pretty well. For someone who thought he knew nothing about the female’s perspective, he had some pretty good insight where the book was concerned. Hadley was already sound asleep when I made my way to my spot on the sofa, and it didn’t take long for me to join her in a deep slumber.
We woke up the next morning and hit the ground running. After work, we did our shopping, bought a few groceries and things for the house, finished laundry and homework, and then started on Clutch’s cake. When I pulled it out of the oven, Hadley was tickled that it looked just like the ones mom used to make.
“Can I help with the icing?” she asked.
“Absolutely. You can do it all, but we need to wait for it to cool off first,” I explained. The entire apartment smelled like chocolate heaven, and it was hard not to steal a taste for ourselves. “I think we’re going to need to make another one, though.”
“Why?” Hadley asked with a worried look.
“Look at it. Don’t you want some?” I giggled. “Let’s make another one just for us.”
“Really? That would be awesome!”
In no time, we had the second cake made, and Hadley was ready to start decorating the first. She was so cute sitting there trying her best to be precise and make the cake look perfect. She spent almost an hour making sure it was just right, and once she was done, she looked over to me and asked, “How does it look?”
I walked over to her, and as I looked at the beautiful creation, I said, “It looks amazing, Hadley. Clutch is going to love it.”
“I hope so. He’s been really nice, and I really want him to like it.”
“Of course he’s going to like it, sweetheart. It’s mom’s special recipe we’re talking about here. He’d have to be crazy not to love it.”
“Can we take it over to him now?”
“I don’t know. It’s getting a little late. I’d hate to wake him up. Maybe we can give it to him tomorrow,” I suggested.
“But it’s fresh now!”
“Okay.” I gave in to those big pleading eyes of hers. I did my best to wrap it up without smearing the icing, then said, “Let’s go see if he’s home.”
“I’ll carry it,” she insisted as she lifted it up off the counter. She was beaming with pride as we walked towards his door. Once I’d knocked, I looked over to her and thought she’d come unglued with impatience as we waited for him to answer the door.
He didn’t answer, so I knocked again. Finally, I heard him rustling around, and seconds later the door eased open. Clutch stood there with his hand propped against the doorframe wearing only a pair of basketball shorts. We were not greeted by the irritatingly playful neighbor we’d recently become accustomed to, but instead were faced with what looked like a ghost of the man we’d come to know. He was in a sad state. I was immediately concerned when I saw that all the color had completely drained from his face. There were dark circles under his eyes and tiny beads of sweat covering his brow, and I could see that he was having a hard time even standing. He looked over to me and tried to speak, but a strangled cough stole his words.
When he continued to hack and groan, I turned to Hadley and said, “Go back to the apartment.”
Even though I knew she and Charlie had been given their flu shots, I didn’t want to take any chances. With a disgruntled look, Hadley placed the cake in my hands and asked, “Is he going to be okay?”
“He’ll be fine,” I assured her. Once she was gone, I turned back to Clutch and said, “You look like shit.”
“I feel like shit,” he answered with his voice strained and hoarse. “Don’t know what the hell is wrong.”
“We need to get you back in the bed.” I walked past him and placed the cake down on the table before returning. I slipped my hand around his elbow, giving him a slight tug as I led him across the living room and into his bedroom. Realizing for the first time just how big he really was, I said, “You’re tall.”
“No. You’re just short.” He tried to laugh but just ended up coughing.
“I’m almost five-ten. That’s not short,” I corrected him. When we reached the edge of his bed, I pulled back the covers and said, “Get in.”
“Bossy little