Page 57 of This Time Around
“It looks delicious, smells even better.And it will go great with the red I brought.Want me to pour you a glass?”
“Yes, please.I have a few last minutes things to do to finish dinner.Make yourself comfortable.”
I already was.Her house screamed home and comfortable living and relaxation.Every time I stepped inside, the weight of all the stress I was still trying to put behind me in California melted away.
As she moved toward the stove, slipping oven mitts over her hands, I went in the other direction.
I found her wine opener, set on the shelves with the wineglasses, opened the bottle and poured two glasses of wine, emptying the rest of the bottle into a decanter on the top shelf.
After I set that on the kitchen table, already set with cream and pale blue striped placemats and matching blue plates, I brought her glass of wine to her.
Since she hadn’t kicked me out, told me this was a rotten idea, and slammed the door in my face, I figured it’d be best to get the rest of the hard stuff out of the way immediately.
She pulled two glass-baking dishes out of the oven and the aroma assaulted me immediately.Red sauce, mounds of melted cheese, they smelled so good I suddenly missed this food truck that was so damn amazing, I risked traffic jams on the I-5 just to have their burritos or tacos.Churros.
My stomach growled from the memory and the food in front of me.
Rebecca laughed, a soft, musical laugh while she was shaking her head.“You okay there?”
“Hungry.It smells amazing and looks even better.”
“Thank you.”
She slid off the oven mitts and picked up her wine.“It needs to cool for a few minutes but then we’re ready to eat.”
“How was your day today?”
I didn’t give her time to close down on me.It had to be hard.Hell, it had to be one of the most painful things she’d done since Joseph died, but last night she let me in, and I wasn’t ready to get kicked back out to the guesthouse.
I went to her, tucked her hair behind her ear and watched her fight countless emotions.
“Are you okay?”
“No.”She shrugged.“But I was proud of myself, I guess, and that sounds stupid, but Brooke and Kelly helped me and I wish I would have taken them up on that months ago.”
“Friends are good to have.”
“I have some of the best and am realizing how much I missed them lately.They always called, you know, but I couldn’t handle it.I didn’t want to deal with their concern or their worry or their ideas on what I needed to do.I just wanted quiet.”
“And Joseph.”I finished for her.
“Yeah.And him.”
Her smile flattened and she sipped her wine.I took a drink too.
“It’s okay to like kissing me, and still love him.”
I wanted her to be okay with liking me.Something told me she’d be okay with the physical—that didn’t involve hearts and souls and emotions—more so than she would be admitting she liked me.
“Dinner’s ready.”She twisted away from me, taking the glass dishes to the kitchen counter and once they were settled, all excitement or nerves had evaporated from her expression.“We should eat.”
“Rebecca—”
“I liked the kiss,” she whispered.Her head was down, hair blocking my view of her.“I liked the kiss and I like you being here, and even though it’s all really strange, I still like it.You don’t have to keep worrying about me, just know that I’m trying.”
I did worry.Nothing good would come from letting her know it.
I grabbed the blue plates from the kitchen table and brought them to the counter where all the food was laid out.“Then let’s eat.”
