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How have you been breathing all this time without Aunt Gracie?

Good question. Noah tossed a broken eggshell into the trash. He grabbed another shell, finding bits of yolk scattered across the counter next to giant clumps of chocolate batter. “What are you grinning about?” he said when he looked up and caught Gracie smiling as she returned to the kitchen from using the bathroom.

“Nothing. I guess making the brownies just reminded me of the time you thought you’d surprise me with one of those flaming lava cakes for Valentine’s Day.”

Now Noah was smiling. “Well, you can’t say I didn’t surprise you.”

“Coming home to find a fire truck parked in front of the house certainly carries the element of surprise.”

“The firefighters were so worried I’d end up in the doghouse for charring one of the kitchen walls, they offered us a ride in the fire truck back to the station so we could eat the chocolate cake someone had dropped off for them. Remember that?”

Gracie pressed her lips together, then twisted them to the side. “Actually, I was the one who begged for them to do that. I knew you’d worked so hard trying to make our last evening together special before you had to head off for spring training the next day.”

“Really? And to think all these years I’ve been giving credit to the boys at the firehouse for saving our Valentine’s Day that year.”

“Well, they did put out a fire in our kitchen, so... Plus you have to admit, their cake at the firehouse was amazing. Pretty sure I tried making the same recipe for us the next year and it turned out an even bigger mess than the brownies did tonight.”

Noah pointed to the brown globs all over the counter. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but I’m kind of amazed you managed to get enough batter into the pan to make any brownies at all.”

“I was stress baking.”

“So you painted the entire kitchen with brownie batter, I get it.” He winked and tossed a wet dishrag at her.

“Might want to keep this,” she said, tossing it right back.

“So I can wipe up your mess?”

“So you can wipe off your face.” Before he realized what she was doing, she swiped a glob of leftover batter across his forehead. Then staring at him, she licked off her finger with a mischievous smile.

Okay, was it him or was Gracie acting downright flirty tonight?

When they’d gone out the back door earlier to give Rachel and Matt some privacy, she’d practically glued herself to his torso with the excuse that it was freezing.

It hadn’t been freezing.

And now as he ran his finger across his forehead, she put zero effort into stopping him from transferring that batter into a smear across her right cheek.

“I’ve always heard brownie batter is good for the pores,” she said with a shrug. “Personally, I think your nose could use a little skin care.” She scooped up some batter from the kitchen counter and ran a chocolate-covered finger down the entire bridge of his nose.

“Thank you for looking out for my nose. But if I were you, I’d be more concerned about the pores on your left cheek. They’re looking a little neglected.” This time he cut out the middleman. Instead of using his finger, he leaned down and angled his brownie-battered nose against her cheek.

And then stayed there. With his nose pressed to her cheek. Which happened to leave his lips achingly close to her lips. “Remember the Valentine’s Day I asked you to marry me?” he couldn’t stop himself from murmuring.

Gracie held still. “That one sort of rings a bell. As I recall you were leaving for spring training the next day after that one too.”

Noah held still. “And as I recall you got chocolate all over my nice new shirt.”

With both of them holding still, how had their lips managed to draw even closer? “Well, maybe you shouldn’t ask important questions after a lady starts eating her dessert.”

Was Gracie the one who’d moved closer?

Or had he?

Either way, she sure wasn’t moving away. And neither was he. Not when he could feel her breath on the corner of his mouth.

He’d just angled his head so he could feel her breath over his entire mouth when the front door banged open. “Is he here?” Mona’s voice yelled.

Gracie jerked away from Noah so hard that he had to grab her elbows to keep her from falling. “Is who here?” Gracie asked, pushing against Noah, then spinning away from him as soon as she regained her balance.

It might take him a second longer to regain his.

Mona rushed into the kitchen. “ Matt . Who else would I be talking about? I was just driving home when I got the message he’d been in an accident. Something about a concussion. Is he okay? The ER said he wasn’t a patient anymore. I tried calling him, but—”

“He’s okay,” Noah and Gracie said at the same time.

“He’s okay?”

“He’s okay.” Certainly more okay than Noah at the moment. He’d been this close to getting to kiss Gracie again. Which meant he was this close to tossing Mona out on her ear for ruining that moment.

