It was good for him that he had a tolerance for pain.
"So, what do you think, Dad?"
His gaze snapped to the side, and he met Katie's expectant gaze.
"Do you think these would be good with tea?"
Thank goodness his daughter hadn't picked up on the change in his temperature and demeanor.
"I dunno, sweetheart." He straightened and looked at Ruth who was flushed across her cheeks to her temples. “I mean. I made a mess of things-”
"I agree. I think they might be too... messy."
She leaned in toward Katie and pointed to another cookie. "These are called Citrus Crinkle cookies. Green is lime. Yellow is lemon. And orange-"
"Is orange?"
Ruth smiled at Katie and his little girl giggled.
"That's right, Katie. Try those. They have some powdered sugar on them, but they're not squishy in the least. And I think I’ve made them so they won’t break apart."
Katie picked up a green with one hand and then a yellow with the other before taking a bite out of the yellow. "Yummm," she murmured with the bite in her mouth, "delicious."
Nick looked at his daughter before meeting Ruth's eyes again. "She loves lemon squares."
Ruth's smile brightened. "I do, too!"
He felt a hand touch his arm. "See, dad?"
Katie's grin was frosted.
"Yeah, I see, baby girl."
"You gotta eat one, too, Dad!"
Yes, he did.
He picked up a lemon cookie and took a bite out of it.
Ruth held out a napkin to him, and he almost tilted his face up to let her wipe his mouth. He knew he had powdered sugar on his lips and likely his mustache and beard, too. He saw her tense up a little, a hesitation.
He didn't think Ruth was afraid to touch him, but he was wondering if she was worried about him touching her.
He had been out of the dating field for years. Since the passing of Katie's mom just as Katie was starting Elementary School, he hadn't been interested in anyone new or going through the motions in general.
No one made his blood pump harder or his heart beat faster.
Not until the first time he saw Ruth walking through the fence separating their houses with a piping hot basket of bread that she’d made.
Nick reached out and took the napkin from Ruth's fingers, feeling the warmth of her skin against his fingertips.
He thought he might have felt a shiver pass between her skin and his, but he couldn't really tell. He knew how he was reacting to her, he just wasn’t sure if it was happening on her end.
There was just something about Ruth.
Not just her baked goods, but just her very presence had him off kilter.
"So?" Ruth's lips flattened together as she rolled them against each other. Hesitant perhaps. "How is it?"
