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Noelle put hers on and tied it around her waist, then went to him and did the same. As she placed it over his neck, a whiff of his cologne filled her nose, an earthy scent mixed with leather and spice. Turning him to tie the strings around his waist, she fought the urge to swoon. Good Lord, she needed help. If this continued she’d never be able to keep him at friends status.

He turned and faced her again. “I can’t believe this. Men don’t wear aprons.”

Hands on her hips she said, “Of course they do. Lots of men are chefs, or bakers.”

“Well, yeah. They do it for a living. I mean, regular run-of-the-mill guys like me.”

“There is nothing run-of-the-mill about you, I’m afraid.” Avoiding his eyes and all the gooey feelings they brought about inside her, Noelle turned to the recipe. “This is great. Glenna having laid everything out for us will be super helpful. Here. You measure out the flour, baking soda, et cetera, and put them in this bowl.” She slid a bowl to him along with measuring cups and spoons.

He stared down at them.

“Wow. You really don’t know how to do this. At all. Do you?”

His look of desperation almost broke her heart.

“Okay. Let’s just take it one thing at a time.”

She walked him through each step, showing him how to measure correctly and mix. Melting the butter in a saucepan was an adventure, but he got the hang of it and even began to relax a bit as the nutty aroma from the butter browning filled the kitchen with a heavenly scent.

Glenna floated in and out from time to time, itching to be involved Noelle could see, but she kept her distance.

The dough was supposed to chill in the refrigerator for three hours, but in the competition, he wouldn’t have that kind of time, so they were letting it sit in the freezer for thirty minutes and would work with it from there.

Wes had brewed them some coffee. Something he did know how to do in the kitchen. They sat on barstools at the island counter.

“Thank you for doing this.”

“Of course. Your niece is pretty hard to say no to.”

“That is true.” He smiled, but it faded as he took a sip of coffee.

“Is she okay?” She didn’t want to pry, but she adored Annalise and hated the idea of her hurting in any way.

He took a deep breath in and let it out. “She has her good days and her bad. Overall, she’s happy. I think the move here has made a huge difference for her. And for Mike.”

“I can only imagine what they’ve been through.”

“Yeah. He’s a great dad though. In the midst of his own pain, he’s focused on getting Annalise through it as best he can.”

Nodding her agreement, Noelle wrapped her hands around the coffee mug, warming her hands.

“Your dance class is her favorite thing in life.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. She talks about it all the time.”

“That’s so sweet. I love hearing things like that. I’m just hoping I can keep things going.” Why she said anything, she had no clue. She and Franchesca had talked more about the potential new owner of the building, but without specifics, all they could do was speculate.

“What do you mean?” He leaned toward her, his barstool turned sideways to face hers.

With so little information, she was unsure of how much to say. “It’s nothing, really.”

“Is it financial trouble?”

“No. Nothing like that. I have plenty of students and things are running smoothly. It’s just that Franchesca has caught wind of a potential deal where we would have a new landlord.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad.”

Source: www.allfreenovel.com
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