Page 25 of Loving Decker

“Faithy.” He reached for her hand. “The only reason every guy in the school wasn’t all over you is because I was there first. And we were good friends. You were everything I needed back then. But I should have been more considerate, I’m sorry.” He had already mentally kicked himself for being as blind as a bat all those years.

She nodded. “Deck, you were awesome. Youareawesome.” She squeezed his hand before letting go. “I’m happy things are…changing?” She shrugged. “But if we don’t start moving a little faster here, we are never gonna get any of this in the oven where it belongs. Now mix that. Add two tablespoons water, and then you’re gonna have to get your hands dirty.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

They worked a moment more until she had a bowl full of fresh strawberries covered in a delicious smelling glaze and he had a ball of dough on the counter.

“With this, you just need to roll it out and we’ll get it in your pie dish.”

He lifted the rolling pin. “Wanna help me with this?” With a gentle curve of his lip, she was stepping closer with her arms around him.

He was thrilled all the way down to his toes.

Her soft hands covered his, and with swift movements, she guided him to press the rolling pin into the dough and spread it out into a deftly managed circle on the counter.

When she was finished, he missed her closeness immediately. “Now what?” He pointed to the perfectly shaped circle. “How do we get that in there?” He pointed to the pie dish.

“Just like this.” She rested the rolling pin in the center of the dough and folded over one half, then used the pin to lower it into the dish. “Voila.” Her proud smile made him laugh.

“Now that’s something.”

“Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar on there. We gotta get it in the oven and cooled before we add all these berries.”

“Excellent.”

They moved on to cookies, which Decker had made before, so he was much more help. But he secretly wished there was another reason for her arms to go around him.

While pulling out the last batch of cookies, she was already prepping to make the muffins when the doorbell rang.

“I’ll get it,” he called over his shoulder while walking to the door.

But before he could get there, Randall opened it. “Faith! I’ll just put these on the front table…” He stopped, obviously shocked to see Decker there.

And Deck was equally surprised to see Randall walking in like he’d done it a million times.

“Randall.” Decker reached for a tray of something in the intruder’s hands. “I’ll take that.”

But he pulled it closer. “No, it’s okay. I got it. I wanted to tell Faith it’s here.”

“I can let her know.”

They stared each other down for a minute, neither saying anything, and Decker kind of wished he could send him on his way, but instead, he called for Faith.

“Randall’s here.”

She peeked her head around the corner, wiping down her hands. “Oh! Thank you, Randall! Those look great!” She hugged him and accepted a kiss on her cheek, and Decker felt all kinds of foreign emotions hammer through him. Images of sending the guy out the door filled his mind as well as getting him out on a football field for a really hard tackle. He couldn’t quite see himself sending a fist into his face, but to say he wasn’t happy to see the man was an understatement. He stood taller and stepped closer to Faith. He couldn’t help it. It was like every protective instinct was on overdrive, and this guy was stealing his land and his woman, or at least that’s what it felt like.

Randall looked from one to the other. “Are we delivering this afternoon?”

“I, um.” She glanced up at Deck and then to Randall. “Yup. We’ve got a whole bunch of deliveries. Thanks for bringing over some more baked goods.”

“I know how much Mrs. Alred loves your scones.” He looked hopefully toward the kitchen.

She laughed, and Decker grew more irritated. Randall knew about Faith’s scones? He himself had never had a scone from Faith. And suddenly the idea that anyone else had been close to her, particularly the same weasel who was trying to steal land from the people of Willow Creek, was sitting absolutely wrong with him.

But Faith just kept smiling and acting friendly.

“Come on back, then. I have a scone waiting for you.”

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