Page 48 of Finally Forever
A blush crawls up her cheeks. She clears her throat. “Did you add these to the shopping list?” She points to the box of crackers.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Probably. Why?”
“They’re my favorite.”
“Okay.” I shrug.
“It could be a sign.” She rounds the island and takes my hands. “Some part of your mind might have remembered it’s my favorite, and that’s why you added them to the list.”
She’s far too excited about this. “Or it’s a coincidence.” I remove my hands from her soft fingers and step back.
She frowns, and I feel like an ass for being the cause. She wants me to remember her and our life. She loves me. I just can’t give her what she wants. I can make her dinner, though. Maybe put a smile back on that pretty face.
A strand of that golden hair gets caught on her long black lashes.
I raise my hand to remove it but stop myself. “Your hair is caught.” I point to the strand.
“Oh.” She brushes it away with her finger. “Thanks.”
Damn, that frown could bring the toughest man to his knees. I turn away and stroll to the open pantry door. “You said there’s pasta? Are you hungry?”
“I had some crackers, but I guess I could eat.”
She appears behind me and grabs a box of pasta from the shelf. I grab two cans of tomato sauce. There should be seasoning, garlic, and Parmesan cheese—everything we need to make my favorite sauce. My list is the same as always. I sent that to the house caretaker. It explains the Cheez-Its. I hadn’t considered that when Ainsley asked. I don’t have the heart to tell her now. She wants to believe it means something when it doesn’t.
She finds the seasoning and boils water in a pot while I get the garlic and parmesan. Cooking with her comes easily, like we’ve done it a hundred times before, and I guess we have. I don’t want to like how easy this is or how incredible the sauce tastes.
“This was fun,” she says as she sets plates and napkins at the island for us to eat.
She sets three. One for Xavier. For some reason, I thought we were eating alone. Just the two of us. I’m glad I thought wrong.
“I’ll text Xavier?” I say and get a bottle of red wine from the wine fridge.
She prefers rosé. I grab a bottle of that too and pause. I remembered something. That’s not good. That doesn’t fit in with my plan. After a quick glance to make sure she didn’t see me, I put the rosé back and grab three wine glasses on my way to the bar stools.
Ainsley notices the Merlot and heads for the wine fridge. She opens the door and spies the rosé. Her lips part, and her expressions says she thinks it’s another sign.
I’d rather her frown than have false hope. “I forwarded the shopping list I have stored in my phone,” I say, drawing her attention.
She faces me, the bottle of rosé in her hand. “What?”
“I didn’t remember. The shopping list is the one I always send. I found it in my notes. That’s why the Cheez-Its were in the pantry.”
She considers my words and nods, that frown back on her face. “That makes sense.”
Xavier enters the room. “Smells delicious.”
“Sebastian made the sauce,” she says with a sweet smile that could melt chocolate.
“Ainsley helped,” I say.
His gaze narrows on me.
I sit on the stool at the end and nod at the stool next to me for him to sit. That leaves Ainsley on the other end, away from me, where she belongs.
20
Ainsley
