Puppy Love at Mistletoe Junction

Chapter Twelve Just a Little Bit

Lucy stayed at the mic for a couple of songs, singing as everyone danced around the room. It had been a while since she’d sung like this, and it made her feel something deep in her soul that she’d been missing. Sure, she’d rattle off a verse or two when she was teaching, but she hadn’t made her way through an entire song in months.

There was a part of her that had lost that joy . . . but here it was again.

Gia and Chloe joined her to sing “White Winter Hymnal,”

their sweet voices blending with hers to become the echoing chorus that the song required.

The room around them broke out into applause as they finished, the three of them linking arms and all taking a bow. But it was Theo’s eyes that Lucy found in the crowd. She made her way across the room, and he held his hand out to her as Desmond started to sing “The Blower’s Daughter”

by Damien Rice.

“Will you dance with me again?”

Theo asked.

“Yes.”

She put her hand in his and let him pull her into his body. His other hand landed on her hip, before sliding around to her back.

“So, I was wondering something,”

he whispered in her ear as he slowly spun them around.

“What’s that?”

“If you’d come home with me.”

Lucy pulled back so that she could see Theo’s face. There was a hope there in his blue eyes, one that she wouldn’t have been able to deny under normal circumstances, but definitely not in that moment.

“Yeah.”

She nodded. “I’ll come home with you.”

It was at that moment that Caro and Max danced up to them, Caro pointing to the ceiling above. “I do believe you two are under the mistletoe again.”

They glanced up in unison, and as their eyes came back down, they looked at each other, both of them grinning.

“I do believe we are.”

Theo nodded as he let go of her hand, cradling the side of her face as he opened his mouth over hers.

The second their lips touched, Lucy knew there was something different in the kiss. Something more. She didn’t know what it was, couldn’t figure it out, probably because her head was spinning, and her heart was beating out of her chest.

Lucy had no clue what was happening with Theo. The more she was with him, the more it felt like it wasn’t just sex. What could this be if they let it? If she let it. The question was equal parts thrilling and terrifying . . . and she wasn’t sure which part was going to win in the end.

* * *

It was after nine when Lucy and Theo left Quigley’s and headed for her loft. She needed to grab a few things since she was staying the night, and they also needed to get Bear to bring with them.

The dog hadn’t been by herself all day. They’d taken turns checking on her in two-hour intervals, making sure she was okay the first time she’d been left on her own.

“Dad’s going to have to bring her out,”

Lucy told Theo as she shoved some clothes into a bag. “Estee will get mad if she sees me and we don’t bring her. She’s probably already going to be upset that we’re taking Bear, but she’ll at least have Leia to distract her.”

Lucy tried not to fidget in the passenger seat of Theo’s car as he drove them back through town and to his house, which was on the opposite side of Cruickshank. He owned a cabin in a neighborhood on the east side of Lake Lenox, just a few blocks from the high school. Mount MacCallion’s crew team used the lake for their practices. So did the swim team when it was warm enough.

The three-bedroom cabin had been a little run-down when Theo had bought it a few years ago, most of the interior outdated from when it had been built in the seventies. He was fixing it up room by room, doing what work he could, and paying Jeremy for the stuff that he couldn’t.

Lucy had seen the living room after the old shag green carpet had been pulled up and the original hardwood floors had been refurbished. But she hadn’t seen any of the other changes. She and Theo hadn’t exactly hung out over the years.

Well, at least not until recently.

Her eyes landed on the stone fireplace—how could they not, as it was the focal point of the room?—and the beautiful mahogany mantel above it.

“That’s new,”

Lucy said as she moved across to get a closer look. The piece of wood was massive, thick and stretching across the six-foot space.

“I got Chloe’s uncles to do that for me,”

Theo said as he poured them each a glass of bourbon at the bar in the corner.

Lucy’s gaze moved up to the framed artwork. It was of Lake Lenox and the forest beyond, the mountains climbing in the distance. Lucy focused on the little signature in the corner.

“This is one of Ava’s.”

She smiled, thinking of Max’s grandmother. She’d been a beyond-talented painter.

