Page 49 of The Problem with Falling
And right on time, Theo walked in to see the ugliest thing I’d ever baked.
He snickered and shook his head before walking out the back door toward his boat.
His laughing at me made it even worse.
I held the rock-hard loaf in the air as I followed him outside. He was already halfway to his boat. “I meant to make it like this!” I shouted.
He didn’t look back but continued laughing, shaking his head as he reached his boat.
“No, really!” I lied, my face heating from the fact that Theo seemed tickled pink by my sourdough failure.
“Don’t worry. I hear that stuff is a pain to make,” a voice said, pulling me away from my stare on Theo. I turned around to see Jensen standing not far away, working in the garden he’dbeen digging up. We’d met a few days ago when I helped him carry some soil outside. His progress on the space in such a short period was amazing.
I smiled and tapped the hard bread on the palm of my hand. “If there was an award for the world’s worst bread, I think I’d win.”
“I’ve seen worse,” Jensen replied, probably being kinder than he had to be. If only his older cousin had done the same.
Based on Theo’s laughter, he would disagree with Jensen.
I walked over to the garden area and smiled his way. “No offense, Jensen, but I kind of dislike your cousin,” I told him as we stood in the newly dug-up garden area. Ever since I’d heard Theo laugh, I’d been trying so hard to shake the sound out of my mind. I swore I had nightmares of that man’s smile for days after he started calling me Weeping Willow.
Weeping Willow.
Yeah, so creative, you asshat.
I shook my head, trying to brush the insults away. I still didn’t love when my thoughts were so mean toward Theo even though he deserved them. But honestly? I hated that he was taking up any rental space in my brain cells. Yet for some reason, I kept thinking of him even when I tried to stop thinking of him.
“Which one? I have a lot of cousins that I hate,” Jensen said as he tossed down another bag of soil where the tomato plants would go.
“Theo.”
He narrowed his eyes as he looked at me. “Theo? Like… Theo-Theo? The owner of this house, Theo? Your roommate, Theo?”
“Yes. That one.”
“Oh.” He seemed confused by my words and shrugged as he ripped the bag of soil open and poured it into the raised garden bed. “That’s weird.”
I placed my hands against my hips, baffled by his confusion. “What’s weird about that?”
“I don’t know.” Another shrug. “I thought you had the hots for him.”
“The hots? For Theo? What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know.” Another freaking shrug. “I’ve been over here for a few days, and I saw you two bickering just like my great-grandma and PaPa. I just always assumed that’s what having the hots for someone is. Plus, there’s the way you look at him when he’s not looking at you.”
“Huh? I don’t look at him any certain way.”
Jensen gave me a “you are full of crap” glare. “Yes, you do, Willow. There’s a normal amount of lookin’ at somebody, and then there’s what you do.”
My cheeks flushed. Did I look awkwardly long at Theo? Did Theo witness me staring? Oh gosh. How humiliating.
Jensen smiled as he stood and picked up another bag of soil. He swung it onto his shoulder. For a fourteen-year-old, he was pretty strong. “If it makes you feel better, he hasn’t been his normal grumpy self since you came around. This is calm Theo.”
“This is a mellow grump?” I remarked, stunned. “There’s no way.”
“Definitely is. It’s almost as if he tamed down his temper for you. This is the nicest, most chatty I’ve seen my cousin in a long time. So whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.”
“I’m not doing anything. I’m just being me.”
