“I don’t think that most people get married the way we did,” he said. “But I do think that there are marriages—or at least relationships—of convenience out there. The people involved are may not be aware of it at the time. They think they’re in love or have feelings for one another at least. But the idea of moving in together to cut expenses in half or getting married for a tax benefit or someone supporting someone else while they go to school… those are all very real scenarios.”
“And you don’t think two people meeting and falling in love and wanting to be together forever is a real scenario?” she asked softly.
“I think it happens,” he said. “But I think it’s better when it happens if each person is independent and strong on their own, and they come together because they want to live together rather than because it’s cheaper than having two places.”
She nodded. She didn’t know what else to say.
“Where did the story about reading to each other during foot rubs and the chocolate-cinnamon popcorn and the whole homebodies who love the simple things come from?” he asked after a moment.
“My grandparents and parents,” she said. “I could have gone on and on with stories. Sweet, romantic, in-love stories from both of them. None of them ever had a lot of money, but they’ve always been madly in love.”
Grant nodded. “Ah.”
“You’re thinking all my romantic ideas make sense now, right?”
He nodded.
“Just like all of your ideas about relationships make sense,” she added. “I do admire that you’re such an advocate because of your sister and grandma.”
“My mom has been a happy single parent for most of my life too,” Grant said with a wry smile.
Josie nodded. “We come from pretty different places.”
“In almost every way.”
“Yeah.”
Yeah. She was still a romantic, but she was starting to think that the opposites-attract thing was kind of a bunch of bullshit.
16
“If you ever put zucchini, or any other vegetable, into one of my baked goods without my permission, I will never speak to you again.”
Josie stepped into the kitchen at Buttered Up completely unnoticed.
Her sister, Paige, and Zoe were squared off across the center island, a plethora of baking pans and utensils between them. One bowl was definitely full of some kind of batter. Some kind of green batter. A green that was not created by food coloring.
“You put carrots in your carrot cake,” Paige pointed out.
“And whole lot of sugar and butter and cream cheese,” Zoe said. “It is not gluten free, nor is it low carb or paleo or anything else.”
Paige nodded. “I know. Which is exactly why you need sugar-free, gluten-free zucchini muffins on the menu.”
“No.”
“They sold out yesterday.”
“There were only twelve, and you took six to the yoga studio,” Zoe pointed out.
“Still, the other six sold,” Paige said.
“And Renee Wagner called me later and asked what the hell was wrong with them.”
“It’s not my fault Renee Wagner doesn’t understand that almond flour tastes different from white flour.”
Zoe took a deep breath. “Just make the lemon poppy seed, Paige. There, lemon. That should make you happy. It’s fruit.”
“They use lemon juice. That hardly counts as a fruit.”
Zoe rubbed a finger up the middle of her forehead. “If you do it and you’re good, I’ll let you do the apple cinnamon too. Those do use actual apples.”
“Fine,” Paige said. “But you should let me do some low-carb lemon too. We’ll do a taste test and see what people think.”
“They’ll think the low-carb lemon muffins taste weird,” Zoe said.
“Different,” Paige said. “They’ll think they taste different. But we can educate them on all the health benefits. You can have a whole new line of healthy muffins and bars.”
“The bakery is called Buttered Up,” Zoe said to Paige. “That doesn’t exactly scream healthy and low carb.”
“Oh, but butter is low carb!” Paige said, almost excitedly. “You can have butter and cream cheese, even bacon on a low carb diet. Did you know—”
“Hi, girls,” Josie said, deciding this was a good time to cut in.
They both swung to face her.
“Josie!” Zoe exclaimed. “You’re back early!”
“Yep.”
She’d felt so good—at least in regard to her surgery—they’d come back that morning instead of waiting until tomorrow as planned. She’d seen the surgeon that morning, and he’d declared she was doing wonderfully and could slowly return to her normal activities as she felt able. She had to watch how much she lifted, but that wasn’t really a problem in her normal day-to-day activities, so she was optimistic