Page 68 of Buried Dreams

“Why don’t I go and put those in water?” my mother suggests, taking the flowers from me. “Saige, why don’t you come and see the new flavor of donuts that Everleigh made this morning.” She looks at her. “She told me you gave her the idea to put jelly inside and peanut butter frosting on top.” She puts her hand in Saige’s, pulling her to the back.

“You did not tell her that I’m sleeping at your house.” I don’t even think I wait for them to be in the kitchen before I start on him.

“Baby,” he soothes, putting his hands on my hips, “you’ll be moving in soon, and she has to be used to you being there.”

“I’m sorry, what?” I shake my head.

“Not now, but in the next month, you’ll be living with us.”

“Brock,” I hiss his name, “you didn’t tell her that, did you?”

“Of course not.” He rolls his eyes. “I said you were working all day and that you’d be tired tonight, so you are going to sleep over so we can make sure you relax.”

“She bought that?”

“Probably not with the smirk she gave me, and then she said ‘ohh you like her,’” he mimics how Saige must have teased him, making me laugh.

“And then I said, ‘no, I love her.’” I gasp. “That’s exactly what she did also. But then she said you were pretty.” He shrugs. “So I guess she approved.”

“I cannot believe you,” I say, but then the door opens, and Autumn comes in, her mouth hanging open when she sees it for the first time finished.

“Holy shit,” she swears, and Charlie snickers. “This is incredible.” Her eyes roam around the room, taking everything in.

“Wow.” He shakes his head and looks at Autumn. “You yelled at me this morning because I said you had a fine ass in front of Landon, but you are allowed to say shit?”

“Charlie Barnes, you are getting on my last nerve,” she hisses. “Like the last one.”

He grabs her around her neck and pulls her to him. “I love you,” he declares, and she melts in his arms, “don’t forget that.”

“How could I?” She wraps her arms around his waist and then looks at their son.

“Welcome,” I tell them and then look over to see Harmony and Brady walking in with Wyatt. “Hi.” I hold up my hand to welcome them.

I look back down when a hand slides into mine, and my eyes fixate on Brock’s fingers laced with mine. My eyes go back up to his as people come in. “I love you,” he whispers, and I don’t have a chance to answer him when more and more people come in.

I work the room with Mom, thanking everyone for all their help. Every time I look up, I find him looking at me; when I don’t, it’s because he’s right beside me. He doesn’t move far from me the whole day. The bakery is filled to the brim. The display cases have been refilled more times than I can count, with people leaving with boxes and boxes of donuts.

I think everyone in town comes in to say hello, and there are lots of new faces from nearby towns because of the viral video. The day flies by, and by the time it hits 5:00 p.m., we have sold out of everything.

“I can’t believe we have nothing left,” I state, sitting down at the table next to Brock, who puts his arm across the back of my chair. Autumn and Charlie are sitting here also, with my mother beside them.

“Can we have pizza?” Saige asks from the chair beside him, and he looks at her.

“How many donuts did you have today?” he asks, and she shrugs.

“I was taste testing.” She looks at me. “That’s what Everleigh asked me to do.”

I look at Brock, folding my lips together as Oliver comes over and hands me a glass of champagne. He pulls a chair from the other table to sit next to my mother. “I don’t know about you guys, but this is what I call a success.” He grabs my mother’s hand and kisses her fingers.

The door to the bakery opens again, and I’m about to say we’re closed when I notice it’s one of the deputies. “Hey there,” he says, looking at us. “Sorry to intrude.”

“Nonsense,” my mother says. “I’d offer you a donut, but we’re all out.”

“That’s okay, Ms. Maddie,” he replies. “I’m here on official business anyway.” I put my glass of champagne down on the table, my mouth going dry as I wait for what he has to say. “We just arrested two men in connection with setting the fire,” he announces, and my mother gasps. “We picked them up a couple of hours ago.” His eyes go to Brock. “We got a call that they were hanging around your shop.” Brock gets up. “Gotta say, they aren’t too smart doing it today with all these people here. Someone made a call that they seemed suspicious, gave us the plate number, and we picked them up not long after.” His mouth goes tight. “They both turned on each other as soon as we sat down.”

“Oh my,” my mother murmurs.

“That’s not the kicker,” he adds. “They worked for the Cartwrights.”

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