Pastry dough with some kind of cream filling that held a ridiculously unappealing mouthfeel. The mini chocolate chips in the filling were not helping matters at all.
“What is in that?” he asked, barely able to swallow the concoction.
“Cinnamon toast with chocolate cannoli filling,” she said with pride, as though this were a good thing. “The perfect pie for the sky.”
Travis did not believe in putting cannoli in a pop-up toaster. He had some standards. He also had dinner plans with Rachel.
“Let’s rethink this one.” He gave the remaining tart a glare before stepping into the elevator.
He beat foot out of the office. Then he hit every construction zone in downtown Denver while wishing he had grabbed a bottle of water to delete the taste of the toaster tart from his tongue.
He had texted Rachel before he left the office, but she didn’t respond.
Not that he expected her to, given that she’d made a new habit of keeping her phone away from the dinner table.
Rachel now preferred to give her full focus to whatever it was she was doing.
This new philosophy of hers worked out well for him, quite often. Especially when they were together in her bedroom.
“Rachel?” he called from the front door of her house, toeing off his shoes.
Usually, her house was filled to the brim with noise, and kids, and dogs when he arrived. Tonight it was quiet. Lately, Brady had been the first to barrel into him because they’d been going flying on the weekends.
Brady was a natural.
Rachel had warmed to the flying. She said something about how Brady had found his “thing” and she would embrace it.
The look on the kid’s face was all smiles when he talked about his favorite airplanes—to anyone who would listen.
Embracing her son’s adoration of aviation did not, however, mean going upinthe single engines herself.
Yet. Travis still held hope. Probably misplaced hope,given Rachel’s unwavering thoughts on the subject.
Gavin even tagged along at the airport sometimes to see what all the fuss was about with Brady’s new extracurricular activity.Now,hewould actually get in the planes. He got a kick out of it when Brady showed him the ropes.
And he hadn’t missed any of Kellan’s games that season, at all.
Dare Travis say that for the first time his family was…normal? Totally, obnoxiously normal.
“Over here,” Rachel called from the dining room.
“Sorry I’m late, I got caught up and lost track of…”
He came around the corner to the dining room and paused. Rachel had set the table with her good dishes—and only for two. With candles. And they were lit. The boys must not have been on the premises, because there was no way she would’ve put fire right in front of them.
“Hey.” She fidgeted with the fork beside one of the plates.
She was all decked out in a little back slip of a dress that made him want to immediately peel it off so he could get a glimpse of what lay underneath. She’d tucked her hair up into a mess of curls that he guessed took her forever to create,because her hair was definitely not of the curled variety. Most of all, she seemed…nervous.
“What’s going on?” He moved to her and kissed her firmly on the mouth.
She melted against him like she always did when he kissed her.
“I…” She heaved a deep breath. “Okay, so I have a little gift for you. I don’t want it to be a huge deal. You don’t even have to accept it. But the boys and I talked, and we all decided that it made sense. They spent all morning helping me clean out the garage.” The words spilled from her lips and made no sense at all.
“Rach.” He placed his hands against her shoulders. “What are you talking about?”
She handed him a small wrapped box from the middle of the table. “This is for you. It’s not just from me, though. It’s from all of us, but they’re not here because Gavin took the boys to your parents’ house so you and I could have the night alone. He said something about your mom and cannoli. I stopped listening at that point.”
