Single Wide Female: The Bucket List Mega Bundle - 24 Books (Books #1-24) (62 page)

I sent him a message back with my phone number as well as the address of my apartment. It was strange to send that information to him. I knew that he was a stranger in traditional terms, but I had no question in my mind that I could trust him.

Still, it was odd to think that Blue now had my phone number. He could call me at any time. That made the ringing of my phone so much more exciting.

As if on cue, my phone buzzed, making me jump.

I grabbed it and saw that it was Max. It was probably the only time in the history of our friendship that I was disappointed to see his name on my caller ID.

“Hiya!” Even to my own ear, my voice sounded a bit too cheerful.

“Hey, you. It sounds like you’re having a good day. I was wondering if you’d like to see a movie on Saturday after your dinner party?”

First Blue was coming to the party, then Max was asking me to a movie? I was ecstatic, until I realized that was probably not the best idea.

What if things went well with Blue? Wouldn’t it be rude of me to suddenly say that I had to go to a movie with another man?

“Sammy?”

“I can’t that night. But maybe Sunday?”

“Are you busy Saturday night? I mean, I know you have the dinner, but I’m thinking of the midnight movie—you’re always trying to convince me to go that late, right?” Max laughed.

My heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t like I’d never gone out on a date with anyone else before. Max dated plenty of women. But for some reason, I just didn’t want him to know about Blue. Maybe it was because I felt so strongly about Blue, or maybe it was because I had been keeping him a secret for so long.

I didn’t usually lie to Max, but I had to trust my instincts.

“I will be, yes. I mean, with the party and cleaning up and everything.”

“I can help you with that.”

“Max, really I think it would be best if I just stayed in after that. I’ll probably be pretty tired.”

“Okay, then we could rent a movie.”

I found it a little odd that he was being so insistent. I wondered if he suspected something.
Alright, Samantha, now you’re just being paranoid.

“What’s wrong, Max? Don’t you have someone to bring to the dinner party?”

“Oh, well—I wasn’t planning to bring anyone. I figured I’d just enjoy the time with you.”

“That’s so sweet.” I cringed. How was he going to feel if I was spending all my time with Blue? “You can bring someone, though, if you like. Janice is bringing her boyfriend.”

“Alright then. I’ll make other plans for after the party, I suppose. But if you’re up for it just let me know, okay?”

“Sure. I’m looking forward to this.”

“I’m glad. You’ll be great.”

I laughed a little and expected him to follow up his compliment with a playful insult. Instead, he just hung up the phone.

How interesting.
Max, what are you up to?

I stood up and walked into the kitchen. I wanted to double-check to make sure I hadn’t forgotten anything at the grocery store.

I was so excited about meeting Blue that I wasn’t sure how I was going to make it to Saturday.

The rest of the week flew by.

I had several shifts at Fluff and Stuff with mostly happy customers.

I had a brief taco splurge with Max at midnight after a long writing session.

I had the chance to hook up with my writing group to get a few tips on how my book was progressing.

When I woke up on Saturday morning, I felt like there hadn’t been enough time to prepare for the party. I was fairly certain that I was not going to have everything ready on time.

Instead of freaking out as I normally would have, I read over what I’d posted to my blog. I hadn’t heard from Blue all week. I was really hoping that he would text me or call me, but he seemed to be respecting the fact that I’d not invited him to do so.

Max, on the other hand, was all over me about Saturday night. I had the feeling that Janice told him I was inviting someone I was interested in.

It was time to push all of that out of my head and focus on what really mattered—the meal.

Chapter 6

I wanted the sauce to be perfect, so I started it early. That would give it plenty of time to simmer.

I pulled down the nice dishes from the high shelves in the kitchen cabinets. I cleaned the new wine glasses and managed to not drop any of them. So far things were going fairly well—at least that was what I was chanting in my mind.

The sauce had to be just right. It was what would tie the whole meal together. I wanted to be sure that everything was delicious.

I could smell the rolls baking.

In the back of my mind I ran through a checklist of what still needed to be done. I knew that it was going to be a bit of a tight squeeze at the table, so I’d decided to put some of the food out on the breakfast bar. I could serve it throughout the meal.

