Page 46 of As They Are (Strawberry Springs #2)

HENRY

Strawberry Springs Neighborhood Watch

Kerry Winsor : Was it just me or were some of the lights on the square out for a bit? But then it was fixed!

Comments:

Tammy Jane : They’ve done that for a while. No idea who fixes them. Maybe it’s gnomes or something.

Jade Clark : How do we all live here every day and not know who maintains it? The town can’t be outsourcing that.

Tammy Jane : Huh. You’re right. Weird.

Henry Connor : Ah. Well, if you guys want to know, I can tell you who it is.

Jade Clark: !!! HENRY TELL US

Henry Connor : Me. I take care of it.

Kerry Winsor : WHAT? All by yourself?

Henry Connor : I want the town to feel beautiful.

Kerry Winsor : I do too! We should start a committee!

“Finally, I can use this cookbook Mom got me,” I said as I grabbed a massive tome from one of the bookshelves. “They usually only have recipes for multiple people.”

“I can eat for multiple people,” Wren said. “What were you thinking?”

He flipped through it. “She always tells me there’s a good pancake recipe in this book.”

“Like homemade?” she asked. “I’ve never had homemade anything before I came here.”

I paused and looked up at her. “Really?”

She shrugged. “My dad was a busy guy, and he did what he could. Most days I wound up eating McDonalds.”

“And I’m guessing your mom didn’t cook either?”

She winced. “She knew how to, but she didn’t really cook for me the rare times I saw her. Then she decided to be done with me, and I have no idea what she does these days.”

Wren said it like a fact, but her turned-down eyes said it was anything but that.

“Decided to be done with you?” I asked slowly.

“Yeah. She ghosted me.” She laughed, but there was no humor in it. “Kinda like a guy does to a girl, except she was the person who birthed me. How lucky am I?”

Far too much fell into place. Why she stayed so busy with work. Why she never mentioned family. And why she’d been upset at the baby shower.

“Is that what you didn’t want to tell me before?”

“Yeah.” She cleared her throat, obviously trying to push away the emotions. “I try not to talk about it. Mostly because it’s so sad. Mollie knew my mom wasn’t great, but even she didn’t know that she disappeared. I’m trying to get better about it.”

I was tempted to ask why her mom had done what she had, but there was no appropriate reason. None at all. Wren was incredible. Kind, smart, and strong. And even if she wasn’t always this way, even if she was flawed as so many people were, it didn’t matter.

No one deserved to be abandoned.

I took a step toward her. “Wren?—”

“Don’t pity me.” She held up her hand, eyes on her feet. “The situation sucks, but I can’t do pity. I wanna still be the Wren you know, not the woman who was left behind.”

“You’re still the woman I know,” I said as I grabbed her hand. “And I don’t pity you. I just know more now. Part of this dating thing means I’m here for you when you’re bashing things in and building them from nothing, but also when you’re feeling sad when someone did something terrible.”

“I think that’s what Tammy wants to do too. It’s weird to be supported.”

“It won’t be for long,” I tugged her close to me and pressed my lips to her forehead.

“Thank you,” she said. “You’re the best fake-to-real boyfriend a gal can ask for. Though, I will drop you down a level if we don’t start on these pancakes soon.”

“Understood. I should have everything to make them. Let me pull it all out.”

I grabbed everything I would need—flour, sugar, salt, eggs, baking powder—but froze when I realized I didn’t have buttermilk.

“Shoot. Turns out I don’t have one thing.”

“Buttermilk?” Wren asked as she looked at the recipe. “We could probably skip that, right?”

I stared at her. “Skip a key ingredient of the recipe?”

“You have regular milk. Add some butter to it.”

I let out a shocked gasp. “Wren, that’s not how it works. And you can’t deviate from a recipe, it’s sacred!”

She laughed. “ Sacred? Do you mean you’ve never added anything to a recipe before?”

“Not the first time I make it. I need to learn the method first and then can experiment from there.”

She put up her hands. “All right, fine. You’re lucky you don’t live too far from Food ‘n’ Things. I’ll go get it.”

“I’m already in trouble because it’s gonna take a little longer to make this. I’ll go get it. Will you mix the dry ingredients?”

“Sure.”

“And you’ll measure them, right?”

She rolled her eyes. “No, I was gonna dump a bunch in there and hope for the best.”

“You’re a monster.”

She laughed. “I’m kidding . I’ll measure. Especially since this recipe is sacred .”

“When you eat them, you’ll see,” I said before quickly getting dressed and walking out the door. I made it a few streets down before my phone rang. I pulled it out and saw Cain’s name.

“Hey,” I said. “Everything good?”

“No, it’s not,” said a voice that was definitely not Cain. “I haven’t heard from my best friend in over twelve hours, and if you haven’t seen her, then I’m dragging Mike out of the diner and making him hunt her down!”

That was Mollie, and she sounded more tense than I’d ever heard her.

“Wren’s with me,” I said immediately. “She must not be checking her phone.”

“Her location said the library. Did you two spend the night there or something?”

“N-no, we were at my place.”

Mollie gasped. “Your place? Wait a second, did you two?—”

“Maybe I should wait for her to tell you this.”

“There’s no telling now, I’ve figured it out! I’ll get the details from her later, but you two are like ... a thing now? Or are you both still in denial?”

“We’re together,” I said. “No more denial.”

“Yes!” she nearly yelled into the phone, the sudden explosion of unexpected noise making me cringe a little. “Finally! You’re my favorite right now.”

“Hey!” I heard Cain say in the background. “Take that back!”

