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“These days, I pretty much live off anything I can put in the microwave. I don’t have a lot of options.” She cast a sheepish smile at that.
I gave her hand a quick squeeze before reluctantly releasing it to stand. “Can I see what our options are?”
Her laugh was a dry rustle before she waved a hand in an arc. “Go for it. I literally have nothing to hide. I’m too tired to be embarrassed about the state of my kitchen.”
A quick glance through her cabinets and refrigerator revealed that she liked macaroni and cheese and she had a few frozen meals. Otherwise, the pickings were slim.
Resting my hips against the counter, I curled my hands on the edge. “The situation calls for macaroni and cheese. I’ll make it fancy.”
Tish giggled. I was pretty sure it was the first time I’d heard her giggle. The sound was like a little lasso, catching my heart and cinching tight.
“You’re going to make me some macaroni and cheese?” Her brows rose as a smile played at the corners of her mouth.
“Absolutely. It’s not just for you. I’m always hungry, and I love mac and cheese.”
“I can help,” she said.
I held a hand up. “Nope. I’m on it. There’s a baby asleep and you are going to sit right there and not worry about dinner. Just tell me where everything is.”
Knowing from Rhys that Tish was very much a do-er kind of person, it said something about how tired she was that she really did let me take over. She showed me where the saucepan was and filled it with water. When I redirected her to sit down, she did.
She didn’t have anything to drink other than water. In short order, I had made a double batch of mac and cheese from boxes and added tons of extra cheese, along with a dash of chipotle seasoning.
A few bites in, Tish smiled over at me. “Thank you. This is absolutely delicious.”
After we finished eating, I refused to let her clean up, although she nudged me out of the way and insisted on putting the dishes in the dishwasher after I rinsed them.
“You’re here in Willow Brook for real?” she prompted at one point.
“For real. I go by the station to pick up the HR paperwork tomorrow. I still work for the state, but it’s a new location so that means new forms. That’s always fun,” I said.
“Paperwork is totally my jam,” she said solemnly.
I burst out laughing. “It is, isn’t it?”
Her eyes crinkled with her smile as she shrugged. “It is.” She looked toward the clock mounted on the wall above the stove.
“Am I overstaying my welcome?”
She shook her head quickly. “No! It’s actually nice to have an adult in the house. Don’t get me wrong, I love Teddy. Even though I didn’t plan any of this, I’m pretty sure he’s the best thing that ever happened to me. I have mixed feelings about it, but I’m really ready to be back at work. Being home all the time with a baby, mostly by myself, is not really a life I want. I feel kind of alone a lot.”
“Just tell me when to leave. We can hang out here in the kitchen and you can talk about whatever you want. Or we could watch a show? Your call.”
She had one hand curled on the edge of the counter, and the other was spinning her hair around her fingers. At some point, while she was eating, her ponytail had fallen. Her silky brown hair was in a messy tousle around her shoulders.
I was standing across from her, leaning against the counter beside the sink. There were maybe two feet between us. Her eyes were soft as she looked at me. In a fiery second, she stunned the hell out of me by pushing away from the counter and taking two steps to stand immediately in front of me.
“We have unfinished business,” she announced.
When her palm landed on my chest, it was as if she had slapped a magnet against it. My heart was the opposing force, yanked suddenly forward toward her touch.
This woman muddled my thoughts and grabbed any semblance of control straight out of my hands. I scrambled to think. “We do?”
“Yes, firefighter, we do. I’ve been thinking about it since you mentioned earlier that it felt like there was something there for us.”
“You’ve been thinking this whole time?” My brows hitched up.
A delightful pink flush rose on her cheeks again as she smiled with the tiniest hint of bashfulness in it. “I have. You kissed me, and it feels like another planet, another timeline entirely because so much has happened in my life since then — babies will do that. That night, after you left, I had seriously mixed feelings because I wanted a lot more than a kiss. I had wished that I didn’t work for your brother. Not that he has a say, but it’s your family’s company, and…” She shrugged.
