Page 40 of Christmas Promises

“I can’t wait to try it. I could get used to having you around cooking for me.”

“There’s almost nothing I love more. And this kitchen is so much fun to cook in. I’m having a blast. I hope you don’t mind how I’ve taken over.”

“I can’t say that I do.”

“What’s a typical night like for you?” Laney asked.

“You mean when I don’t have a gorgeous woman cooking for me?” He thought for a moment about how to answer. “It’s quiet. I usually just make something simple, then watch a little television or sports and then read in bed until I fall asleep. I’m pretty boring.”

“I like boring.”

“What about for you? Before you came here, that is.” He wanted to understand everything about this amazing woman. Her past. Her present. Hopefully a future. With him.

“I rented an apartment in Brooklyn for the last five years. My work with various small businesses let me to work from home, unless I was meeting with a client. At night I liked to go out with friends for a meal or a walk. The last few years, I’d be out to dinner with Josh a couple of nights a week. I fall asleep reading every night too.”

“Did you and Josh live together?”

“No. That’s not for me. No judgment against others, but I wanted to be married before we moved in together. That was actually a bone of contention between us.”

“How so?” He sipped his wine, watching her, curious about her relationship with Josh. How the man had ever let her go was beyond him.

“I was raised in the church. He was not. So, we didn’t always see eye to eye. Obviously. Since he was carrying on with my best friend behind my back.” She said it lightly, but a hint of hurt was evident by the way her voice grew huskier.

“You’ve handled all this really well. Most people would still be curled into a ball under their covers.”

She tugged the lid off the pot and stirred the sauce with a wooden spoon, her hair falling over her face for a second so that he could not read her expression. “I think there’s a reason I’m not.”

She spoke so softly that he found himself leaning forward. He never wanted to miss one word this woman uttered. “Yeah? What’s that?” Nolan asked.

Tossing her hair over her shoulders, she looked directly at him. “You. I can barely remember what Josh looks like.”

“That can’t be true,” Nolan said, laughing.

“Itistrue. But I know whatyoulook like. You’re seared into my brain.” She tapped her temple.

He warmed from the inside out. How was she still so sweet and innocent after all that had happened to her recently? She hadn’t changed much at all from when they were fourteen. Did she think the same of him?

Laney returned her attention back to her pot of steaming sauce, her cheeks flushed from the heat and steam. Such creamy skin. And those eyes.

“You’re going to have to teach me how to make this,” Nolan said, trying to distract himself from how badly he wanted to set her on the counter and kiss her.

Laney glanced up with a grin. “It’s not at all hard. In fact, it’s a very forgiving recipe.”

“Sounds like the perfect meal for me then.”

She placed the lid back on the pot and came around the island to sit next to him. “What a great day this has been. Thank you for spending time with me. I thought the holidays were going to be awful, but they haven’t been. Because of you and Aunt Edna and this special town. I’m feeling very blessed.”

“I’m sorry for what you’re going through, but I’m only too happy to be the lucky one who gets to spend time with you.” He hesitated, a lump forming in his throat. “Like I said earlier, since Dylan died, I haven’t enjoyed the holidays much. Since he was killed at the beginning of December, it made the holidays rough that year, obviously. Unfortunately, it’s been like that ever since. I find myself faking it through most of the festivities. But not this year. Because of you.”

“I’m glad.” They smiled at each other, knees touching. “But that kind of loss changes a person forever. There’s no way around it. For the rest of your life, December will be the month your friend died.”

“Will it be the month you didn’t have a honeymoon?”

She laughed. “No, I don’t think so. The longer I’m here, the more I know it was all meant to unfold the way it did. I’m lucky. I got away from him, and now I have a chance for a whole new life.”

“And love.”

“That’s right.”

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