Page 39 of Accidental Fiancé

“Do you? It’s been a minute since you two hung out, so maybe you should get to know one another again instead of pounding each other’s brains out for a night. She’s your fantasy girl, but reality might pour some cold water down your shorts.”

He had a point.

How much did I really know about her as an adult? Not a lot. But that didn’t seem to matter when I pulled in at home and saw her rental car parked in front of the garage. Something deep inside of me settled down, knowing she was inside the house with Piper. I might not have known the details of who she was these days, but I knew who Maggie was at her core.

Which was why it was so hard to keep my fucking head about her.

When I walked into the house, the aroma of tomato sauce wafted up my nose and I followed it like a drooling animal to the kitchen. There, I found Piper, wearing a chef hat and an apron, next to Maggie, who wore the same thing. That feeling that had settled down in my chest now lifted and swooned.

They were too cute together.

“Hey, you two.”

They both jumped, and Maggie ended up with tomato sauce dripping onto her apron from the wooden spoon in her hand. “Oh damn it, I mean dang it. Piper, you can’t say the other one.”

My daughter laughed while Maggie cleaned herself up. She teased, “Dammit!”

“Pip, language. What is all this?”

“Thought we’d make you a proper supper. She says she loves noodles, so we decided on spaghetti and meatballs. Sound good?”

“Sounds incredible. But you could have ordered something.” I sat at the kitchen bar and rolled up my sleeves.

“Where’s the fun in that? I’ll make you a bowl.”

Piper came to sit next to me. “Pop, did you know you could make noodles?”

“Yes, I… Maggie, did you make the spaghetti?”

“Mm-hmm,” she said as she ladled everything together.

“I don’t know how much work that is, but I’m sure it goes way beyond opening a box. Why go to all the trouble?”

She shrugged and set the bowl in front of me. “Taste it first and let me know if it needs anything.”

I did, and the supple noodle had edges on it that picked up the sauce in a way I didn’t realize spaghetti could. The sauce itself was succulent, yet not overly heavy, and seasoned to perfection. And the meatball was the stuff of meatball dreams, full of flavor with just the right density. I had no words. I just kept eating.

“Does it need anything?”

I shook my head and kept at it.

The three of us slurped pasta together, putting a serious dent in the massive amount Maggie had made. She swore it was impossible to make a small amount, so she had made enough to feed a small army. I was so full by the end of it that I said, “If you keep cooking like this, I’ll have to do extra-long sessions with my personal trainer every day.”

She smiled at me over her glass of wine. “Salad tomorrow?”

“That’ll make up for tonight, but what about the next day when I ask you to make spaghetti again?”

“I’m glad you liked it. But I have other plans for the rest of the week.”

“No more spaghetti?” A terrible thought.

“Nope, something else. Hopefully, you’ll like it just as much. And there will be more vegetables involved.”

“No!” Piper shouted as she climbed down from her chair.

But Maggie insisted, “You remember all the vegetables I put in the sauce and the meatballs? It’ll be like that. You won’t even notice them. I promise.”

“Okay. We can have yucky vegetables.”

---