Total pages in book: 37
Estimated words: 35256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 35256 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 176(@200wpm)___ 141(@250wpm)___ 118(@300wpm)
“You’re acting like you’ve never been invited into anyone’s home before. It’s kind of, you know, a little scary, I guess.” She nibbled her lip, not exactly sure what to say to him.
“I’m not used to this. Put it down to my ego talking.”
This did make her smile and rather than continue to be awkward, she removed her jacket and decided to leave him free to snoop. She made her way into the kitchen and grabbed the milk, eggs, and butter from the fridge.
Humming to herself, she got her skillet out and began to melt the butter. She also wasn’t in the mood for anything savory so she added some sugar and vanilla for flavor. She was in the process of whipping up the batter when Antwone joined her in the kitchen.
“Did you enjoy what you saw?” she asked.
“You have a lovely apartment.”
She smiled. “It’s home, or as good as home can be.”
“But this is not where you grew up?”
“Nope, I’m a small-town girl, and I moved here not long after my parents died.”
“Why?”
“The memories. They were too much, and I missed them every single day. It was hard to be where I had memories of them.” She shrugged. “Are your parents still alive?” she asked.
“No.”
“I’m so sorry,” she said.
“Not all parents are good parents. You don’t need to be sorry.”
She looked at him and pressed her lips together. There was clearly no love lost for him. She couldn’t imagine feeling that way.
“Still, I am sorry. They were your parents.”
“They weren’t good parents.”
She wanted to ask a lot of questions but decided to just smile and return to cooking the pancake batter. She had also gotten some maple syrup out. Pancakes always called for lovely sweet syrup—only the best—and to her maple syrup was the best.
“So you have a brother. What is he like?” she asked, wanting to make the topic a little lighter.
“I don’t talk about my brother.” She paused in placing the batter into the pan, and then turned toward him. “Okay.” She laughed. “How about you pick something for us to talk about?”
She was out of ideas.
“Do you love to cook?” he asked.
“Yes. It reminds me of my mom. She always loved standing at the stove and she was an amazing cook.” She took a deep breath. The pain was still there, but it was manageable. She knew she would never get over the death of her parents. All she could do was accept it and try to live her life.
“And do you love working in a bar?”
“It helps pay the bills and at least I’ve got a job, so yeah, I like working in a bar.” She glanced over her shoulder to see him standing, arms folded, watching her.
“But is that all you wanted to be?” he asked.
“To be honest, I never knew what I wanted to be. At school, I never really had the smarts, and I got by and just graduated. School was hard enough and I wasn’t interested in going to college. Life kind of played out the way it did, and then I bounced from job to job, until my parents passed. Then I moved here, found this apartment, then my job, and life has just been on ‘play’ since.”
She flipped the pancakes, giving them a couple of minutes, and then grabbed two plates. She began to serve the pancakes, putting all four onto his plate, and then drizzling them with maple syrup.
She dolloped out more pancakes for herself. In her kitchen, she possessed a small table and she glanced behind her in time to see Antwone pulling out one of the chairs and taking a seat.
He looked so out of place, and she couldn’t help but smile as he sat down, and then using his fork, sliced down the stack of pancakes and took a bite.
When he looked toward her, she turned back to her pancakes and quickly flipped them over. It wouldn’t be long before hers were cooked, and she had enough batter left over to store in the fridge.
She grabbed some plastic wrap and placed it over the bowl, returning it to the fridge. By this time, all her pancakes were cooked, and she piled them onto a plate and drizzled out the last of the maple syrup. Sitting opposite Antwone, he was finishing his plate as she started hers.
“Well, what do you think?” she asked.
“I’ve always been a waffle kind of guy, but they were stunning.”
This made her laugh. “You’re insane, you know that, right?” she asked.
Chapter Four
One Week Later
Antwone knew he had to stop going to see Candice. Every time he went to see her, he promised himself it would be the last, but something kept pulling him back. He didn’t know what it was.
Each night, he’d sit at the bar, nurse a glass of water, even though he wanted only scotch, and he’d watch her work. Fridays leading into the weekend were the busiest, and he rarely got the chance to talk to her.