Page 112 of Perfect Enough

“Then you forgive him?”

I drew my knees up, wrapped my arm around my legs, and said, “There isn’t really anything to forgive. I know he didn’t mean to say the things he did.”

“And last night, nothing happened. The lady he was dancing with was a therapist who was pretty persistent, but not how you think. She just wanted to convince Josh he needed to talk to someone. And he did. I think his talk with Grams today helped him a lot.”

“How is Stella, you, and the rest of the family doing?”

He sighed. “I think okay. Grams sent everyone home and said she needed some alone time. We try not to let her be alone for too long, though. Granddad was the rock of our family, so…” Nate’s voice trailed off.

“I understand. It’ll take time, and to be truthful, I don’t think the pain of missing loved ones ever goes away. We miss them so much because we loved them so much.”

“I like that. I like that a lot.”

We both remained silent for a few moments before Nate cleared his throat. “Okay, well, I told him I’d try to think of some way to lure you over here, but in the end, I decided the truth was the best way to go.”

“Thank you for calling me, Nate. Should I head on over now?”

He laughed. “Probably. Oh, and, Sophia?”

“Yeah?”

“You might want to drive through McDonald’s first and get something to eat. I’m not sure how good his lasagna’s going to be.”

I’d almost taken Nate’s advice about grabbing something to eat but put my faith in Josh’s cooking seeing as he’d made me breakfast on more than one occasion. After pulling up and parking, I reached for my overnight bag and purse and headed to the front door. Instead of ringing the bell, I tried the doorknob. Smiling when I found it unlocked, I walked in. The smell of rich sauce and bread filled the house, and I was instantly grateful I hadn’t stopped to eat.

Setting my bag down, I started for the kitchen. As I drew closer, I could hear the faint sound of music playing. I stopped and listened for a moment. Was that the beginning of “You Need to Calm Down”?

With a hand over my mouth, I slowly peeked around the corner to see Josh at the stove, stirring something while dancing. I was assaulted by even more smells, all of them delicious.

I leaned against the wall and watched him singing and dancing while he cooked. When he launched into the chorus, I had to cover my mouth withbothhands to keep from laughing. It did my heart good to see him happier. The visit with his grandmother must have really been what he needed.

“You could be glaaaad—oh shit! The cake!”

Josh frantically looked for an oven mitt to remove the cake. When he took it out and set it on the stove, I strained up onto my toes to see what he’d made. It looked like a Bundt cake of some kind.

He turned—and came to an abrupt stop when he saw me.

“Soph! You’re…” He looked around the kitchen. “Early.”

“Well, when Nate called to tell me you were making me dinner, and it was all from scratch, I thought I should come see if I could help.”

Josh’s eyes went everywhere, and mine followed. I’d never seen such a messy kitchen in my life.

“Do you have every single kitchen item out?” I asked as I made my way to the island. I couldn’t believe the amount of stuff on that island: a pasta maker, flour, sugar, about six bowls—all of which had something in them—measuring cups and spoons. And the centerpiece of it all, a mixer that appeared to have more cake batter in the bowl.

Josh let out a nervous laugh. “I might have bitten off more than I could chew. The upside-down Bundt pan pineapple cake might be a little overdone.”

My heart jumped in my chest. “You made my favorite dessert?”

He wore a sheepish smile. “I tried. I remembered you had mentioned in one of our texts. And when Grams was telling me how to make the pasta dough, it sounded so simple. It was making the noodles themselves that turned out to be a problem.I ended up having to ask my mom to bring me a box of noodles from home. She took one look at the kitchen and ran.”

Laughing, I picked up the bowl with the cake batter in it, dipped my finger in, and raised my brows. “I can’t say I blame her. It smells good, though. Did you make bread, also?”

“Grams did. She makes the best bread.”

Gathering up some dirty dishes, I placed them by the sink. When I turned back to get more, Josh was standing in front of me.

“Soph, I’m so sorry for the things I said and how I acted. I hope you know that I—”