Page 84 of Sugar Rush

“I need to go to the store,” Rick said ruefully.“But I came right home to wrangle this one.”He moved Toby to the side, narrowly avoiding a wooden star in the face.“So I ain’t had time yet.”To Jenny he said, “I’ll drive over tonight while you put this little rascal to bed.”

I closed the fridge door and opened the cupboards, looking for what I wanted.

“Soy, sesame, and vegetable pancakes sound okay to you?We can dip them in some extra soy sauce and, if you want, sweet chili sauce, for flavor.”

Jenny gave me a thumbs up from the sofa, and Rick mirrored the gesture at my side.They looked so alike in that moment that I laughed.

“Thanks, Maddie,” Rick murmured.His gaze was soft and warm, cozy and compelling, and I’d have done pretty much anything he asked right then.

If only I had all day to look at him.

Sadly, time waited for no woman, so I got to work washing and slicing the cabbage, sieving flour, whisking eggs, heating olive oil in a heavy-bottomed pan.

In twenty minutes, I had enough vegetable pancakes for all of us.Rick had been busy too, setting Toby in front of his favorite cartoons for five minutes so he could clear and set the table, pour everyone water, and heat Toby a pouch of the toddler-friendly Bolognese.

“Secret vegetables,” Jenny whispered as she settled him into his high chair.“They blend it into the sauce.”

I grinned at her as I slid the pancakes on plates and set the soy sauce and the sweet chili sauce into the center of the table.

“Kinda amazing, don’t you think, that we’ve got a famous baker to make dinner for little old us?”Rick asked his sister.

“Yeah!”she enthused, digging in.

I sat down, picking up a fork as my face flamed.“Semi-famous.And only in a very niche crowd.I never get spotted in the street or anything like that.Thank God.”

“Forty thousand followers aren’t that niche!”Jenny protested.

Rick took a forkful of pancake, chewed thoughtfully.“Well darlin’, semi-famous or not, these pancakes arefantastic.”

“This smells absolutelyawesomeand tastes better,” Jenny agreed.She cut off a sliver and held it out to Toby.He obligingly took it into his mouth and then spat it out and glared fiercely at his mother.

“Sorry,” Jenny said quietly.

I laughed.“Toddlers aren’t my target audience.Not to worry.”

“We’re for sure gonna miss you when you head back to London,” Rick murmured, and held my gaze for a long moment.

Hundreds of unsaid words fell into the space between us, and I felt more than a twinge of sadness at the knowledge that my days in Redwing Falls were slipping through my fingers.

ChapterTwenty-Three

A half-hour after we’d eaten, a very tired Jenny took Toby up to bed.The little one looked exhausted, too, hardly putting up a fight when she lifted him from his high chair.

“Thanks so much for dinner, Maddie,” she told me earnestly.“I’m gonna be really sad when you leave, and not just because you bake and cook like a dream.”

I smiled after her as she left the room.The door shut behind her, and her footfalls sounded up the stairs.

Rick got up and began loading the dishwasher.

I stood, too.“Can I help?”I asked, standing to join him.

“Nope.You cooked, you don’t clean.House rules.”

It was nice; I had to admit.“Thanks.I have to go cook some Chinese sponge cake to sell tomorrow.I’ve been trying to make one thing every day, just for the experience of testing my baking out on a new audience, and I wanted to do rhubarb with this sponge.It’s very gratifying when my cakes sell out.”

I yawned hugely.In retrospect, the hour’s nap I’d had earlier might not have been enough.

“You want some company?”Rick asked as he shut the door to the dishwasher and straightened up.I gave myself a moment to gaze dreamily at how good his backside looked in the dark-wash denim.

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