Page 51 of Perfect Together
She settled on macarons, the currently in-vogue French cookie. The recipe for these cookies was deceptively simple, but in reality, it was intense and time consuming and took lots of patience, of which she had plenty.
For hours, she lost herself in a process she found soothing. She knew just how soft to make the peaks of the egg whites before adding another ingredient, then whisking once more. Then came the pastry bag and the painstaking creation of rounds without peaks by bringing the pastry tip to the side.
She made chocolate ganache and Swiss buttercream filling, so Sam would have a choice, keeping an eye on the oven as she worked. Another part of the process involved a careful watching of time, lowering then raising the temperature for the next batch. A bomb could have gone off in the next room and she wouldn’t have noticed, and when she finally lifted her head to glance at the clock, she realized she didn’t have much time to shower before Sam arrived to pick her up.
Dress up, he’d said.
She chose a soft pale-blue skirt and flowing tank top loosely belted with a pair of metallic sandals. She blow-dried her hair, but parts were still damp, and she decided it could air-dry. A hint of blush and lip gloss, bangle bracelets, a long necklace, and dangling earrings, and she was ready with minutes to spare.
Then her phone rang. A glance told her it was her sister, which was unusual and off the set schedule.
“Hello?” Nicole asked, aware she was holding her breath.
“Hi! I have the best news!” Vicky said, sounding more excited than Nicole could remember.
Veryup, and a prickle of nerves assaulted Nicole.
“What’s up?” she asked as she settled onto her bed.
Vicky squealed in excitement. “My doctor said if I keep progressing like this, I can take a day trip out of here. You know, like a test run to see how I handle being back out in the world.”
Nicole swallowed hard. It was one thing to think about her sister getting better, another to contemplate her being out. “Are you sure you’re ready?”
“I am. I just need someone to agree to be my guardian for the day.”
Another nervous flutter took up residence in Nicole’s stomach, and she shivered.
“...But I’m sure Mom or Dad will agree,” Vicky continued, obviously rambling with excitement.
“I just don’t want you to set yourself up for disappointment,” Nicole warned her.
“It’s one day. Twelve hours. Less even.”
Nicole shook her head at how Vicky tended to hang on to her optimism when it came to their parents, mostly because her mind ran toward the delusional. “We’ll see, I guess.”
“Oops! Gotta go. My time’s up. Bye!” her sister said, and disconnected the call.
Nicole prayed their parents would step up, but she had her doubts. Which meant Vicky would ask to visit Nicole for the day instead, and nobody in Serendipity would want to deal with that.
Especially not the Marsdens.
She closed her eyes, thinking of Sam’s family. They’d been kind to her about her sister, but that was easy when Vicky was out of sight. Faced with her return? Nicole shuddered at the definite conflict inherent in that situation.
The ringing of her doorbell interrupted her thoughts. She glanced out the window by the door and smiled when she saw Sam in khaki pants and a collared shirt. He oozed male confidence and sex appeal, his scruffy hair untamed despite obvious efforts.
She let him in, and he greeted her with a warm kiss on the mouth. His lips lingered, and she sighed into him.
“Mmm, that’s nice,” she said, running her tongue over her lips.
She could be so happy here, and she didn’t want her sister to ruin what she was building in Serendipity, she thought, then immediately felt guilty and selfish.
“Just nice?” Sam asked, his brows wrinkled.
“Very nice,” she amended, chiding herself to push thoughts of her sister and her problems out of her mind.
She had a hot man waiting for her, and she wasn’t about to waste time thinking about things that might not happen. There was always the chance that her sister’s doctor wouldn’t allow her to come to Serendipity at all.
And if he did?