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His words have my insides twisting and my heart flying high.
“Maybe we can talk over dinner?”
He eyes me up and down. “Tonight. My place. You still have that key?”
I nod. “I do.”
“And plan on it being dinneranddessert.” I get his meaning but the little caress of his finger down my cheek helps drive his point home. “Mom is coming up the drive. To be continued.”
I barely have time to shift gears before I hear her beside me. “I see I was right.” Mrs. Malone sidles up next to me, eyeing her son’s retreating back. “You two look like you’re up to no good.”
This woman knows no boundaries. I love her!
“Here, I whipped something up for you. What do you think?”
I take the papers, glad to focus on anything other than my love life with the woman I might make a grandmother.
“Mrs. Malone, this is brilliant. When did you do this?”
“A couple of years ago for when the bakery was mine. Before we decided to sell.”
I flip through the pages of a perfectly mapped out plan on how to establish my business online and grow. Seeing these numbers there’s no telling how far I could take Bela’s Bakery.
“I updated it last night with all the latest information.”
“I’m kind of speechless, Mrs. Malone.”
We both find a chair off to the side of the kids.
“Let me do this for you. We can work together on putting you online. Plus, it gets me out of the house. Retiring is not all that it’s cut out to be.”
I smile. “I can’t ever imagine retiring.”
“You’re so young still. Wait forty years and let the backaches set in,” she says with a wink.
“Tell you what. How about we help each other out?” My gaze roams over the group of kids, and I smile when I spot Miles. “I'll let you set up a page for me if you tell me three secrets about Miles. He's tighter than a clam.”
I don’t stop to think if this maneuver is fair or not. I need info about the man who is rapidly stealing my heart.
The older woman considers me for a moment. “You love him, don’t you, honey?”
I nod. “I think so.”
“Okay, deal. He made it his priority to be town protector of all the kids in his school at the age of fifteen.” She holds up three fingers and starts to tick each secret or nuggets of gold as I want to consider them.
“He broke his ankle in high school that killed off a football career. He never told anyone how much he wanted to be a football star. To use the money to help kids like him who ended up without a home for so long.”
“He’s lucky you and Mr. Malone came along.”
“We’re the lucky ones, sweetie.” She falls quiet a moment as though she is weighing her next words. “This one is close to his heart, sweetie. You know his mom died when he was little. Way too young for a boy to ever lose his momma.”
“Yes.” I can feel the heaviness in her words ring home in my heart.
“Before she passed there was a special dessert she made for him. A banana, coconut ice cream split. Extra cherries.”
“What’s so special about it?”
Mrs. Malone reaches for my hand, and I lean forward until I can smell the faint scent of her light perfume. “This is the heart clencher. His mom made it for him right before she overdosed.”
