Page 167 of To Have and to Stalk
Olly glanced at me in the rearview. “That’s unbelievable. Even for the Mafia.”
“Yeah…” I said as they pulled into the garage. “You’re right.”
“Tell Calder we say hi,” Olly said as we made our way to the elevator.
“And that I want more lemon bars,” Eames added.
They gave me a brief hug, then got in the elevator. I dashed to the opposite side of the street, where a small bakery had just opened.
Criminally Good Desserts.
A brassytingsounded as I entered the bakery. The scent of warm butter and sugar immediately filled my senses. Achalkboard menu displayed the daily-rotating selection of baked goods. There was only one baked good always available. The signature dish: a macaron soufflé with sesame ice cream.
The kitchen was visible to customers with just a thin, plastic screen separating them. A man with red knuckles kneaded the dough behind it.
Calder glanced up, catching my eyes through the plastic with a smile. Beside him was his brother, Stone.
I knew Calder and his siblings had a strained relationship, but over the year they’d seemed to be trying to close the gap. Every month they begrudgingly met at Utah’s Chuck E. Cheese knockoff—the reason for that still unclear.
But, even with all that progress, I rarely saw Stone.
The brassytingsounded again, followed by my sister’s voice. “There you are!” She walked to me, stopping short, gaze wandering over my shoulder.
“What’s up?” I asked.
Lithie blinked, as if coming out of a trance. “Mom wants to know if we can do dinner tonight.” She reached for a confection laid out on a porcelain plate labeledFree Samples.
“Don’t eat those,” Stone said. “They have gluten.”
We all paused.
I could count on one hand the number of times I’d heard Stone speak, and even then it was in one to two words. Now he was speaking in full sentences. About my sister. And her dietary restrictions.
“Do you guys know each other?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” Lithie said, dropping the scone and popping out a hip. “Dowe know each other?”
I looked from her back to Stone. What the hell was happening? He said nothing, jaw clenched.
Lithie shot me a tight smile. “Guess not.”
Stone mumbled something to Calder I didn’t catch, then left, eyes on the floor. Lithie watched him the entire way.
“So yeah,” Lithie said. “Can you do dinner tonight?”
After letting her know that yes, I could make dinner tonight, she gave me a hug and left.
“So…” I said. “That was weird.”
“Very,” he agreed, just as another customer walked into the shop. I came around the plastic divider as Calder finished ringing her up.
“Thank you,” she said, grasping the thin brown paper bag that held her cookie for dear life. “Thank you so much.”
I wrapped my arms around Calder, watching her leave the shop.
“Another red-and-black?” I asked, craning my neck to look into his eyes.
Calder had thought I’d want him to quit his, as Taylor Swift would say, vigilante shit. But I’d wished I’d had someone like him with Graham. Imagining the women in the same position I’d been in kept me up at night. It was a fucked-up club that no one should be a member of.