“She gave it to me a couple of years ago,”

Theo said as he came up behind her and handed her the shot glass. “She was very generous.”

“That, she was.”

Lucy nodded before she clinked her glass to Theo’s. “Cheers.”

She didn’t wait for him to say anything as she downed half of the amber liquid.

She’d needed something to warm her up, a chill having settled into her skin that she couldn’t quite shake. She was nervous for some reason that she didn’t understand. It wasn’t like she was uncomfortable being in Theo’s space or anything, it just felt different since that second kiss under the mistletoe at Quigley’s. Since that moment she felt things between them could be something more.

“You okay?”

Theo asked before he took a sip of his own drink.

“Yeah.”

She nodded. “Just, you know, taking it all in.”

She gestured around the room with her free hand.

When he’d been at her apartment, he’d told her that the whole place was unmistakably hers. The same could be said about his house. There was a giant sofa in front of the fireplace, the leather worn in and buttery soft. Bear had already taken up residence on it.

She apparently had no issues adjusting to being in the space.

There was a matching chair and ottoman on either side of the sofa, both big enough for two people to snuggle up on. The coffee table in the center matched the mantel, no doubt another piece purchased from Hamish’s Fine Furnishings and designed by the Savage brothers. Lucy moved away from the mantel, her stocking-clad feet going from the hardwood to the plushy red-and-brown-patterned rug that covered much of the floor.

“You’ve done a lot of work on this place.”

“Wait till you see the kitchen.”

“We can do a tour later, I want to see your bedroom,”

Lucy said before she could stop herself.

Something darkened in Theo’s eyes, and he nodded to the glass in her hand. “Finish your drink.”

Lucy didn’t even hesitate. She knocked the rest of it back in one go, as he did the same with his. And then he was crossing over to her, pulling the glass from her hand before setting both on the coffee table. He laced their fingers together and pulled her across the room in an instant.

Not one to be left alone, Bear jumped down from the sofa, following behind them.

“I think we’re going to have an audience.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll make her a bed in there.”

The second they crossed the threshold, Theo flipped the light switch, and a soft glow illuminated an absolutely gorgeous bedroom. It wasn’t the light above that he’d turned on, but two that were recessed on either side of the wall of windows. As it was so dark outside, Lucy couldn’t see out of them, but she was pretty sure they provided a view to the lake during the day. The king-size bed was covered in sage-green linens and held up with a rustic wooden headboard and frame.

There was a leather love seat on the opposite wall, from the same set that was in the living room. Theo grabbed the fuzzy blue blanket from the end of his bed, making a little nest on the love seat, which Bear immediately curled up on.

“I think she’ll be okay for a bit,”

Theo said before he crossed over to Lucy, one of his hands moving to the back of her head as he brought his mouth down to hers.

Lucy started to undo the buttons on the front of his shirt while he worked on the clasp and zipper at the back of her skirt. They stumbled backward and Lucy laughed.

“God, I love that sound,”

Theo groaned against her mouth.

Lucy pulled her mouth from his, biting at her bottom lip.

“What?”

She let her lip fall from her teeth as she shook her head. “Nothing, I just . . . I’m really glad you asked me to come here.”

“I’m really glad you said yes.”

Lucy stretched up again, pressing her lips to his. They didn’t say much else as they undressed, each of them removing a piece of the other’s clothing until they were naked. Theo pulled the covers back before laying Lucy down on his bed. She shivered against him, the sheets cold on her skin.

“Don’t worry, you’ll be warm in a second.”

He kissed the side of her neck before dragging his mouth to her throat and then to her breasts. He moved down her body, leaving a trail of heat across her skin until his head was between her thighs.

“Theo.”

Lucy gasped his name as he parted her with his tongue. She got lost in the feel of him, the way he touched her, his hands gripping her hips, his beard rasping over her skin. The orgasm that ripped through her was not a gentle one, and she couldn’t catch her breath as he kissed his way back up her body.

“Why isn’t it ever enough?”

he asked as he pushed inside of her body, filling her in one easy thrust. “How come I can’t get enough of you?”

Lucy’s back arched off the bed, her nails clawing at his shoulders.

