Page 32 of What Love Can Do

Lilly side-glanced him, and he smiled, stretching out his hand. She let one hand off the steering wheel and slipped it into his. No, he may not be her boyfriend, he might not love her the way she loved him, he might not be torturing himself with possibilities including one in which they tried to make things work despite the miles that would separate them, but he was a damned nice guy who cared about her, and that alone was a good thing.

Later, even as Lillian got back to work at the Russian River House kitchen, she couldn’t stop thinking about him, the desperation she’d felt when they’d made love, the way Quinn seemed to have attempted consuming and possessing her as much as he could in the time they had together. She had captured the moment too, internalizing the color of his skin, the lines dimpling his cheeks, the sound of his groans when it all became too much for him.

In the middle of a killer set of banana walnut muffins she was baking and another of blueberry lemon poppy seed, she paused, zester in right hand, as fresh lemon oil from a huge Meyer’s lemon misted into her nose. She heard her mother arriving through the side door, interrupting her reverie, talking on the phone, then ending the call, as she reached the kitchen.

“Okay…yeah, no kidding. Okay…thanks for telling me, Ave.” Mom shoved the phone back in her purse and strolled into the kitchen to survey how things were going. Mellie and Cook had taken off for lunch, and for once, Lilly didn’t go with them. Having spent yesterday and this morning on the California coast in Jenner, she was behind now and needed to catch up.

“What’s Avery saying?” Lilly asked, nervous about where such a question would lead. It wasn’t that she loved instigating or perpetuating gossip, but this time, she was afraid it was about her.

Her mother leaned back on the counter, as Lilly continued peeling off thin strips of fragrant lemon skin to throw into the batter, giving her muffins that added boost that pushed them over the edge.

“Do you have something you want to tell me?” her mom asked.

Lilly’s veins turned to ice. Her hand shook slightly. She would never get over feeling like a little girl around her mother and supposed that, even when she turned forty years old, Mom would have the ability to make her quake in her boots. “What do you mean?” Lilly replied.

Sighing, Mom began taking bowls and measuring cups and placing them into the sink. God forbid she just relax for one second. “What I mean is, something is going on with you, and you haven’t told me, told anyone.”

Lilly swallowed the lump in her throat and kept her eyes down. Realizing that doing so might give the impression that she was guilty of something, she switched to an easy smile and shrug instead. “Actually, I was going to tell you today.” She could hear her voice shaking slightly. Folding in the last of the zest and incorporating it all into one, delicious batter, Lilly scraped off the edge of her spatula and set it down on the counter.

She faced her mom, hands inside her apron’s pockets. “Mom, I got great news a few days ago…” Registering her mother’s confused look and head tilt, Lilly figured she ought to make this quick and easy—like ripping off a Band-Aid. “I entered a baking contest on the Food Network, totally as a fluke, thinking it wouldn’t amount to anything, but after several rounds and interviews, turns out…” She slapped her arms against her sides and gave it all she got. “They picked me!” She grinned sheepishly. “I won an internship with Guy Santoli of L’Appetite Boulange.”

Mom’s face went blank, almost as if she didn’t believe her. “You what?” she muttered, blue eyes disappearing into a confused grimace.

Okay, this is not going well.

“I won an internship. With one of the best pastry chefs in the country. I start in two-and-a half weeks. I’m going to be living in Miami for six months. So…we should probably start looking for someone to make the muffins while I’m gone.”

Silence. Nothing from Penny Parker. For at least a minute. Lilly thought she would collapse, wished she could start over, this time mention what a great opportunity this is.

“I can’t believe you’ve been keeping that from me…for how long?” her mom said in a flat tone.

Lilly’s hands shook. The pitch in her voice was higher. Be assertive…this is your life, she could hear Quinn cheering her on. “I’ve known since Saturday. It wasn’t like I wasn’t going to tell you, it’s just that I’ve been deciding whether I want to go or not.” Total lie, but at least it would excuse her silence. Though Lilly did feel guilty that at least three people knew about her good news before her mother did. “How did you find out?”

“I didn’t,” Mom said, and Lilly’s stomach sank into her toes. “I had no idea of this. It wasn’t even what I was talking about.”

Lilly groaned. If that wasn’t what her mother was alluding to, then what the hell had she been talking about? Her heart pounded against her ribcage, as she considered all the possible acts of defiance that her mother might be upset over. Then, a light turned on inside her brain. “Oh.”

That.

“I was talking about the fact that everyone’s seen you with Quinn O’Neill.”

“Everyone? Who’s everyone, Mom?”

“Beverly saw you two driving down St. John’s Road. What were you doing heading out that way?”

“I told you, and besides, you know from Avery and everyone else in town, that he’s here visiting because his mom grew up here. He wanted to see the Langley Creek Bridge. She wrote about it in her journal a long time ago.”

“Journal?” There was a sharp interest in her mother’s eyes, and Lilly understood all too well what she was getting at. Hide your mam’s journal, she wanted to warn Quinn all of a sudden, before my mom fakes needing to clean your room and tries reading it, looking for clues leading to her breakup with Dad. “What else did she write about in her journal?”

“I don’t know. Not like I’ve read it.” Technically true. Though Quinn had read a portion to her, she wasn’t about to tell her mom that or any more of what she’d learned. Lilly shouldn’t have even told her about the bridge. She hadn’t meant to violate Quinn’s trust. He’d shown her nothing but sweetness from the moment he arrived. Then again, if her mom was hurt over a woman who broke her and Dad up, she supposed she couldn’t blame her either.

Talk about a rock and a hard place.

“You’re the one always telling me to go out and meet guys, Mom. And for fuck’s sake, I’m twenty-seven years old. I can see whoever I want.” She smacked the lemon down hard.

“Yes, you can see whoever you want. And apparently, you can curse whenever you want too. I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but that’s fine,” she said, as Lilly thought of the one, hot thing that had gotten into her lately. “Totally fine by me, but…why him, Lillian? Of all the men?”

“Of all the men, Mother?” She folded her arms over her chest. “How many men come through here? Besides, he’s a very nice, classy man with strong family values, as a matter of fact, and a great head for business. You would like him if you would just get to know him.”

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