Page 72 of Eight Years Gone

“Mm, let’s see…” She puffed up her cheeks and then blew out a breath. “I can cook.”

“You’ve always been able to cook.”

She shook her head. “I’m talking real cooking. Not canned soups and grilled cheese or that boxed macaroni-n-cheese stuff.”

“Hey, that creamy orange goop isn’t half-bad.”

They both smiled.

“Well, I make the homemade kind now, and it’s insanely good.”

“And where did you learn this skill?”

“After Brennan was born, Christy and I signed up for a cooking class—a once-a-week girls’ night over in Scranton.”

“That sounds fun.”

“Christy was mostly just trying to stay sane, but it was fun, too.” She laughed. “Poor Brennan had terrible colic. He cried for hours every single day.”

“It sounds like poor Christy and Mike to me.”

Grace nodded with feeling. “The first three months were rough. But they made it through, and I’d say it’s been a win-win. Brennan’s an awesome kid, and Christy and I both have mad kitchen skills.”

Jagger puffed out a breath as he raised his brow. “Mad kitchen skills. That’s quite a self-endorsement.”

She batted her lashes at him. “I feel comfortable standing behind it.”

“You’ll have to let me be the judge, particularly of this homemade mac-n-cheese you’re bragging about.”

She shrugged. “You have to be pretty special to rate a bowl of the good stuff.”

He chuckled, kissing her forehead this time. “Maybe we could make it together sometime. You can share some of your mad skills.”

She beamed, loving the idea. “Absolutely.”

“My mouth is watering already.”

She laughed.

Grinning, he wrapped her up closer. “So, Todd and I were talking between classes. He was telling me about the Halloween party over at the Hyatt. He and Ruby are going. Apparently, it’s pretty popular.”

She nodded. “Fright Night. They’ve turned it into a charity event for the library. The costume contest is a big deal. People get pretty competitive about it.”

“Maybe it’s forward because this is our first date and all, but I happen to remember that you like Halloween. I also remember how we kicked ass at the whole costume thing. Will you go with me?”

She and Jagger had had epic costumes over the years. Batman and Cat Woman; Daphne and Fred; Beetlejuice and Lydia; a pooper scooper to Jagger’s poop emoji. They’d easily won all of the contests.

She’d chosen to stay home and hand out candy since he’d left, deciding that the fun of Halloween belonged to the kids. “You want to get dressed up?”

“Hell yeah, I do. We can make another date out of heading into Scranton to pick out our costumes.”

She snagged her lip with her teeth as they crossed the street toward her house. “I don’t know, Jagger.”

He frowned. “Really? You used to live for this stuff.”

“All of the good costumes are probably gone by now.”

“We have more than a month. There’s still plenty of time.”

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