AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Peyton felt a little pulse of nerves rushing through his veins, even though Caleb had assured him that everyone had adored the samples he’d sent in. He still felt a bit like he was stepping on their head baker’s toes, and the last thing he wanted was to get reamed out by some total stranger.
Trying to hip-check the door open, Peyton almost fell flat on his face when it suddenly swung away from him, and there was a sharp, barking laughter before hands caught him. He looked up into the dark eyes of a grinning man who was clearly trying to seem apologetic.
“Sorry,” the guy said, lifting a hand up in surrender once Peyton was secured on his feet. “I didn’t realize you hadn’t seen me.”
Peyton shook his head, mortified that his hands were full so he couldn’t sign since he knew everyone employed there was Deaf. But then his gaze caught the implant on the side of the guy’s head. “Talking’s okay?”
The guy frowned, then he smiled again and nodded, gesturing for him to put his things down on the nearest table. “Yeah. I’ve had my CI since I was a baby. You’re all good.”
Peyton dropped the boxes of dough on the table with a quiet sigh of relief, then glanced back at his car because he had another two loads to carry. “Great. So this is uh…well. Not all of it?”
The guy laughed again and straightened the front of his apron where Peyton was able to catch the name. So this was Wren. He was definitely personable which probably made him great for the front of house, something Peyton could never be. He had always been a disaster trying to work the counter of his bakery.
“You good, man?” Wren asked.
Peyton shook himself out of his head. “Yeah, shit. Sorry. It’s been kind of a weird day.”
That wasn’t a lie. He was still a little upside down over agreeing to go on another date with Austin who straight up ignored him when he said he didn’t want to be called Pay. Then he tried to go over and deliver cookies to Hudson, but either the guy wasn’t home, or he was ignoring Peyton. He also knew he wasn’t going to be able to sleep soundly until he found out if he’d done something to upset Hudson. Again.
“Here, let me grab the dolly and I can help you,” Wren told him, holding up a hand.
He disappeared through the swinging door, then appeared a second later dragging the tiny moving dolly behind him. He loaded up the first boxes, then Peyton led the way to his car where they got the rest stacked up.
“You mind going into the back and explaining all of this to Jori?” Wren asked as soon as they were through the doors. “I’m technically not allowed to touch the ovens because I keep breaking things.”
“He’s the baker?”
Wren nodded. “Yeah. He’s a little neurotic about his kitchen, but he won’t mind you back there.”
Peyton quickly nodded. “Yeah, that’s not a problem. Caleb asked me to print everything out in extra large, font which I did, but I’m happy to go over everything with him.”
Wren’s face brightened. “Awesome. Hey…you’re not single, are you?”
Peyton almost choked on his own tongue. “Uh…”
“Not for me,” Wren said in a rush, then looked immediately apologetic and circled his fist over his chest. “Sorry, that was…I mean, not that you’re not hot. It’s just, I’m seeing someone right now. But I have this friend who…”
“I’m kind of taken,” Peyton interrupted quickly, then bit his lip because he wasn’t taken and he sure as hell didn’t want to be. Not by Austin. But it only took a second to realize he wasn’t talking about his bad date. He was thinking about the neighbor who most definitely didn’t want him. “Well. It’s…complicated.”
“Say no more,” Wren told him. “Or tell me to shut the fuck up because I do this a lot. Caleb would probably can my ass if I wasn’t his brother.”
Peyton was startled for a second that the two were related since they couldn’t have been more different, but after a moment, he could see the resemblance. Of course, he was used to looking nothing like his sibling and he didn’t want to assume the two were even blood related. Not that it mattered.
“I’m not offended,” Peyton assured him. “Can I ask you something, though?”
“You want to know why I’m not sign only like Caleb?” Wren offered.
Peyton flushed lightly and shrugged. “If it’s not rude.”
“Some people might get pissed about it, but I don’t really care.” He offered Peyton a sheepish smile and rubbed the back of his neck. “Caleb and I both got implants when we were babies. We’re twins.”
Peyton’s eyes widened. “But…”
“Fraternal,” Wren offers with a slight laugh. “Anyway, mine worked pretty well, but Caleb’s kept failing. My parents eventually caved when we were like nine and Caleb was failing out of all his classes, and they let him go to the deaf school.”
Peyton blinked, then frowned. “Just him?”
There was hurt in Wren’s eyes that Peyton would never understand, but he could empathize with that feeling of betrayal. “I don’t really blame them. I blame our shitty therapists that kept telling them the only way for us to be normal or happy was to learn how to function in the hearing world.”
