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“Did you move up here for the firefighter job?”
ChapterEight
Jonah
I nodded. “Yes,” I said simply, leaving out so many details behind that decision. It was a chasm of information to avoid, but I did. I wasn’t about to get into all that with Alice. As much as possible, I avoided talking about the school shooting. I had wanted to eventually take a university job, like my father. I still had that undefended dissertation hanging out there. Instead, I got shot, watched four kids die, and learned a woman I had been dating had also died. The idea of walking into a classroom of any kind left me in a cold sweat.
Blessedly oblivious to my train of thought, Alice gestured toward my empty plate. “Brownie?”
“Yes. Do you think they’re still warm?” I asked as I reached for the towel-wrapped brownies.
“I bet they are.”
When I unwrapped them and felt the warmth, I grinned at her. “Success.” I carefully opened the foil to find what had to be a full tray of brownies tightly lined up in rows. “I can’t remember the last time I had Gram’s brownies.”
“For me, it would’ve been the last time I came home to see my parents,” she offered.
When our eyes met, I saw pain flickering there for a moment, but it disappeared quickly. She looked down, carefully lifting two brownies and putting them on my plate.
“How do you know I want two?” I teased.
“Because I want two and probably more,” she quipped with a wink.
I bit in and the rich chocolate and warm caramel flavors broke across my tongue. I closed my eyes as I let out a moan. After I finished chewing, I opened them to see Alice’s own eyes were closed as she savored the flavor.
“Fucking amazing,” she said flatly after she swallowed and opened her eyes.
“Definitely.”
We each ended up eating four. Alice carefully wrapped the remaining brownies. “I bet those will be gone in another day.”
“Do you want some?” I asked.
She looked up at me, starting to shake her head before I added, “You know she’ll make me more.”
A smile curled the corners of her mouth, and my pulse pounded in response as if clapping. “Excellent point. Let’s walk up to my place. We can put them in a container. They’ll just rattle around loose in this picnic basket.”
I helped Alice clean up, which mostly consisted of me watching as I handed her items to tuck into the basket. Moments later, we walked up the hill together, angling toward her place. I followed her into the kitchen, and she set the picnic basket on the corner of the counter.
“Give me a sec. I’ll get a container. Are you sure you don’t want them all?”
She looked up at me, and for a moment, I couldn’t remember what she was talking about. The gears in my mind clicked into place, and I nodded. “Of course. Gram will be thrilled to know I shared her brownies with you.”
Alice grinned. “Well, by all means then.” Her gaze sobered. “I’m really sorry she’s sick.”
I took a quick breath. “Thank you. I am too. Right now, I’m sort of in denial. I know it intellectually, but I’m hoping she’ll last longer than they think.”
“There’s nothing wrong with a little denial. They always say it’s good to live in the moment. At this moment, she’s here, so let’s celebrate that.”
“With dark chocolate caramel brownies,” I added dryly as she turned away to fetch a container out of a cabinet.
“I’m with you there,” she replied, her voice laced with subtle laughter.
She took half the brownies because I insisted. The sound of the lid snapping closed on the container was loud in the quiet kitchen. Alice looked up at me. “Thank you for the brownies and for joining me for dinner.”
I didn’t realize I was standing so close to her and wasn’t even sure how I ended up there. Her kitchen wasn’t that large. The door that came in through the side was behind me, and there was a counter along the wall where the door was and another that faced the lake. Although it was dark, I knew where the lake was. To another side was a little breakfast nook nestled into a bay window.
I forced myself to focus. “I think I should thank you. You’re the one who fed me.” My voice had a raspy edge to it.
