Page 196 of The Compass Series

She narrowed her eyes toward me, took off her gloves, and walked into the pantry. When she reappeared, she came out with a tray of lemon bars and placed them right in front of me. “Only eat one if you haven’t had dinner yet. You’ll spoil your appetite.”

I grinned ear to ear and rubbed my hands together. “These are dinner.”

“Hailee, don’t you dare eat all that sugar and no real meal. Speaking of… you should go get yourself dinner. You didn’t need to come and help me. I’ve got this covered.”

I glanced around at the destruction of Mama’s house and smirked. “You do know you need all of this done by tomorrow, right?”

She placed her hands against her hips and sighed before wiping the back of her hand against her forehead. “I am a little overwhelmed. Your dad was helping, but you know he can’t bake to save his life. He burned two pans of cookies. I sent him to the office to do some admin work.”

“Well, let me underwhelm you and help.”

Relief washed over Mama’s dark-brown eyes as her shoulders dropped.

“Great. You’re on sugar cookie duty. You are filling in the Oscar-shaped cookies, writing quotes on three dozen cookies, and then doing the edible stickers of Aiden’s face on three dozen.

” She paused and wrinkled up her nose. “Are you okay doing this, sweetheart?”

“What do you mean?”

“You know…spending the next few hours plastering Aiden’s face on cookies.”

I smiled and shoved a lemon bar into my mouth. “Anything for an up-and-coming baking company,” I joked, trying to push off the thoughts of staring into the edible blue eyes of my first and only love.

Was it going to be awkward? Yes.

Was it going to be really awkward? Absolutely.

Would I do anything for my parents? One hundred percent. Even when it came down to sticking edible prints of Aiden onto her world-class cookies.

“It’s fine, Mama. It’s been years since Aiden and I were even a thing. He’s moved on. I’ve moved on. It’s nothing but ancient history.” Minus the random text message from a few months ago, but she didn’t have to know about that.

She walked over to me, kneeled a bit, and stared me in the eyes, searching for any truths I was hiding from her.

Detective Penny Jones was on the case, searching for any reminisces of heartbreak that I still carried around with me about a relationship that ended years prior.

Then she smiled, kissed my forehead, and thanked me for being the best daughter ever.

I reached down to grab another lemon bar, and she teasingly patted my hand again. “No more sweets until after dinner. I’ll order Chinese. Go tell your father food will be on the way soon.”

She walked out of the room to order food, and I shoved yet another piece of a lemon bar into my mouth. Then, I headed to the back office, where Dad seemed to live lately.

“Knock, knock. Hey, Dad.”

He looked up from his paperwork and smiled wide. “Well, if it isn’t my favorite daughter.”

“Your only one.”

“I’m pretty sure if I had more kids, they wouldn’t come close to comparing to you.”

I chuckled as I walked over to him and kissed his bald head. “Mama said to tell you she’s ordering Chinese.”

“Sounds good.” He sat back in his chair and studied my face. Detective Karl Jones was now on the case, searching for any off emotions I might’ve been hiding. “How are you, baby girl?”

“I’m good. I’m applying to a few more grad schools tomorrow and am about to help Mama with the baking.”

“You know dang well that’s not what I’m asking about.”

I sighed and leaned against his desk, crossing my arms. “I’m good, Daddy.”

“It would be okay if you weren’t. You don’t always have to be good, but you should always be true. Any feeling is warranted, especially when it comes to Aiden.”

Even hearing his name sent chills down my spine. I couldn’t lie straight to Dad, so instead, I pushed myself from the desk. “I’m going to get back to helping Mama, and I’ll come get you when the food is here.”

He smirked. “Good on you for not lying to me. Love you forever.”

“Love you longer than that,” I replied, giving him another kiss on the forehead.

After we all ate dinner together, Mama and I got to work decorating the cookies.

I was a bit stunned that Mama bought my speech about Aiden being nothing but ancient history and me being fine with his return to Leeks.

If anything, my nerves were a mess. I could hardly stop making up scenarios of what would happen if we ran into one another.

For the past week, I’d been having fake conversations with myself as if I were speaking to Aiden for the first time in years.

“Hey, dude. What’s up? Want to do that weird handshake we always did?”

“Hey, Aiden, how goes it?”

“Well, look what the cat dragged in. Get it? The cat? You were my Tom. I was your Jerry. Meow!”

Clearly, I was screwed.

My stomach had been in knots, and those knots tightened even more as I plastered Aiden’s face against the sugar cookies.

A face I once loved so much. I still loved it, to be honest. Aiden Walters was the kind of man that a woman never truly got over.

My biggest fear about seeing him was that those feelings of longing would come rushing back at me, and I wouldn’t be able to stop myself from diving straight into his arms.

For that reason alone, I needed to avoid him at all costs.

I didn’t have a clue how I would avoid seeing Aiden tomorrow, but I knew I had to try my best. With the way my heart and mind were tangled up, it was clear the results of our interaction may vary.

Sure, I was able to play cool with my parents about the idea of coming face-to-face with Aiden. Yet I wasn’t certain I could do the same when it came to him being right in front of me. That night I’d take semi-tricking my parents as a victorious win.

And the Oscar for best performance of getting over one’s ex in a mature and appropriate fashion goes to Hailee Rose Jones.

Best performance ever.