I was trying very hard to focus on the food I was preparing, but my mind kept drifting back to Blue and whether or not he was really going to show up. No matter how the food turned out, I was going to meet him for the first time. That was something that made my stomach turn somersaults.

I couldn’t wait to look into his eyes—this man who knew more about me than anyone in my life—maybe even more than Max these days.

Would it be love at first sight?

It was strange that I felt as if I already knew him so well and yet I couldn’t summon up an image of his face—I still had no idea what he looked like.

I studied the recipe for the sauce yet again. It was about the fifth time that I’d read it. The way it was worded was very confusing. Everything was a pinch of this, or some of that. What did that even mean?

I regretted not choosing a different recipe, but there was no time left to change it now. I had to get the Alfredo sauce just right. The noodles were supposed to come out of the pot just before they got too soft. Then there were the rolls I had made from scratch that had to be brushed with butter and a touch of honey.

My kitchen looked like my bag of flour had a bomb in it that had exploded. I had an hour to get things under control and the sinking feeling that I wasn’t going to be able to make it happen.

I grabbed a stick of butter, half of which was meant to go into the sauce. My hand was slippery from greasing the cookie sheet for the rolls and so the butter slipped right out of my hand and into the soapy dishwater—I’d been trying to keep up with the dishes as I cooked so that I would not have a huge mess when I was done.

I fished the butter out and eyed it suspiciously. It was still wrapped up. I was hoping that none of the soapy water had gotten to the butter. There was only one way to tell.

I unwrapped the butter. I sniffed it. It didn’t smell like soap. I was still nervous about using it in the sauce, which had begun to boil. I quickly turned it down before the milk could turn. I was getting more and more anxious as the minutes crept by.

All of a sudden—well, I couldn’t help myself—I licked the butter. It wasn’t just a tip of my tongue lick, it was a full-on lick. Not only did I feel appalled by my own action, but the butter definitely tasted like soap. I choked on the taste and tried to spit it into the trashcan.

My phone began ringing as I tossed the butter into the garbage. I snatched it up because I didn’t want to take a chance on missing a call from Blue—only my greasy hands had other ideas. My phone went flying right out of them.

It nearly landed in the soapy water, but instead clattered into the metal sink, right in the middle of a big pile of flour.

I wrapped my hand up in a towel and picked up my phone carefully. My heart raced. I wondered if it might be Blue. Part of me wanted it to be—a bigger part of me was terrified that he had decided to show up early. When I saw Max’s name on the caller ID, I was relieved.

“Hello?”

“Just wanted to check on how you’re doing.” Max’s soothing voice made me slow down and take a breath.

“Uh—well, it’s coming along.”

“Okay. Do you need help with anything?”

“I can handle it.”

“I know you can, but do you want me to come over early and help you get the food ready—or just keep you company?”

“No, I’m doing okay. Thanks for the offer, though.”

Now I was hoping that Blue would show up early and I might have a few minutes alone with him. But as the time ticked by, the chance of that happening appeared less and less likely.

Not long after Max’s phone call, my friends began to arrive. I welcomed them with some snacks and full glasses of wine.

As I watched my friends chatting and laughing, I had a hard time joining in. My eyes kept traveling toward the door. Not only had Max not arrived, neither had Blue. The two people I considered most important in my life hadn’t even bothered to show up. I was more than a little disappointed. I glanced at the clock and reminded myself that it was still early.

I turned my attention back to the food that I was cooking.

Chapter 7

While I focused on the sauce, I thought about Blue.

Maybe he had gotten lost. Had I possibly given him the wrong address? Had he gotten cold feet?

And what was Max’s excuse?

I heard a horn blare outside the apartment. Maybe I’d forgotten to give Blue the apartment number. Maybe he was driving around in circles looking for the apartment and was beeping the horn in an attempt to get my attention. I ran to the window and looked out, filled with hope.

I was disappointed to see a truck beeping at a biker to get out of the way. I stared out the window a few minutes longer. I wanted to see some kind of sign of Blue’s arrival, not that I would be able to recognize him if I saw him.

“Uh, is something burning?” Janice asked.

