“I want strawberry yogurt with butterscotch syrup, chocolate chips and gummy bears,” Becca decided.
“Gummy bears? Really?”
“They’re good.”
“Okay.” Zack had his doubts, but then, he’d doubted some of the flavor combinations in Rowan’s experiments, and he hadn’t yet found a bad one. The server soon handed him a paper bowl piled with frozen goodies. He carried it outside the shop, got Becca settled at one of the café tables and checked his watch again. Still five minutes before the plane was due to land, plus however long it took them to get to the gate. Plenty of time for Becca to finish her yogurt and be in position to hold up her sparkly sign when Rowan came through security.
Rowan seemed to have no idea just how gifted she was, but in the end, she had done it—flown down to Portland and wowed the judges with her talent. And then, according to Bonnie, in the final round, Rowan had sacrificed time she could have spent perfecting her own dish to help her competition when she ran into trouble. So typical of Rowan, but it meant the other woman walked away with the four-year scholarship, and Rowan was returning home to him and Becca.
“Want a bite?” Becca asked, holding up a spoonful of pink yogurt with a gummy bear on top.
“Sure.” Zack leaned forward and let her feed him.
“You’re right,” he told her. “Gummy bears are good with strawberry yogurt.”
“I’ll bet!” The familiar voice came from over his shoulder, and his heart did a double beat.
“Rowan!” He hugged her, and then for good measure, her grandmother.
“Our plane got in early.”
“Me and Charlotte made you a sign!” Becca picked up the poster board from where Zack had left it leaning against the table.
“Let’s see.” Rowan stepped back to read the poster. It spelled out Congratulations, Rowan! in glitter paint, with each letter a different color. The letters started out with generous spaces in between, but got progressively more crowded, with the i obviously squeezed in after the fact. Flowers, along with pizza slices, doughnuts and something green that was probably a vegetable of some sort made a border down below. Zack thought it was perfect.
Apparently so did Rowan. She wiped away a tear before dropping to her knees to hug Becca. “It’s beautiful! Thank you!”
“Wow.” Bonnie picked up the sign from where Becca had dropped it. “Look at all these sparkles. What a great welcome home.”
* * *
IN THE HOUR it took to drive from the Anchorage airport to Palmer, Becca had fallen asleep. Even when they parked at Bonnie’s apartment building so that Zack could take her bag upstairs for her, Becca didn’t stir. And yet, when Zack carried her upstairs and laid her on her own bed, her eyes flew open. “Aren’t we going to read?”
Rowan sat down on the edge of the bed and smoothed Becca’s hair back from her face. “You’re tired. Maybe you should sleep now, and we’ll read extra tomorrow.”
“Just one story?” Becca yawned. “I like hearing your voice. I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” Rowan gave the gentle smile that made Zack want to wrap them both in his arms and never let go. Instead, he chose one of Becca’s favorite picture books and handed it to Rowan. It was meant for younger children, but he knew Becca found the rhymes and rhythms soothing.
While Rowan read, Zack adjusted the heavy curtains to block out the midnight sun and returned a few books to the shelf. “Good night, Becca,” Rowan whispered, and kissed her cheek before slipping out into the hallway.
Zack added his own kiss to her forehead. “Good night.”
“Night,” Becca murmured. “I’m glad Rowan’s home.”
“I know,” he answered. “I am, too.”
He found Rowan in the kitchen, setting a kettle of water on the stove. “One of the sponsors gave us all gourmet gift baskets,” she told him. “Thought I’d try this herbal tea blend. Want some?”
“Sure.” Zack wasn’t sure he’d ever tasted herbal tea, but Rowan was constantly expanding his horizons. He watched as her deft fingers made a small ceremony of filling a pierced metal ball with tea leaves and placing it in a teapot, pouring in boiling water and setting the pot on a tray along with two mugs.
“Shall we drink this on the deck?” she suggested.
