Hawthorne Harbor Box Set by Elana Johnson

Author:Elana Johnson [Johnson, Elana]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: AEJ Creative Works
Published: 2019-06-25T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Eight

The ten days between when Adam stopped by Janey’s drenched, desperate, and determined and his birthday seemed to take a decade to pass. Jess came over every night, and it took every ounce of his willpower to keep the news of his resumed relationship with the boy’s mother to himself.

Luckily, Adam had had a lot of patience in the keeping-things-to-himself department.

“So you’ll stop by the grocery store tomorrow, right?” Jess asked.

“Yes,” Adam said for the fifth time. “All the ingredients for macaroni and cheese. Ribeye steaks. Lots of Diet Coke.” He grinned at the boy.

“I’ll be here to cook for you,” Jess said. “All right?”

Adam sighed, wondering if the boy had noticed anything different about Adam’s demeanor the past several days. He’d been sneaking over to see Janey on her days off, and she’d come to his place twice after ten p.m., after Jess had gone to sleep.

The limited contact with her made him grumpy, and he hoped to have his own surprise for Jess tomorrow. Janey had a handmade cookbook for him, a binder she’d put together of all the recipes he’d talked about, with illustrations she’d done herself.

“I haven’t been able to read much lately,” she’d admitted a couple of nights ago when she’d shown up with the binder in her hands. “Tell me if you think he’ll like it.”

Adam had marveled at the binder, at Janey’s attention to detail, that she knew how much of a choc-o-holic Jess was, as at least half of the recipes in the book were desserts. He’d said, “I have several I can give you that he seems to like.”

So he’d copied out all the ones Jess had been using at his house, and Janey said she’d get them added to the binder in time for the birthday dinner the following evening.

Finally, the day arrived. Adam endured bad singing at the station, a delicious birthday cake though it was bought from the grocery store, and a bouquet of black balloons though he wasn’t quite forty yet.

“Next year,” Sarah said. “This whole place will be draped like the Day of the Dead.”

When he pulled into his driveway, Jess had the lights on inside the house, and the scent of sugar and chocolate greeted him. “Jess?”

“In the kitchen!”

Adam carried the grocery bags in and set them on the clean countertop, taking in scene before him. “Did you make me a birthday cake?” His heart swelled with love for the boy, who stood at the sink, washing his hands.

“It’s a surprise,” Jess said over his shoulder.

Adam searched for a hint of the surprise, but didn’t find even a drop of cake batter or icing anywhere. The pans that had been used lay on the towel next to the sink. Jess turned, wearing a great big smile.

“Happy birthday, Adam.” The boy came over and tentatively hugged him.

Surprise bolted through Adam. He grabbed onto Jess and held him tight. “Thanks, Jess.” He backed up and held him at arm’s length. Looked right into Jess’s bright eyes. “I love you, bud.

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