He hovered in the hall by the door to the living room and she flapped a hand, urging him to go ahead of her, and kept flapping until he was safely inside so she didn’t have to squeeze past him again.
‘Well?’ she demanded, her hands on her ample hips. It struck her that she must look a mess in her fluffy pink pyjamas with equally fluffy pink slipper socks on her feet. And she dreaded to think what her hair was doing or how her face looked without any make-up.
She shouldn’t have answered the door. But it was too late now.
Elijah shuffled over to the dining room table that she rarely used, preferring to eat off a tray on her lap in front of the telly, and placed the box down gently. When he opened the lid, she caught another waft of forbidden deliciousness.
‘Hear me out,’ he began, before she had a chance to speak. ‘I’ve been doing some research, and I hope I’ve found some treats youcaneat.’
Okay, now she was intrigued. ‘What sort of treats?’
‘After Kendra let slip that you’ve recently been diagnosed with diabetes – I’m sorry about that, by the way.’
‘My diagnosis, or that Kendra told you?’
‘Your diagnosis – although I hope you didn’t give Kendra a hard time, because it was an honest mistake.’
Nora wanted to growl at him, but she settled for a sharp, ‘I did not give Kendra a hard time.’
He smiled. She didn’t return it, and it soon subsided. ‘That’s a relief. I’d hate to think I was the cause of any trouble between you.’
‘Don’t flatter yourself.’
‘Anyway, I found a recipe for brownies that some famous doctor on the telly recommended, so I thought I’d give it a go since it’s supposed to be for people who want to control their blood glucose and also to lose weight – as part of a calorie-controlled diet, obviously. I wouldn’t recommend eating six of them in one go. One would be enough.’
‘Where’s the fun in that?’
His expression told her that he wasn’t sure whether she was joking or not.
She wasn’t.
‘Do you want to know what’s in them?’ He picked up a small brown square and held it up.
‘Go on then, astound me.’
Elijah took a breath. ‘Almond flour – not wheat flour – coconut oil, eggs, dates, cacao nibs and cacao powder, plus a few other ingredients such as baking powder and salt.’ He held up a hand as she was about to speak. ‘The almond flour does contain carbs, but nowhere near the amount that normal flour has, and the cacao nibs are tiny, crushed pieces of cacao beans which is the purest form of chocolate. Apparently they’re a good source of antioxidants and contain loads of fibre. As do the dates, which also give the brownies their sweetness – but don’t worry, dates are good for you,’ he added hurriedly. ‘Lots of fibre.’
Nora wrinkled her nose, unconvinced. It did look utterly yummy, but how could she trust that it wouldn’t send her blood glucose level rocketing? Her GP had been adamant that she had to be very careful about what she put in her mouth, and she was fairly certain that brownies were on the naughty list.
‘I’ve checked the number of calories in each piece, as well as the carb content, fibre and protein,’ Elijah told her.
‘How did you do that?’
‘There’s an app you can download that’ll count the calories for you.’
That was news to Nora. Mind you, she’d never counted calories in her life, so it wasn’t surprising she hadn’t heard of it. ‘Show me.’
He already had his mobile in his hand. He passed it to her and she studied it in amazement.
‘Do you mind if I…?’ she asked.
‘Go ahead.’
As she worked her way around the app, she was amazed. Gosh, this would be a game-changer. Yes, she’d still have to weigh and measure every sip and crumb that passed her lips (except for water), but she’d be able to see precisely the number of calories she was consuming, and all the sneaky carbs and sugar hidden in loads of different foods.
‘Wow…’ Despite herself, a smile spread across her face. Even if Elijah had brought forbidden food into her house, she would forgive him a hundred times because of this.
When she handed his phone back to him, she’d already decided to download the app, no matter the cost. Even if she hadto live on leaves for the next month to afford it. Oh, wait a sec, leaves wereexactlywhat she was living on!
