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I paused, wanting to just go back to bed and sleep.Was this Rick’s family?And if they were his, why hadn’t they been sleeping in the bed that clearly smelled of him with the ghost of a woodsy cologne partnered with sawdust and freshly cut grass?
But ofcoursehe had a wife and a baby.He looked as if he’d stepped off a movie theater screen, for God’s sake.
“I’m his sister, Jenny.This little bundle of trouble is my son, Toby.We’re living with him, temporarily.Bad break-up.”Her tone was wry.“I hear that you’re Jess’ cousin from across the pond.Welcome to Redwing Falls.”
“Thank you.”I smiled woodenly, wondering what to do with myself.
“Loveyour concept, by the way!Asian-fusion is everywhere with dinner food but hardly anywhere in baking.I hope I’ll get to try some of your stuff.I’ve been tempted to lick my screen when I look at your social media posts.”
“Thanks so much!”The nervous knot in my stomach loosened a little because she was so lovely.“I’ll do my best to make you something.”
Jenny’s lips curved, and she opened her mouth to say something else, but then Toby flailed and knocked the spoon from her hand.
She scolded him, telling me, “No one tells you this, you know?That the baby is awful cute and all, but I can’t feed the thingactual foodfor love or money.He’s a monster.”She bent to retrieve the spoon, and wiped it clean on a muslin cloth.
Toby studied his pudgy little hands and giggled, then shot a killer grin at me.
“Heiscute,” I agreed, because it was true, and because I felt I needed to earn some conversation points with Jenny.I was an imposter in their house, after all.
“Coffee?”Jenny asked.
“I’ll make it.”I moved to the cupboards.“Just….Um.”I had not thought this through.“Just tell me where stuff is.”
“Use the Keurig.”Jenny used the baby spoon to gesture towards a sleek black coffee maker.“Rick allows us mere mortals touch it now.When I first moved in, I think he inspected it for fingerprints when he got home.”
The words surprised a laugh out of me.Jenny was warm, immediately likable.“Really?”
“Maybe notthatbad, but it was certainly his number one for a while.Wayabove me in the hierarchy.I mean, it’s fair.He basically bought this house so Toby and I didn’t have to be a burden on my parents.”
I located mugs and set two on the counter.They were plain gray, the color of the sky after a storm.“How do you take it?”
“Cream with two sugars.I need all the energy I can get running after this one.”
I turned to see Jenny moving a porridge-filled spoon towards her baby.This time she scored a direct hit, and the spoon went in, but Toby didn’t seem happy about it.
The smell of the beans brewing made my senses twitch.I was waking up in increments.
“So, you’ve come to help your aunt cover for Jess while she and Connor take that big honeymoon trip, huh?”Jenny asked.“You guys must be close.”
“We probably don’t text as much as we could,” I admitted, “And it’s been four years since I actually saw her.Not on a screen, that is.I can’t wait to work in a bakery in another country, though.It’ll be a good experience for me.Plus, I get to test out my bakes on an American audience.”
“I bet they’re amazing,” Jenny said.“You haven’t tested them here before?”
“No.Jess and Aunt Laurie had only just bought the shop when I visited last time.I helped them clear it out.”I added a generous helping of cream and sugar to both mugs and carted them over to the table.What the hell?I needed the energy, too.
Toby sat proudly in his little chair, arms akimbo, face covered in porridge.It almost looked as if he was wearing a facemask.A huge grin lit up his face when I appeared.
“Is he always this happy?”I asked, unable to contain my delight.Babies’ joy was so infectious.Instant serotonin.
Jenny laughed, taking the mug with a little grin.“Only when he beats the system and ends up with more porridge on the outside than on the inside.Scamp,” she added, but with no real heat in the words.
She grabbed a wet wipe and cleaned his face.
I stared into my coffee, feeling like I was intruding on this family time, even though Jenny didn’t seem at all bothered.
I slept in Rick’s bed and now I’m hanging out with his sister…
Didn’t I tell myself that these three weeks would be a total break from everything love-related?A chance to work out what on Earth to say to Seb when I saw him again, and a chance to lick my wounds out of sight of everyone I knew back in London.
