Page 13 of SlapShot Sweetheart

Three days later, Éclair and Donut were right at home – and Aimee was utterly in love. The kittens were the sweetest little purr-machines in the world and enjoyed snuggling in her lap every chance they got. The two were always playing, cuddling, or running around, but the moment she sat on the couch… it was time to hang out with her.

She plunked several kisses on their furry foreheads, hating to leave the house, but she was going to get a few toys for the kitties, a couple of things from the grocery store, and maybe stop by the donut shop as a treat. She loved eclairs, and the littlenamesake reminded her of the things every time she talked to her.

“Mommy will be back shortly,” she whispered, kissing them once more before putting them down and listening to their meowing protests as she slipped out the front door. The rope she had left neatly coiled on the corner of her front porch in case her ‘midnight crooner’ returned for another serenade – and left the candles mounted on the wood where he obviously used a smidgeon of wax or something else to affix the tapers.

Did it look awful from the street? Sure.

Did she care? Not a lick.

Nope – if her mysterious man was coming back, she wanted to make it as easy as possible to have her Romeo woo her once more. In fact, after the kitten-escapade, she thought of texting Theo and stopped herself. She didn’t want to open the doorway if it wasn’t him, because then he would ask her out again, and she wasn’t sure if she was interested.

He was nice enough, but she was looking for something more… and now that someone was obviously romancing her, it was harder and harder to think about the handsome man who’d been glaringly late and underdressed for their first – and only - date.

An hour later, Aimee had a few groceries in her car, two little wands with feather ‘birds’ at the end dangling from a string in two different colors so she could tell them apart, and was pulling up to a small bakery that made the best eclairs in the universe. Stepping inside, she nearly moaned aloud at the sweet, yeasty scents assailing her senses, already thinking of the ‘haul’ she was going to take home.

There were the Boston Cream eclairs, the chocolate Long Johns that were stuffed with overly sweet filling, and then Madeline made these pistachio eclairs that were utterly sinful.

“… Three maple sugar donuts and one of the blueberry eclairs.”

“You want the sweets today, eh?”

“Only from here,ma belleMadeline.”

“Stop…” the woman giggled, and Aimee saw red as she realized just who was flirting with her – Theo. The pesky man was leaning on the glass counter like he owned the place, smiling at Madeline and touching the glass. “Hazelnut, too? Let me ‘ave one of those for the guys, as well.”

“Of course, Theo,” Madeline crooned, saying his name with an accent, making it sound like ‘Tee-oh’… and Aimee almost gagged at the thought. The two were laying it on thick, and it was disgusting. At that moment, there was not a donut in the place that she needed this badly, so she promptly turned to leave… only to hear her name.

“Aimee?” Theo’s surprised voice made her pause – and wince. “It’s nice to see you again. How are you doing?” Drawing in a deep breath, praying for patience, she closed her eyes and then turned slowly, opening them.

“Very well – thank you. How are you doing, Theo?”

“Better now. Do you come here often?”

“I try not to – no offense, Madeline,” she quickly stammered at the woman’s shocked look. “I love the place and the food, but I can’t afford to keep buying new clothes from the number of calories I could pack on easily.”

“I bet you look beautiful with a little extra weight,” Theo sighed softly, causing Aimee’s sharp gaze to turn toward him in shock as Madeline smiled.

“What’d you say?”

“I think you would look beautiful with a little extra around the curves, you know… ‘ow do you say it? Plump?”

“Are you saying I would look better if I were fatter?”

“Did I say something wrong? My English is pretty good, but…”

“No, you said it right,” Madeline volunteered, Theo smiled, and Aimee frowned.

… And Theo’s smile faded.

“You don’t look ‘appy?”

“I should go,” Aimee replied bluntly, turning away quickly and hating the way she was responding to his dark eyes watching her. At least his bruised and puffy eye was healing now, and she hated that she wanted to touch his brow to see if he was still hurt or had any stitches left. She was almost out the door when he touched her elbow.

“Aimee,arrêt…”he uttered and then spoke again. “Stop, please.”

“Look, we don’t get along…”

“But we could if you would stop running for a moment,” he whispered, his dark eyes searching hers. “Please, let me try again and…”

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