end for us, things would be so different right now.
“You’re doing it,” he says, leaning closer to whisper in my ear.
“Doing what?”
“Biting your lip.”
I press my lips together and get back to the cookies.
“Sorry.”
“Sure.”
He rubs my back just as Hudson returns to engage him in conversation. Which is good because I think I just figured something out.
I want Tobias in a way I’ve never wanted anyone, and I’m only half terrified. The other half … she’s not sure we should rule it out yet.