In the corner of the kitchen, my mother clicked her tongue. “Good enough isn’tgoodenough, sweetheart. Real love is bigger than that. You deserve a whole lot more than just ‘good enough.’”
“I know, Mom,” I said, hesitating. “I just thought that maybe it was me. Like, maybe I’m incapable of feeling love in a bigger way, more than what our relationship was.”
My mother’s features turned to concern. “Why on earth would you think that, Amelia?”
“I don’t know. I’ve dated, I’ve had fun, but I’ve never felt all the things you read about in romance novels.”Except maybe with the shirtless lumberjack outside. But I can’t have him, can I?“Maybe it’s just not in the cards for me.”
Shaking her head, my mother dismissed the thought. “Nonsense. You just haven’t found the right man, yet.” She grabbed flour and baking powder out of the pantry. “Once you do, I assure you that you’ll know. And it will feel much better thangood enough.”
“She’s right, you know,” Rachel said. “I know it’s kind of early in our relationship, and I just met you guys so I’m sorry if this is a bit forward, but the way I feel about Adam . . . it’s just like what your mom is describing. It’s unreal. You’ll know.” She gave me a small smile and turned back to the vegetables on her area of the counter.
I caught my mother’s eyes with a grin and we exchanged a knowing look. It seemed that she and my brother were definitely in love with each other.
As my mother began mixing the ingredients for a homemade pie crust, I took the chance to peek back out of the window. Logan and Adam were still out there, goofing off with each other as they laughed at something I couldn’t make out. I noticed my father in the far corner of the backyard with a bundle of thick tree branches in his arms. He must have been out beyond the tree line looking for more wood while the guys chopped the bigger logs that were already collected.
I looked on as my father watched Adam and Logan with pride in his eyes, likely reminiscent of the two young boys they once were. Both of them had grown up to become kind, responsible, hard working men.
An hour later,my brother came into the kitchen from the back door, sweaty and dirty and holding a beer. I shot him a look of feigned disdain. “Gross.”
He smiled in response, and then turned his attention to Rachel. “How’s everything going in here?”
Rachel blushed as she looked at his naked torso and I internally vomited. “It’s going!” She smiled at him.
“Oh, shit!” my mother suddenly exclaimed.
Immediately, I turned around to find her bent at the waist as she rummaged through a pantry shelf. It wasn’t like her to curse. “What is it, Mom?”
She sighed heavily as she stood up, shaking her head. “I swear I had more sugar in here. We still have so many desserts to make and I’m out of sugar!” She looked panicked.
“It’s okay, Mom,” Adam’s baritone voice bounded from behind me. “One of us can go pick some up.”
Just then, Logan opened the back door to come inside. He had his white T-shirt back on, but his face was flushed and glistening from the exertion. He took in my mother’s flustered look and concern swept over his face. “What’s wrong?”
Adam answered for us all. “Mom ran out of sugar, we need to go pick some up.”
I saw Logan’s eyes flick down to the beer in Adam’s hand, no doubt calculating how many he’d already had during their outdoor activities. “I can go get some.”
My heart whirred at his desire to quietly take control of the situation.
“I can go with you!” I heard the words come out of my mouth before I even realized I was saying them. As if my brain completely lapsed and my body acted out on its own.
Logan eyed me. “Sure. Okay.”
I grabbed my phone from the counter to look for the nearest grocery store on my map app, finding the closest one that was open, and then went to grab my purse off the entry table near the front door. Returning back to the kitchen, I saw that Logan had put on his jacket and was taking the car keys from Adam.
“Would you mind grabbing more beer, too?” Adam asked.
Logan nodded. “Yeah, sure. Anything else?” He looked at my mother.
She shook her head as she beamed up at him. “No thank you, sweetheart. Thank you so much for doing this. I swore I had more sugar . . .” Her eyebrows drew tight as she looked back toward the pantry, no doubt contemplating how she could have been wrong.
He smiled back at her and the sight of it stirred something deep in my belly. “It’s no problem at all.” His golden eyes found mine. “Ready?”
I nodded, pulling my purse onto my shoulder.
“Be careful out there,” my mother warned. “That storm will come in quick.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Logan answered.
