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I chuckled. “No, I learned quickly, especially considering my dad wasn’t that patient. I got that shit in order real quick.”
“I like that for you,” she replied.
“What about you? Who taught you to cook?”
“Both my parents and a little bit of me being creative when I was home alone.”
“Did you ever mess up anything so badly that you got in trouble for it?”
“No. Like your mother, my parents were very patient and forgiving. They supported whatever my sister, Genevieve, and I wanted to do.”
I finished cleaning the kitchen, and we walked back into the living room, where she curled up on the couch with a pack of cookies she snagged on the way out of the kitchen.
Giselle grabbed the remote and turned on some music while I poured myself a glass of Malbec. I sat down beside her and stared at her for several long seconds as she finished a cookie.
“What?”
“I’m not trying to pressure you, and I don’t mean to stress you out, Giselle.”
“Then don’t,” she replied and dropped her gaze back to her cookies.
“I want to address the elephant in the room.”
She hesitantly peered back up at me.
“No elephant. Just you and me.”
I chuckled. “I know when I first offered you this space, it was on the condition that you could have it for yourself. And you still can if you’d like.”
“What I would like is for your friend to get on his job before I have to hire someone else.”
“Is that what you really want?” I asked her.
She rolled her eyes and rested her elbow on the back of the couch. Setting her cookies in her lap, she rested her head on her palm.
“I don’t know what I want, Casimir. You confuse me.”
“Why is that?”
“You’re this overwhelming presence in my life right now, and where I could normally walk away from something or someone who I’ve made my mind up about, I can’t where you’re concerned.”
“And is that a bad thing?”
“Yeah.”
“Why?”
“You’re fresh out of a marriage. You were my client, and I feel that I had a negative impact on your marriage, and I could lose my license.”
I leaned forward and removed the cookie pack from her lap.
“I wasn’t finished with those.”
“Yeah, you were,” I replied and stood.
I reached for her hand, and she gave it to me. When I pulled her up to stand in front of me, I wrapped an arm around her waist.
“What are you doing?”