Right, school project.
Back at my duplex,I weighed and measured the flour for a new gingerbread recipe.
I’d come a long way since I first moved in. Poor Rose got stuck with me, dying our sheets pink and burning ramen noodles. She’d just mutter under her breath something in Spanish and teach me what to do. Between her and the internet, I figured out most things, and if not well, at least functionally.
Now baking had become therapeutic for me.
I poured the flour into my pink KitchenAid mixer. Then, I scrolled through the recipe I’d found earlier that day. My emotions felt as if they had been through a mixer and turned to jelly.
“Oh no! You are baking again!” Rose came in from the front door and plopped down her haircutting bag on the floor and walked over to the bar stools and sat. “Wanna talk about it?”
“Can’t a girl just bake for fun?” I shrugged.
Rose raised an eyebrow. “Yes, they can. You, however, never take on a new recipe without cause. The cause being a reason to distract you from your thoughts. And at this rate, I am going to be back at my middle school weight if we don’t work through some of these things. Your baking is too good to pass up,” she swiveled on her stool. “Is it Mom or school?”
I should tell Rose about my background. I know I should. Butthere was some safety in no one knowing. Plus, I knew she struggled with bullies in middle school.
“How is your mom doing?” I asked, deflecting the question and putting the carton of eggs back in the fridge.
She raised a manicured brow. “Spastic and hanging by a thread,” she smirked. “So, nothing new, but nice try.”
“Fair.” I smirked. This time my emotions weren’t about Mom, at least not directly. It was more about Adam and Danny and how being with them together made me wonder if I could have a future family and what it could look like.
Rose reached down and unzipped her right boot and then her left.
“I had a meeting with the coach about the fundraiser,” I said. “He and Danny are both going to help. We actually went and got pie at Merritt’s together.”
Rose grinned a knowing smile. “Oh, I know.”
My mouth dropped open, and I blinked rapidly. “What?”
She shrugged. “I cut Ashley’s hair today.” She rested her elbows on the counter.
That was all the explanation needed. Ashley was the town gossip. If she knew or assumed something, soon everyone else would too.
“Do I even want to know what she said?” I braced myself for the worst potential outcome.
“She asked me if you were dating the coach, and that Jessica would not be happy, since she has been trying to date him for two years.” Rose checked her nails.
I raised my palms. “We’re just working on a project.” I rubbed my forehead. How many people would she tell that I was trying to date Adam? Would it make it awkward between us? “You corrected her, right?”
Rose smirked.
“Rose?” I covered my face with my palm.
She sighed. “Yes. I told her you had a school project you wereworking on. But she also warned me that if Adam is ready to date, you wouldn’t be the only one in line.”
I rolled my eyes. “True, she and everyone else would be. I have no delusions there.” Well, nothing I would be mentioning. Especially not that I compared him to someone I might want to marry someday.
“Admit it, that man is fine.” Rose took out one of her gold hoop earrings and placed it on the countertop before starting on the other earring.
“Of course he is.” I blushed, thinking about how he handled being patient with Danny. “You know, he seems like a great dad too.”
Rose scoffed. “What would that have been like?”
“Right?” I raised a shoulder. We didn’t talk about daddy issues often, but I knew hers was angry, and she knew mine was basically absent.
Rose smirked. “Well, you already love his boy. You spend enough time with Adam and you’re a goner.”