“I’ve never wanted someone this way. You consume me, Lucy,”

he whispered into her neck between kisses.

“I’m yours, Theo.”

The words fell from her lips of their own volition, but the second she said them, she knew they were true.

Theo’s hips slowed, his head coming up so he could look down into her face. “What did you just say?”

“I’m yours.”

She repeated the words.

That hunger on Theo’s face multiplied tenfold, his mouth was on hers again, the kiss more of a claiming than anything she’d ever experienced in her life. His hips started to move faster again, harder. The pleasure inside of her built, and built, and built until she was right there on the edge.

“Say it again,”

Theo demanded.

“I’m yours, Theo,”

Lucy gasped.

The orgasm that crashed through her was more intense than anything she’d ever experienced in her life. She clung to him, needing something to hold on to for fear that she’d float away into nothing.

But Theo kept her tethered to the earth, and he didn’t let go of her for the rest of the night.

* * *

The next three days went by in a blur for Lucy. The following morning was another early one, Theo having to be at the bakery by seven. As Lucy didn’t have any plans, and she knew they needed the help, she joined him in the kitchen at Browned Butter. People needed their carbs and sugar to fuel them for their holiday shopping, and since Lucy’s was mostly done, she had no desire to join those crowds.

She helped Juliet with the cookie baking, becoming the official dolloper of the batter on the baking sheets. By Saturday, they had a system going.

They finished up a little early that afternoon and Theo took her to the Christmas tree farm, where she helped him pick out a mighty fine Fraser fir. It was late by the time they got back to his house, so they didn’t decorate it until Sunday. As Theo had a number of Christmas decorations to put up, they spent most of the day doing just that.

The very last thing that Lucy wanted to do on Monday was go back to work, but she managed to pull herself out of bed when the alarm went off at five. It helped a little when Theo started kissing her neck.

That night she found herself at Sasha’s with Caro and Lilah, all of them grateful that Sasha had ordered in hamburgers and fries. They were all a little tired of the Thanksgiving leftovers. Topic one for girls’ night was the kiss between Wes and Lorraine during that year’s inaugural rendition of “Mistletoe Junction.”

Sasha had tried to press her mother on the issue, but she hadn’t really gotten anywhere.

“I think we pulled off our mission successfully, though,”

Caro said.

“Yeah, except someone apparently had some other hidden agendas.”

Sasha glared at Lilah before she started piling pickles onto her burger.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Lilah shook her head.

Sasha grabbed a french fry, waving it in Lilah’s face. “Admit that you told your mom to have Gavin and me kiss or I’m going to shove this fry up your nose.”

“Fine! I did. But it didn’t look like you put up much of a fight.”

Sasha shrugged as she popped the fry into her mouth. “I never back down from a challenge. It’s not like it’s the first time we’ve kissed.”

“Excuse me?”

Caro leaned forward.

“How many times did we play spin the bottle in middle school? I will say, he’s a much better kisser these days than he was at fourteen. Softer lips.”

She waggled her eyebrows.

“Gross.”

Lilah threw one of her own french fries at Sasha.

“Well, you weren’t Lilah’s only target,”

Lucy told Sasha. “Theo spotted Nari pulling at her ear, and he saw her do it again when we were in the middle of the dance floor.”

“Yes, well, I figured the two of you needed a hard launch.”

“A what?”

Lucy laughed.

“A hard launch to your relationship. We got the soft launch when he kissed you at the park. This was the hard launch.”

“O-kay, there isn’t anything hard happening with Theo.”

“Oh god, I hope that isn’t the case.”

Sasha’s eyes went wide in mock horror.

“In that department, things are perfectly fine.”

“What about in other departments?”

Lilah pressed. “You can’t tell me it isn’t getting serious. Have you spent a single night by yourself since the two of you started having sex?”

“Well . . . no.”

“Lilah’s right. Is it getting serious?”

Caro asked.

“I don’t know what it’s getting.”

Lucy shook her head, but the second she said the words, she knew they weren’t exactly true. Things had sure felt serious when he’d brought her back to his house after Thanksgiving dinner . . . when she’d told him she was his.

