Page 53 of A Love Like Pumpkin Spice
“No idea.” Now it’s my turn to shrug. “Thanksgiving hasn’t come up yet, but I’ll ask him.” I put the dish with the dough and pie weights into the oven and open my cupboards and drawers, trying to find a hand mixer. "He's coming over later today."
“And he's gonna stay the night?" She wiggles her eyebrows at me and that grin is just screaming indecent thoughts so I shake my head at her. But not without grinning myself.
"Nope, just a good old movie and dinner date," I point out, feeling my cheeks fill with heat. I can't wait to see him.
"Aw, you have that smile on your face again!” She rounds the kitchen island again and puts her floury, buttery hands on my cheeks. “I’m so happy for you!”
“Thank you, Lauren.” I giggle and join her in her little happy dance. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this giddy about a man before.”
“Like your whole body is tingling?”
“No. I don’t know how to describe it. It’s … like pumpkin spice! Okay, no. Maybe that’s a crappy comparison.”
“Try me.” She lifts her eyebrow, clearly ready for the challenge that is keeping up with my brain and weird comparisons.
“You wait all year for pumpkin spice,” I say as I carry the empty dough bowl to the sink. “And then it shows up, and suddenly … you’re happier. It’s not something youneed, but drinking it, tasting it—it brings this little spark of joy. It makes life warmer, brighter. Even if it’s only for a season.”
“I was with you until it turned self-deprecating again.” She pinches my arm, and I swat her hands away. “Henry isn’t only for a season. Pay attention to the way he looks at you.”
“How does he look at me?”
“As if you’re the sun.” She giggles, getting a dreamy look on her face. “And he’ll never let you go. Like he would punch Jay, your sister, and your parents in the face if it meant you’d cheer up. And you know what?”
“What?”
“You kind of look at him like that too.”
Chapter 20
Henry
“Have fun at work, hot stuff. May you have a day with cute, fluffy patients and no cow behinds,” Nic jokes, then lifts herself to her tiptoes to press her lips against mine.
“Thanks, sweetheart.”
She returns my smile, and I tear myself away from her. Something is off. The spark in her eyes has dulled, and her smile doesn’t quite reach her eyes, her thoughts everywhere but in the present.
No wonder. With her history, an ex showing up would probably throw me for a loop too.
An angry voice in my head scolds me to stay and be there for her, but I have appointments today, and animal health is not exactly something I can reschedule. The only thing I can do is pop over when I can, whether that's on a detour on my way to work, or after to spend the evenings with her. Right now, though, I can only watch her close her front door, heart dropping and anxiety twisting my stomach into knots.
Walking to my car, I can’t help but glance over my shoulder. Through the narrow, frosted glass sidelights next to her door, I catch her shadow. At first, she’s leaning against the door, back pressed to it. But by the time I reach the car, she’s slid down to the floor and sits on the floor.
She’s still there, motionless, even after Jensen climbs into the passenger seat, and still when I get behind the wheel.
Everything in me screams, fighting the urge to jump out and run back inside. To hug her to me tightly and not let her go until she tells me what’s going on in that complicated, beautiful mind of hers.
Yet a more rational part of me knows it’s more likely to push her away.
It sucks. All I can do is sit by her when her thoughts are miles away, tighten my hug, and be there for her if she ever decides to talk about it. This thing between us is still fragile, still trying to find its footing, more unsteady than Bambi learning to walk. It will take more time until I can read her and know what she wants without asking.
We’re getting there. She doesn’t often open up about her emotional turmoil about her ex anymore. And I get it. It's an awkward topic to talk about with a new boyfriend. Yet I treasure each and every time she does, hoping she’ll soon understand that I’m here to stay and nothing she says could drive me away.
Until that happens, life goes on as usual: With me getting coffee from Caleb’s and Jensen getting his daily treat from his favorite uncle. And later we'll go on a walk so I can try out the new lense for my camera.
Business as always.
“Henry!” I glance up to see Lauren waving at me from her seat at the counter, an excited grin on her face.
