Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33292 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 166(@200wpm)___ 133(@250wpm)___ 111(@300wpm)
Clarissa didn’t say a word as he pulled out of the driveway, and that awkwardness started between them. He hated it. He needed to get her guard down.
“So, tell me, what was the best thing you have ever made?” he asked. He concentrated on the road but attempted to draw her out.
“Uh, the best thing would have to be my wedding dress. I worked on it for over a year, and trust me, it wasn’t easy.”
“You looked amazing in it,” he said.
“You liked it?”
“Yep, it was the prettiest wedding dress I’d ever seen. You made the most beautiful bride.” He glanced over to her, but there was not a smile. She looked troubled. He was usually good at reading people, but Clarissa was like a blank book. He had no idea what was going on in her mind. She would make a good spy. No one would be sure if she was the enemy or not.
“What’s wrong?” he asked. “What did I say?”
“Nothing.”
But he felt that withdrawal and he gritted his teeth. This was fucking hard. It was like attempting to take fucking blood from a stone.
“What’s your favorite time of year?” he asked. Wasn’t that a topic that helped to get people to learn more about each other? He was drowning here.
“I love this time of year. I like Halloween and Christmas. It’s my favorite time. What about you?” she asked.
“Uh, I am a sucker for Christmas and snow. Don’t tell anyone, but I am also partial to a mince pie, as well as a whole range of cookies.” He had a sweet tooth, something he had to combat in the freaking gym. “Don’t even get me started on the pies.”
He was a sucker for food as well. It was why he rarely allowed his cook, when he asked him to come into work, to make sweet food.
Lorenzo loved to cook. His own father had said a way to a woman’s heart was in the kitchen. Of course, that was in doing the dishes, but he did love to cook. It was something he had enjoyed for a long freaking time. He also hired a cook, because he was busy most of the time and didn’t have the spare time to cook. This morning was the first time he had ever cooked for Clarissa.
“I love pie,” Clarissa said. “Apple is my favorite.”
“I love chocolate pecan pie.” He held his fingers together and kissed the air. “And it has to come with a dollop of heavy whipped cream. Just heavenly.”
Clarissa laughed. “I did not think you loved food that much.”
“Well, I guess we’re both learning a lot about each other,” he said.
“True.”
And he felt her start to withdraw.
“Other than sewing, what else do you like to do?” he asked.
“I like to knit. You’ve seen me knitting, but I am bad at it. My grandmother seemed to know every single stitch, and it was like she could multitask. She would knit, do all the right stitches, count, and hold a conversation. It was incredible. I have to keep going over my stitches as I lose count. Especially if I’m watching a movie. Most of the time I just listen to it, because I need to look, otherwise I end up with holey items.”
Lorenzo laughed. “She was an incredible woman. A force to be reckoned with.”
She smiled. “Yeah, a total force.”
He glanced toward her and saw the smile had started to slip, and he knew it was because the woman was gone from this world. So, he did the only thing he could. He reached out and grabbed her hand, trying to offer some level of comfort. Anything that would take the pain of losing the people she had loved.
Chapter Three
Several days later, Clarissa sat around the lunch table, sipping her water. There was no way she was drinking alcohol again. The last two times she had done so were a bit of a blur, and also, she didn’t want to have to ask Lorenzo for help. Although she never asked him for help, he was there to hold her hair out of the way as she vomited everything up.
She didn’t want to think about Lorenzo. The last few days had been surreal. He didn’t just spend the first day in her sewing room, but for the last couple of days, he had come into her sewing room, and it had been so much fun. She couldn’t even recall the last time it had been this much fun. He made several rectangle placemats, and he’d put them all around the house, to add a splash of color. Next, she got him to make a tote bag, and once he finished, he actually struck a pose for her, holding the thing. He enjoyed being in her sewing room.
Lorenzo also loved to cook. She hadn’t told him she enjoyed it as well, and was often in the kitchen with her grandmother, and that her favorite person made the best chocolate pecan pie. One day, she might make the recipe for him.