Page 90 of Other Side Of Never
Isaiah had spent enough time in Anita’s kitchen to not only know his way around, but to have his own personal apron hanging on a hook next to hers.
My heart warmed for my sweet aunt whose laughter reached us from the front of the store.
Kian leaned his shoulder against the wall, strong arms crossed over his chest, with one ankle crossed over the other.Face soft, he watched us silently.
The week had been blessedly uneventful, though I hadn’t seen Kian or Isaiah at all.
“I missed seeing you this week,” I stated with a calm I couldn’t quite grasp.
Not seeing him as I was accustomed to after pouring myself out unbalanced me.
“The renovations are demanding all my attention this week,” he murmured.“This is the nature of the job.”
I grinned.“Maybe you shouldn’t have bought all three.”
He rubbed a rough hand over his face and huffed out a laugh.“Three is a bit much.I’m mostly focussing on the one right now.When I get it to a certain milestone, I’ll pick up the pace with the other two.”
“I’ve been going with Dad every night,” Isaiah chimed in.“Sometimes Gabe comes with us.He has tattoos on his arms and on his chest.I’m going to get tattoos when I’m big.And I get to be with my brother,” he puffed up proudly, “on the nights Dad doesn’t need me.”
Kian grinned.“You’re the best assistant a guy can ask for, buddy.”
“Gabe went with you to the house?”
Kian flushed.“Yeah, we’ve been hanging out a bit.He fixed the brakes on my car, and we got to talking.He’s a great guy.”
“So,” I teased.“Double date soon?”
He laughed.“I’ll leave that to you to set up.”
“I’ll do that,” I said, pleased.“Do you always work this hard?”
He shook his head.“This one has a tight turnaround.”
My eyebrows flew up, understanding replacing my fear.“Really?You sold one?”
He smiled softly.“Yup.This one is spoken for.Two more to go.”
“Do we get to pour it into shapes now?”Isaiah interrupted.
I shook my head and pointed to the sweet pool of chocolatey goodness.“This melted chocolate is all broken down.If we pour it into the molds now, we’ll be very disappointed.”
“Why?”
“The chocolate will be dull and won’t hold together properly.”
His eyebrows scrunched together.“Can we fix it?”
“Oh, yes.”Taking the bag of chocolate callets, I carefully measured out what we needed and handed a couple to him to nibble.“We temper it.”
He popped both into his mouth and began to chew.“What does temper mean?”
“It means we seed the broken-down chocolate with this strong chocolate.The melted chocolate takes in the callets and becomes strong again.”I wagged my eyebrows.“And tasty.You want to stir while I seed?”
He nodded, glancing up at Kian.“Dad, are you watching?”He cocked his head.“You want a turn seeding with Bridget?”
Kian grinned, his eyes dancing at the double meaning.“Definitely later, buddy.Right now, I’m happy to watch.”
I flushed happily.