The words had tumbled out of her mouth, and she hadn’t been able to stop them. She hadn’t wanted to stop them. She also hadn’t been able to get the expression on Theo’s face out of her head. Or how things had shifted between them. The sex had definitely become more intense the last few days, that was for damn sure. She’d tried not to focus on it too much; it was one of the reasons she’d made an effort to stay too busy to think.

She was thinking now.

“Where are you staying tonight?”

Caro asked.

“He’s coming over to my apartment. Dad’s been watching Estee since Thursday, and I’m starting to feel like an irresponsible cat owner. Plus, I know Bear has been looking for her.”

“So, that’s how many nights that you’ve spent together?”

Lilah grabbed her wineglass and took a sip.

Lucy cleared her throat uncomfortably. “Ten. Tonight will be eleven.”

All three women gave her their own variation of the look.

“Fine. Something is happening. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t know where he stands.”

“Maybe you should bring it up,”

Sasha suggested. “Asking him would probably be a good idea.”

“Like I just said, it’s been ten days.”

Ten. Days. Could things have really gone from just sex to something else entirely in ten days? “That might be a little too soon for that talk. Can you guys just give me a break? Please.”

“Okay, we’ll back off.”

Caro held her hands up in surrender.

“For now,”

Lilah said, her eyes not leaving Lucy’s.

* * *

Lucy’s brain was beyond preoccupied when she came into work on Tuesday morning, her friends’ words from the night before replaying over and over again. It didn’t help that Theo had noticed, asking her if she was okay more than once when they’d gotten back to her place.

But she was okay . . . mostly. Just because she was a little confused about life didn’t mean that she wasn’t perfectly fine.

Fine. Fine. Fine.

She hated that word. Especially as after third period, she was anything but fine.

Lucy stood in the auditorium, the scene in front of her making her sick . . . well, that along with the acrid scent of burnt wood and plastic that lingered in the air.

The fire had been started by three boys who’d snuck in during their free period to smoke a joint. One of them had been playing around with their lighter, not noticing that it had started to leak. When the sleeve of his shirt caught on fire, he’d thrown the lighter at the musical’s main backdrop, which was covered in layers of paint as it had been changed over the years. It hadn’t taken much for the rest of the set pieces to light up like kindling.

Once the sprinklers had turned on, everything was ruined.

“Hey, Ms. Buchanan.”

A hand gently grasped her shoulder, tightening for a moment before letting go.

Lucy turned, looking up into the face of Captain Savage, Chloe’s father.

“How many times do I have to tell you to call me Lucy?”

“Sorry, habit. Chloe talks about you all the time, so I’m used to hearing all about Ms. Buchanan at least ten times a day.”

“Well, it’s nice to have a fan.”

A small smile lifted her lips, a miracle considering the situation. “It’s as bad as it looks, isn’t it?”

“Actually, it’s considerably better. The stage should be fine once it’s dried up. There are a few boards that will need to be replaced, but nothing significant. The sprinkler system did its job. Luckily, the seats are mostly vinyl, and they should dry in no time, especially if you get some boxed fans in here. The carpet is probably going to have to go, though.”

“Well, that’s one upside. This carpet is older than me.”

“It’s older than me too,”

a voice said from behind them.

Lucy turned as Fatima walked up to them.

“I just finished up with our culprits and their parents in my office. Marcus Reynolds has some first-degree burns on his hand, but the paramedics got him cleaned up. He won’t need to go to the hospital.”

“That’s a relief.”

“What’s the prognoses, Captain?”

“I was just telling Lucy that it isn’t as bad as it looks. It’s mainly just the set pieces that were destroyed.”

Lucy looked back to the charred and waterlogged mess that had once been her perfectly painted set pieces.

“Yeah.”

Her voice cracked on the word, and she took a shallow breath, desperately trying to keep it together. She really didn’t want to lose it in front of Harrison or the other half a dozen firefighters that were walking around the stage.

“Hey.”

Fatima reached out and gently squeezed Lucy’s shoulder. “I already have three teenage boys who will be volunteering for the job.”

She grinned. “And I’d bet good money we will be able to rally the troops. Right, Captain Savage?”

