She grinned, glad she wasn’t the only one affected. “Then you shouldn’t have slipped out before I woke up.” But he’d been a gentleman and left a note, which enabled her to fall back to sleep without believing he’d done a one-eighty in his thinking or pulled a guy stunt and carelessly skipped the morning after.
It almost made her trust that he was capable of more than he thought when it came to relationships, but he’d been up front with her. So she knew better.
“I promised my father I’d help him around the house. You were out cold and I didn’t want to wake you.”
“So what can I do for you now?” she asked.
He laughed, low and deep. “That’s a loaded question while you’re naked in the bathtub, sweetheart.”
Her breath caught at the easily used endearment.
“Actually you can join me for dinner later.”
A flush of happiness rushed through her. “I’d love to.”
“See? I can take you out like a gentleman,” he said, causing her heart to tighten in her chest. “Dress up.”
“Okay.”%
“And be good in that bath.”
Her face flushed and she wondered if he knew just how bad she planned to be.
The rest of the day passed quickly, with a trip to the grocery store, and then she spent the better part of the afternoon doing her favorite thing: baking. Nothing made a house feel more like a home than the fresh smell of homemade anything, and now that she had her own equipment, this small house was beginning to feel like a real home to her.
She settled on macarons, the currently in-vogue French cookie. The recipe for these cookies was deceptively simple, but in reality, it was intense and time consuming and took lots of patience, of which she had plenty.
For hours, she lost herself in a process she found soothing. She knew just how soft to make the peaks of the egg whites before adding another ingredient, then whisking once more. Then came the pastry bag and the painstaking creation of rounds without peaks by bringing the pastry tip to the side.
She made chocolate ganache and Swiss buttercream filling, so Sam would have a choice, keeping an eye on the oven as she worked. Another part of the process involved a careful watching of time, lowering then raising the temperature for the next batch. A bomb could have gone off in the next room and she wouldn’t have noticed, and when she finally lifted her head to glance at the clock, she realized she didn’t have much time to shower before Sam arrived to pick her up.
Dress up, he’d said.
She chose a soft pale blue skirt and flowing tank top loosely belted, and a pair of metallic sandals. She blow-dried her hair, but parts were still damp and she decided it could air-dry. A hint of blush and lip gloss, bangle bracelets, a long necklace, and dangling earrings, and she was ready with minutes to spare.
Then her cell phone rang. A glance told her it was her sister, which was unusual and off the set schedule.
“Hello?” Nicole asked, aware she was holding her breath.
“Hi! I have the best news!” Vicky said, sounding more excited than Nicole could remember.
Very up, and a prickle of nerves assaulted Nicole.
“What’s up?” she asked as she settled onto her bed.
Vicky squealed in excitement. “My doctor said if I keep progressing like this, I can take a day trip out of here. You know, like a test run to see how I handle being back out in the world.”
Nicole swallowed hard. It was one thing to think about her sister getting better, another to contemplate her being out. “Are you sure you’re ready?”
“I am. I just need someone to agree to be my guardian for the day.”
Another nervous flutter took up residence in Nicole’s stomach, and she shivered.
“. . . But I’m sure Mom or Dad will agree,” Vicky continued, obviously rambling with excitement.
“I just don’t want you to set yourself up for disappointment,” Nicole warned her.
“It’s one day. Twelve hours. Less even.”