by Noelle Adams
“Well, if it’s as chewy as the first one you made, at least it will match the bread.” Daniel sidestepped out of the way when Jessica tried to swat him with a hot pad. He was grinning as he grabbed the hot pad and then grabbed Jessica in a quick hug.
Growing up, Alice had always understood Daniel to be the serious Duncan boy and Micah to be the laidback, laughing one. But they seemed to have switched characteristics lately.
Then Alice processed something that had been said earlier. “So Micah is coming to dinner too?”
“Yeah. He and Cara are coming. They’re just late because he had to get the bread. Oh, and help yourself.” Jessica gestured toward a plate of crackers and cheese on the counter, while Daniel started to pour out red wine.
Then Alice glanced over to the table and saw it was only set for four. “No one else is coming?”
“No. Just us.” Jessica smiled casually. “You may have noticed that cooking isn’t my forte, so smaller dinners work better for me.”
“Okay. Sounds good.” Alice was actually relieved, since she’d been expecting a bigger group, which would mean she’d have to be “on.” This would be more comfortable, and maybe Micah would be more himself around his brother.
She went to slice off some cheese and put it on a cracker, so she had something to focus on when she heard Micah’s cheerful voice from the front door. “We’re here. The bread crisis is averted.”
Alice turned around and moved into a corner out of the way, sipping her wine and holding her cracker in the other. She saw as Daniel went over to take the bread from his brother and make a dry comment about “delusions of bread grandeur.”
Micah had Cara in one arm, her baby bag over one shoulder, and her empty carrier in his free hand. He wore khakis and a slightly better shirt than normal, and he was grinning at his brother and at Jessica when she ran over to him.
“Hello to you too,” he teased, when Jessica grabbed Cara out of his arm and hugged the baby.
Then his eyes finally drifted over to where Alice was standing, and she saw it happen. He stiffened, almost imperceptibly, and his grin faded. “Alice,” he said, obviously surprised.
Clearly he hadn’t been told of the guest list either.
“Hi,” she said, trying for casual, although she was hurt by the way he’d lost all his warm, teasing demeanor when he’d seen her. She’d thought they’d been getting along pretty well lately. “I had to get the salad bowl from my mom, or I guess we could have ridden over together.”
Micah’s blue eyes shifted from her to Jessica and then to his brother, but he didn’t say anything.
“Alice made the best salad,” Jessica said. “It’s got strawberries and what looks like glazed pecans and, ooh, blue cheese on it. Put it on the table, will you, Micah, and, Daniel, cut the bread and stop eating all the cheese.”
Daniel grabbed another slice of cheese before he went to slice the bread. Alice wasn’t sure what to do, so she poured a glass of wine for Micah and handed it to him when he returned from putting the salad on the table.
Jessica had to relinquish Cara, so Alice went to put the baby back in her seat and brought her over to the table. Since she seemed quiet and content for the moment, she settled the carrier in the dining area and hoped the baby would give them a chance to eat before she started to fuss.
Dinner was better than she’d expected. Micah was quiet at first, and Alice was a little uncomfortable, but Jessica and Daniel were in top form, and soon Alice was giggling and Micah was more like himself. They talked about the church and about how far along Micah was in the house he was flipping and about Alice’s interview at the college. They talked about Cara’s grandparents—Heather’s mom and dad—who had come into town yesterday to spend time with Cara. And they talked about Bear, the big white dog who sat at attention during the entire meal, obviously hoping to be rewarded with a bite.
She’d given Cara one disdainful sniff and then studiously ignored her—perhaps seeing her as competition for attention and food.
The meal was good, since it was supplemented with bakery-bought bread, and Alice was enjoying herself when Cara started to whimper, evidently tired of being left out of the excitement for so long.
Micah reached for the baby and pulled out a prepared bottle, since she was probably getting hungry.
“Oh, can I feed her?” Jessica asked, scooting her chair back from the table a little.
Micah handed Cara over, and Alice watched as Jessica cradled her and offered her the bottle.
Cara didn’t care who was offering the bottle, as long as it was offered. She sucked greedily.
“She’s so beautiful,” Jessica murmured, glancing over at Micah. “Those are definitely your eyes.”
Micah gave a half-smile. “She’s a lot prettier than me.”
“Thank God for that,” Daniel put in.
“That’s right,” Jessica cooed at Cara. “You’re much prettier than your daddy, aren’t you? He’ll have to scare all the boys away when they start to come around when you get older. He’s not going to like that at all.”
“Jessica,” Daniel murmured. His voice was low and gentle but held a kind of quiet authority.
She looked in surprise at her husband, who gave her a significant look and made a slight gesture of his head toward Micah.
Jessica obviously understood the look. Her expression broke with regret. “I’m sorry, Micah. I wasn’t thinking. I know you haven’t made any decisions yet, and I didn’t mean to assume…I mean, I’d never put any pressure on you to—”
“I know,” Micah assured her, smiling, just a little poignant. He looked suddenly tired as he glanced over to Alice briefly before his eyes rested on Cara. “I know you weren’t. And the truth is…the truth is I don’t think I’ll ever be able to let her go now.”
