Page 27 of Promise You Forever

“Life isn’t easy.” I step back, out of his reach, and don’t look back.

Ten

LUKE

The smell of something burning wakes me from my fitful sleep. I grab my phone off the table beside the bed and squint until the numbers come into focus. Three in the morning. Stifling a groan, I swing my legs off the bed and reach for the closest pair of pants to pull on.

Eli’s door is wide open, and I can see a sleeping lump of dog curled at the end. At least Charlie has the right idea. It doesn’t even look like Eli has gone to bed yet.

Light from the kitchen cuts through the darkness of the quiet living room. A cookie sheet with black lumps of dough sits on the stove and baking ingredients are strewn around the counter. I don’t see Eli anywhere, but then I hear a sniffle. As soon as I round the far side of the island, I see her laying on the floor, silent tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Whatcha doin’?” I ask quietly.

Her eyes fly open in horror. “Oh God.” She covers her face. “Can you just leave me here to my misery?” she mumbles from behind her hands.

“Well, I would, but I’m afraid you might burn the house down.” I nudge her foot with mine. “Do you need me to get down there with you?”

“No.” She wipes the remaining tears from her cheeks and sits up, holding her hand out for me to help her stand up.

Releasing her hand from mine is the hardest thing I’ve had to do since the day I set her free. The urge to link our fingers and pull her against me rides me so hard I almost can’t stand it. Every innocent touch is torture.

Probably one that I deserve.

“Want to tell me what’s going on?”

She braces her hands on the counter and drops her head. A moment passes in silence, I’m not sure if I should push her or not.

“I wanted to make Grandma’s chocolate chip cookies for Gramps to have tomorrow when we take him to Denver.” A tear falls on the granite. “Just so he’d have the comfort of a familiar food.”

“I see.” I walk over to the stove and pull one of the blackened cookies off the baking sheet. “I thought maybe you were trying to make homemade hockey pucks.” I toss it up in the air. “I think these could work.”

I can’t see her face as her shoulders shake with either laughter or more tears. At this point the only thing I want to do is hold her, but if I can’t do that, laughter is the next best thing.

“It’s so pathetic, isn’t it? I can solve any math equation you put in front of me. I could list from memory the properties of hundreds of minerals, but can I follow a recipe and make a simple fucking cookie? Apparently not.”

I look down into the mixing bowl half full of dough and the answer to this problem comes into clear focus.

“There’s only one thing to do, then.” I look over at her. “We’ll start over and maybe see where you went wrong.”

“Are you sure?” Hope sparks in her beautiful eyes.

“Yeah, I’m awake now, I know I won’t be able to fall back asleep.”

“I’m sorry,” she says sheepishly. “But I am going to take you up on this offer.”

Two batches of dough, and an hour and half later, we’ve finally figured it out. Eli picks up her cup of coffee and takes a sip, her eyes close briefly as she moans with delight. Her pink tongue swipes a drop of coffee from her lips as she sets the cup back down. She doesn’t notice me staring or at least doesn’t acknowledge it.

Not that I’d stop either way.

I reach over and cup her cheek, the move startling her into a frozen stance as her gaze meets mine. My thumb brushes over a smudge of flour on her face. I let my hand linger even after clearing the smudge. A thousand memories filter between us.

She doesn’t move.

I’ve never wanted to kiss her more than I do right now. In her eyes I swear I see my desire mirrored back at me, but as soon as I start to move closer, her hand flies up and pushes me away.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” she yells at me.

“Wiping flour off your cheek.”

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