Page 58 of Crash

“I made you an appointment at my hair salon. Meet me there after you leave the bakery and no arguments. It’s on me,” Sandy says to Vivi who is on her way out the door to go work at the bakery.

I stand, leaning back against the island, drinking a cup of coffee as I force myself to stay put and not follow her out the door and kiss her before she drives off. She only gives me what started out as a shy glance before walking out, but I don’t miss the way her eyes linger on my bare chest. I arch my brows at her, challenging her, but she refuses to say anything to me directly. She thanks Sandy before walking out, which irritates me. She doesn’t push back when Sandy gives her things but will fight me over the smallest things. I could have easily given her money for the hair salon. That’s going to end soon.

When Jake comes back inside with the dogs, I put my mug down and busy myself with getting fresh food and water for them.

“Why are you half-naked in my kitchen?” Jake asks as he leans down and kisses his wife’s forehead. “Put on a damn shirt.” He walks over and playfully slaps me on the back of the head.

“Stop abusing your brother, baby,” Sandy says. “Let’s go out and have breakfast. We’re hungry.” She rubs her still flat belly and my brother’s eyes light up as he puts his large hands across her torso.

“Let’s shower. You coming with us, Luke?” he asks, but he’s already walking away.

Thirty minutes later, I’m dressed and waiting, ready for breakfast. We drive to a nearby breakfast place, and right before we order my phone buzzes. I pulled it out to see a text from Vivienne.

It’s a picture of her taking a bite out of a cinnamon roll. She knows it’s my favorite, and my mouth instantly waters. This leads to us exchanging text messages throughout breakfast. Thankfully, Jake and Sandy are too busy feeding each other to pay much attention to me.

When Sandy excuses herself to go to the bathroom, my phone buzzes again. This time, it’s a picture of Vivi blowing me a kiss. As I’m typing a response, Jake snatches the phone from me.

“Who the hell have you been texting all morning?” He starts scrolling through my phone. I try to snatch it back, but he manages to dodge me each time.

“Give me my fucking phone.” To my surprise, he hands it back to me, eyeing me without saying a word. I can feel the color on my cheeks as I slide the phone back in my coat pocket. Jake continues to look at me, a strange look on his face, but I refuse to be the first one to speak.

Thankfully, Sandy comes back, and we finish our breakfast in silence.

“You know what?” Jake says a little later. “I’m still a little hungry. Let’s go to the bakery for a bit. I know your mom misses me.” He’s speaking to Sandy, but his eyes are focused on me.

“Sounds good,” Sandy says, “but don’t complain when she puts you to work.”

“You, uh.” I nervously rub the back of my head, avoiding all eye contact. “You think Vivi or your mom would want something?” I make the mistake of looking at my brother, who is now smirking at me.

“My mom definitely won’t want anything. She thinks all restaurant food is garbage, but Vivi will.” I grab a menu and make a show of asking Sandy what she thinks Vivi would like. When Sandy mentions French toast, I cringe. She just ate a cinnamon roll, so she wouldn’t want something sweet. I mention the Denver omelet with extra bacon and I’m relieved when Sandy agrees.

As soon as the waitress brings the to-go bag, I drop a wad of cash on the table and jump out of the seat, eager to get to the bakery.

The entire drive there, Jake keeps eyeing me through the rearview mirror as he carries on a conversation with Sandy. Irritated at his constant looks, I pretend to be engrossed with whatever’s happening outside the car.

“Hey, guys,” Vivi says when we walk in. She gives a casual wave; yet the brown eyes that are staring into mine are anything but casual.

“Hey. We brought you breakfast,” Sandy says, pointing at the bag in my hand. “Why don’t you eat, and I’ll take over for you for a bit.” Her eyes light up when she sees the food, and she comes running from behind the counter. A few more customers walk in, and Sandy gets to work while Vivi sits with me and Jake at a table in the back.

I sit next to her, across from Jake, who doesn’t look away from us the entire time.

“I was starving, so thank you!” she says. Without being asked, I get up and bring her back a bottle of water, eliciting a loud laugh from Jake.

“What’s so funny?” Vivi asks.

“Nothing at all,” is all he says, as he gets up from the table, chuckling all the way to the counter.

Vivi looks around before quickly feeding me a piece of her omelet. Before she can protest, I kiss her cheek, which causes them to turn a light shade of pink.

“I missed you,” I say as I lay my hand on her knee.

“I’ve only been gone a couple of hours.”

“So?”

“Well, I missed you too,” she says, laying her hand on top of mine.

Mrs. Etienne comes out of one of the tasting rooms, and Vivi quickly removes her hand, leaving me feeling empty.

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