Her eyes light up above her smile as she reaches for me and squeezes my arm. “Well, you’re in luck! I happen to love peanut butter and strawberry jam.”
An hour later, I clear our dishes from my tiny kitchen table. Our impromptu lunch date has been effortless, and the conversation has never been boring or forced.
“Please, let me help,” Madison insists, rising from her chair.
“It’s okay, I’ve got it. It’s part of my routine.”
She sits back down, and Frankie meows at her feet. She pats her lap, and my ordinarily finicky cat hops up without hesitation. The animal settles as she strokes her fur. “I must say, you make a mean sandwich.”
I scowl and look over my shoulder, hands in the sudsy water of my sink. In moments like this, when someone says something that doesn’t quite compute in my brain, I get confused. I need clarification. “A ‘mean’ sandwich?”
She seems to track with me and explains herself without rolling her eyes or letting out a heavy sigh like others often do. “Delicious. Perfect. Not ‘mean’ like angry. Sorry if that’s what you thought.”
“No, I appreciate your explanation.”
“Do words often confuse you, George?”
She carefully sets Frankie on the floor, stands, and approaches me. She picks up a nearby hand towel, and I pass a dripping plate to her as if we’ve been washing dishes together for years.
“Yes. Words can be confusing. But I can usually figure them out. And it helps when people clarify like you did.”
“What else confuses you?”
Without hesitation, I answer her with a hearty laugh. “Math.”
“Math is hard for me too,” she admits with a giggle. When her eyes dart outside the window above the sink, she audibly gasps. “Wow. Your view here is breathtaking.”
I follow her gaze and look outside. The view is one of the main reasons I moved into the cottage to begin with—well, that and finally being bold enough to live on my own. The kitchen window holds a vantage point that allows me to look down on the purple glow of the lavender fields, the flowers,the vegetables, the windmill, and Pine Mountain Ridge. It’s quiet and peaceful.
My own little paradise.
I sneak a sideways glance at Madison’s pretty profile, her eyes taking in the scenery before us. She is absolutely gorgeous. Angelic even. Lithe with perfect posture and warm brown eyes reminding me of heated syrup. I like her painted fingertips and light brown hair trailing down her back in a ponytail. The way her exposed skin reminds me of the petals of a pale pink rose. Never has a woman looked so pretty, so honest. She seems like somebody I can depend on. And I need that in my life.
I realize she is a breath of what forever might look like in my lonely world, and it startles me to my core.
Suddenly, Madison shrieks and Frankie darts out of the kitchen in a blur of speckled fur.
While daydreaming about Madison, the clear glass I’d been washing slipped from my fingers and shattered against the countertop. I blink at the pressure building behind my eyes, too stunned to make a move.
“It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s just a broken glass.” She gently pulls me away from the sink and toward the table. “You didn’t cut yourself, did you?”
She holds my hands and turns them from side to side, looking for signs of injury. When she can’t find anything, she gently wipes my hands with a dry kitchen towel.
“N… no. I’m fine,” I manage to say. “I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? There’s nothing to be sorry about. It was an accident.”
Our eyes meet, and something searing and honest passes between us. I like the way her hands feel in mine. I like the way she doesn’t chastise me for breaking the glass. For not making me feel like a stupid fool because of my mistake.
“Come here,” she says, pulling me into her arms for a hug.
I stiffen for a beat before my entire body melts with relief. Her skin smells of lavender and summer sun, and I boldly tuck my nose into the space right below her ear, breathing her in. It’s just the two of us in my sun-glazed kitchen, the warmth of her body pressed against mine. With eyes closed, I hold back from dragging my nose along the smooth line of her throat, tempted to press a faint kiss against her skin.
“George?”
“Hmm?”
“Tell me about the last place you felt completely at ease?”
