“Thanks for keeping us safe,” Sera said softly.
“It’s my honor.”They’d find a way to end things with Colton.One way or another.
The smoke was gone now, the land around them clear like the dark sky above them dotted with stars.There was only the sound of insects in the woods and the movement of the stallions, and Fallon’s steady breathing as she drifted off to sleep.
Tomorrow, the herd would make a plan.
A new and better plan.
But tonight, they would just be grateful they were safe and together.
“How do you remember all these recipes without recipe cards?”Fallon asked her mom Sunday afternoon as they worked in the kitchen, making some of her favorite baked goods from her childhood.
Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
Lemon bars.
Pound cake.
Sera squeezed the cookie scoop over the sheet with a click and smiled as she put the scoop into the bowl again.“I don’t know, I guess some things just stick with you.Didn’t you say you made our family’s coffee cake recipe from memory?”
“Yeah, but that’s an easy recipe.”Fallon covered the tray of lemon bars with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge.They’d been working since before dawn, neither able to sleep well after the attack from Colton.She still couldn’t believe that three males had caused so much trouble.
Sera hummed as she finished filling the cookie sheet with scoops of dough and set it inside the oven.“I used to make these same recipes with my mom.Especially pound cake, that was her favorite.She always baked from memory.I don’t ever remember her writing anything down.”
Sera’s mom had died when Fallon was young, so she didn’t have many memories of her.But what she did remember always made her smile: full cookie jars on the counter, warm hugs, and the air smelling heavily of cinnamon and sugar.
“Tris said I could take over the baking for her whenever I wanted,” Fallon said.“The guys love their sweets.”
Especially Avi, whose favorite dessert was lemon bars, which was why she’d asked her mom about the version she used to make.
“Most males do, I think,” Sera said.She set the timer and brushed off her hands.“We’ve been working for hours, but the time has gone by fast.”
“Yep, it sure has.”Sera smiled.“My feet hurt, but I really love being in the kitchen.I also like helping Avi around the farm, but the kitchen is my favorite place.”
“Me too.”
Fallon got to the business of cleaning up now that the last batch of cookie dough was in the oven.As she turned on the hot water, she glanced over to see her mom staring out the windows into the backyard, her lips pressed into a thin line.
She was about to ask if she was okay, because she’d noticed her fidgeting a bit throughout the time they’d been in the kitchen, but Avi walked in, all swagger and sexy male, and she forgot about everything but him.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he said with a low voice, pulling her against him with a smile.
“Hi.How’s it going out there?”
“Main chores are done.I’ve got a big bucket of the last peppers from the garden until the ones in the greenhouse are ready.”
“Maybe we could have stuffed peppers for dinner,” Sera suggested, turning from the window.“I haven’t had those in ages.”
“Sounds good to me,” Tris said as she walked into the kitchen with a stack of freshly washed kitchen towels and put them in the drawer.“I’ve got a hankering for cornbread too, so I think that would go well together.”
“I know just the recipe,” Sera said.
Fallon chuckled.“From memory, of course.”
“You know it.The secret is a super-hot cast-iron skillet with lard melted in it.”
“I’ll leave the cornbread to the master, then,” Tris said.