“I might be an amateur carpenter, but my brothers are what you call experts. We’ll help where we can. This program is the best thing that has happened to Chloe in the last couple of years.”

“See, now we have six volunteers. The numbers will keep climbing. I know it’s going to be a lot of work, but we have ten days before the musical. That’s plenty of time to get this fixed.”

Ten days. There was that number again.

Well, it had certainly been enough time for Lucy to get thoroughly tangled up in whatever was going on with Theo. Maybe it was enough time to fix the musical too.

* * *

The usual afternoon rush was in full swing at Browned Butter, the line consistently a good four or five people deep. Isaac was in the back working on the dough for tomorrow’s focaccia bread while his mother had gone to grab another tray of the Cruickshank Vanilla Chai Cupcakes from the back cooler.

They hadn’t stopped selling out of them since Theo had put them on the menu two weeks ago. He’d even tripled the recipe that morning, and it looked like they were going to be selling out again.

It was one of his better creations, but he’d had a pretty good muse.

Theo was in the middle of ringing up a loaf of sourdough and two of those vanilla chai cupcakes for Lilah when the bell above the front door rang. He glanced up and was surprised to see Gia and Chloe walk inside. They were supposed to have an extended rehearsal that afternoon—one with the entire cast and crew—and should’ve been at the school until five. It wasn’t even two thirty yet.

“What are you guys doing here?”

he asked as he set Lilah’s box of cupcakes on the counter.

It was when he turned back to Gia that he saw the sheer dejection on her face. Chloe looked worse.

“What happened?”

Theo was around the counter in an instant, the line of customers forgotten. All he cared about was what had upset his sister . . . and either fixing the situation or dealing with the person who’d upset her.

“The set for the musical burned down.”

“There was a fire in the auditorium this afternoon. Some stupid boys who wanted to get high.”

“Is anybody hurt?”

Lilah asked.

“No.”

Chloe shook her head. “Well, one of them got burned, but he’s going to be fine. No one else was in there besides the three of them.”

“What about Lucy? Is she okay?”

Theo was obviously concerned about Gia and Chloe—how could he not be?—but throwing Lucy into the mix escalated things even more.

As it tended to do these days.

There was no doubt in Theo’s mind that he was in love with Lucy; it was clearer now than it had ever been. What wasn’t clear was how Lucy felt. He’d replayed her saying I’m yours more times than he could count. Neither of them had addressed it after, and Theo was hesitant to go down that road.

Last time he had, she’d moved across the country.

“She looked defeated by the whole thing,”

Gia told him.

“She was trying to be optimistic,”

Chloe added. “But it was pretty clear that she was struggling by the end of the day.”

Theo started to untie his apron before handing it over to Gia. “You two help Mom and Dad.”

“And where are you going?”

Lilah asked him, something like a knowing little smile turning up her lips.

“I’m going to fix it.”

He nodded before he grabbed the box of cupcakes from the counter. “Get Lilah another box of these, and throw an extra one in on the house,”

he said as he headed for the office to grab his jacket and the keys to his truck.

* * *

It had been more than thirteen years since Theo graduated from high school, and he remembered how to navigate the hallways of Mount MacCallion as if it had been yesterday.

Theo didn’t have the mentality that high school had been the “glory days”

for him, but he did have a certain nostalgia for that time in his life. He’d been on the football team along with Oscar and Gavin, and he’d been the starting wide receiver, and caught a number of game-winning throws.

There were blue and white banners up in the hallway, cheering on the team for that Friday’s state finals game. The mascot, Thaddeus the Goat, was painted on most of them, his black and white face looking out, his eyes seeming to follow Theo. He was actually Thaddeus IV, from the same bloodline as the first mascot when the school was built in 1974. The goat was getting up there in age, having taken over the position Theo’s senior year when they let Thaddeus III retire.

Making a left at the language arts hallway, Theo headed down to the end where the music and art classrooms were. The auditorium was at the very end, the four double doors on either side wide open, a whirring sound echoing into the hallway. It was only a few seconds later that the acrid burnt scent hit him, getting stronger as he got closer.

