Page 34 of Baking With A Rockstar

“He just said to call him so you can talk about the guest house.” His hand is up in the air in a questioning gesture.

Oh, that.

I could set the record straight—probably should, since I’m not one for playing games—but for some reason, I’m stubborn right now. First, he wines and dines his ex the day after we make out, and then he comes back to throw accusations around.

A sudden bout of irritation at his behavior overcomes me, and I bite the inside of my cheek to stay calm. “I know what he said, but I don’t want to talk about it. Is there a reason you’re here?”

He might as well stew a little in his attitude.

When he rubs his hands over his face, it’s the first time since he walked in that I get a good look at him.

His eyes are slightly puffy, framed by dark circles, making it look like he hasn’t slept in a while. Exhaling loudly through his nose, he shakes his head. “Of course, I’m sorry. This weekend wasn’t fun, and it feels like I was gone for years instead of just two days. I didn’t stop by to make it worse.” He runs his hand through his hair. “Can we sit down and talk?”

I try as hard as I can to stay strong, but the urge to comfort him is hard to resist. I want to reach out and give him a hug, and tell him everything is going to be okay, even though I felt very different about that just a few minutes ago. Seeing him makes my resolve weak, but I fight the impulse—I have to.

“All right.” I walk over to one of the small tables that line one of the walls and pull out two bar stools from underneath before dragging them back over to my workbench. I pat one of the stools while sitting down on the other. “Here, sit down.”

Once we’re both situated, I hand him a fork and point at the table with the array of baked goods I managed to produce in record time today. “Might as well join me in this sugar massacre. Since you’re partially at fault, you deserve the fat hips right now just as much, if not more.”

The corners of his mouth twitch when he takes the fork from me. He looks at the food in front of us, his eyes wide. “You made all of this?”

“Yup. Some people take a relaxing bath or work out when they’re frustrated or need to let off some steam. I bake.” I shrug matter-of-factly, since it’s beenmy thingever since Grandma started teaching me how to bake when I was younger.

“I guess that makes sense.” That’s all he says before digging into the cherry pie, his eyes fluttering closed for a long moment. “Wow. So good.”

At least I think that’s what he said around the mouthful of food.

“I’ve missed this, Charlie.”

I snort, digging into the pie myself. “What? Getting fat with me?”

A lopsided grin adorns his beautiful face. “No, silly, just enjoying your company without any added stress. Things are different with us. We can just be Hudson and Charlie, and nothing else. There’s no pressure for me to be the ‘famous rockstar,’ or to fulfill whatever other weird box people put me in. Not once have I felt like that with you, which is why I enjoy my time with you so much. Being thrown back into the business world this weekend, after this tranquility with my family and you, has been more of a shock than I was prepared for.”

“Mmm.” I pause for a moment with the fork at my lips, allowing his words to sink in. Theoretically, I completely understand what he’s talking about, but I’m not sure it’s a safe topic for me right now because my resolve is already weak.

Diversion it is.

I don’t look at him, but push a cherry around on my plate instead. “So, how’s the writing going?”

He sighs and shrugs his shoulders. “I was away from you, so I’m sure you can guess the answer to that. But I’d rather not talk about it right now.”

Looks like we both have a list of taboo topics.

I can’t help myself and feel a little bad that his career is suffering alongside all this chaos. “Well, what did you want to talk about?”

“I came to apologize, Charlie. I can’t tell you how hard the last few days have been for me, and how incredibly sorry I am for everything that happened.”

And just like that, my irritation is back in full force. “Really?Youwere having a hard time? How do you think I’ve been feeling? Everything’s been just peachy here, right?”

Two emotional outbursts in half an hour. That’s a record.

One of his hands extends my way, but he drops it last minute. “I’m sorry. First, I had to leave you out of the blue like that, and then this whole shitshow with Addy happened. I just wanted to forget about that disaster and come back home.”

“Oh right, Addy, yourfiancée.” I might sound a little childish, but I don’t have it in me right now to care. My hurt pride feels like I have the right to sulk.

He tilts his head to the side and frowns. “Ex-fiancée, Charlie,ex. A very,veryimportant distinction.”

That stops me in my tracks for a moment, my fork now covered with some delicious cheesecake that’s halfway to my mouth. A stray thought comes to mind, wondering if it might be better to stop eating now before I get sick, but I decide I’ll deal with whatever later on. At least the food will distract me from the emotional turmoil that’s been raging inside me for the past few days.

---