He sounded so vulnerable and the words made her so happy—irrationally so, since it wasn’t her business whether Micah kept Cara or chose adoption instead—that Alice was suddenly emotional. Her eyes burned unexpectedly.
“Well, that’s good,” Daniel said. “Good that you know. And I think it’s a good decision.”
“Do you?” Micah leaned back in his chair. “I don’t know. I can’t help thinking she’d be better off with someone else.”
“No,” Alice put in, unable to not say the words. “That’s not true. She’s better off with her daddy. With you.”
He met her eyes, and there seemed to be a question in his expression.
So she nodded, affirming her words, in response to the unspoken question. “You’re really good with her. And you’ll learn the things you don’t know now, just like everyone else.”
He was breathing heavily, but something relaxed in his expression. “Yeah,” he said on an exhale.
When Alice was finally able to look away, her cheeks flushed when she remembered they weren’t alone in the room. Daniel seemed to be scrutinizing her thoughtfully, and she had no idea what was going through his mind.
Jessica had been watching too, but now she looked down at Cara. “Did you hear that, Cara? Your daddy might not know a lot now, but he’s a pretty fast learner. You’ll be happy to have him as a daddy, won’t you?”
Cara let the bottle slip out of her mouth and stared up at Jessica, a little formula dribbling out of her mouth.
Jessica smiled and lifted her up, patting her back until she burped up an impressive amount of what she’d swallowed. “Very good. You must get that burping ability from your uncle.”
“Hey,” Daniel objected to this unprovoked sally.
Jessica laughed, which made Cara laugh too, and then Jessica pulled the baby into a spontaneous hug.
Alice saw her meet Daniel’s eyes over Cara’s little head, and the other woman mouthed something to him that looked like, “I want one.”
Without thinking, Alice turned to see Daniel’s response. He clearly was aware of no one in the room but his wife. His brown eyes were full of something akin to adoration, and he replied just as silently to her.
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Alice wasn’t entirely sure, but it looked like he’d mouthed, “Just say the word.”
And, for no good reason, witnessing the intimate little moment pushed Alice’s emotions into overdrive. Jessica and Daniel understood each other so well—they could communicate almost without words—and they loved each other and enjoyed each other and respected each other.
And cared for the other more than they did themselves.
And it made Alice cry. A tear actually slipped from one of her eyes.
Micah was sitting there at the table too, right next to her, but there was no way she could look over to see what he was thinking. Not when what she really wanted was the same kind of relationship with him.
Horribly embarrassed, she excused herself briefly and hurried to the bathroom.
She got her emotions under control quickly enough, reminding herself of her fifth rule. No daydreaming about a future when none had been offered to her.
When she returned to the table, the mood had shifted, and Jessica was playing with Cara, asking her how she would like to have a couple of cousins as friends.
But, when Alice sat down, it caught Cara’s attention, and the baby reached out for her.
“Oh, no,” Alice told the baby. “You play with your Aunt Jessica.”
Cara was not swayed by this piece of instruction. She just reached out more insistently and started to whimper.
Micah chuckled and took Cara to hand her over to Alice. “Don’t take it personally,” he told Jessica. “She likes Alice better than everyone.”
Alice cuddled Cara, feeling ridiculously relieved to have her back in her arms. “That’s just because I’m around her so much.”
She wiped a little smear of formula off Cara’s chin with her finger and smoothed out her dark hair, rocking the baby a little in the hopes that she might drift back to sleep.
When she glanced up, she saw everyone was looking at her.
“Did Micah tell you about what happened when he tried to give her a bath last night?” she asked, using the first thing to come into her mind as a diversion.
“Hey,” he said, giving her an aggrieved look.
She couldn’t help but giggle.
“Oh, this is going to be good,” Jessica said. “Do tell.”
“He, uh, didn’t get the diaper on quickly enough afterwards. He made the mistake of holding her before he put it on.”
Daniel gave a burst of laughter. “Did she pee all over him?”
“Oh no,” Alice said, while Micah muttered and glared at her. “She didn’t pee.”
So they all had a good laugh at Micah’s expense, and Alice thought of a couple more choice incidents to share, which led to even more laughter.
Then Micah, naturally, sought retribution by narrating in extended detail her attempt to move the shelving unit in her bathroom and how he’d had to come rescue her.
They were all laughing over his entertaining story, and Alice was feeling happy and relaxed, smiling at Micah over Cara’s head.
He seemed like himself. The Micah she remembered. He appeared to be enjoying himself, enjoying her.
She wanted to just soak it in.
The phone rang as they were laughing, and Daniel got up to answer it, telling them not to tell any good stories while he was away from the table.
Out of general courtesy, they quieted their laughter, so Alice could hear clearly Daniel’s voice on the phone.
“Oh, hi, Lydia…Yeah, he’s over here for dinner...He probably just has it turned off.”
At this, Micah pulled his phone out of his pocket, and his eyebrows arched when he looked at the screen.
Lydia. She must have been trying to reach Micah. Alice wondered how many times she’d called to make him raise his eyebrows in surprise that way.
“Is it an emergency?” Daniel asked. “Oh, okay. Good. We’re having dinner now, but I’ll ask him if he can stop by there afterwards. It shouldn’t be too late.”
