After our conversation, I went upstairs and checked my e-mail. There were eighty-seven e-mails waiting for my response. Half of them were junk, but the other half I needed to answer immediately. Many of my students from Japan e-mailed telling me how much they missed me, and asked when I would come back and teach them again. The feeling was mutual, but truth be told, I wouldn’t trade my life with Jake right now for anything or anybody. While online, Sarah and Max began chatting with me, and we set up a dinner date for tomorrow night.
Looking at the time, I rushed back downstairs and lightly floured the huge marble island. I shaped the dough into a rectangle and covered it with a plastic wrap and placed it back into the fridge. While waiting for the dough to rise again, I surveyed Jake’s room and cleaned up all the clutter lying around. I rearranged his closet, refolded his clothes in the dresser drawers, and ironed all the washed, but wrinkled scrubs. Jake had also thrown around his watches in the jewelry drawer so I rolled them back up and put them in their proper place. His cuff links got the same treatment. Color coordinated, the ties hung neatly, and the belts hung right next to them. The men’s department at Neiman’s didn’t look this good. The type A side of me shined tonight. After two hours, I was finally satisfied with the closet makeover.
The dough was probably ready to be laminated so I went back to the kitchen. Unwrapping the dough and placing it back on the floured surface, I rolled it out, folded and refolded with insane amounts of butter. I hoped Sandy wasn’t planning on using this butter anytime soon because it was all consumed. I cut the dough into triangles and made a third of them plain, a third had chopped Callebaut dark chocolate, and a third had almond paste and sliced almonds in them. They looked delicious sitting on the baking sheet while the oven warmed to 425 degrees.
Jake ran downstairs in his bathrobe looking a bit frazzled.
“What’s the matter?”
“I came looking for you in my bedroom, but you weren’t there so I got worried.”
“Did you think your bride got cold feet and ran away?” What a ridiculous thought.
Jake’s wrinkled face smoothed out as he came over and squeezed his arms around my body.
“Good morning, Beautiful.”
“Good morning. You fell asleep at four in the afternoon, yesterday. Are you well rested?”
“Yeah. I feel good. Did you sleep at all last night? I noticed that you ransacked my room, then put it back together in a scary way. Are you normally this neurotic?”
“No. I hope you don’t mind. I couldn’t sleep so I kept myself busy between your room and these croissants.” Though I hated to pull myself away from the love of my life, the croissants were ready to go into the oven. “You have a moment? I need to ask you something.”
“OK. Shoot.”
“My tenant e-mailed saying that her job will keep her in LA one more year. She wanted to know if she could lease my house during that time. What should we do?”
“If you don’t mind her staying another year, we could move into my house in the valley. We’ll kick everyone out and refurnish it.”
“Well, I was thinking of asking your parents if we could stay here for a year. You know I grew up lonely, and I like the thought of living with your parents. Would you mind?”
“I’m OK, but are you sure? Jane and Nick might move back in for a while too.”
“I’d love nothing more than a big family.”
Jake smiled and hugged me again, partly because he appreciated my love for his family, and partly because he felt sad when I talked about loneliness. I hugged him back.
“Go change. I’ll have breakfast ready for you.” I sent him back upstairs and began laying out my spread.
The Sub-Zero fridge had a variety of vegetables so breakfast included a veggie omelet in addition to the croissants. Jake came down in his scrubs, ready for work. He sat on the bar stool around the island and I handed him the veggie omelet, a variety of croissants, and French pressed coffee. Moving into Bobby and Sandy’s home was most definitely a good idea. We felt like a married couple already.
As Jake ate, we heard the door open, and Nick’s voice boomed across the large living room and into the dining room. “What is this delicious smell?”
“Nick,” I exclaimed, walking over to hug him.
“Hi, Sis. How was your trip? You’ve gotten prettier since I last saw you in New York!”
“You’re such a charmer. I guess when personality genes were handed out, they all went to you?”
“Not just personality, looks and brain as well. I don’t know what my siblings got. I obviously got all the best.” All three of us laughed at his humor.
“What are you doing here so early in the morning?” we both asked.
“I’m off on a camping trip, and I needed my hiking boots. I see I came at the right time. These croissants are delicious.” He took another mouth full.
“Emily baked these just now,” Jake proudly declared.
“No way, from scratch? How long did this take you?” Nick seemed pleased to have another cook in the house.
“I’ve been working on them since yesterday. Take some for your trip. I’ll pack them up for you. Do you want some coffee as well?”