Page 52 of Begin Again

Good times in her eyes.

She finally felt as if she was getting there in her life again when she wanted to remember things like that.

To experience them again.

“No,” he said. “They aren’t. But I was paying more attention to the bacon and didn’t set a timer and they got a bit browned. They are downstairs. Not horrible, but I didn’t want to bring anything up here that wasn’t just right.”

“That’s sweet,” she said. “Hand over the coffee. Not sure if I’ve got a headache from a slight hangover or the action on the island last night and having my head down some.”

He smiled. “Here you go.”

She took the black mug out of his hand and took a healthy sip of the creamy mixture that he’d made just right for her.

She was sick of black coffee that she’d drunk for years too. Again, those calories. She’d given it up because she didn’t care for the taste of it.

Being able to just make her coffee the way she wanted and slowly drink it was such a nice treat.

Crazy when she thought back to the things she let happen to herself.

“This is perfect,” she said. “I wouldn’t have noticed if the buns were burned or not.” She reached for a piece of bacon on the plate and popped it in her mouth. “Yummy.”

“Here,” he said. “Eat.”

“Can I take a shower first? I’m not one for eating in bed. It seems frivolous for someone who hardly ever eats breakfast and sleeps during the day.”

“Sure,” he said. “But it might be cold when you get downstairs.”

“I’ve eaten a lot of cold food in my life. But it will be fine. You can put it in the warming oven that you talked me into.”

“That’s true,” he said, moving back with the plate. She stood up and her tank top pushed up some and showed her belly. “Jesus. Did I do that last night?”

She looked down and saw the bruise around her hipbone. It had slammed against the island at one point. She remembered that now, but it was not like it hurt that much.

“Maybe,” she said. “Not a big deal. I could have done it at work too.”

“No,” he said. “I would have noticed that on you Friday night if you did.”

She tugged her shirt down. “Not the first bruise I’ve had. Don’t worry about it. I barely remember when it happened.”

“Barely?” he asked. He had an appalled look on his face. “That means you do remember it though.”

She took a sip of her coffee, shocked she wasn’t upset over this and he was. She supposed it told her she’d healed more than she realized.

“Christian, it’s a bruise. It was an accident and in the heat of the moment. A moment that I’m going to remember with a smile on my face. It’s fine.”

She walked into the bathroom with her coffee and shut the door on him.

It was fine to her, but it didn’t seem it to him.

She showered and dressed, then went down to the kitchen. He was sitting at the island with his coffee and then got up and grabbed the two plates of food in the warming oven. Guess he’d only brought hers up the stairs for her earlier.

“Let me see it again?” he asked.

She slapped his hand away. “Stop,” she said. “It’s not a big deal. My hipbones stick out. At one point it must have pushed against the island. I bruise easily. Get over it.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“Yes.” She didn’t want to talk about this. In her mind it was no big deal and the more they talked about it the more it was going to upset or annoy her.