“I’m going to be giving chocolate chip cookies to Law!” She pumped her fist in the air.
She pressed redial and felt her fingertips tingle when she heard the smile in his deep voice as he answered. She pictured a dimple.
“Jill. This is promising.”
“I was surprised when you mentioned the macho code. I thought you were a Marine,” she teased.
“A Marine wouldn’t let it all hang out like that. He would’ve arranged for a date back at the diner. I made a rookie mistake.”
She felt a huge grin spread across her face. “I’ll let you in on a secret. I just baked two-dozen chocolate chip cookies with you in mind, so I think it’s safe to say we’re on the same wavelength.”
He paused.
“My front porch is covered, and it has a couple of chairs out front, if you would like to come on over,” he offered. “And if the milk is expired, I’ll go pick some up fresh before you show up.”
“Expired?”
“Apparently, I haven’t been going to the store as often as I should.”
“You’re near Pendleton, right? Give me your address and I’ll be over in about forty-five minutes.”
He gave it to her and hung up.
Not until she was packing up the cookies did she realize he was arranging it so she would feel comfortable by sitting outside. He had a point; normally, she’d go on two or three dates before she’d invite a man over to her house or go to his, or she would meet his friends first. Maybe it was because she met Law at the grief counseling group, but she felt like she could trust him, and this just further proved it.
Her phone rang again. This time, she saw it was Lesley. That was really odd. The woman had only called to check in with her when she’d first started the group session.
She would listen to the message later. She had cookies to deliver!
Chapter 4
Luckily, when Law checked out his fridge, he had milk that wasn’t expired, so he had time to clean up. He was hoping he could talk her into a dinner out. There was a good seafood place not too far from his house.
When he got out of the shower and stood in front of the mirror to shave, his reflection confronted him with something he hadn’t seen in a long while. A real grin.
“Where have you been?” he asked his reflection.
Good question.
Law damn near dropped his razor as his head whipped around at the sound of Xavier’s voice.
“What the hell?!”
Great. Now he was having auditory hallucinations.
“I am not my mother.” His voice was emphatic. She was the one who swore that Xavier had talked to her. That was so not his gig.
However...
Law sighed as he smeared shaving cream on his face. His big brother Xave would be giving him a great deal of shit for having his head so far up his ass for the last thirteen months.
“Not my fault,” he muttered as he started swiping through the foam. “The blame totally lies on you, Xavier Winston Thorne.”
He tilted his head, then realized he was waiting for some sort of rebuttal and rolled his eyes.
“Lawson, you have problems.”
He concentrated on shaving. Not an easy task, because had to work around that damn smile. The thought of seeing Jill, and Xavier giving him shit from the grave, all of it made him happy. Only fifty percent of it meant he was crazy.
By the time he had a pair of chinos and a T-shirt on, he heard her car pulling up next to his truck in the driveway. Chocolate chip cookies were nice, but a chance to see the pretty brunette was definitely the high point of the afternoon. He had the door open and stood at the top of his porch by the time she got out of her car. She was balancing a plate and she blew him away. Yeah, she filled out the tank top really well, but it was the way her eyes lit up that really tickled him.
“Let me help you with that,” he said as he jogged down his steps.
“That’d be great.” Jill handed over the plate, then reached in for a plastic grocery bag.
“What’s in there?”
“I actually baked more than the two-dozen cookies that I admitted to. Here are the other three.” She handed him the bag with a Tupperware container in it. “I figured you could have these for later.”
“Sweet.”
She glanced over his shoulder. “You have a nice set-up.”
“My mother insisted on going furniture shopping the last time she was in the States.”
“You said she lived in Belgium, right? That seems odd when her sons were all in the U.S. military.”
Law took the opportunity to place his hand on her lower back and guide her up the stairs. “It’s a long and complicated story.”
“Just the kind I like.” She sat down on the loveseat instead of a chair, he noted with satisfaction.
“Did you really want milk?” Law asked as he opened the screen door.
“Absolutely.”
He went inside and poured two glasses. He brought them out along with some paper towels.
“So, what do you want to know?” He asked as he settled in beside her.
“Give me complicated. I told you mine at the diner.”
Law bit into a cookie. Then finished the other half. He sipped some milk and watched as Jill sat back against the arm of the couch.
“My mother grew up in Brussels. My dad went over to Belgium to work at NATO. When he met her, he said it was game over.”
“What did your dad do?”
“He was in Army Intelligence and liaised with members of NATO security. It was supposed to be a temporary job, but he managed to extend it into two years until he got Maman to agree to marry him and