I looked over at her. She was snuggled up to her boyfriend. The two seemed so in love that it was beginning to get a little irritating.

I sniffed the air and realized that she was right. I smelled something burning too.

“The sauce!” I ran into the kitchen towards the pot. The sauce was simmering just fine. Smoke was curling out of the oven door. “Oh, no—the rolls!” I sighed and shook my head. “I’m sorry, guys, I forgot about the rolls.” I quickly shut off the oven. Then I opened the oven door to see what damage had been done. The moment I opened it, a cloud of smoke billowed out. I coughed as it flooded my nose and mouth. My guests began coughing as well.

The smoke that poured out of the oven was enough to blacken the kitchen. My dinner guests fled out the front door, which also began spewing out the dark smoke. Instead of being wise enough to head out the door as well, I tried to solve the problem by getting the burnt rolls out of the oven.

When I tried to grab the pan, it seared right through the oven mitt I was wearing. I dropped the pan to the floor with a loud clatter.

In the middle of everything, I was vaguely aware of sirens approaching. I didn’t really pay attention to them, because there was no good reason for a fire truck to be sent out over some burnt rolls and smoke. Even when I heard the sirens blaring right outside the door, I was more preoccupied with trying to get the kitchen window open than I was with the sound.

My fleeing friends were calling me from outside the door, but I thought they were overreacting. I didn’t want to give up on my dinner yet. I was sure that Blue would walk in at just that moment and I would be mortified by the chaos I’d created. However, when I heard heavy footsteps pounding into the apartment, I turned not to find Blue, but to find a stream of water shooting directly at me.

“Ah!” I tried to jump back but my foot landed on the pan of burnt biscuits. Since water was already gathering on the floor from the hose, the pan slid quite easily across the tiled floor. My legs flew up into the air and I landed flat on my back with the water washing over me.

“Ma’am, ma’am, are you okay?” The hose shut off and a fireman ran toward me.

I had had plenty of fantasies about firemen in the past—strapping handsome men scooping me up out of my bed and whisking me away to safety. What I had not fantasized about was me sprawled out on the kitchen floor in a puddle of water and burnt dough with a frightening masked man hovering over me.

He grabbed me rather roughly and pulled me to my feet. Before even allowing me to explain, he rushed me out of the apartment.

“There’s no fire.” I stammered my words out, still a little shocked. “It’s just my rolls. I burnt my rolls!”

“We’ll decide if there’s a fire or not,” the fireman said and went back inside the apartment with a few others.

I felt sick to my stomach, possibly from all of the smoke inhalation, more than likely because of falling on my rear end and embarrassing myself.

“You okay, Samantha?” Janice asked.

She looked at me, not with sympathy, but with pity—I knew the difference.

“I think so.” The truth was, my bottom really hurt, but I wasn’t about to admit to that. “Who would call the fire department?”

“Oh, I’m so glad that you’re okay!” Ms. Bella’s shrill voice carried from where she hovered just inside her open door. “I saw all of the smoke and I was so worried about you, Samantha, since you’re usually in that apartment all alone.”

I did my best not to glare at her. Ms. Bella was a sweet elderly woman who liked to mention to me as many times as possible how sad she was for my living all alone—never mind that Ms. Bella lived all alone as well, unless you counted her two cats.

“There was no fire, Ms. Bella. It was just some burnt rolls.”

“Oh, dear. I could have sworn I saw flames.” She shook her head. “Oh, well, it’s better to be safe.”

I nodded just enough to appease her. Then I reluctantly spoke the words I knew that she was waiting to hear.

“Thank you, Ms. Bella.”

“You’re welcome, darling. Anything I can do to help.” She ducked back into her apartment and closed the door.

I tried not to be furious. Really, it wasn’t her fault. It was all my fault. I’d been so preoccupied with hoping that Blue was arriving that I hadn’t paid attention to the meal I was cooking.

Once I was alone, I sat down on a small bench and sighed. I was just starting to push away my negative thoughts when I heard a big crack of thunder from the sky. The rain began pouring down. I didn’t care; I was already soaked from the fire hose. The rain seemed fitting.