“Favorite person I’ve never had sex with,” Mollie said. “And Henry, you better have given her the time of her life , do you hear me?”

“I’m sure you’ve already heard that I’m very capable of that,” I said, rubbing my now warm face.

“You’re right. I did. It needs to continue.”

“This is a very weird thing to overhear,” Cain said. “Can I have my phone back now, princess?”

Mollie sighed. “I have to go. Thank you for the update. I’ll also be stealing your number from Cain’s phone. Bye!”

She was gone before I could say it back.

I let out a shocked laugh. I’d never let myself fall for someone, but I could only hope that I made a good enough impression on those who were close to Wren.

When I walked into Food ‘n’ Things, Dale was behind the counter talking with Kerry about all of the changes in the town.

Even in the store, there were a few people who’d come to visit.

Some I knew from neighboring towns, others were obviously tourists.

I gave polite waves to a few of them as I grabbed what I needed and got in line.

“We’re gonna need a hotel,” Kerry said. “Or use the apartments that used to be above the square.”

“A hotel? Here? That would make things even worse. And those apartments are terrible. They’re falling apart.”

“And raccoon infested,” Kerry muttered with a sigh. “I just think we should capitalize on this.”

“We’re a tiny town with just a few people. I love this new business, but it’ll pass.”

“The people who do come here love it, and we’ll have the largest library on the town square.”

“The second they’re done here, the library will be gone again. It’s just how things work.”

“What about the STM grant? It’s helping.”

“Some billionaire temporarily cares about us. It won’t last forever.”

Kerry crossed her arms and looked away, eyes meeting mine. “Oh! Sorry, Henry. Didn’t see you there.”

“Just need to get this,” I said. “Though I agree. It would be nice if Strawberry Springs were more self-sufficient.”

“It would require a lot of work,” Kerry said. “Maybe it’s best that we leave it.”

I didn’t want to leave it, but Dale had a point. Whoever was behind the grant would lose interest, and then we would be right where we’d always been.

Dale grabbed the buttermilk and scanned it. “Big plans?”

“Making breakfast for Wren.”

Kerry gasped. “Are things going well still? You two are always so cute together.”

“Still feel bad for Jude?” I asked.

Her cheeks colored. “I mean ... in the show I do. Obviously, you’re way better. I definitely see it.”

Dale laughed. “Busted by the Facebook group.”

“It’s fine. I’m only messing with you. Things are good. Better than good, actually.”

“I called it,” Dale said. “From the second he saw her, I knew they were gonna be together.”

“You’ll never let us live it down,” Kerry said. “You better get back and make breakfast. I bet she’s hungry.”

“Shoot, you’re right.” I nearly ran out the door. “See you later!”

When I walked in, I found Wren in the kitchen glaring at a bowl.

“Would it be too cheesy for me to say what’s up, buttercup?”

“Save the niceness for later. I tried to make homemade buttermilk and created a science experiment instead.”

“You mixed butter and milk, didn’t you?” I asked it warily. The idea of what could have been in that bowl made my whole body cringe.

“Yep, and then I thought it tasted good, except for the chunks. Then I realized dairy should not have chunks, and now I’m regretting everything.”

I walked over and slowly took the bowl, not looking inside of it. “Buttermilk is the leftovers from churning milk once the butter is taken out.”

“So, I traumatized myself for nothing?”

“You learned what buttermilk is in the end.”

She sighed, though she looked less green now that the milk and butter weren’t in front of her. I walked over to the bowl with all the dry ingredients. I collected the remaining pieces before mixing it together.

The cabinets opened and closed before Wren finally set down a skillet. “It’s the correct size,” she said. “I’ll get it warming up.”

“Thank you. Also, after breakfast, we’ll need to go to the library.”

“Why?”

“You forgot your phone there and Mollie had no idea where you were.”

Wren’s eyes were round. “Shit. I knew I was forgetting something. Did she call you?”

“Yes. I told her where you were and some of what happened. She figured out most of it.”

“She’s smart like that.” Wren opened the drawers and pulled out a spatula. “I can’t wait to get the twenty questions when I get back.”

“I know breakfast took a little longer than I intended, but hopefully it’ll all be good things.”

“They’ll be the best.” She attempted to dip her finger in the batter, but I held it up.

“What are you doing?”

“Trying the batter.”

“This has raw eggs and flour in it. It’s risky to eat it before it’s cooked.”

“Have you never had raw cookie dough?”

“No.”

She gasped. “Now who’s the monster? It’s the best part!”

“Until you get salmonella.”

“High risk, high reward.” She jumped and sat on the counter, which gave her just enough height to grab the bowl and get a taste of it, but she frowned. “I expected that to be better.”

“I expected it to be pretty bland.”

“We could have added something to it.”

“Maybe you can talk me into it next time. But for now, we follow the recipe. And try not to get salmonella.”

“Would you take care of me if I did?”

“I would. And then I’ll tell you that you shouldn’t have eaten raw batter.” I flipped the first pancake and had to fight Wren to make sure she didn’t eat it the second it was done. I wound up giving up on the third and fourth pancake and let her snack while I cooked.

Eventually, we were at the small table with a stack of pancakes each.

“With the syrup? These are incredible. I’m always eating homemade food from now on.”

“My mom is right sometimes,” I said. “I’ll happily try new things if it’s with you.”

She grabbed my hand. “Me too.”

My schedule was thrown off entirely. I’d probably be late to work, and Wren would be late to filming. While I didn’t love the idea of not having time to do paperwork in the morning, I did love the time I spent with her.

Eventually, we would fall into a new routine that I could follow, but for now, I would make it work. It was more than worth it.