Page 65 of So in Love
He winced inwardly, expecting her to make a comment, but she simply started organizing everything without saying a word.
He stood there for a moment, at a loss.Then he sprang into action and set the groceries on the counter so he could help her declutter.“Thanks for your help.”
She grabbed a sanitizing wipe from the canister and tossed him a smile.“Happy to.I actually like cleaning the kitchen.And doing laundry.Weird, I know.But I draw the line at vacuuming.”She shuddered.“I hate vacuuming.”
Jamie snorted.“Surprisingly, I enjoy vacuuming.”
She whipped her head around to look at him as he began to unbag the groceries.“Seriously?’
“Crazy, I know.”Also convenient if they were to ever, you know, cohabitate.
Geez, where had that thought come from?
He pulled out the cooking implements she would need, and she went to work chopping vegetables.“You want a beer or wine?Or I could make gin fizzes.”
“Ooh, a gin fizz, please.”
“You got it.”He fetched the liquor he needed and glasses.
“So I met with Darryl again today, and he had some really great information to share.”She stopped chopping for a moment.“Hey, can you boil some water for the pasta?”
“Oh, sure.”He paused in making drinks to take care of that.
“Back to Darryl,” she said.“He found a story in a tiny newspaper in upstate New York written in 1918 from a bunch of Dorinda’s letters.”
“Wait,theDorinda?”
“Yep.”She looked over at him, smiling.
He grinned, thrilled for her.“That’s fantastic.I know how much her story means to you.What did you learn?”
“That she came from a poor family, and she and her brother ventured out here for better fortunes.Unfortunately, her brother died.”She focused on chopping a yellow pepper.“But then, I guess that’s what happened to Dorinda too.”She shook her head with an exhalation.“Way to buzzkill the story, Crystal.”
He finished making the drinks and handed one to her.“Not a buzzkill.I’m still excited to hear about it.”
She took the glass with a half smile.“Thanks.”
He clinked his drink against hers.“To Dorinda.”
Her gaze softened, and her smile widened.“To Dorinda,” she murmured.“Thank you.”
Jamie sipped his gin fizz as an unsettling feeling began to uncurl in his gut.He had information that would be useful to her, and he wanted to share it.
“Back to the story,” she continued, effectively cutting off his train of thought—at least for now.“So Dorinda arrives here and marries Hiram Olsen, and they build Bird’s Nest Ranch.He dies—wow, this really is a sad story—and she turns the ranch into a boardinghouse.”
“No kidding?”
“Yeah, but it didn’t work out.”She slid the peppers from the cutting board into a bowl, then moved on to the mushrooms, going to the sink to wash them.
“Let me wash.You talk and cut.”He brought the rest of the veggies over and set to work.
She stood beside him while he finished the mushrooms.“Somewhere along the line, the boardinghouse became a brothel—the specifics of that aren’t discussed.I’d love to get my hands on the actual letters from Dorinda.Can you imagine how much I’d be able to glean from her own writings?”
He handed her the mushrooms, his gaze meeting hers.He loved her passion for this project.“I can.”
She went back to the cutting board, and he started washing broccoli.“This next part is a bit uncomfortable with regard to your family—sorry.After the brothel was opened, the mayor threatened her several times.”
“I wish I could say I was surprised, but the evidence would support otherwise.”It was past time to tell her what he knew.He finished with the broccoli and set it in a colander before turning off the sink.He grabbed a towel to dry his hands and turned to face her at the island.
