Picking Up the Pieces: Rose Gardner Novella 5.5 (Volume 2) by Denise Grover Swank

Author:Denise Grover Swank [Swank, Denise Grover]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 9781500714208
Amazon: 1500714208
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform
Published: 2014-11-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seven

Rose

I wasn’t looking forward to seeing Mason that evening. Not because I’d changed my mind about him. It was far more likely that he’d change his mind about me when he heard all the details I hadn’t told him about the last two days.

It was nearly five when I finally went home. The smell of something delicious hit my nose as soon as I walked in the front door. I found Maeve peeling potatoes at the kitchen sink with Muffy lying at her feet.

“You didn’t have to cook dinner, Maeve,” I said as I walked over to the counter to check out the contents of the crockpot. “Although I can honestly say I don’t think I’ve ever smelled anything so good in my life.”

She flashed me a grin. “It’s Italian Beef. Mason and Savannah loved it when they were kids, so I figured I’d make some for dinner. It’s easy, so don’t be worrying that I’m going to too much trouble.”

“But you cooked almost the entire Thanksgiving dinner by yourself and now this,” I said, looking into the glass lid. “I don’t want you to think we invited you here just to cook for us.”

“Speak for yourself,” Mason teased, standing in the kitchen doorway. “I always hope she’ll cook when she comes to visit.”

My stomach cramped with anxiety, which was at war with my elation that he was home early. “Mason, what are you doing here?”

His grin widened and he walked over to me and wrapped an arm around my back, pulling me close. “Turns out I live here now.”

“You lived here before, silly.”

“Before it was temporary.” His eyebrows lifted mischievously, and then he gave me a quick kiss. “Now it’s more permanent.”

“That’s not what I meant and you know it.” I patted his chest. “When I stopped by your office this afternoon you were up to your elbows in work. What changed so you could get loose?”

“My mother telling me she was leaving first thing tomorrow morning, for starters.”

My mouth gaped. “What?” I turned to her. “You were supposed to stay until Sunday. I’m so sorry to have heaped so much work on you.”

Maeve turned to me with a gentle smile. “Rose, calm down. I love cooking and helping you. And trust me, I don’t do anything I don’t want to do. Mason gets his hard-headedness from his mother, not his father.”

“Mom,” Mason grumbled good-naturedly. “Let Rose find out about my annoying traits on her own. Don’t be helping her out.”

“I already knew you were as stubborn as a pack mule, Mason Deveraux,” I teased. “Shoot, half the county knows it.”

Mason pulled me closer and lowered his mouth inches from mine. “And look how my stubbornness paid off. It got me you.”

“I thought that was patience.”

“Two sides of the same cloth.”

I wondered how Maeve felt with Mason being so affectionate with me in front of her, but she beamed at the two of us. “I guess it’s a good thing Mason’s father wasn’t as stubborn as him,” I said.

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