When Daniel returned to the table, all three of them, plus Cara, were looking in his direction.
“The Morgans are having a plumbing crisis, and they want Micah,” he explained, not looking particularly concerned.
It wasn’t surprising. Micah was the go-to guy for any sort of handyman problem among families in the church.
“I can go over there. I’d just have to run home to get my snake first.” Micah glanced at his phone. “Lydia called four times.”
For some reason, Alice’s good mood from just a minute earlier completely evaporated. She looked down at her plate and cuddled Cara tightly. “If it’s serious, you should get on over there now.”
“No one is in danger,” Daniel said, helping himself to another slice of bread. “It can wait until we’re done dinner.”
“And you haven’t even had dessert,” Jessica added.
“I’m not going to leave yet,” Micah said with a tilt of his lips. “I’m not going to miss dessert unless their house is on fire.”
“Well, hang around here for a while and that might happen,” Daniel drawled.
Jessica gasped and gave him an exaggerated kick under the table.
Micah chuckled, and Alice looked between the three of them. “Did someone almost burn the house down?”
So Daniel got to tell the story of Jessica’s first adventure with their fireplace in the house, and they were laughing through the entire dessert.
Jessica’s cake was a little dry, but it was fine with some ice cream, and they all told her it was perfect.
***
Micah went the Morgans’ place after dinner, and Alice took Cara home. It was after eight, so she put the baby right to bed, and then she picked up around Micah’s house, mostly because it bothered her that he didn’t do a few simple things that would make the house so much more pleasant—like move his shoes into the bedroom or throw away his junk mail.
It was like this house was just a place to stay for him.
She was reading a book after ten when he finally got back home. He was a mess—dirty and damp and with a scrape on his forearm.
“What happened?” she asked, when he came into the living room. She stood up in concern.
“Nothing. It was just a complicated situation and took longer than I expected.”
“Did you get their plumbing straightened out? What happened to your arm?”
Without waiting for an answer, she went into the bathroom to his medicine cabinet to get something for the cut.
“It’s just a scrape. I wasn’t paying attention. You don’t have to—” He broke off because she ignored him, grabbing his arm to clean the scrape.
“I won’t bandage it up,” she said, inspecting the cut, “because I assume you want to take a shower.”
“That’s for sure.”
“But put something on it before you go to bed.” She found antibiotic cream and a box of bandages. “Here. It could get infected. It’s kind of deep through here.” She gestured toward one side of the scrape.
“All right,” he said with a sigh. “I will.”
“I’m going to check tomorrow morning to make sure you’ve taken care of it.” She studied his face. “Do people always call you like that and expect you to do manual labor at any time of the day or night?”
He shrugged and looked slightly self-conscious. “Sometimes. I don’t mind. I like to help.”
“Yeah, but people shouldn’t take advantage of you.”
“I’m happy to help people when they need it.”
She frowned. “I guess. But surely there are other men who could help too.”
“Maybe.”
“Well, you look tired. You should go to bed early.”
“I might.” He raised his eyebrows, but his eyes were warm as he gazed down on her. “You’re kind of bossy for a Dormouse, you know.”
She felt her cheeks warm. “Who said dormouses shouldn’t be bossy?”
“No one. I like it when they are.” He reached up to brush a stray curl off her cheek. “But it’s dormic
e, isn’t it?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” She repeated under her breath, “Dormouses, dormice, dormouses, dormice.” With a sigh, she admitted, “You’re probably right.”
“I am occasionally.” His eyes were smiling, although the rest of his expression was sober.
Her rules. She absolutely, positively had to remember her rules.
She said, “Cara is sleeping. She’s been just fine. And I’m going to leave now so you can get in the shower.”
“Okay.” Now his lips were almost smiling too.
It made her want to smile back at him, but she gave him a stern look over her shoulder as she grabbed her book and purse.
“I’ll be by tomorrow morning before eight to pick up Cara. I work at the church in the morning, and I’ve just got busywork so I can take her with me.”
“Sounds good.” He walked with her to the side door and then surprised her by walking out with her.
“Where are you going?” she asked, stopping short.
“I was just going to walk you over to the apartment.” He looked surprised by her question, although he’d never done anything of the kind before.
“Oh. You don’t have to.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
Despite his dry words, he didn’t seem inclined to turn around, so they went down the walk and then up the stairs to her apartment door.
Before she turned the key in the lock, she looked up at him. He was gazing down at her with eyes that still looked warm but weren’t amused anymore.
Her breath hitched, and she stared up at him speechlessly.
He reached up and tucked that same stray curl back behind her ear. “Why do you always pull your hair back?”
The texture in his voice made her want to shiver. “I don’t know,” she replied, lowering her eyes shyly but then looking up again. “It just gets in the way if it’s loose.”
“It never stays pulled back.”
“No. It’s kind of unruly.”
“It’s beautiful.”
Her cheeks flushed hot. “Thank you. It’s a pain.”
She couldn’t look away from his eyes, and for a moment she thought he was actually going to kiss her.
But it must have just been her imagination, since he dropped his hand and turned away. “Have a good night.”
