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Lily seemed to sense my judgment because she fixed me with a mischievous smirk and said, “You know, it's so cool in here. Almost as good as a 7-Eleven would have been."
"Watch it," Cole rumbled from somewhere behind me. "Don't mention 7-Eleven in here."
"Just kidding!" Lily said. "Look, I just wanted to say congrats for the big opening. I'll be here to support you every day. And yes, by that I do mean I'll be taking free slices of pie every day, goodbye!" She started to scurry off, laughing.
"What about the plate?" I called out to her, but she was already gone.
"Call the sheriff," Cole growled, “there’s a plate thief on the loose.”
I paused for a moment and sighed. "Can you believe that this all nearly didn't happen?"
Cole nodded. "I can."
"I'm so glad I'm here and not in New York."
Cole put his arms around me. "I'm glad you're here, too."
"You know how hard it was to finally let go of the fact that I needed validation from fancy people?"
"Real fucking hard. And you know, it's okay to care what people think. So long as you know that what you think is the most important opinion of all."
“How did you get so wise, big guy?” I asked, giving his chest a playful poke.
“Must be the ten years I got on you, kiddo.”
“Hey! I’m a grown-up businesswoman, I’ll have you know.”
"Speaking of which,” he said, his voice so low it was practically a growl, “I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“Oohh.” I waggled my eyebrows. “Is it a big, grown-up surprise for a big, grown-up businesswoman?"
"It's huge."
"I can't wait."
"Well, the first part of the surprise is that Ethan is babysitting the girls tonight. So, it'll just be you and me at home."
"Just the two of us, eh? I wonder what we'll get up to."
"Don't get ahead of yourself. First, I have to sweep up the crumbs in this place. Which could take a while."
It didn't actually take him too long. He seemed oddly motivated.
While he swept, I saved whatever bakes could be saved for the next day, then put the rest of the waste into the local community larder for anyone who needed it. That larder was an initiative of Cole’s. All the businesses on main street used it for leftovers. It meant nobody in the town went hungry, no matter how little money they had.
Cole drove us back, and we kicked our shoes off and opened a bottle of wine. His trailer was in a much better condition than before. After we’d declared our love to one another, he’d given the place a deep clean, and even replaced some of the old kitchen units, getting me a cooker with fancy controls on it for my baking. I’d insisted it wasn’t necessary, that I could cope just fine with the old stove in my trailer, but he told me it wasn’t an option. He wanted me to have the very best, which meant a stove that actually worked. And worked well.
"So," Cole said, "the real surprise."
"Are you going to take your shirt off?"
"You really only want one thing, don't you?"
"When you're the one thing, yes, I really do."
Cole didn't take his shirt off, though. Instead, he pulled out a large folder from a sideboard in his bedroom and laid it out on the dining room table.
Inside the folder were large sheets of paper, covered in plans.
