She sniffles, looking anywhere but at my face. “Here.” She pushes it into my chest.
“Thanks.” I take it while accidentally brushing her hand with mine. She jerks it back as if I’ve just stung her.
My chest tightens. Damn emotions. I was doing just fine without them.
“Welcome,” she replies, biting the inside of her cheek.
“Thanks,” I repeat like a fool.
Her lips twitch with a light smile. “You already said that.”
“Yeah.” I shove my hand into my hair and brush it back because I don’t know what to do with it. One is holding the plate, it’s busy. It’s good. But this one is just hanging by my side and wanting to grab Nora and pull her closer. So I have to make it busy too.
“So-o-o,” she singsongs. “I’ll just go then.” She points both her thumbs toward her house.
“Yeah.” I nod.
“Okay then.”
“Okay,” I parrot.
She turns away and takes the first step, about to leave me here with all my uncertainty, when I finally discover my balls again and call out to her, “Wanna come in?”
She moves so fast, she pretty much flips in the air. “Yes!” Then her eyes go round. Maybe it’s because she replied too fast and too loud, but I’m fucking okay with both.
I move to the side and pull the door open wider. With a shy smile, she walks in, carefully passing me by and trying not to touch me.
I close the door and follow her to the kitchen, noticing how she steps over a particularly squeaky footboard, which gives me an odd feeling that she might have been here a time or ten, because this is how long it took me to remember to walk over that board.
“It’s chicken pot pie,” she says, pointing at the plate in my hands. “Roman made it for you off the menu.”
I carefully peel back one side of the foil, and the space instantly fills with the most mouthwatering smell.
“Smells so fucking good,” I say, swallowing saliva in my mouth.
“It does.” She smiles. “It’s Granny’s old recipe she doesn’t let us use in the diner, so Roman doesn’t cook it there.”
I feel my brows draw together in confusion. “Why? I bet it would be a killer.”
Nora’s face softens. “Because it’s reserved for special people in her close circle.”
My throat instantly clogs with a giant lump I can’t swallow. It doesn’t let me talk or breathe. It takes a few attempts to clear it before I can form words again.
“Thanks,” I say, then quickly add since I don’t want to jump to conclusions, “I mean for cooking it and all.”
Her face stretches with a small smile. “I’ll tell him.”
I nod, and we stare at each other again until I finally decide to break the ice. “I like your grandma’s recipes.”
“She likes you.”
I grunt. “That woman terrifies me.”
Nora laughs, soft and real. Relaxed. Even her shoulders drop a little, losing the guarded stance. And for a minute, theache in my chest eases. She walks to the tall stool at the kitchen island and eases onto the seat, and it gives me hope she wants to stay a little longer. “She terrifies a lot of people around here.”
“I don’t doubt that.” I place the plate on the counter and pull the foil off completely, then I brave the question that might not have a place right here and right now, but I must ask it. “Does she terrify Dick?”
I’m acting like a fool. I know that by the way her face changes instantly. How her usually full lips thin, forming a straight line.
