Lily looked at the clock and sighed. Ten till ten. She had orders to fill in the morning. And if Gage was going to call, he surely would have called by now.

She hadn’t known the man a week and already it felt like Dustin Briggs all over again. How could an Easter that had started out to be one of the best of her life turn into the longest day of her life? Had she not learned anything from her miserable time as Dustin’s girlfriend? She had promised herself she would never again sit around and wait for a guy to call. Just because they said they would, never meant they really would. At least not in her experience.

She walked through the house turning off lights. Fudge dogged her steps, following her into the bedroom. “What do you want? This is all your fault, you know?”

Fudge meowed, arguing her point.

She went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and the cat hopped up on the edge of the soaking tub, meowing for her to turn on the water.

She complied, turning the faucet to a trickle just to shut him up. Stupid cat. Feeling bad about the thought, she stroked his fudge-colored fur and gave him a good scratch behind the ears while he licked at the stream of water.

Lily piled her hair on top of her head and had a good toothpaste lather worked up when her cell phone rang. Seriously? She spit in the sink, wiped her face on a towel, and dashed into the bedroom where her phone was charging on the nightstand.

Her spirits sank. It wasn’t him. She recognized a frequent customer’s name, but just couldn’t bring herself to pick up. Besides, who called in a bakery order at ten o’clock on Easter Sunday night?

She went back to the bathroom, squeezed out a smaller stripe of toothpaste on her toothbrush and lathered up again. Her phone rang again. Probably Mrs. Haggerty again. She’d heard it go to voicemail the first time. The woman was long-winded. She’d probably just forgotten some special instructions for her order.

She stopped brushing and leaned an ear toward the bedroom. But what if it was him? Toothbrush still foaming in her mouth, she hurried to the bedside table and checked the caller ID.

It was him! It was Gage. Ack! Don’t hang up! She grabbed the phone and dashed back into the bathroom, spit, and dabbed her mouth with a towel. Then she answered the phone, trying not to sound like she’d just run a half-marathon.

“I didn’t wake you up, did I?”

“No, I’m still up. How are you?” Her heart pounded in her ears, and not only because of the acrobatics she’d done to get to the phone.

“I’m good. Did you have a nice visit with your parents?”

“I did. We didn’t talk long since I’d just talked to them last night. But they wanted to see my stitches and make sure I wasn’t at death’s door.”

He laughed. “How is your head?”

“It’s fine. I’m definitely not at death’s door.” She leaned in to the mirror to inspect the stitches. “It really doesn’t even hurt anymore.”

“That’s good.”

“You really didn’t have to leave, Gage. When my parents called, I mean. I’m so sorry if I made you feel like I was kicking you out. Or that you’d have to meet my parents if you stuck around. I realize that could be a little scary.”

“Oh, no. It wasn’t that. I just felt bad horning in on your holiday. Your parents are so far away. I know you must miss them.”

“I do. But I’d just talked to them last night, so it was no biggie. That was really thoughtful of you to leave.” But don’t ever do it again!

“No problem.”

After an awkward pause, she said, “So what did you do all day?”

“Mostly slept.”

She sighed. “Me too. I need my eight hours.”

“I usually make it on seven, but four is pushing it. I did homework too.”

“Oh? Did you have a lot?”

“Just reading. Like sixty pages of reading.”

“Ouch. Making up what you should have been reading instead of carting me to the ER?”

“Maybe a little. But mostly a new assignment. I like to read, but a textbook wouldn’t be my first choice.”

“So, did you get your tire fixed?”

“I’ll drop it off in Cape on my way to class tomorrow. I figured everybody would be closed on Easter Sunday.”

“Oh, that’s true.” She covered a yawn. Not from boredom, she was sure. Probably from lack of oxygen.

“I should let you get to bed. You sound sleepy.”

“No, I’m really not.” Don’t hang up.

“Hey… I was wondering if you’d want to do something next Sunday afternoon? Go to the park or…I don’t know. Depends on the weather, I guess. You might already have plans, but—”

“I’d love to.” She hated to appear too eager, but it seemed like Gage was giving her every possible chance to say no. Meanwhile, she wanted to say yes in every possible way. Yes to spending Sunday afternoon and every afternoon… Shoot, yes to spending the rest of her life with him.

“Okay. Great.”

“Would you bring your guitar? I really liked that…at the sunrise service.”

“Sure.” He sounded pleased. “If I don’t see you for a delivery, I’ll call you before then to set up a time.”

“Um… You’ll see me for a delivery.” She gave a short laugh. “Remember? I have deliveries coming Monday…and um, probably Tuesday too. But I promise I won’t come to the door when you deliver. You can just leave things on the porch. And from now on, I’ll order like a normal person, no more than once a week.”

“Well, now…hang on. If you do that, how am I supposed to get my daily cookie? Or smell the amazingness that is your kitchen?”

“Yeah, or experience the amazingness that is my dander-laden cat?”

“Just keep the pepper shaker away from me and we’ll be fine.”

“Okay.” She smiled into the phone. “So, I might come to the door.”

“I’m counting on it. Have a good week. Sweet dreams.”

“You too.” She hung up and plopped onto the bed unable to stop the smile that came. All the sappy songs ever written about love, all the romantic movies, all the hype about falling in love? It was for a reason.

* * *

Gage jogged up the sidewalk, already smiling. And it wasn’t just about the cookie or cupcake or whatever sweet treat he knew she’d have waiting for him. It was about Lily. He’d been beyond disappointed when there was no package with her name on it when he loaded the truck yesterday. But there were two today and he scheduled his break around her delivery. He was tempted to “save” one of the packages to deliver tomorrow, but he needed this job. And she probably needed her spices or granules of sugar—he smiled at the remembrance—or whatever it was she’d ordered to lure him here.

