Page 89 of Love At First Fright
They arrived at the car, Ellis opening the door on Rosemary’s side first and then walking around to his. When he’d pulled into his seat and locked the doors, finally Rosemary heard him exhale deeply.
“Jesus Christ,” he said, throwing his cap in the backseat. “I am sorry you had to witness that, love.”
“Are you kidding? I’m the one who’s sorry, Ellis. I don’t know how you live like this, I could never manage it.”
He stared out the front window, and Rosemary noticed his jaw clenching and unclenching. He almost seemed like he wanted to say something, and Rosemary hoped he’d just come out and say it—but she didn’t want to push. Clearly, emotions were running high after the swarm in the bookshop. Had she said something to offend him?
Slowly, Ellis turned to her. “You did really well in there, love,” he said, clearly opting for a change in conversation. Fine, but she would try to bring this up with him later.
“You think so?” she said, moving closer for a kiss.
“I know so. I felt very proud seeing you up there, doing the reading. In your element.” He captured her lips with his,tucking a stray lock of hair behind her ear, the pads of his fingers running down the side of her neck, tracing her collarbone.
“Did you text your friends about lunch tomorrow?” he asked. The week had gone by in a flash and now Rosemary only had a couple more days before she was flying back to the States to see her dad. Still, she and Ellis hadn’t properly discussed what would come after. She didn’t know how to bring it up.
“I did. Immy and Eric are leaving the twins with Eric’s parents so they can come, and Dina and Scott will be there. And your sister?”
“Annie will be there. She’s very excited to meet you.”
“Right back at her.” Rosemary placed a hand on Ellis’s cheek, and pressed another kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Let’s go home. I should start packing before tomorrow, otherwise I’ll forget to do it.”
Ellis’s expression hardened. “Of course. You need to pack. We should go then.”
32
Unlike her friend Dina, Rosemarywas not a natural baker. But what recipes she could bake, she had perfected to the best of her non-kitchen-witch abilities. For this lunch she needed to impress, so she’d gone with a recipe she’d had every holiday season as a kid: spiced persimmon pie. There were persimmon trees on the farm where she grew up, and every fall she would be sent out to harvest them, bucket in hand. They didn’t have persimmon trees in London, though Ellis had already ordered a sapling online because he said he wanted to try it out in the garden. Her insides had fizzled warmly at the thought that Ellis was maybe imagining a future in which she could harvest the fruits in their garden to make pies with.
Although she didn’t have Dina’s magical ability to imbibe food and drink with magical comfort, she still loved the process of baking. Measuring out the dry and wet ingredients, pouring it all into the baking tray, and crouching by the oven every now and again to make sure it was rising as expected. While she waited for the pie to bake, Rosemary noted a few ideas downfor the early scenes of the script adaptation ofJulia,which was coming along nicely.
The room was filled with the scent of nutmeg, cinnamon, and caramelised pecans that she would use as a topping, as well as the buttery, fruity scent of the pie itself. Rosemary was pulling it out of the oven when Ellis walked into the kitchen, his hair still mussed from sleep. Fig bounded over to him, weaving around his ankles until he crouched down to scratch her ears.
“It smells fucking amazing in here,” he said, coming over to kiss Rosemary. She had just enough time to pull the oven gloves off her hands before Ellis pulled her by the strap of her jeans to him, their bodies flush.
“I woke up and you weren’t in bed,” he grumbled, kissingher.
“I had to start baking to give the pie time to set. And, because I’m a wonderful girlfriend, I also made you coffee.”
Ellis groaned into her neck and murmured against her skin, “You’re an angel.”
Rosemary puttered around the kitchen as Ellis drank his coffee, Fig bounding up onto his lap for more attention.
“What’s this?” Ellis asked, looking over at the open Word document on Rosemary’s laptop.
“Oops, no, don’t look at that yet!” she squealed, rushing over to close the laptop. “It’s a surprise.”
Ellis laughed. “Alright, I’ll be patient.”
They spent the next few hours tidying the house and preparing for the lunch. As Rosemary had done the dessert, Ellis was in charge of the mains, and she watched on from the counter as he put in a leg of lamb to roast. She had so quickly adapted to living here, with Ellis. It didn’t feel like it had only been weeks, but months. Years, even. She felt at home.
As it approached noon, with only an hour until theyexpected people to start arriving, Ellis began acting strangely. He’d wander around the kitchen looking for something and then mumble to himself and leave the room. When he’d been gone for nearly fifteen minutes, Rosemary made her way upstairs to the bedroom. Ellis was standing half-naked in front of the bed, which looked like it had been attacked by a mountain of shirts.
“You could always go topless,” she suggested.
“Yeah? You don’t think that would be frowned upon by polite society?”
“Once you meet my friends you’ll realise that ‘polite society’ is not the term to use.”
Ellis stared grimly at the pile of shirts, then pulled a white cotton one at random and threw it on.
