Page 27 of Coming Home

“Yes, it’s cannolis today.”

Tenley groaned. “I can’t let Carter know that. Unless there are any left over and you let me take them home with me.”

“With Carter providing us lunch, I knew to stick a couple of extras in for him.”

They came up the porch stairs, and Willow opened the door before they even knocked. They entered, taking everything straight to the kitchen.

Rylie greeted them, stirring a pitcher of lemonade. “What did your lovely husband make for us today?”

Tenley set the two bags on the counter and began pulling out sealed containers. “We’ve got a cold pasta salad, along with some fabulous lobster rolls. We just shot the video this morning where he put them together.”

“I watched last week’s video where he made chicken parm,” Willow said. “He inspired me to try it, and Dylan said it was the best meal I’ve made since we’ve been married. Be sure and tell him that.”

“I will,” Tenley promised. “He’ll be tickled to hear it.”

Rylie pulled plates from the cupboard, and the four women filled their plates. They took their food into the cozy dining room for four, taking seats.

“Everything looks wonderful,” Ainsley said, before biting into one of the lobster rolls. “Mmm. Carter did a wonderful job on these.”

“Enough talk about food,” her cousin said. “We want to hear about what’s really important. You and Jackson.”

She could feel the flush spreading across her cheeks. “We went to the Old Coast Pub House last night for dinner.”

“Nice,” Tenley said. “How was it?”

“The food—or our conversation?” she teased.

“The food is always good,” Willow said. “We need to know how the date went. All I know is that Jackson came in from his run this morning humming. Humming! I don’t recall him ever doing that.”

“We had a really nice time,” Ainsley said. “It was a lot of getting to know one another. You have to remember, Jackson was a senior in high school when I was a seventh grader. Back then, five years was a huge gap. I knew all about him because he was the town hero in several sports, but I wasn’t on his radar. Well, that’s not exactly true,” she amended. “He did remember some little girl who sold baked goods before games, which he never got to sample because he was always taking the field or court.”

“Obviously, you had to tell him a little about yourself,” Rylie said. “Was it surface conversation, or did you go a bit deeper?”

“Deeper. We got along really well. That is, until I fell asleep on him,” she added sheepishly.

“Oh, no!” cried Willow. “At dinner?”

“No, thank goodness. It was on the ride home. Jackson made the reservation for eight.”

“Big mistake,” her cousin declared. “You should have told him that would be way past your bedtime.”

“I should have spoken up, and I know now to do so in the future,” Ainsley said. “But I was so surprised that he even asked me out, that I just nodded my head and smiled at him. We didn’t finish dinner until a little after ten, and I had drunk two glasses of wine. When we got in the car, he put the seat warmers on.” She shook her head. “I was a lost cause.”

“A full belly and seat warmers will do it every time,” Tenley declared.

“It was a little embarrassing to have him wake me up. I apologized and explained how early I get up to begin baking. He was very understanding and even asked when I had time off from the bakery.”

“Well, we know you have Mondays and Tuesdays off. And I already know my brother mentioned seeing you both days.”

She nodded. “We don’t have any firm plans yet, but he asked if we could do something together during my time off.” She hesitated and then added, “He also asked if I would call him when we finished up here.”

“I thought it was cute, bumping into him when I left the bakery this morning,” Rylie said. “He had already called and pumped me for information about you. I told him that you like to watch old movies and enjoyed biking and hiking.”

“I told him the same thing,” Tenley added. “It surprised me when he called. But that let me know just how interested he is in you, Ainsley.”

“It’s a good thing that Jackson has decided to take over Clancy Nelson’s law practice,” Willow stated. “That way, he’ll be in the Cove fulltime, and you can see if anything develops between the two of you. He certainly couldn’t keep his eyes off you during Game Night.”

“Enough about Jackson and me,” she protested. “The inquisition is closed. For now. Let me hear what else is going on for all of you. Tenley, how is your book coming along?”

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