I smiled, turning to look at the smoldering lust still flickering in Walker’s green eyes, trying to resist how sexy he looked without a shirt on, looking at me like that. “Because this is what I do and its Liz’s favorite. Come on! It’ll be fun! You can help me.”
With an innocent, mockingly cute face, Walker shook his head. “Mags, I can’t bake, I’ll burn the house down.”
“Well, frankly, you don’t have a choice. I need a sous chef and you’re it, so go get dressed and I’ll make us a list.”
Protesting a little bit more, Walker sulked on his way out of the room and I scribbled all of the ingredients onto a loose piece of paper. I was pretty excited to have dinner with Liz and Jim. I really had missed them, and with them only living a few doors down, that notion was almost silly to me. I knew I was avoiding them because of my newfound feelings for Walker, but I also knew they would support me in finding happiness, whichever road I had to take to get there.
I started to rummage through my cabinets and pantry, checking ingredients off my list left and right, realizing I had everything except for the German baker’s chocolate and shaved coconut in my kitchen. I began to line up all the needed items, when a low groan came from behind me. “Mags, is it bad I’m nervous to see the McManus’?”
Walker was standing in the doorway, head down, hands in his pockets, with a solemn look on his face. It was an uncomfortable contrast to my excitement, which confused and pained me. I made my way over to him, cupping both his cheeks in my hands, bringing his gaze up to meet mine. “You have the right to feel any way you do, Walker.” I paused, let my words sink in and then continued. “If you’re not feeling up to going or are going to be uncomfortable being there, then don’t go. I can make up an excuse about you eating undercooked chicken for lunch and they’ll be fine. I’ll have a quick dinner and then come home to you.”
Walker pressed his cheek against mine, took a deep breath, kissed me quickly then shook his head, all in rapid fire. “No, love. Look at you! You’re beaming. How could I miss that, or be scared of it?” He smiled down at me and kissed my cheek again. “Liz and Jim are family. They’ll be supportive over anyone else.”
I hugged tightly around Walker’s waist. “Exactly!”
I started to go over the list of things we needed to do for our baking afternoon. “First, I'll get the last two ingredients, and then teach you how to froth egg whites, and you’ll make the frosting while I do the other stuff.” I was going a mile a minute, bouncing up and down in the kitchen.
Walker grabbed my shoulders to stabilize me, and his face lit up with joy, “Mags, I haven’t seen you like this in, I really don’t know how long. How about this; I’ll run to the store, you preheat the oven and get started, and I’ll be back soon.”
I nodded yes, “That’s perfect. Thanks, love!”
He dug his keys out of his pocket, took the list of two things out of my hand and wrapped me. “Please stay this happy, you’re my joy. When you’re happy, it’s contagious to me.”
I looked up at Walker, smiling with tears forming, but they felt different. They were happy, I was happy. It was such a foreign feeling I was almost unnerved. “I’ll be happier once you’re back and we can get this ball rolling.” Of course, I was joking, and Walker shot me a playful grin before heading out the door.
Walker only took long enough at the store for me to straighten my hair and have a few sips of a jack and ginger to keep up with my effervescent mood. Once he came in, I made him a drink and we put on aprons. With much protesting on Walker’s part, but I finally got him to wear a ‘kiss the cook’ pink apron with bright red lips on it; the sight was just adorable and I obeyed the writing’s command more than once.
Surprisingly, Walker was a big help and knew his way around the kitchen more than he let on. Within no time, the icing was in the fridge chilling, and the smell of baking chocolaty goodness was engulfing my entire home. I breathed in the delectable smell with every chance I got; it reminded me of a time when I was free of heartache, guilt, and emotion.
While waiting for the cake to finish baking, Walker and I, each with a batter-covered beater in hand, made our way to the couch to relax. Walker’s mood had noticeably lightened, the looks of worry and shame vanished. I was so relieved. It was going to be hard enough with Jim and Liz finding out that I was shacking up with Walker.
I snuggled down into the crook of Walker’s arm and licked the uncooked cake off the cool metal, enjoying every minute of this bliss. “Walker, thanks for this. I know you’re not too excited about dinner. It means a lot to me.”
He shuffled next to me so our eyes could meet, a soft expression lay on his lips along with some left over chocolate from his beater. “Mags, I was just being dumb. Tonight means a lot to me, too. I love Jim and Liz like they were my own parents.” He looked away for a second, his voice growing a little more distant. “Maybe, I just don’t want to upset them.”
I rested my head gently on his shoulder as the buzzer sounded for me to take the cake out of the oven. Talk about being saved by the bell. The truth was, I felt the same way Walker did. There was no way I would ever be ready to tell my dead husband’s parents that I was in a relationship, let alone with their son’s best friend. But, they would find out eventually, and I wanted to be the one they heard it from, not the grapevine.
Calling out from the kitchen, into the living room where Walker still lazily lay on the couch, I said, “Want to come see our masterpiece?” I smiled as he walked into the kitchen while I spread the cool frosting over the steaming cake layers, letting it melt and drip over the sides perfectly.
“Where’d you learn how to make this?” Walker smiled and took some of the coconut frosting onto his finger to taste it.
“Actually, I taught myself. I had to do a lot of cooking for myself and my mom when I was a kid, so I had to learn.” I bit my lip, scraping the last of the coconut frosting from the bowl. “Besides, when your mom doesn’t give two shits, and you're ten, cake for dinner is pretty awesome.” I smiled, remembering back to those terrible days of loneliness, and having to learn to grow up too fast. It was a strange reaction, but there was nothing else I could do about it, other than smile, no use in sulking in the past was my new motto.
Walker’s hands grabbed my hips firmly, pulling me into his strong body. “I’m sorry you had to go through something like that, but damn you’re a good cook for it.”
He kissed me, breathing in deeply, as if to try to take some of my pain away, and it worked. There was passion in his kiss, even though our tongues did not meet. He buried his fingers in my locks and pulled me against him; barely a breath between us. Urgency was in his every move and my knees quivered from the intensity. If it was possible for two people to make sparks, simply by connecting at their lips, I would think we would have been a firework display in the dark. All of the frustration of my past melted away into the loving devotion I had holding onto me.
I closed my eyes and pulled away, just slightly. “Thanks Walker. I need to get dressed, be down in a second.” Walker’s round, loving eyes smiled along with the rest of his face when he saw the sadness had vanished from my expression and nodded, releasing me from his grip.
I dressed quickly in a pink, flowing top, tight skinny jeans, and my favorite cork wedges. I dabbed on a little bit of makeup and threw my hair into a ponytail. Somewhere along the way of cooking, the flatiron job I had done earlier was non-existent, and my hair resembled a tangled lion’s mane. There definitely was not enough time to tame my crazy mess, so I had to contain it somehow.
Walker and I got to the front step of my in-laws, and before we could get close to the threshold, Liz’s beaming face was staring at us from the doorway, arms outstretched wide. The three of us hugged as Liz said, “You two live so close and never come over. This is such an amazing treat.”