Couldn’t risk heartache that hoping for a friendship with him could bring.
She just needed to bide time, get through the month, and avoid him as much as possible until she could be out from under the will-softening power of his presence.
He was busy. So was she.
Avoiding him should be as easy as baking boxed pie, right?
“You what?” Meadow stared Flora down Tuesday after catering an Italian wedding, an unusual event for midday on a Monday. Actually, what she’d catered was a disaster. She’d barely kept up without Del, who was still unwell, in the hospital, and deciding with her doctors what to do about the gallstones they’d found. Del had some preexisting health problems that made surgery a risk to consider.
Normally Meadow had the luxury of her dependable waitstaff, teens with troubled backgrounds who helped serve and clear meals and dishes, but they were at school during the event. Plus, they usually only helped on-site. Del was her prep and cooking help.
There’d been so many glitches, Meadow was sure the couple wouldn’t recommend her despite a discount. Now her account looked grumpier than ever. Red was not becoming to a bank statement. She’d forgotten key items Del usually handled. She’d improvised so much due to her Italian-centric catering supplies being destroyed in the cave-in that nothing about the gig went smoothly. It had shown.
Now, after her worst cater ever, her sister dropped this bomb.
“You heard me right. Del and I decided I should hire Colin to build my wedding props.”
“What possessed you, Flora?”
“Del. She’s been hospitalized so long she’s concerned she won’t have time or feel like making my props when she gets out.”
“Pete probably could’ve built them, so why Colin? I smell a joint Cupid conspiracy here.” Meadow stirred the meat loaf gravy simmering in a stockpot. Her next wedding bride had selected meals Meadow could precook to freeze and reheat to taste just as fresh.
That saved her time to help Colin with her roof, even though he protested every time she invaded his workspace. She felt guilty otherwise. It still seemed like he had the worst end of their bargain.
Likewise, was guilt the only reason Colin was befriending her—only guilt about the past? After all, his high school history and failed relationship were proof he was prone to being led by malformed motives. The last thing Meadow wanted to be was Colin’s next pity case.
She checked pizza dough rising in the window and sprinkled flour on wax paper, where she’d roll out and carve dough into heart shapes. The Valentine bride had requested veggie pizza for her rehearsal dinner. Meat loaf would be served at the wedding feast.
Her sister was too quiet. Meadow eyed her.
Flora fiddled rabidly with Meadow’s heart-shaped banquet dish.
“What?” Meadow grabbed a cloth to polish her large silver chafing pan.
“I suppose I should also warn you Del invited him to church. Colin asked if you go there too.” Flora’s grin widened.
Meadow set the chafer aside and went for the tongs. “I could pinch your nose off with these. Del’s too. I understand if he needs a home church, but hiring him? Really? Are you two desperate to torture me?”
Flora fingered gold trim on Meadow’s plate rack. “You’re overreacting.”
Meadow felt like pulling her hair out. Flora’s too.
Didn’t she understand Meadow was trying to avoid Colin? Scowling, she pulled heart-shaped cookies from the oven and distributed them on cooling racks. Then she spooned meat loaf balls into deep, heart-shaped muffin pans.
Flora folded the regal fuchsia banquet table drape Meadow handcrafted for the buffet. “Wanna know Colin’s reaction when I told him you go to the same church?”
“I do not.” She stuck the pan in the oven, washed her hands, and then counted china place settings, annoyed that she was speculating about his reaction and why he asked about her. She needn’t ponder it. Pondering put her nowhere but vulnerable to pain. She threw ingredients in a blender for Valentine fruit smoothies. A grinding sound rent the air until a dreadful thought hit.
Meadow shut off the blender.
“Where exactly is he building these props?”
“Here in his shop, of course.” Flora’s smirk sent Meadow over the edge.
“You’ve gone mad.”
“Ladies?”
Meadow gasped. “Will you stop sneaking up on me, McGrath?”
Colin sauntered over with tools. “I knocked. Four times. Promise.”
Flora crunched a carrot from the veggies Meadow planned to carve into romantic food bouquets. “Meadow couldn’t hear you over the shrieking tantrum of protest going on inside her head.”
Colin looked from sister to sister. Meadow shot Flora a look meant to silence her for the next century.