Lola’s smile wavered. “Do I look like a wreck?” Self-conscious, she reached a hand to smooth her hair. “It’s windy this high up. And hillier. I’m not as fit as I could be.” Another of her laughs tingled over my skin. “Maybe I should have agreed to go to one of those classes with Brooke.”
Wait. Hold up, one second. “You walked here?”
She nodded. “It only took about forty minutes.”
Forty minutes! Panic surged to life in my chest. “Lola, that’s not safe! There’s no path. You have to walk along the road.” I speared a hand through my hair. “What if a car—”
“I’m fine.” Her fingertips grazed my forearm to reassure me she was okay. “You have the only house this way. So, unless you or Harry are burning a trail up the mountain, I’m perfectly fine. Nothing to worry about! Anyway, forget all that. Sorry I’m late.”
I frowned. “Late?”
“For lunch.” She held up a pink container. “Dessert, as requested.”
My frown didn’t budge. I stared at her, more confused than ever.
“It’s a brown butter cheesecake! Ruth said…” Lola trailed off, her shoulders sagging when she sighed. “You didn’t know I was coming…did you?”
I shook my head.
“Ruth set me up?”
“I think she set us both up. I’ve got a chicken and leek pot pie in the oven, which I have a suspicion might be one of your favourites. The last time I baked a pie, Ruth accused me of being the reincarnation of Nana Wilks. It’s old people’s food, apparently.” I shot Lola a wry smile. “She told me to bring it down to her place at two… unless something popped up.”
And something haddefinitelypopped up. Thebestthing.
Lola’s sigh was defeated. “Aiden, I’m sorry. I wish everyone would stop interfering.”
“I won’t lie and say I’m sad you’re here.” I was damn near thrilled she was standing at my front door. “I like spending time with you. But if you’d prefer not to spend time with me, I understand. Let me drive you home, though. I’ll be a wreck worrying about you marching along the road to get back to town.”
Lola leant forward, just enough to get her head in the doorway. She took a big sniff. “If that’s a chicken pie in the oven… And I’ve already baked this nice cheesecake…” The bite of her lip was all nerves. “It seems a shame not to enjoy them.”
Was this happening? “You’ll…stay?” Now IknewI had to be dreaming.
“If…you’d…like?”
I didn’t even pause to check my mouth. “I want that more than anything in the whole world.” A split second later, the stupidityof how desperate that sounded hit me, and I let out an awkward laugh. “Or, um… yeah. Sure. Stay.” I lifted a shoulder.
Lola smirked. “No big deal, huh?”
I shook it all off with a smile.
A few twirls, arms everywhere, and her bag hung on the rack by the door, her pink sneakers were off, and the cheesecake was safely deposited in the fridge.
“Oh!” Her tiny feet scurried across the wooden floor. “Look at all your books!”
“Uh, yeah… I enjoy reading.”
“It’s like a library! Oh!” Her hand shot out forTheCount of Monte Cristo, but when her fingers brushed the spine, she quickly pulled her hand back. “S-sorry. I shouldn’t—”
“Of course you should. Here.” I slid the book off the shelf and handed it to her. “Would you like to borrow it?”
Her eyes swept over the cover. “Can I?”
“Yeah, of course. If you want, you can take the antique set—”
“Oh no! Not your special editions. This one will do. I just want to read it.” Smiling, she hugged the book to her chest. “We’ve talked about it so many times. I’d love to be able to add my thoughts to our conversations.”
She could add her thoughts about cement to our conversations, and I’d still listen. I just liked hearing her voice. And those laughs…