He stepped inside, the temperature dropping a good ten degrees. All of the windows had been propped open, and ten or so boxed fans were set up around the room and blowing on the seats. He saw the destruction on the stage, but after a quick look around, he realized the room was empty.

Theo headed back out and it was then that the sound of piano keys floated along the hallway from a classroom a couple doors down. It was half a dozen steps to that open door, but he stopped in his tracks when he heard her voice, goose bumps breaking out across his skin.

Lucy was singing.

Her voice was low and melodic, perfectly accompanied by the haunting chords she played on the piano. It wasn’t a song he’d heard before . . .

“Before I know it, I’m at your door. I know I broke us once before. You’re all I’ve wanted all these years. Please don’t make me leave in tears.”

Why did those words make his chest ache?

It was only a few more seconds before the music stopped. Theo shook his head, but there was nothing he could do to get the sound of her voice and the melancholy chords from the piano out of his mind. He took the last few steps to the door, knocking lightly on the frame before walking inside.

Lucy was sitting at the old baby grand piano, crossing something out in the notebook that was propped on the music stand. She looked up, a small smile pulling up the right side of her mouth, but it did nothing to hide the lingering sadness on her face. “Hey, you.”

“Hey, you. I heard about the fire. You okay?”

“I’ve been better.”

“I brought cupcakes.”

“Well, you should’ve led with that.”

She stood up, running her hands down her sides, smoothing out the dark green sweater dress that clung to her hips.

Theo set the box down before opening his arms wide. Lucy walked right into them, pressing her face into his chest as he hugged her tight.

“This really sucks,”

she mumbled into his shirt.

“I know. We’ll fix it.”

Lucy pulled back enough to look up into his face. “We?”

“I’m here. That’s why I brought the cupcakes; we might need a little energy for our planning session.”

Now she looked bemused. “What planning session?”

“Operation Fix the Auditorium. Or maybe, Operation Musical Still a Go? Operation No More Sad Teenagers? I don’t know, we can work on the name. That can be the first part of the planning session.”

She laughed and Theo took the opportunity to press his mouth to hers.

* * *

Lucy stared at the man sitting across from her, more than a little amused, which considering her day was no small miracle. He had his head bent over the yellow legal pad she’d found for him, and at the top of the paper he wrote out Operation High School Musical in his tidy scrawl. He was using her purple pen and there was something about that one little detail that pushed this entire situation into hilarious.

Theo was sitting in her classroom—surrounded by the cheesiest of motivational posters—in all of his scruffy flannel-wearing glory. Today’s shirt was red and black and he looked even more like a lumberjack than usual.

Hey, that rhymes. Lumberjack, red and black.

It was taking everything in her not to burst out laughing. It didn’t help that she felt jittery, probably a high from the sugar rush of the cupcakes. She hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, her overnight oats turning into cement in her stomach after she found out what had happened to the auditorium. She’d had no appetite for lunch and had been mainlining Diet Dr Pepper to get through the day.

But then Theo had opened that box of cupcakes and she’d found that she was suddenly starving. Even with the sugar rush, she felt better with a little sustenance in her stomach. Or maybe it had to do with the man sitting across from her.

“I went and saw Bear at Dancing Donkey during my lunch today,”

he told her as he looked up from the paper. “She got a snack, and we took a walk around the park.”

Even though Bear had been good the few times she’d been left on her own, they’d decided to have her stay at the café during the day.

“How’d she do?”

“She got distracted by a few squirrels, but that was pretty much it.”

“Did you film it for Gia?”

“I already sent it to her,”

Theo assured her. “The way she keeps uploading videos, I know we have to keep her supplied in content.”

“Have you seen how many people are following the page now? It’s over fifty thousand. That’s insane.”

Lucy shook her head.

“I’m aware of my sister’s ridiculous social media skills. It’s not even December and the cookie preorders for the bakery are filled through January. They’ve never filled up that fast.”

“Well, you aren’t the only one who’s gotten the Gia Golden Bump. She filmed me singing at the pub on Thursday.”

“Did you post it to your page?”

Theo asked.

“Yeah. The response has been pretty positive.”

