Page 22 of Sweetheart and the Grouch
“Is he here?” Dylan asks, looking past me. Millie gives him a gentle elbow in his side.
“The girl just said he snuck out early this morning.” She laughs.
“He’s making me beet muffins with chocolate,” Elena tells him.
“He is, is he?” Dylan says, crouching down so he’s not towering so high above her. “My mom used to make those when we were kids just like you.”
“That’s what Jax said,” she returns. Dylan chuckles and it’s warm and heartening. I like him already.
“Well, I might go and see if I can hurry him up. I wouldn’t mind a choc beet muffin myself.”
“Don’t eat them all before I get some,” Elena says as Dylan straightens up.
He gives her a wink. “Wouldn’t dare.”
“I might stick around if that’s OK?” Millie asks as Dylan steps back. “I’d like a chance to get to know our new neighbors.”
“I’d like that a lot,” I say, gesturing for her to come in and reveling in the fact that I can actually do that. It seems trivial, but I’ve spent so long being unable to invite people around that it’s a novelty being able to accept guests. More and more this place is really starting to feel like a home. My home.
“I’ll see you soon,” Dylan says, giving his wife a quick kiss then telling Ellie and me it was a pleasure meeting us. We wave him off and as soon as he drives off, Millie turns to me and takes both my hands in hers.
“Now that it’s just us girls, tell meeverything.” She glances at Elena before looking back to me. “The PG version, of course.”
AJAX
The timer for the oven goes off, so I save my work and head over to the oven, sliding my hands into the oven mitts and opening the door. A sweet burst of chocolatey goodness fills my nostrils, and a knock at my door tells me I have company.
“One second,” I call out, transferring the muffin trays onto the counter before shutting the oven door and turning off the heat.
“It’s just me,” my brother, Dylan, says, poking his head through first as he opens my door. “We got in early.”
“Hey. Where’s Millie? How was your trip?”
He comes inside and stands across from me, rubbing his hands together and looking at the freshly baked muffins like he’s willing to fight for them. “Trip was fine. Millie is hangin’ with your girl and those muffins smell amazing. Is that Mom’s recipe?”
He reaches out to take one and I tap the back of his hand, frowning at him as he snatches it away. “I didn’t make them for you, fuckface.”
“There’s more than enough to share, shit for brains,” he returns with a chuckle and brotherly love.
I laugh along with him as I gesture for him to move out of the kitchen with me. “You’ve met, Ainsley then?”
“Yep. And the little one. Millie was tellin’ her all about the Soulwink Society when I left, so you might wanna get yourself a ring. You’ll be married off before the day’s out.”
“Jesus H, Dylan. Not you too?”
He frowns. “I’m just teasing, brother. You don’t have to do a damn thing before you’re ready. Lord knows I fought this Soulwink thing tooth and nail.”
“The Soulwink,” I repeat, dropping my weight onto the couch as I let out a sigh. “Why are we also ready to jump on that?”
Following me, Dylan joins me on the couch, slouching so his head rests on the top of it. “How else do you explain it?” he asks, and I shrug. “I mean, how many women have you started baking for the day after you met them?”
Quirking a brow, I turn to smile at him. “They’re for her sister, and I'm making them because they didn’t bring a lot of food with them. They also don't have a car to get into town either, so I’m just tryin’ to look out for them.”
“Looking out for them, huh? How neighborly.”
“Mom raised us well,” I say, nodding before I notice the way Dylan is smirking. “What?”
“I’m just wondering if Mom taught you to ‘look out’ for your neighbors in their bedroom late at night,” he says with a laugh.
