Page 204 of Steamy Ever After

“I don’t understand this, Erin. What are you doing? Do you know people there?”

She smiled, thinking of the nice people she’d met—people who didn’t judge her or hold her past against her. “I’m making friends.”

“What does that mean? What kind of friends?”

No one in Clifton Heights knew who she was or remembered what a bitch she’d been in high school. It was freeing to be somewhere that no one knew her. But she was getting homesick, not for her town or her house, but for Giovanni.

“How far is it? I can drive there?—”

“No, you stay there and work. I know how much that job beats you up. But I want to see you on Friday. I have some news.”

“News?”

“Don’t worry. It’s good news.”

He didn’t sound convinced. “Okay.”

The next day, she returned to the library with a bag from the office supply store. The library had minimal software available for the high school students, but it was enough to do what she needed.

She spent the day editing clips and creating a video montage, which was kind of fun. The next day she tapped into her past campaign experience and worked on writing an irresistible pitch. By Friday morning, she was checking out of the quaint bed and breakfast, then off to the post office. By noon, started her way back to Jasper Falls.

She’d been so sure of herself all week, but the closer she got to home, the more her doubts returned. When she pulled into her driveway it was already two o’clock and she’d worked herself into a cold sweat.

She Googled the number to the Clifton Heights post office. “Hi, I was in there this morning. I dropped off a stack of manilla envelopes to—” Her stomach dropped. “Oh, I see. They’ve already gone out.”

What had she done?

She ended the call and stared at her house. The snow was finally starting to melt. Maybe that was a sign of a new beginning. Or was it a symbol of an inevitable end?

Her apples were rotting in the bowl on the counter, so she sliced them up and made potpourri as the realtor had explained. She set it to simmer and got in the shower, expecting Giovanni sometime before five.

When she got out of the shower the whole house smelled incredible, like warm apple pie. She laughed, thinking how Giovanni probably would think she baked something and be disappointed when he only found a pot of cinnamon sticks and boiled mush on the stove.

So not to be cruel, she decided to bake something for him as well. It would keep her mind off the very spontaneous, possibly stupid, thing she did this week.

As she stared into the pantry at the canisters of sugar and flour, she debated what to bake. She knew one recipe by heart.

Standing in the open pantry for a solid minute, she wondered if she could bring herself to bake a crumb cake without triggering a mess of unwanted memories. She wouldn’t be baking it because she had to. She’d be baking it because she wanted to, because Giovanni had once mentioned how much he loved that crumb cake.

What was she going to do, spend the rest of her life afraid of a cake? She reached for the ingredients and got to work.

As she sifted the flour and cracked the eggs, she thought of Skylar baking all the treats of the basket she’d dropped off after the funeral. That felt like a lifetime ago, but the gift still registered the same.

When she slid the cake into the oven to bake, she went to the drawer and dug out a notepad and pen. This time when she sat down to write the thank you letter, the words were there.

Skylar,

I’m sorry it’s taken so long for me to find the right words of gratitude, but ‘thank you’ didn’t seem adequate at the time. Even now, I know it’s not enough to express my appreciation for your thoughtful gift.

Maybe you believe you only filled that basket with homemade cookies and sweets, but what you gave me was so much more. That basket was sunlight on a gloomy day. It was hope when I was at my most hopeless.

I know I didn’t deserve your kindness, but you provided it anyway, expecting nothing in return. I hope one day, if you ever find yourself needing a friend, I can return the favor to you.

Please tell Rhett and Addison I send them my best.

Sincerely,

Erin Montgomery

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