Page 83 of Turning Up the Heat

“You’ll do the right thing, honey, I have faith in you and Delaney. It’ll all work out.” She kissed my cheek, her lavender scent surrounding me with peace.

In that moment, I believed her.

“Thanks, Mom,” I said.

“Anytime. Now go say hi to your brother. There might even be some casserole left if you hurry.”

* * *

Ihung out with Ryder, Charlie, and Bree the rest of the day, avoiding my empty apartment and the dilemma at hand. Turns out Delaney wasn’t the only one good at avoiding.

I also ignored my cell phone, leaving it in my jacket pocket the entire day. When I finally got around to checking it in the late afternoon, I had two missed calls and five texts, all from Delaney.

D: Can we talk? Please?

D: I’m almost done at the bakery. I’d really love to chat. In person.

D: Have you had enough time to think?

D: You’re really taking this avoiding thing to new levels

D: Fine, whatever.

Great. So instead of patching things up with Delaney, I’d made them worse. I stepped into the yard for some privacy and dialed her number.

One ring, then straight to voicemail. I left a message: “Hey, it’s me. Sorry for missing your calls today. I’m at my brother’s. Call me back.”

“Hey bro,” Ryder said, sticking his head out the screen door. “Mom said she’d watch Charlie so we could go out. Bree has some family thing, so it’d just be us. You busy with Delaney tonight?”

I shook my head. “Don’t think so.” I doubted Delaney wanted to hang with me at the moment. “I’m gonna go home and shower. Meet at my place around eight?”

Ryder nodded. “Sounds good.”

I threw him a wave and headed out; I figured I’d have plenty of time to talk to him about the Delaney dilemma later.

* * *

The Rowdywas decked out for the holidays, colored lights strung up all around the room and lining the bar. A Christmas tree sparkled in the back room next to the pool tables and all the bartenders wore Santa hats. Festive.

Ryder and I grabbed a beer, then made our way to the back, commandeering a high-top next to the pool tables. I high-fived a few guys I knew from work and Ryder chatted with a dad from the Pee-Wee team.

Eventually we settled in at our table. “So, what’s the deal with Delaney?” Ryder asked, narrowing his eyes at me over his green bottle.

I shrugged. “Whattaya mean?”

“C’mon, man. I’m your brother. You were in a crappy mood all day.” He glanced down at his watch. “And on any normal day off, you two would definitely be together right now. So what gives?”

“We had a fight.” I took a swig, swallowing hard.

“C’mon, Quinn. What happened?”

I took a deep breath. “Delaney’s ex came to town, asking if she’d open a second bakery in NYC. She didn’t tell me about it until he came to the door in the middle of the night.”

“Ouch,” Ryder said, shaking his head. “Not good.”

“No, it’s not.”

“She gonna do it?”

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