Mr. Blackbourne's Mistake

Chapter 6 - After All This Time

Sang

Sang hummed under her breath as she grabbed the containers holding her and North's lunches resting on the passenger seat of her car, along with forks in a plastic bag. She'd ended up finishing the first draft of her current book early, so texted North to ask if she could join him for lunch at the garage. Carefully tucking the food and silverware against her chest, she stepped out of her car into the small parking lot. The garage door was open, as it generally was during business hours.

"North?" she called as she stepped in before stopping beside his legs, which were currently sticking out from under a car.

"Down here, Baby," he called. "Just a minute." He'd gotten good business ever since restoring that muscle car. Not because people were so impressed at the amazing job he'd done—or, at least, not just because of that—but because the community was so surprised and appreciative of him donating the profits from the sell to a local cause. And now word would spread from all the business he was getting about what a good job he did. He wouldn't ever win big points for being approachable and friendly, but Sang was certain no one did better work than him.

"No rush," she promised. She wasn't worried about him making a mistake in trying to hurry to get to lunch with her, but she didn't want him to bang his head or his hands in trying to get out to her sooner. She brought the food to a couple of chairs sitting in the back of the garage, though turned around when she heard North rolling out from under the car.

His hands were covered in grease, so he stayed far back as he came over and leaned down to kiss her before going to wash his hands. She smiled as she looked back at the containers, pleased with her lunch choice. She'd almost gone for sandwiches, before realizing North's hands probably wouldn't be the cleanest and switching to make a chicken pasta instead—with vegetables, added, of course.

North smiled as he opened the container after they'd sat down, leaning over to kiss her cheek this time. "This is perfect, Baby. And the vegetables make it better."

She didn't point out that he hadn't tried it yet, instead saying, "You think vegetables make everything better." Which, of course, was why she'd included them.

"That reminds me. One of my customers told me about a blog for healthier desserts where several of the normal ingredients have better quality substitutes—like vegetables. She swears you can't even tell the difference."

Sang paused with a bite partway to her mouth. She didn't mind all of North's healthy eating, she really didn't, but she did insist that they still keep some sugar in the house. And chocolate, of course. And all the other ingredients needed for baking things like cookies and brownies. Not that she made a lot of them, but some Friday nights, you just needed a brownie with some vanilla ice cream to celebrate it finally being the weekend. "You wrote down the blog, didn't you?"

He flushed at the question, his scowl much too serious for the conversation they were having. "You like desserts, don't you?"

He already knew the answer to that question. But she liked normal desserts. That didn't mean she would like weird vegetable ones. Still, she tried to think of something nice or encouraging to say since she was certain North would try out some of the recipes on her in an attempt to get her to eat even healthier than she already did living with him. He was a great cook after all, so it would probably be fine. Maybe.

Before she could think of what to say, she noticed someone standing in the doorway of the garage out of the corner of her eye. She opened her mouth to apologize for taking up North's time and to assure them they were still welcome to come in to talk to North. And then she got a good look at the figure. Her planned words dried up as the container and fork slipped from her limp hands, clattering to the cement garage floor.