Theo’s eyes narrowed on her. “What do you mean, pretty positive?”

“Well”—Lucy shrugged—“there will always be haters.”

“What are the haters saying?”

“The usual.”

Lucy waved a hand in the air like it didn’t matter. “That I have a pretty face but need to lose a few pounds. That they’ve heard better. That I shouldn’t quit my day job.”

“Well, fuck those guys. They wouldn’t know talent if it hit them in the face. Though they probably need to be hit in the face with something.”

“Are you going to go beat up all of my bullies?”

“I wouldn’t even hesitate.”

“I—”

Lucy started, but words failed her. It wasn’t that she was surprised by what Theo had said . . . it was just . . . God, she didn’t even know how that made her feel. “Thank you,”

she managed to say a bit lamely. She reached across the table and grabbed his hand. “I’m okay, though. It’s taken me some time, but I don’t focus on that noise too much. Some days are better than others. Though today isn’t one of the better ones.”

“Well, let’s fix that. What’s first?”

Theo asked, his blue eyes filled with a determination she was well aware of.

She’d never known him to not accomplish exactly what he set out to do. Something she couldn’t say about herself. Lucy cleared her throat, sitting up straighter in her seat. “Well, first up will be clearing out the auditorium of all the debris and getting the carpet ripped up.”

“Okay.”

Theo nodded before writing it down, not looking back up at her as he added number two and three. “After that would be supplies. What will we need?”

“More wood and paint . . . which involves money.”

“How much is in the budget?”

“What budget?”

Lucy pressed her finger to the few cupcake crumbs on her desk, getting them to stick before rubbing them off on the empty wrapper. “Fatima is working on money, but I don’t know how we’re going to get enough on such short notice.”

“Hey.”

He pointed the purple pen at her. “One step at a time. We’re just making the list right now. Stop being a Negative Nelly.”

The laugh that burst from Lucy was unstoppable. “Did you call me a Negative Nelly?”

A slight blush colored his cheeks. “Yes, I did. Because that’s what you’re being.”

He pointed to the motivational poster behind her, the one of a mountain range. “Focus on the next step. If you only think about the distance to the summit, you’ll never get there.”

Lucy glared. “I hate those things. I want to replace them with demotivational quotes.”

“What would that one be?”

He pointed to the mountain quote again.

“The path up Mount Everest is paved with corpses that were once highly motivated.”

This time it was Theo letting out a loud laugh. “What about that one?”

He looked to the one above the window with a flying bald eagle, which had a quote about being unique.

“Be yourself. No one wants to be you anyway.”

“And that one?”

His smile got bigger as he nodded to the cat hanging from a tree limb.

“Trying: Sometimes you shouldn’t.”

She turned and looked to the one that was of a lake, the shore made up of tiny pebbles. “Remember, you’re just an annoying pebble in the shoe of the universe.”

“Wow. Whose idea was it for you to teach children again?”

“Hey, my students love me, something that I was only able to accomplish with my sparkling sense of humor and sarcastic wit.”

“Don’t forget your humble nature.”

“Oh, I could never forget how humble I am.”

Lucy put her hand over her heart in a demure gesture. “But for real, I had to work to win them over. It was hard in the beginning. They were pretty disappointed Mrs. Griffith wasn’t going to be here for the semester.”

“I never would’ve known. I’m pretty sure Gia and Chloe are about to start the Ms. Buchanan fan club.”

“Chloe never knew Mrs. Griffith, so she was easier to lure to the dark side. As for your sister, I’ve been her favorite since I used to babysit for her.”

“So, what you’re telling me is she’s biased?”

“Yes.”

“You should give yourself more credit, Luce.”

Theo shook his head. “I know from personal experience how easily you can win people over.”

“Have I won you over?”

Lucy asked before she could stop herself.

“Yes,”

Theo said without hesitation. “Why do you think I’m here? If you haven’t figured it out yet, Lucy, I like you.”

“Just a little bit?”

she asked, holding her hand in the air, her finger hovering above her thumb.

“Yeah.”

But this time Theo did hesitate before he repeated, “Just a little bit.”