tastes.
“I’m going to teach you how to bake. How to cook.
Whatever you want to make, we’ll do it together.”
“What if that’s a life together?” She held her breath because
something like that would have been out of the question
before. It would have been so off limits that she never would
have dared to ask it because she wouldn’t have wanted to hear
the denial spoken out loud. She never would have recovered
from it. She knew what her answer would be now. This Claire.
This beautiful, changed woman who was cooking and smiling
and laughing again. Haley was so glad her grandma had
convinced her to stop
wallowing in sorrow and come here to
make a change for herself. It wouldn’t have happened
otherwise.
Claire had been waiting. She was waiting for Haley to let
her know what she wanted. To make the first move. Claire had
promised at the very start of all of this that she wouldn’t
seduce her or hurt her or make this about her in any way other
than the fact that she was here because of her dad. She wanted
to keep her word, even if it now required that she do the very
painful digging down deep inside of her herself to find the
strength and courage to think about going down the path of
forgiveness where Robert was concerned. Not only that, but
she’d have to learn how to forgive the past, forgive herself,
and go back to the kitchen, to where it all started. That
couldn’t have been easy. It would have been so hard and so
heartbreaking, and Claire had done it anyway, and she’d
waited.
She’d waited for Haley.