Gracie pointed to the ceiling. “Matt’s resting upstairs. He hurt his head and shoulder, but I promise, he’s okay.” Was she breathless? She sounded a little breathless.

Mona collapsed into a kitchen chair and blew out her own long breath. “He’s okay. All right. Good. I can breathe again. Why do you have brown goo all over your faces?”

“I made brownies,” Gracie said.

Apparently that was a good-enough explanation. Mona nodded and stood. Took a few more deep breaths. “Okay, well. I think I’ll peek in on him, then head home. Is it all right that he stays here with you?”

“Of course,” Gracie assured her. “Hey, where were you by the way? I was actually starting to get a little worried that we couldn’t reach you.”

Mona fumbled her purse, then tugged it over her shoulder. “Oh. Ah. Dinner thing. I had my phone on silence.”

“Some sort of work dinner?”

“Yes. Kind of. Dinner with a client. Well, former client. Sort of. Anyway, I should get going. I have a lot of things I need to do tonight.” She headed for the door.

“I thought you were going to check on Matt.” Gracie looked at Mona like she might be the crazy one covered in brownie batter.

“Right.” Mona glanced at the ceiling. “You know what, if he’s resting, I should probably just let him... you know, rest. Thanks for looking out for him. Tell him to give me a call, soon as he’s feeling up to it, okay?”

The moment Mona closed the front door, Noah turned to Gracie. “You know what that was about, right?”

“What?”

“Your sister was on a date.”

Gracie shook her head as if she were about to deny it, then her eyes filled with wonder. “You really think so?”

“Bet you an entire bowl of brownie batter.”

“Oh my goodness. You might actually be right. No wonder she’s been acting so weird lately. Man, there must be something in the air. First Matt and Rachel. Then—uh...” Gracie cleared her throat and wiped the brownie batter off her cheek. “Mona,” she finished saying after another throat clear.

Us. She’d been about to say us . He hadn’t imagined that near kiss.

He grinned and started filling up the sink with soapy water. “Well, Rachel seems like a great girl. I hope things work out for her and Matt. As for Mona...”

“God help the poor man who wants to make a go of things with her,” Gracie said, plopping the mixing bowl into the sink.

Noah pretended to snap her with a dish towel. “Listen to you.”

Gracie’s lips tipped up in a small smile as she yanked the dish towel out of his hands and motioned to the sink. “You wash, I’ll dry. And for the record, I hope things work out between Matt and Rachel too. He deserves to be happy.”

Noah plunged his hands into the soapy water. “You think marriage will make Matt happy?”

“Sure. If he’s got the right girl.”

“You think that’s what our problem was? We chose the wrong person?” He scrubbed the chocolate off a spatula.

“Our situation was completely different.”

“So you do think we were right for each other initially?”

“I didn’t say that.”

“So you think we were wrong for each other.” He rinsed off the spatula and tossed it onto the drying rack, then started on some measuring spoons.

“I didn’t say that . Stop putting words in my mouth. This isn’t about us anyway. I was talking about Matt. All I’m saying is I know Rachel will make him happier than Aimee.”

Noah rinsed off the measuring spoons, then started on the mixing bowl. “And all I’m saying is it’s not up to Rachel to make him happy.”

“I know that.”

“Do you?”

She didn’t answer. He didn’t press. Something had shifted between them this evening. Something good. Something flirty. Something like how things used to be between them.

If only they didn’t have to dredge up the bad times to remember the good for his memoir.

He finished with the bowl and a few other random dishes sitting out on the counter, then pulled the drain in the sink, letting the water gurgle down to nothing as Gracie finished drying everything off.

She folded the towel over the oven handle. “I’m going to check on Matt, then call it a night. Thanks, by the way. For picking him up from the ER.”

“Of course. I’ve always loved that kid like he was my own, you know that.”

She gripped the back of a chair, meeting his gaze with a soft “I do” before heading out of the kitchen. At the doorway, she turned. “Tomorrow we really need to dive into this memoir project. So be ready. We’ve got to get this done before we run out of time.”

As if Noah needed the reminder. He felt the clock ticking on them more than Gracie knew.