Page 23 of Made for You

“Yes! I was thinking this would be great for favors at the dance!” I hand a piece of fudge to Liam.

“Margaret, this is even better than the cranberry cookies. You definitely outdid yourself. I think everyone will be happy to have these as favors,” he coos at Gran.

Gran does her little happy dance when people approve of her new creations, and goes back to the stove for another batch.

“I am going to go pack up my stuff, I don’t have much. I’ll be right back.”

I’m halfway up the stairs when I hear Gran tell Liam that he’s allowed to follow me up to my room.

When we were teenagers, he was never allowed upstairs to my room, and I was never allowed to his. Hopefully that changes tonight.

He tentatively stands at the entrance, taking in the small twin bed and the childhood toys still here.

“Wow. This is a blast from the past.” He runs his finger along all the childhood books that were my favorites to read on the beach in the summer.

He sits on the twin bed, “I bet you’ll be happy to have a king size, top of the line bed.”

“Ugh. That sounds like heaven.” My eyes flutter closed at the thought.

I love Gran, and I love being with Gran, but this bed does nothing for adult me.

I toss the last of my dirty laundry into a backpack. “Okay, ready to go!”

“That’s all you have?”

“I’ve not been here too long. And I could only pack what I could carry on the subway.” I shrug in response, grabbing one of my suitcases.

“Okay then. Let’s go.” He places his hand on the small of my back, and leads me down the stairs with my other suitcase behind him.

Gran is still in the kitchen working on her fudge when we come back down.

“What do you think about a chocolate covered cherry fudge?” she asks without her eyes leaving the sensitive mixture in the pot.

“Oh I just made a chocolate and cherry muffin. The flavor combo is great. It would be a perfect mix with the strawberries and cream too for favors.” I slide up next to her, inhaling the current mix. “Want to work on it together later this week?”

“Of course I do!” I kiss her on the cheek before we leave. “And bring me one of those muffins! I might want to add it to the menu.”

“Sure thing, Gran. I’ll make you a fresh batch.” Liam and I wave on our way out the door.

He has some work to finish before our date when we get back to the inn. So I get settled in the room he gave me and decide to go bake some cookies to pass the time. I am going tocook dinner in his cabin, and with any luck, we’ll get to eat by the fireplace that I know is in there.

The fireplaces have always been my favorite, and I used to dream of cozying up with a blanket by the roaring fire with one of my books when I was younger. Something I definitely have kept romanticized in my head all these years. And tonight I finally get to experience it, hopefully. The summers never really lent themselves to fires inside, only the bonfires on the beach.

I pull out all the ingredients to make s’mores cookies, I figure they will fit the theme with our picnic by the fire.

Cleaning the kitchen always allows me to lose myself in doing dishes and singing along to some of my favorite country songs. It’s cathartic really.

“Are you ready for our date?” Liam turns the music down before asking, letting me know he’s in the room.

I’m elbow deep in a sink full of suds. Without me asking, he comes next to me and starts drying the dishes as I wash them. “I am.”

“Good. I am too.” We exchange quiet smiles between us.

We work in silence for the next fifteen minutes, me washing and him drying. Like the perfect partnership. Something I’ve been thinking about the better part of today.

“You know I’ve been thinking all day about the amount of guests you are expecting for Valentine’s Day. What if we had a special package for them, a dessert package?”

“What are you thinking?”

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