“Thanks for your help this week. You’ve been amazing,” I say.
“It was my pleasure.”
“You keep saying that, but you’ve given up so much of your time to help me.”
“Well, you’re doing me a huge favor. It was the least I could do.”
“Maybe, but you didn’t have to stay to clean up. That’s above and beyond helpful teacher behavior.”
Quinn leaves the door to his car open and eats up the distance to me across the front yard. His strong arms pull me close so he can deliver a deep, mind-bending kiss, the likes of which I’ve never experienced before.
“That’s right. It’s boyfriend behavior.”
The way his eyes sear into me, I think I might faint. His expression is serious. Heated. He wants me. There can be no doubt.
“I wish I could ask you to come inside, but—”
He cuts me off with another kiss. “Another time. There’s no hurry.”
When he drives away and I stumble back into the back door, something catches my eye as I pass through the utility room. He’s washed and dried all of our kitchen towels and aprons and folded them neatly on the counter. In the kitchen, same story. He’s washed all of the dishes and there’s not a speck of flour anywhere on any of the surfaces.
Pulling Shelby up off the couch to nudge her off to bed, I hear her say, “I’ll let you date him on one condition. You have to promise to let me make the cake for your wedding.”
I shush her and chalk up this crazy talk to her being overly tired.
But then, I close the door to her bedroom and smile.
I should have known she’d be fine with this relationship.
She’s right. Everything is going to be fine, no matter what people say.
I don’t know what I was worried about.
Chapter Ten
Quinn
Everything has gone terribly wrong, and it’s my fault.
As soon as we parked the bakery van in front of the dining hall on the Thursday morning of the bake sale, I knew there was going to be trouble because I also saw construction trucks and workers in hardhats carrying equipment into the building.
A barricade has been set up on the sidewalk outside and we have to step around a pile of wood to get inside to see what’s happe
ning.
“What the…” Mal is dumbfounded.
The kitchen and dining hall renovation that was supposed to start this weekend has evidently begun today.
Inside, workers are bustling around, taping off areas to paint and marking walls to be sledgehammered.
It’s total chaos in here.
“What are we going to do now?” Mal asks, looking forlorn.
I jump into action, spotting the guy who appears to be the foreman. “Can you tell me what’s going on here?”
“Construction zone—you folks better clear out.” He points a thick finger outside. “Is that your delivery van? You gotta move that.”