Page 37 of Should Our Hearts Catch Fire

Gabe melts a little. He didn’t want to get his hopes up. When he likes someone, it’s tricky to differentiate between which feelings belong to whom. He thought he felt something from Ellis this morning—a kind of curiosity and intrigue, and, possibly, a tiny bit of attraction. But he instantly disregarded it as projecting his own feelings onto Ellis. It’s not unusual. With his gift, there’s quite a large margin for error. Sometimes his emotions just bounce off the other person and he gets confused.

He can’t afford to go out on a limb. Especially when that limb is Zeke’s!

“If he does, that’s not a green light for you to scare him away! He’s…reserved!”

Zeke scoffs. “Reserved, my ass. He was a dick the first time you met and now he doesn’t know how to act. I was helping out!”

“You were doing the opposite!”

“He looked pretty damn happy to me when I dragged you over.”

That gives Gabe a pause. “He did?”

“Yes!”

“Oh.” He hates the spark of hope lighting up in his chest. Dangerous territory. Abort! “It doesn’t matter. You humiliated me! Intentionally made both of us uncomfortable!”

A corner of Zeke’s mouth curls upwards. Oh, how Gabe would love to feel it against his fist. “Yeah, that was fun.”

Gabe is saved from committing a first-degree murder by someone calling out, “Hello? Anybody here?”

Dammit. There’s no way he can go out and serve customers. Zeke must come to the same conclusion because he puts the whisk down, giving Gabe a supercilious smile.

“How about you go cool down while I serve?”

“I hate you,” Gabe grumbles as he slaps the spoon on the counter and stalks back into the cold room. He has a feeling he’ll be spending a lot of time there in the near future.

The following morning, Gabe almost drops a tray with freshly baked cinnamon rolls when he exits the kitchen to find Ellis standing in the middle of the café. He looks as gorgeous as usual—no surprise there—but there’s something different about him. He seems…softer, for the lack of a better word, and Gabe instinctively picks up on the nervous energy emanating from him. Or maybe it’s Gabe who’s nervous? Ugh, why is it so hard to tell?

Nervous or not, Gabe can’t help the huge smile that always seems to appear whenever Ellis is around. “Hey! You’re early!” He only flipped the sign toopenten minutes ago.

“Hi,” Ellis says, looking unsure as he sweeps his gaze around the café. “You’re open, right?”

“We are. That’s not what I meant,” Gabe says with a small chuckle, setting the tray down. The cinnamon rolls can wait.

“Oh.” Ellis shuffles his feet. “Yeah, I figured I might as well pop in before the crazy rush starts.”

“Good thinking. Give it twenty minutes and we’ll be slammed.” Weekdays are all the same. People start pouring in at 8:30 on their way to work, then again at noon when they’re on their lunch break. Mondays seem to be the worst.

Ellis is being smart, getting up earlier to avoid the mayhem, but Gabe feels bad for him. As much as he loves coffee, he’s not sure he’d be willing to wake up earlier just to avoid waiting in line.

“Nice apron,” Ellis says, voice strange. And is he blushing?

Gabe’s gaze drops to his own chest. He has a whole bunch of funny and cute aprons and never remembers which one he threw on in the morning. Today, he apparently went with the one sayingI like big buns and I cannot lie. Ah, Jesus.

“Oh yeah, thanks.” He laughs nervously. “I bake everything we sell, so…Buns.You know? Like food. The bigger the better. Not like…um…”Oh. Dear. God.

Ellis looks like he’s contemplating if he should leave or call Gabe an ambulance.

He does neither, but seems to be holding back from laughing his ass off. “Yeah, I…figured that’s what it means.”

“Right. Of course.”

“So, you like your job?”

Gabe releases a breath. Finally, something he can talk about. “I do. I mean, it has its ups and downs like anything, but it combines a lot of stuff I enjoy.”

Ellis raises an eyebrow. “Like buns?”