Page 18 of Fall for You (Flirting with Forever 4)

Oh my God, these teenage years are going to kill me.

Chapter 10

Quinn

We eat a lot of late dinners around here. Mom insists on keeping the bakery open until nine to catch as many customers as she possibly can. I wish she didn’t work so hard, but I get it. If we don’t sell our inventory each day, the food goes to waste, as does the money spent on creating the items we don’t sell. And if we close too early, we could miss all the people out on dates wanting dessert or the odd husband making the last minute my-pregnant-wife-needs-a-cupcake run.

All of this means we’ve adapted to a very quirky dinner schedule, often not eating dinner until ten or later. It’s why I try to eat plenty at lunch—if I eat too much right before I sleep, it just sits on my stomach like a lead brick. Ugh.

“We’ve got leftover veggie lasagna, Mom. Want me to heat that up?”

“Sure, honey.” She sits down at the kitchen table with a glass of water.

“Don’t get mad at me for saying so, but you look exhausted today.”

She gives me a look. “I’m fine.”

“How’s the wrist doing?” I cringe internally. I never know how far I can push until she gets upset. She needs to face facts—she needs that surgery and sooner rather than later.

“I’m fine.” Oh boy. She sounds miffed. Time to try for a little comic relief.

I send a tiny smirk in her direction. “Tell that to the sacrificed strawberry tart.”

She eyes me. I really should have known better than to poke at her today because I’ve given her ammunition to fire right back in my direction. She swiftly changes our topic of conversation. “So, tell me how you knew that man who got the cake for his daughter.”

She’s unleashing her diversion tactics on me. Mom’s a freaking master.

“Remember, I told you I’m tutoring right now after school on Wednesdays?”

She nods.

“It’s his daughter, Olivia.”

She gives me a shrewd look, “So why did it seem like he knew you better than that? Knew Sophia, too.” My mother misses nothing. Her eyes twinkle. “He seems like a nice enough boy.”

“Mom. He’s a grown man. His daughter is sixteen now.”

“Right. He said he was getting the cake for her birthday. That’s a good dad.”

I cut two squares of lasagna and put them on a plate, then pop them into the microwave to warm. I can tell Mom is trying to work out what she wants to ask next, and then she hits me with it.

“He mentioned this is the first birthday Olivia’s mom isn’t making a cake. Are they divorced?”

“Apparently. Mom, I really don’t know their family very well. They’re new here this year. Liam owns that new cider mill, that’s where I first met him. I was checking out the place with the girls while having a few drinks. Sophia and Heath are having their wedding and the reception there this spring.”

“Well, he seems really nice.”

I bite my lip.

“Do you think he’s nice?”

This lasagna really needs to hurry up and be hot enough to eat. “Yes, Mom. He seems like a nice man.”

“Is that why you were kissing him in the hallway?”

Slowly, my eyes widen. “You really do hear everything, don’t you?”

She smirks at me. “Little Ava practically squealed about the kissy-face. I didn’t see it, I just put one and one together and it made two.”

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