Though she couldn’t quite see how or why He loved her, she could feel absolutely that He did.
She knew He had not abandoned her, and that if shecontinued to try to see herself the way those who loved her did, He would eventually open her eyes and provide that sight for her.
“I won’t give up,” she promised Him, and then she hurried through the falling snow to the back door of Pork and Beans, wondering with every step if she should just take a leap of faith and get that apartment before it was leased to someone else.
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SEVEN
Joey had not called Adam last night after her shift at the catering company, and he’d called her instead. She’d said she was going over her finances one more time, and then she was going to talk to Grams about perhaps asking the family if they could help her furnish an apartment with a simple couch and a folding table.
Maybe, she’d said.I don’t know.
Adam knew that wasn’t what she wanted at all, but he’d listened to her, everything he wanted to say getting stuffed way down deep in his throat.
“You’re going to have to come clean,” he told himself as he walked down the icy sidewalk toward her grandparents’ condo. The scent of apples and cinnamon met his nose a good ten feet away, and he didn’t bother knocking and then waiting.
Instead, he knocked and opened the door at the sametime, calling, “It’s just me,” as he hurried in, out of the wind, and shut it out behind him.
“Oh, hello, Adam,” Cecily said. She wore an apron with elves all over it as she stirred something in a bowl. “Joey just went to help Jerry for a moment.”
“Okay,” Adam said. He’d come to sit with her grandfather while Joey and Cecily baked, and he wondered how he could get Joey away from them to tell her what he’d done.Maybe you should tell her in front of them, he thought.Maybe then she won’t break up with you.
Adam swallowed and glanced toward the mouth of the hall as Jerry and Joey came shuffling down it.
“Oh, you’re here,” Joey said. “Can you help Gramps back to his recliner? I’m pretty sure the pie crust needs to come out.”
“Does it?” Grams asked, turning toward her granddaughter. “I didn’t hear a timer.”
“It’s on my phone,” Joey said, and Adam hurried to her side to relieve her of helping Jerry, whose hips and back ached in bad weather. Adam helped him over to his recliner, where he sat down with a sigh. The scent of browned pie crust filled the condo, and Adam turned back to the kitchen.
“It looks good,” he said.
“It’s too dark,” Joey complained, and she seemed irritated and rushed already. He wished he would have left earlier, but they’d requested soups and salads from a diner that didn’t open until eleven, and then they’d been extremely busy. “I brought lunch,” he said. “Whenever you guys are ready.”
“Oh, thank you,” Cecily said, though Joey had just thrown him a dirty look.
“I didn’t say you had to eat it right now,” he said. “I literally said whenever you’re ready.”
She nodded and turned back to the stove. “I just feel off-kilter today,” she said.
“Already?” He moved into the small kitchen, knowing he’d get shooed out soon enough.
“Oh, she burned a few cakes at work,” Cecily said, smiling at him.
“Not a few.” Joey threw her a look. “I burnedonebatch of cupcakes, which I guess is a few cakes. It just…sort of set me off kilter.”
“I’m sorry, baby doll,” he said, running his hand along her waist. “What can I do to help?” He took in the disaster of flour and butter, spices, sliced apples, and chopped chocolate, and knew he should not stay anywhere near that kitchen.
Joey turned toward him and planted her hands on her hips. “I do not need any help from you, mister,” she said, and at least she smiled.
“Well, that’s rude,” he said, with a grin. “I seem to remember me totally killing those Oreo chocolate crusts.”
“Those are already done,” Joey said, and she moved into him.
He received her into his arms and leaned down to kiss her. “You seem stressed already, baby doll,” he said. “Seriously, what can I do?”
She kissed him, and that was plenty to calm Adamdown. Then she sighed and said, “Nothing. Just help Gramps today, okay? That will help a lot.”
