Page 89 of Perfect Pairing
I pulled back to study her face, finding nothing but contentment and…happiness. Was I somehow responsible for it?
Awkwardly, I cleared my throat. “So if you didn’t bake, who did?”
Brie turned toward her family and pointed at Logan and Cal. “Those two.”
“You letLoganinto the kitchen?”
Brie blinked at me, confused. “What’s wrong with that?”
I’d gotten to know Logan Daniels fairly well during my time in Apple Blossom Bay, simply thanks to proximity to this family and the fact that he was married to the eldest daughter. He was…energetic, a classic Golden Retriever personality, which made it even more fitting that he owned one. He was exuberant and helpful, always down to throw himself into whatever task was asked of him with more enthusiasm than I think I’d ever shown for anything in my entire life. The fact that he was an attorney had done nothing short of blowing my mind when I found out. Rectifying the carefree, energetic man I knew with someone who possessed any sort of gravitas for court proceedings had been difficult.
In short, he was kind of a goof, if one of the best guys I’d ever met, and I couldn’t imagine him slaving away in the kitchen over baked goods.
Cal, on the other hand, was a numbers guy, a perfectionist. He’d follow a recipe to the letter to ensure it yielded the correct results, so picturing him whipping up the treats was a far easier task.
Those two together, though? Oil and water. Yet, somehow,they were great friends.
The only explanation was the women they’d chosen to share their lives with forced a connection that wouldn’t have happened otherwise.
And adding Owen Lawless into the fold? Who was already Cal’s best friend but had easily ingratiated himself into the Delatou family—even before he and Delia had figured their shit out, which they finally had around Thanksgiving.
Brie’s sisters had found themselves some truly impressive partners, and I wanted so badly to be a part of it myself. Did I find myself all that impressive? Of course not. I simply wanted to consider myself an extension of this family unit. I wanted to call Brie mine, wanted to truly have Leon and Lena be like parents to me instead of only considering them as such inside my head.
And I’d never had siblings, so I couldn’t think of anything better than suddenly calling the Delatou women my sisters and their significant others my brothers.
I’d never really stopped to consider it before—what exactly I wanted out of life. I had Hansen and my dad, and for a long time, that was enough. They’d always be my true family, but I didn’t think there was anything wrong with wanting to expand that family to include these people too.
“Ez?” Brie asked, pulling me from my thoughts.
I shook my head to clear them and said, “What were we talking about?”
She giggled and said, “You were concerned that I let Logan in the kitchen.”
“Right,” I said, snapping my fingers as I picked up the thread of our conversation. “I guess I’m just shocked you didn’t takecontrol of all this.”
Brie shrugged. “If it makes you feel better, Ididsupervise. But you know the rules. Women cook at Thanksgiving, and men cook—”
“Christmas,” I finished for her. “Yeah, I got it. Why do you think I brought enough food to feed a small army?”
“Because cooking for people is your love language,” she said matter-of-factly.
I stilled, dumbfounded, remembering my earlier comment to Hansen. Sometimes, I forgot how truly well this woman knew me. How we’d spent months of phone calls getting to know one another. I was deeply pleased to discover she hadn’t forgotten everything in our time apart.
Maybe she hadn’t forgottenanythingand, like me, had simply chosen to keep her memories locked away to protect herself.
After everything had gone down with Shannon, after the judge had granted our divorce and I washed my hands of her, I hadn’t handled it well. I guess maybe I thought it was safe to fall apart because she wasn’t around to witness it, and Hansen was too young to know the difference. When I’d pulled the plug on me and Brie, well…Hansen had still been too young to know anything was wrong, but I had done a much better job at keeping it together, mostly because I knew I’d still have to see her regularly, and I refused to let her see me hurting.
But somewhere along the way the last few years, I’d cracked the lid on that box, and everything about Brie and our time together that I’d carefully stowed away was leaking out into my mind, my emotions and our memories prying the box open wider, freeing themselves at last.
I was surprised to find I wasn’t afraid to face them. In fact, I relished those feelings. Iwantedto remember—and wanted to make new ones with her and my boy by my side.
“Ezra?” Lena called, pulling me from my thoughts. I looked at her, and she asked, “Would you be a dear and go grab a few bottles of wine for dinner? Whatever you think will go best with all of this.”
“Sure,” I said happily. Wine selection was one of my favorite parts of being a chef. The component that could make or break a meal.
“I’ll go with you,” Brie offered.
I held out my arm, gesturing for her to go ahead of me. “Lead the way.”