“Let’s.” Zack picked up the tray and followed her outside. She moved a potted plant to make space for him to set the tray on a table in front of the bench. “Do you want to pour or—”
“Let’s let it steep for a few minutes.” Rowan sat down. Zack set beside her and stretched an arm across the back of the bench. Rowan leaned in, as he’d hoped she would, resting her head against his shoulder. He let his arm drop and stroked the soft skin of her upper arm.
He’d been looking forward to this moment for days, but somehow, he couldn’t find the words to start the conversation. Rowan didn’t seem to be in any hurry. She snuggled closer and together they watched the dappled sunshine paint the edges of the forest floor. He caught a lock of her hair and rubbed it between his finger and thumb, soft and silky. He’d read once that pound for pound, silk was stronger than steel. Rowan was like that, soft and yielding, but with incredible strength.
He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “I love you, too,” he whispered.
She sat up and turned to him in surprise. “What did you say?”
“I said I love you, too. You know, building on that conversation from two weeks ago just before Lauren rang the doorbell. Remember?”
The dimple in her cheek appeared. “I do remember. But when you didn’t bring it up again, I thought—”
“I didn’t want to distract you from the competition. But now that it’s behind us, I thought you should know. I love you, Rowan.”
She touched his face and peered into his eyes as though testing the depths of them. She must have found what she was looking for there, because she smiled. “I love you, too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He leaned down to press a kiss upon her lips. She met him halfway and slid her fingers into the hair on the back of his head, pulling him closer. He shifted to take the kiss deeper, and she responded in kind. He heard the jingle of dog tags, but this time, without breaking the kiss, he pulled Rowan onto his lap so that there was no room for Ripley to push his way in between them. Rowan wrapped her arms around him and held him tight.
Ripley jumped onto the bench beside them and whimpered. When they ignored him, he jumped down, setting the table rocking. Rowan barely jumped up in time to steady it before it fell over and sent the teapot crashing to the ground. She laughed. “Well, the tea is ready anyway. Next time, maybe we should leave the d-o-g in the h-o-u-s-e.”
“Good idea.”
Rowan poured two mugs of tea and handed one to Zack. Having successfully interrupted their romantic interlude, Ripley moved on to the woods to investigate a magpie that was poking about. In a flash of black and white, the bird flew away while hurling insults at the dog. Zack concurred.
He sipped the tea. Not much taste, but it had a nice smell. “Your grandmother told me about how you helped out your competition during that last round in the cooking show. I’m sorry it cost you the win.”
“I’m not,” Rowan answered immediately. “Sara’s pear-filled chocolate crepes were clearly a more difficult and elegant dessert than my fruit and cookie pizza, even if she’d been forced to skip the flambé stage. I didn’t get the chance to add my garnish to my dessert, but it wouldn’t have mattered. Hers was clearly better.”
“If setting it on fire wasn’t that important to her dish, why did you help her?”
“Honestly, I didn’t think about it, I just acted.” Rowan set her mug on the table and turned to face him. “I’m glad I did. After the filming, they showed us some of the footage, and I got to see Sara’s preshow interview. Her father died when she was youn
g, and she’s been working since she was fifteen. Her younger brother and sister were both able to get partial college scholarships, but they wouldn’t have been able to finish college without her financial support. The youngest graduated in May, and Sara and her husband married a week later. Her dream is to go to culinary school. If it wasn’t for this contest, it might take years for the two of them to save up enough for her tuition.”
“That’s a nice story, but what about your dreams? If you’d won, wouldn’t you have used the scholarship to go to culinary school?”
“If I’d wanted to go to culinary school, I could have. I thought about it briefly when I was a teenager, but my parents pointed out that most chefs don’t make a lot of money and the hours are awful. They encouraged me to study business, instead.”
“But it they hadn’t steered you away, you would have gone to culinary school?”
“Possibly.”
“And if you’d won this competition, would you have gone?”
