She couldn’t help the sense of pride that washed over her at his praise. “I’m glad you enjoyed it. It’s one of your father’s favorites.”
“And so are you.” The look in his eyes said she was one of his favorites now, too, but that could just be wishful thinking on her part.
“I thought I might stop at the hospital later and see him. If you think he’s up for it.”
“I bet he’d love it. Who wouldn’t want a beautiful woman visiting them?”
The instantaneous blush heated her cheeks.
It intensified when Adria walked out of the kitchen and spotted them. “Well, well, well, who’s your friend, Trinity?”
“Jon Crawford, this is my best friend and nosy partner, Adria McGrath. Adria, Jon.”
“McGrath?” He looked at her.
Adria held her hand out. “And sister-in-law.” She rubbed her hand over her round belly. “I’m sleeping with her oldest brother.”
Jon laughed again.
Trinity loved the sound of it.
“Drake. We went to school together. He was a year ahead of me. Declan a year behind me.”
Adria eyed him. “So that’s how you two know each other?”
Jon shook his head. “I saw her around, but I didn’t really know her back then. We’re getting to know each other now.”
Trinity got lost in the look in Jon’s eyes, but found some words for Adria. “Last night. I delivered the food to Mr. Crawford. Jon’s father.”
Jon took over the storytelling. “She dragged my father out of the house and into her car. He passed out from being sick. Pneumonia. We got him to the hospital. Just in time, from what the doctor told me this morning. If not for Trinity’s help last night, I don’t know how I’d have gotten through it.”
“Wow.” Adria looked at her. “Why didn’t you call and tell us you needed help at the Crawford place?”
“There wasn’t time. He needed to get to the hospital, and I tried to get him there as fast as possible.”
Jon stepped closer to her, though he didn’t touch her. Still, she felt every bit of his presence. “I came by to give her the update on my dad, who is doing very well this morning, and thank her for the help.”
Adria’s gaze bounced from him to Trinity and back. “Seems like you two hit it off.”
“We did.” Jon smiled at Trinity, and that flutter thing happened in her belly again. “I’m hoping she can help me out again right now.”
Trinity turned to him. “What do you need?”
He gave her a look that said a lot more than the words that came out of his mouth. “Double-chocolate brownies. Dad’s favorite. And I’m hoping to give a few to Emmy.”
“Who?” Adria asked, thinking there was some other woman maybe, judging by the side-eye she gave Jon.
“My daughter. She’s four and obsessed with chocolate anything.”
Trinity knew the feeling. Though she was starting to get addicted to the almost-too-good-to-be-true, dark-haired, blue-eyed man beside her. “I made several batches this morning. Let me put these in water, then I’ll wrap some up for you.” Trinity walked toward the back, but overheard Adria ask, “Would you like anything else?”
And Jon’s reply. “Her.”
She didn’t know how many more of these little bursts of excitement her belly could take.
Adria joined her in the big kitchen. “Oh. My. God. He’s. Hot!”
Trinity burst out laughing. “Your hormones are out of control.”
Adria took the teasing with a smile. “Trinity. Seriously. He’s . . . great.”
“I know.” And it scared her a little because it had been a long time since she’d been interested in anyone. And although she really wanted to get to know him better, he’d caught a glimpse of her crazy last night, and the last thing she wanted was for him to see the full-on version of the new reality she lived with and tried to hide from everyone.
“Please tell me you two have a date and a wedding planned.”
Trinity gaped at Adria. “I just met him.”
“Do not let him leave here without at least a dinner date set up.”
“He literally just moved to town yesterday. He might need a minute to settle in before he starts dating anyone.”
“You need to snatch him up before anyone else in town sees him and steals him.”
“Seriously, dial down the hormones. You’re all revved up. Maybe you should go home and”—she waved her hand back and forth in front of Adria’s body—“work off some of that energy.” She loved Adria, but she seriously didn’t need to know how the pregnancy made her all horny for her brother. Ew! But also, good for them. Yuck for her to hear about it.
But what were best friends for?
Still. Adria and her brother. Gross.
“I’m just saying, you’ve been . . . off lately. Maybe this is just what you need.”
Adria spent the most time with her. Trinity could hide her . . . symptoms from everyone else. But Adria caught the way she jumped when someone surprised her and how she constantly watched the customers and the door, looking for threats that weren’t there. Adria knew how hard it was for her to take the trash out to the dumpster in back where she’d been abducted.
Trinity rubbed her finger along the scar on her temple.
Adria caught her hand and held it. “Maybe what you need is a sexy distraction to get you out of your head.”
Adria had been that, and so much more, for Drake.
Trinity confessed a truth she couldn’t ignore. “I like him. A lot.”
“He seems to like you just as much. Don’t let the past stop you from living your life to the fullest. Clint is dead, Trinity. He can’t hurt you ever again. Unless you let him.”
Meaning if she let her nightmares keep her behind locked doors and a barred heart, Clint still won.
“Don’t keep Jon waiting too long.”
What Trinity heard was, “Don’t lose him because you’re too afraid to go out.” She spent most of her time in the shops or her apartment. She didn’t go anywhere else unless she absolutely had to, and even then, she spent the whole time on high alert for a threat she knew wasn’t really there.
Adria touched her shoulder. “I’ll go make sure everything is okay out front with the staff. You put those pretty flowers in water and pack up his order. I’ll let him know you’ll be out soon.”
Trinity stared at the flowers and wondered at the kind gesture and how open and honest Jon had been about wanting to see her again. “I can do this.”
She found a pretty vase in the office and set the flowers on the table while she packed up two containers of brownies. On Emmy’s, she wrote the little girl’s name vertically, then drew butterfly wings on each side and antennae over the top of the E.
She carried the boxes and her vase of flowers out to the front. She set the flowers next the register where she’d be able to admire them all day, then walked around the counter and met Jon in the middle of the shopping aisles where he stood looking at everything.
“This place is really great. Have you thought about expanding? I think people all over the country would love a store like this in their neighborhood. Everyone is so busy these days, they don’t want to do everything themselves all the time. This is a great alternative to takeout and delivery, and probably costs less than home delivery meal kits.”