With a quiet sigh, she decided staying in bed was not going to work for her and she needed to clear her thoughts.She slipped from the bed quietly and put on a pair of shorts and a tank top and grabbed the cell phone the park had given her.Then she walked out of the bedroom and shut the door quietly, leaving Avi to rest.
She wasn’t sure what she was doing on the first floor of the farmhouse, but she moved from room to room, stopping at the kitchen and seeing Ford on patrol.He walked by and paused, seeing her in the kitchen.He lifted a hand and she waved back.
The coffee pot was primed to go off in a couple hours, but she was more in the mood for tea, so she filled the kettle with water and tilted the lid so it wouldn’t whistle and wake anyone up.In the pantry, she found a shelf of different teas and chose a simple black tea, which she’d pair with a little milk and sugar.
As she turned to walk out of the pantry, she saw the section set aside for baking and paused.She remembered her mom getting up really early to make breakfast items to share with those in need in the prowl, and how Fallon had always loved waking up to warm baked goods fresh from the oven.
Her eyes stung a little.
Was her mom okay?
She hoped she’d hear from her soon.It was killing her not knowing what was going on with her.
Pushing the dark thoughts away and hoping for the best, she gathered the ingredients for the coffee cake her mom always made and had taught Fallon how to make.As the kettle boiled and the tea steeped, Fallon mixed the ingredients for the recipe she knew by heart, feeling close to her mom despite their distance.
As the two large coffee cakes baked in the oven, she sat with her second cup of tea on the back porch where she and Avi had their first date.
“Sweetheart?”
She turned to see Avi, sleepy-eyed and deliciously shirtless, standing in the doorway.
“Morning.”
He joined her with a kiss to her forehead.
“It smells like cinnamon in the kitchen.”
“Coffee cakes.”
“How long have you been up?”he asked, taking a seat next to her and resting his warm hand on hers.
“I came down here about two.What time is it?”
“Four fifteen.Is everything okay?”
“I didn’t want to wake you.I couldn’t sleep.”
He gave her a gentle smile.“You can always wake me up.I would have joined you down here.”
“I appreciate that.I actually liked the quiet.I needed time to think.”
She told him about making the coffee cakes that her mom used to make, and the early mornings spent in the kitchen with her when she was growing up.When her mom had switched to making what she called fancy coffees, Fallon had done a lot of the baking.
“Sounds like you two could have opened a coffee shop.”
“We talked about it, but it was just talk, you know?Because we never thought we’d leave the prowl.”
“When your mom is finally free of the prowl, you two can make coffee cake and fancy coffees anytime.”
“I’d love that.”
She leaned into him and he held her close.
They didn’t say anything for a long time, just sat in sweet silence, until the timer beeped and she needed to check on the oven.
By the time the coffee cakes had cooled enough to be cut, the farmhouse was waking up and she and Avi had only a little while alone on the porch with coffee and squares of cake.
She’d spent most of the time since she came into the kitchen in quiet thought about her mom, Otto, Colton, and Sunny, and wondering what the future held for her and her family.