She shrugged. “I believe things worked out the way they were supposed to.” She traced a finger along his arm. “I missed you and Becca while I was in Portland.”
“We missed you, too, more than you could imagine.”
“I have a good imagination.” She smiled. “I love you.”
“I love you.”
She leaned over his tea mug to kiss him lightly. “So where does that leave us?”
“Well, Mrs. Vogel, we’re married, but we’ve never dated. Maybe we should, you know, do that. Go to a movie or something. Spend some time alone together.”
Ripley came trotting back and rested his head on Rowan’s lap. She rubbed his ears. “Alone together? You mean like, just the two of us? No kids, no dogs, maybe a whole kiss without interruption?”
He laughed. “I think we can arrange that.”
* * *
ROWAN SET A bowl of peonies from the farm on the embroidered tablecloth she’d borrowed from her grandmother’s stash. The last two weeks had been wonderful. She’d never realized just what it meant to be in love. Everything, even something as mundane as setting the table, took on an extra sparkle of joy. Thank goodness she hadn’t settled for “good enough” with Sutton. It seemed like every day she loved Zack and Becca a little more.
Last Friday, Charlotte had come for a sleepover, and Rowan had taught both girls to make miso soup. Saturday, she and Jessie took them shopping for school clothes. That night Becca had fallen asleep early, no doubt because she and Charlotte had stayed up giggling half the night before, allowing Zack and Rowan some quality time outside on the bench. And this time Ripley wasn’t invited.
In between, Rowan had stayed busy helping with Now and Forever Farms, updating the website, printing new recipes and pitching in to fulfill mail orders when someone had called in sick. She’d also power-washed the deck at Zack’s house, planning to apply a new coat of sealer on the first available sunny day.
The cooking competition had aired three days ago. They’d invited Rowan’s family, the Mat Mates, all the wildlife center people and Zack’s veterinarian partner, Christine, and her family to their house for a screening party. It made for a crowded but lively evening. Rowan had served all the dishes she made at the competition. Despite constant pressure, Gran had refused to divulge the results of the competition ahead of time. When the judges called Rowan and Sara in, everyone except Gran, Zack and Rowan had been on the edge of their seats, and even Zack looked a little shocked when the winner was announced.
Tonight, Becca was sleeping over with Charlotte. Rowan had created a three-course meal of Greek favorites. The back door opened, and Zack came in, carrying the day’s mail. Without a word, he set it on the counter and reached for her, pulling her in for a long and satisfying kiss. When he lifted his head, she laughed. “Hello to you, too.”
Zack grinned. “When the cat’s away...”
“Are you implying we’re the mice?” She picked up the mail and sorted through it, tossing the junk into the trash as she went.
“Something like that. What smells so good?”
“Moussaka. We also have dolmades, Greek salad and baklava for dessert.” She paused as she came to a large envelope at the back of the pile. “Huh, something from the cooking competition.”
“Maybe you forgot to sign something.”
“Hard to imagine. I must have signed ten pounds of papers before I went on the show.” She opened it up and read the cover letter. “Oh, my gosh.”
“What?”
She looked up. “Apparently after the show aired, they must have gotten complaints about me giving Sara my rum and whether that was fair. They don’t go into all the details, but the bottom line is that the sponsor, West Coast Culinary School, has decided to offer a full scholarship to me as well as the one they gave Sara.”
Emotions flashed across his face too quickly to read. “That’s great. I’m happy for you.” But he didn’t sound happy.
“This is so generous. I’ll be sure to let them know I appreciate the gesture when I turn them down.”
“You’re turning them down?”
“Of course. That is, I thought—” She hesitated, suddenly unsure. “I thought you wanted me here, with you and Becca.”
“I do. But...”
“But what?”
“It’s an amazing opportunity. You should go.”
“The custody hearing is in two weeks, and Clarissa hasn’t agreed to give up parental rights,” she pointed out. “You need me.”
“No.”
