Yet both women made him smile, made him laugh, made him feel a certain something he couldn’t quite name. A feeling that wasn’t going away even after he’d considered it for a minute or two.
Kelsey blinked open her eyes. “Wh-what happened?”
“Resting our eyes turned into a rest-of-the-night snooze session.”
As she sat upright, worry creased her forehead. “We slept here? Together?”
She sounded like a Puritan. Will bit back a chuckle. “If you’re worried about your virtue, don’t be. We had a chaperone.”
Midas slept on the back of the couch. Kelsey looked at him. “What’s that noise he’s making?”
“That’s how he breathes.”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive.” A memory of a similar conversation brought a smile to Will’s face. Maybe Kelsey and Sara had something in common—a concern for Midas.
“You noisy kitty, you.” Kelsey kissed Midas’s head. “You must do everything your own way, including breathing. But that’s okay, handsome.”
As she nuzzled her cheek against Midas’s fur, a tender warmth wrapped around Will like a blanket.
Kelsey glanced over and saw him staring at her, but she didn’t look away. Two lines formed above her nose, and she straightened. “We have an appointment at the bakery. We don’t want to be late, and I need a shower.”
In the space of a second, Sleeping Beauty had been replaced by Ultimate Wedding Planner. Will shouldn’t have been disappointed, but for some strange reason he was. He liked the softer, more playful Kelsey.
Half an hour later, she met him downstairs again. She’d tucked her hair into a wool cap and was wearing a pair of black slacks and a red sweater. She’d put on a pair of round sunglasses and shrugged on a long, oversized black coat he’d borrowed from Hope’s closet. “Do you think anyone will recognize me?”
He barely recognized her, especially in the baggy coat. If he remembered correctly, Hope had worn that when she was pregnant with his nephew Connor. He wondered if Kelsey ever thought about having kids despite her stance on marriage. “You’re safe.”
She smiled. “Are you ready to go?”
No complaints, no yawns. Nothing. Not even a word about sleeping on the couch with him.
No big deal, he figured.
Yeah, right,an inner voice mocked at his disappointment over how quickly she had moved on.
Will ignored it. Ignored the strange feelings clamoring for attention inside him. Ignored how all of this had to do with Kelsey, not Sara.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Thankful her disguise seemed to be working, Kelsey stood outside the bakery with Will. No one seemed to be paying any attention to them. She probably could have come up with something more clever than a big coat, hat, and sunglasses, but there hadn’t been time. She needed to order a wedding cake, and to do that, she needed to taste cake samples. There also wasn’t a back door that customers were allowed to use because today was delivery day. Yes, she’d asked Will and even called the shop.
From the street, Fitzpatrick’s Baked Goods looked like a quaint bakery, a mom-and-pop shop you might find on any main street in any small town in America.
According to Will, the Fitzpatrick family supplied baked goods to local restaurants, ski resorts, and hotels, including Starr Lake Inn.
The bakery was also gaining a reputation for its cakes—birthday, wedding, you name it. The Fitzpatricks’ oldest daughter, Molly, baked cakes that Will described as sinful. This, Kelsey had to taste. Not only the cake but what Will considered sinful.
Will opened the glass door for her, and a bell jangled. Kelsey entered the bakery. The smell of vanilla, chocolate, and a hint of cinnamon lingered in the air, greeting her like an old friend. Glass display cases held a variety of cakes, pastries, tortes, breads, and cookies. Round tables covered with blue-and-white checkered tablecloths and white wood tole-painted chairs filled the bakery and were crowded with customers dressed in every type of ski attire imaginable. The din of the crowd rose above the morning’s ski report being broadcast over speakers placed in the ceiling.
A woman in her early twenties with a fair complexion and copper-colored hair greeted Will with a hug and kiss. Kelsey’s stomach flip-flopped at the sight.
Will kept his arm around the woman’s shoulders. “Kelsey Armstrong Waters, meet Molly Fitzpatrick.”
The woman was the cake baker he’d talked about. Kelsey didn’t understand why that made the knot in her stomach loosen. She extended her hand. “Nice to meet you.”
As Molly shook her hand, she smiled, a friendly expression full of warmth and enthusiasm. Freckles dotted the bridge of her nose and cheeks. “The pleasure is mine, Ms. Waters.”
