On my way.
“Who’s car is that?”
Noah’s voice grabs my attention and I lock my phone screen, looking up at him. He’s looking past me into the distance. Finnsits in the chair to my right and he turns around, his eyebrows tugging together in confusion.
I forgot to tell either of them that I invited her over.Whoops.
“That’s Natalie, Miss Maggie’s niece.”
The muscle in Noah’s jaw flexes as he tears his gaze away from her car and pokes the fire. “What’s she doing here?”
“She was finishing cookie samples for me today, so I told her just to bring them over this evening.” I shrug my shoulders. “I forgot to mention it and didn’t think either of you would mind.”
Noah shrugs with indifference. “I don’t.”
Finn doesn’t look like he cares either, but his initial reaction isn’t as curious as Noah’s was. “What kind of cookies?”
“You’ll have to taste them to find out.” I smile at my older brother. Natalie’s already crossing the driveway with a plate in one hand and a blanket draped over her other. “We decided to do a little collaboration for the festival.”
“Hey!”
“Hi Natalie! Come sit!” I motion for her to sit in the chair next to me. “This is my brother, Finn,” I say, waving my hand toward him and then over to Noah. “And that’s Noah.”
“Hey, Natalie,” Finn says, offering her a smile as he dips his head.
Noah’s eyes flick to her. “Hey.”
“Hi!” She offers them both a cheerful smile. “Thank you for inviting me. I’m still trying to get settled in town and haven’t really had the time to meet anyone, or even try to get to know anyone.” She lets out a nervous laugh. “Anyway, I brought the cookies for you to try.”
The container makes a popping sound as she peels off the lid. “The first one is the maple butter we talked about,” she explains as she hands me one. “Do either of you want to try it too?”
“Sure,” Finn says, taking the cookie she hands out to him.
Noah nods his head. “Yeah, I’ll try it.”
I sink my teeth into the soft dough, immediately tasting the savory, yet sweet flavors melting into one. “Oh my god, this is it.”
Natalie giggles. “You haven’t even tried the other two yet.”
“No, she’s right,” Noah chimes in as Finn groans. “This is the best cookie I’ve ever tasted.”
“Wait, try this one,” she says, handing another cookie to each of us. “This one is the salted maple caramel.”
“Oh shit,” Finn groans “I don’t know, this one is really good too.”
I nod eagerly, chewing a bite of it. “It’s so good.”
“Can’t you just do all three of them?” Noah asks, his eyes moving from mine to Natalie’s. He pauses on her, scanning her face as he pops the rest into his mouth. “I don’t know if it’s possible to choose which is best.”
Natalie turns to me. “I mean, we could do all three, if you wanted.” She hands us the last one to try. “This is the bourbon sugar maple.”
I take a bite and I’m officially sold on all three. Each one offers a different array of flavors, there’s no way to pick just one.
“Goddamn, that’s good,” Noah says under his breath. “Did you come up with all these recipes yourself?”
She pulls her bottom lip between her teeth as she nods. “Well, adding in the bourbon was Aunt Maggie’s idea.”
“You’re both geniuses,” Finn says, chuckling as he shakes his head. He glances at me. “You’re going to prove us wrong with this store, aren’t you?”