She sank into the chair by the kitchen desk. “You want me to leave?”
“No!” Zack knelt in front of her and took her hands in his. “I don’t want you to leave any more than I would want Becca to. I love you, Rowan. That’s why I can’t be selfish about this. You need to do what’s best for you. Becca and I were muddling along before you came. We can do it again.”
“But what if I were to go and you lose custody?”
“There’s no guarantee I’ll win even if you stay.”
“It improves your chances.”
“Rowan, my family problems are not your problems.” He squeezed her hands. “We committed to a year, not to a lifetime. This opportunity to pursue a career doing what you love is too good to pass up.”
“I love being here with you. I love taking care of you and Becca and helping out at the wildlife center.”
“Those are my responsibilities, not yours. You need to find your own dream.”
She sat up straighter. “It’s my decision.”
“Yes.”
“Then I want to stay here.”
Zack paused before replying, “My mother met my father in Las Vegas. Did I ever tell you that?”
“You’ve never really talked about your mother.”
“She lives in Florida now. Before she met my father, she was a dancer. When they married, she gave up her career and moved to Alaska. They divorced when I was four. Dad gave her custody, but only if she kept me here. So she stayed. She got a job in the credit union and worked her way up to senior loan officer, but a part of her was always bitter that she had sacrificed her career dreams for a man.”
“So, what you’re saying—”
“I can’t say I love you, and then ask you to give up your dream.”
“But what if—”
“I know you,” he interrupted. “You always put everyone else’s desires ahead of your own. You did it with your mother, you did it at the cooking competition, and you’ll do it with me if I give you the chance. You need to think about this objectively, and you can’t do that here.”
“But—”
“Go stay with your family at the farm. Think about your future. Not just right now, but your whole life.”
“What about Becca?”
“I’ll tell her your family needs you there right now.”
; She studied his face, looking for any sign he might back down, but his gaze was firm. “You said you loved me, and now you’re kicking me out of your house?”
“If you’re here, I’ll be too tempted to kiss you and hold you and try to make you want to stay. That’s not fair. Not until you’ve made your decision.”
“Are you saying I have to choose between school and you? I can’t come back once I’ve completed the degree?”
“Rowan.” He shook his head slowly. “There are no top-notch restaurants in Palmer. If we’re here, waiting, you won’t be free to pursue your new career. What if you’re offered a job in a Michelin-starred restaurant in San Francisco, or New York, or Paris? I don’t want to hold you back. I’m sending you away because I love you.”
“It doesn’t feel like love.” She wiped away a tear before it could trickle down her cheek. “Love shouldn’t hurt like this.”
“I know.” He pressed her hand against his chest. “But sometimes, it does.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
CREAMY YELLOW SHREDS of Gouda fell from the grater. Rowan visually measured the size of the heap and decided she might as well grate the rest of the block. She already had a spinach, mushroom and egg strata waiting in the refrigerator to bake for Lauren and Patrick’s breakfast, but she would use the Gouda in a selection of mini quiches for Gran and her friends. Any extras, she could pass out as free samples along with recipe cards to the people who came to the tasting room this afternoon.
The clock on the oven read five fifteen. No one else would be up for another hour or so, and Lauren would do the morning milking before breakfast, so Rowan didn’t need to put the strata in the oven yet. Rowan should be in bed herself, but after staring at the ceiling for too many hours, she’d decided to cook. She’d long ago found problems that loomed large in the shadows of a bedroom would shrink to a reasonable size in the kitchen. At least most of them did, but not this one.
She missed Becca, and Ripley, and Fluff, but most of all, she missed Zack. The way he looked before his first cup of coffee, kind of befuddled and sweet. The way his eyes seemed to brighten when he came through the door each evening and saw her there to greet him. Snuggling beside him on the bench at the end of the day, watching the little dramas play out in the woods behind the house. She didn’t want to give that up.
Harlequin Heartwarming June 2021 Box Set Page 45