He hoped she knew now that no luring was necessary. He was drawn to her like no woman he could ever remember. He climbed the stairs and reached to ring the doorbell, but the door flew open before he could depress the button.

“Good morning.” Her smile was even prettier than he remembered. Instead of the usual ponytail, she wore her hair in a loose bun with wavy ringlets framing her face, which was flushed a gorgeous shade of pink.

“I thought maybe you cancelled your order when nothing was there for you yesterday.”

“I wondered where you were.”

He held out her packages. “You have two today. Yesterday’s must have just been late.”

“Well, that’s a shame.” Her tone was flirtatious.

“You’re telling me. Now I only get one day’s worth of Lilybeth’s Confections.” He winked.

“How about I double up on treats today?”

“That would be great, but I’d rather double up on seeing you.”

That earned him another smile, although she’d pretty much been smiling since she opened the door. “Can you come in for just a minute?”

“I can come in for”—he checked his phone—“exactly seven minutes. I’m on my break.”

“Oh, good. Come on in. I’ll let you choose your treats.”

“It smells amazing in here. It always does.”

“Sadly, I hardly even notice it anymore. Unless I leave the house and come back. Then I’ll notice how it smells.”

“How could you not notice that incredible smell?”

She shrugged. “Familiarity breeds contempt, I guess.”

He eyed her. “I hope you’re talking about smells and not people.”

“Definitely not people.” That smile again. “So, there are still a couple of cinnamon rolls left from Sunday. If you don’t eat them, they’re going in the trash. And there are gingersnaps fresh out of the oven, but you can only have three of those because I need three dozen and that’s about all the recipe makes.”

He looked over the offerings. “How about I’ll save the cinnamon rolls from certain death, and try one gingersnap?”

“That sounds like a deal.” She handed him a cookie from the cooling rack. “You want those cinnamon rolls to go?”

He looked at the clock on the microwave. “I’d better. I’m down to three minutes.”

“What? That went fast.” She frowned.

“Time flies when you’re having fun. Are we still on for Sunday afternoon?”

“Yes. And just FYI, I don’t have any more orders coming this week and…Sunday is a long way away.”

“How about if I order some cookies to pick up Thursday on my break?”

She looked up from the counter where she was wrapping the rolls into a neat little to-go package. “Do you get a break for supper?”

“Only twenty minutes. But I can combine my coffee break with it if I want to. I usually stop to eat around six.”

“How about you stop here then. You can pick up your cookies and I’ll have sandwiches ready for us?”

“That sounds like win-win to me.” He checked the clock again. “I really better get going. See you Thursday. I like that idea. Thanks for thinking of it.”

“Win-win.” She sealed the package of cinnamon rolls with a Lilybeth’s Confections sticker and handed it to him. “Have a good rest of the day.”

“I will. You too.”

She walked him to the door and he turned back twice on the way to his truck just to see her face one more time. Yep. He was totally twitterpated.

But both times, she was still there standing in the doorway watching him, so the feeling must be mutual.

As he pulled away from the curb in front of Lily’s house, his cell phone rang. He stopped at the corner and pulled his phone out of his pocket, smiling, expecting it to be her. Seeing a number he didn’t recognize, his smile faded. But the ID said Omaha. Surely not?

Too curious not to take the call, he pressed Answer.

“Is this Gage Simmons?”

“Yes, it is,” he said warily.

“Hi Gage. My name is Brent Fairenbaugh. Carl Wendling wanted me to give you a call and let you know that internship you applied for has opened up again. You may have already found something, but if not, we wanted to give you first shot at it.”

Gage had trouble finding his voice. “You say…the internship is still available?”

“Yes. Apparently the guy we originally pegged for the job decided getting married this summer was a better idea. Or maybe his girlfriend decided that for him.” The man gave a humorless chuckle. “Anyway, we’ve still got your application and the other paperwork on file. The job’s yours if you want it.”

“Wow. That’s…great. I do. I definitely want it.” His mouth was saying definitely. How could he say anything else after the guy’s snarky girlfriend comment? But if he was honest, he didn’t want it quite as bad as he once had. And would they boot him out if they found out he wanted to get married next summer? Because he had a strange feeling that was where things were headed with Lily. Only once had he ever thought that about any other girl he’d dated. And look where that had ended up. But with Lily, it was just…different. That had to mean something didn’t it? Even after a mere week?

Twitterpated.

“Good…good. Well, I’ll let the team know. We’ll be sending some information out to you, and a couple of other papers you’ll need to sign.”

“When would I start? I’ll need to get up there and find a place to live, but… Carl told you I was still in school this semester, right?”

“Yes. With one semester yet to go as I understand it?”

“That’s right.”

“Of course, you’ll finish up here. But depending on what classes you still need, there are a couple of different options here in town. You might even be able to do it online from Southeast.”

“Okay. I…I’ll check into that.”

“We can be a little flexible, but we’d like to get you here before August first if at all possible. There’ll be some housing information in the packet I send you, but you shouldn’t have any trouble finding an apartment near campus until you can find something more permanent. Now, remind me… Do you have a family you’ll be moving?”

“No. No sir, it’s just me.”

“Good, good. That simplifies things a little.” The man cleared his throat. “Well, I’ll let you go, but glad to hear you’re onboard. I’ll let Carl know. He’ll be real happy about this.”