Page 69 of For You I'd Mend
“She reminds me of Logan,” Cal said once Everly was far enough away not to hear.
“Yeah,” I said, shoving my hands back in my pockets. They’d gone completely numb. “We should get going before my fingers freeze off, and I can’t help you.”
“He would have hated it,” Cal said, his eyes going glassy.
“The tree house idea?” I asked. The cold wind whistled through the bare branches of the large oak. I could see it. An elevated house with real windows to keep the chill out in winter and screens to block the bugs in summer. Maybe a narrow porch all around to enjoy the view of the mountains and the rolling farmland. Chairs with a fire pit below for roasting marshmallows. Logan would have loved it.
“No, that’s perfect,” Cal said, staring off at the tree. “He’d hate how you keep punishing yourself. He also wouldn’t want you to live the rest of your life as a felon if you could help it. It’s bad enough you did time and lost your parents. Logan would have hated that too. But the self-harm,” he said, turning to face me. “That would have pissed him the fuck off. You know that, right?”
“Logan is dead. We’ll never know what he would have thought or not thought. And that’s because of me.”
“Fine,” Cal snapped. “I hate it. Aiden hates it. And when you finally man up and tell Poppy, she’ll hate it. I promise you that. You know you have to tell her. She’ll see the scars eventually, and Aiden’s right. She deserves to know.”
I pulled him close in a tight hug. “I’ll tell her tonight, brother,” I said.
“Good,” he said, pounding my back. He stepped away and wiped at his eyes. “I’m starting to think she’s the only one with a fighting chance of saving you from yourself.”
Chapter twenty-one
Poppy
I shook the crampfrom my hand and picked up the piping bag again. Valentine’s Day couldn’t get here fast enough. The local paper had included Red Blossoms Bakery’s cookie bouquet in an article titled “Skip the Overpriced Roses for Your Sweetheart with These Fresh Gifts.” Not the best story for Mom’s flower shop, but a huge win for us. Though based on how frazzled she looked, Mom was doing fine.
As excited as I was to grow the bakery, I worried we wouldn’t be able to fill all the orders. The cookies had a decent shelf life, but we could only make them so far in advance. The free advertising had also brought in some non-Valentine’s business, like the massive cookie centerpiece I’d been working on all afternoon for a baby shower.
Too bad it wasn’t the type of work that erased every other thought in my head. Ice a cookie. Think of all the reasons Theo wouldn’t want me to sleep over. Refill the piping bag. Think of all the reasons I wouldn’t want to date me. Drop a cookie on the floor. Curse, then think of all the prettier women in Peace Fallswith charming dispositions who Theo could choose instead of me.
We’d texted on and off since Thursday night, but anyone scrolling through our messages wouldn’t think anything had happened. It’s not like I was expecting late night sexting or booty calls, but a small acknowledgement of our transition from friends to more would have made me feel a lot better.
“Oh, my word,” Rowan squealed behind me. “Those stork cookies are adorable.”
“They start to lose their appeal after twenty,” I said, shoving the last cookie in the florist foam and standing back to admire my work. I pulled out my phone and snapped a picture to post on our socials later, much later, like February 15thlater. We were about to be a hearts-and-flowers-only operation.
The doorbell rang. “I’ll get it,” I said, desperate to escape the kitchen I hadn’t left all afternoon. I ran to the front door and opened it without looking.
“Hey,” Theo said, giving me one of those rare smiles that made me want to melt into a puddle at his feet.
“Hi.”
Of course, I was a hot mess the first time he saw me after we had sex. He looked sexy as hell in a pair of gray slacks and a black button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled to show his inked forearms. I’d never seen him in anything so fancy. We stared at each other a beat. Should I hug him? Jump on him and wrap my legs around him koala style? He reached out and placed his hands on my face before bending to kiss me. Koala style sounded pretty good right now, but just as I relaxed into the kiss, he pulled away.
“Do you have a minute?” he asked. “I probably should have texted before coming over.”
“Please,” I said, opening the door wider. “You’re saving me from clean-up duty. Rowan can’t stand a dirty kitchen. She won’t wait for me to washup.”
“You sure?” he asked, wiping his boots on the welcome mat.
Something clanged in the kitchen. “Oh, I’m sure. Don’t worry,” I said, flopping onto the couch. “I’ve already worked a couple hours more than her today.”
He sat right beside me, our thighs brushing. My core clenched like he’d touched something far more sensitive than my jean-clad leg. I blamed his cologne or body wash or whatever it was that smelled like a forest after a rainstorm. The fresh scent had tortured me for a year.
“So, does that mean you’re finished for the day?” he asked.
Not really. There was always something I could do. Instead, I said, “I am.”
“Great. Would you like to go to dinner with me?”
I looked down at my icing-covered shirt. “Right now?”
