‘Okay …’
‘No fancy restaurants. You’ll have a budget. I’m not saying I don’t want to ever be wined and dined, treated once in a while, but I want us to start with basics. Think you can do it?’
He grinned. ‘Of course I can. And I know the perfect place to take you.’ He took his hand from hers and instead hooked it beneath her blonde hair, pulling her face towards his, their lips almost touching. She could feel the heat from the fire, from his hand on the back of her neck.
And then he kissed her.
Nicole
Her hands shook as she spooned coffee granules into the glass jug ready for the coffee maker.
‘Here, let me do that.’ Kent took over. ‘You’ve had one hell of a shock tonight.’
Nicole twisted her loose hair around her fingers and up the back of her head into a twist, securing it in place with a clip lurking on the kitchen counter. ‘I’m just glad you and Jackson showed up when you did.’
‘Your neighbour had heard a commotion and was busy telling the doorman about it when we arrived in the building. I insisted we go up and check it out and when we stood outside your door, we knew something terrible was going on. I could hear a male voice, I heard crying. It was awful. The doorman called the police right away.’ He topped up the jug with water and slotted it into the machine. ‘They told us not to rush in so we didn’t, but then you came out of the apartment and we had no choice.’
‘You were very brave.’ She took the coffee cake out of the oven, having warmed it through, and sliced it on the white rectangular plate. Funny, after what they’d been through tonight, she still wanted to wait on people, still wanted to look after her guests. ‘You know, when I saw the knife, when I saw that man had Evie, the only person I could think of was your wife.’
‘Cynthia?’ Kent put the bag of coffee back into the cupboard.
‘I thought that this is it, this is karma. An eye for an eye and all that. You’d lost the woman you loved at the hands of Noah, I was about to lose the closest thing I have to family from the same single stab wound.’
Kent’s eyes held emotion, although she couldn’t quite tell what he was thinking. ‘You know, I’ve never been one to believe in karma.’ He smiled at her, poured four mugs of coffee into the red vessels lined up waiting on the kitchen countertop. ‘I think that life can sometimes be shitty … so shitty it hurts, so crap that sometimes you want to die.’
She gulped at his honesty, at the indirect reference to his wife’s death.
‘But I also believe you can come back from the darkest of places without someone or something lurking in the wings to take it away from you. I believe we make our own destiny, our own futures. We are in control.’
‘You always did seem in control.’ She took out plates, ready to serve the cake. She’d never felt in control, not since the day Noah had run out on her. Since then, she’d never regained her confidence. She felt a hand on her shoulder.
‘Nicole, you’ve got to stop blaming yourself for what happened.’
Tears sprang to her eyes. ‘I can’t, I just can’t. I’m a mother, I should’ve been able to protect him, stop him from turning bad. You’ve done it with Jackson. He could’ve gone off the rails when he lost his mother at the hands of my son, but he didn’t. He’s turned into a fine young man. Noah should’ve been the same.’
When the tears fell, he spun her around to him and let her cry into his chest as he stroked her hair and quietened her.
‘Don’t you see, we’re the same, you and me?’ He looked deep into her eyes.
‘How are we the same? I’m weak, you’re strong. I’m an emotional wreck, you’re in control.’
He hooked the curl of hair that insisted on falling down behind her ear again until it obeyed and stayed put. ‘We both put our children first in our hearts and minds. You did your very best and I did mine, no matter what life threw at us. We’re both parents, we both always will be. And we both used distractions to cope with our grief. I threw myself into the business, into making money. You threw yourself into looking after people, strangers on the street, Evie and everyone else you’ve helped.
‘Wearethe same, Nicole. And I loved you for so many years.’ He lifted a hand to her face, tilted her chin towards his. ‘And now I have something to ask you.’
He sank to one knee. ‘Nicole Capra, will you marry me?’
