"That's wonderful news." Duncan's smile was warm. “I knew you could do it.”
“You weren’t that happy when I gotmylicense,” Annie remarked as she appeared beside her—their—father.
Duncan gave a rueful laugh as he slipped his arm around Annie’s shoulders and dropped a kiss on her head. “I know. I’m sorry about that. I realize now how important that was to you.”
Annie shrugged. “At least you came around eventually.”
As Angela watched Annie and Duncan interact, she wondered if she would ever get to the point where she was that comfortable with him.
When they’d first arrived at the estate, she would have said that she’d never be comfortable enough with him for that, and that she didn’t really care. But as the weeks had slipped by and he’d continued to demonstrate the kind of man he was, Angelawasn’t so sure that she didn’t care about a close relationship with Duncan.
Maybe she did want a father in her life. Agoodfather, this time around.
Their arrival in Serenity Point had introduced them to many good men. There had been good men in Briar Hollow—she’d met them at the church—but unfortunately, the men she knew the best there had been anything but good.
But now she had Duncan. And Jude. Even the men on the security team seemed to be decent and respectful. Julian… Well, she was reserving judgement on him.
So though she might have at one time resisted the idea of any type of close relationship with a man, that was definitely changing. She was quite sure that Duncan would embrace a closer relationship as father and daughter, but she didn’t know for sure how Jude would feel about her desire for something more serious with him.
She needed to find someone to talk to about what she was feeling. Kiara would normally be her first choice. But in this instance, she kind of wanted to speak to someone who knew Jude well, which limited her possibilities to Duncan, Elizabeth, and Annie.
Glancing at Annie, Angela thought maybe it was time she had a conversation with her twin.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Jude stared out the window of his office, considering that perhaps he shouldn’t have arranged a meeting with Duncan. He’d been uncertain how to move forward after that interaction with Angela on the way home from Coeur d’Alene.
He couldn’t just ignore it because he doubted that would make it go away. And he wasn’t sure that he wanted that anyway.
After a couple of days of thinking and praying about it, he’d decided that he needed to talk to Duncan. He was involved in this, whether Jude wanted him to be or not. As his boss and Angela’s father, Duncan would have thoughts, Jude was sure.
And maybe he’d give Jude the clarity he needed about the situation. Hopefully, he wouldn’t fire him because of how things had developed. Jude certainly hadn’t planned on falling for Angela, but here he was.
Pushing back from his desk, he left his office. He told the security team he was heading to the main house for a meeting and that he’d be back later.
With January behind them, the weather didn’t hold quite the chill it had. The day had been cloudy though, and it was possible they might get some snow.
Fragrant warmth greeted him as he stepped through the back door into the mudroom. The smell of sugar and chocolate greeted him, and he couldn’t help but veer in the direction of the kitchen. He still had a few minutes before his scheduled time to meet with Duncan.
As he detoured into the kitchen, his gaze immediately landed on Angela. She was standing at the counter, transferring cookies from a baking sheet to a wire rack.
She looked up, her eyes widening before a smile lit up her face. “Hi!”
That smile and the smell of cookies drew Jude further into the kitchen.
“Hey. I wondered what smelled so good.”
"Chocolate chip cookies," Angela said, gesturing toward the cooling racks that held dozens of golden cookies. "This is my favorite recipe for them."
Jude moved closer, the warmth from the oven mixing with Angela's presence to create something that felt dangerously like home. He could see flour dusting her apron, and a smudge of it on her cheek made his fingers itch to brush it away.
"They smell incredible," he said. "Mind if I try one?"
"Here you go." Angela selected one from the rack, her fingers brushing his as she handed it to him.
The cookie was still warm, the chocolate chips soft and melting slightly on his tongue. It was perfect—sweet without being cloying, with just the right amount of salt to balance the flavors. But he could barely focus on the taste when Angela was watching him with such a hopeful expression.
"Good?" she asked, and he caught the slight uncertainty in her voice, as if his opinion mattered more than it should.
