"No one harping on my curfew."

"No one cramping my style."

Mia looked at her.

Hope looked back.

Mia thought if she had to come up with one more thing, she was going to burst into tears right there. "Actually, I take back the donuts part."

"I knew it. You did eat them."

"Every last one," Mia said and heard the catch in her own voice. Ah, hell. "And I guess I should tell you… rap is growing on me."

"No."

"I think 50 Cent is a hottie."

Hope clapped a hand over her mouth, but the giggle escaped anyway, along with a tear. "I like it when you harp on my curfew. It means you care."

"Well, then I must care a helluva lot. I know you have to go, but I was hoping next summer-"

"Yes! And Christmas?"

"And Thanksgiving. I'll send plane tickets for every holiday."

Hope let out another laughing sob. "My mom-"

"I'll handle Sugar. I'll do whatever it takes."

Hope nodded and hugged Mia hard, streaking her black mascara and eyeliner mixed with the flour on her Dolce & Gabbana, and Mia didn't even care.

"I'm sorry," Tess said softly, hugging them both. "This is good. But we have to finish. I have to deliver."

Kevin's gaze touched over Mia's features, soft and warm for that one moment, as if he was happy for her. And proud of her for sharing her feelings.

Her throat burned, her heart ached. She wanted to tell him to sit down for this one, because there was more, much more that she wanted to share, but Tess the drill sergeant was standing over her.

"Resume duties!"

Grinding her teeth, Mia took a bowl from Tess and began mixing.

"Yikes." Tess looked into the bowl. "Honey, you have to commit to mixing-you can't just go halfway."

"She's not that great at committing," Hope said, smiling at her own quip. "It takes her a while."

Kevin shot Mia a look that said he most definitely agreed.

Tess worked on fixing the mixture. "You should have just told me you were bad at this and just walked away."

"Yeah, now that she is good at." This from Kevin's corner.

Tess went still. Everyone went still.

Hope glanced at Mia, waiting for her reaction.

Her reaction? That she couldn't do this. She couldn't even joke about what had been the best thing to ever happen to her, before she'd walked away, as Kevin so helpfully pointed out. She reached for her keys.

"Oh, no," Tess said. "You're not going anywhere."

"I've got to-" Fall apart. Cry. Kick my tires…

"I'll go." Kevin shouldered his way to the door, but Mike slapped a hand on it, keeping it closed, pointing to Tess.

"Oh, my God, oh, my God!" she cried.

"What?" Mia demanded, whipping back around. "Honey, what is it?"

Tess had been holding a bowl in the crook of her arm, whipping the contents with a whisk, which she'd lifted above the bowl and was peering at intensely. Specifically, between the steel twines, all covered in cookie dough, something sparkled.

Mike, watching Tess very carefully, set down his own bowl and dropped to his knees. Reaching up, he took the bowl from her hands.

Tess stared down at him as she reached into the whisk and pulled out the diamond ring.

A drop of cookie dough landed on Mike's nose.

"A ring," Hope whispered, stating the obvious. "A diamond ring!"

Tess dropped the whisk and brought the ring up to her mouth, sucking off the cookie dough. Then she looked down at Mike, letting out a laughing sob, and dropped to her knees too, leaning in to kiss the drop of cookie dough off his nose.

Mike signed something with his hands.

"Will you marry me," Hope whispered.

"How do you know what he's saying?" Mia whispered, her heart in her throat.

Hope beamed. "He's been teaching me."

Tess signed something back, and with his eyes suspiciously bright, Mike slid the ring on her finger.

They signed back and forth to each other.

"I didn't know-" Hope translated. "I thought we were going to wait- No, I don't want to wait, I don't want to ever wait. You're the love of my life. There's no one else, there will never be anyone else. I love you-" Hope broke off as they kissed. "That part is sort of self-explanatory."

Mia stared at Hope. "She said yes."

"Actually, I think she said, 'Oh, hell yes, yes, yes.' "

Tess laughed as she rose to her feet, swiping at her tears. "No more distractions! We have to get this done! You"-she pointed to Hope-"measure. You"-she pointed to Kevin-"mix! And you-" This was for Mia.

Mia lifted her hands and backed to the sink. "I'm on it. But, God, Tess."

Tess welled up again. "I know." She wrapped her arms around Mike, kissed him once and then shoved him away. "Later. We all celebrate later."


***

It was hours and hours before they finished, and in the end they all sat on the kitchen floor, covered in various ingredients, exhausted.

Except Hope. She looked at her watch. "I'm going to go meet Cole. 'Kay?" she asked Mia.

" 'Kay," Mia said. She had her eyes closed, head back against the cupboard. "Where at?"

"Dairy Queen. He's working there."

"Put out the word that Tess is hiring. She'll pay good for hard-working teens to work a couple of hours every afternoon."

"I don't know about good," Tess said. "But I'm a kind, patient boss."

Everyone snorted.

Hope left.

Mike rose and pulled Tess to her feet, kissed her, then pulled her out of the room, waving good-bye at Mia and Kevin, neither of whom had moved.

Finally, they were alone. "Kevin."

He opened his eyes but didn't move a muscle. His hair stood straight up; he had flour on one cheek and nose and across his chest. He looked like the sexiest, baddest, most adorable man she'd ever seen.

And she had to do this, had to do it right. "I wanted to talk to you."

He didn't move, didn't speak, but his eyes were on hers, dark and intense.

She shifted up to her knees and crawled over to him, hunkering back on her heels at his side, wishing he'd reach for her, touch her, smile. Anything. "First things first. About the new property for Cookie Madness. I bought the old drive-through restaurant."

"The what?"

"The building you house the teen center in. Tess and I wanted the huge kitchen. But as you know, there's another seven thousand square feet that I thought… you might want to… damn it. I want you to have it for the teen center. You can lease it if you'd like, or owe me, or don't pay at all, for all I care, but it's a done deal." She took a breath, and then another. "Are you going to say anything?"

He blinked once. "I'm not sure."

"Okay." Fair enough, she thought, as she hadn't ever said much. Or enough. "Second, about what I said to you the morning after we first, um…"

"Fucked?"

"Made love."

He arched a brow.

"I know, look at me maturing right before your very eyes."

His lips quirked, but that was all. No warmth, no affection… just a bone-deep terrifying nothing. She closed her eyes, then opened them. "That morning, I was scared."

She would have sworn that caused a flicker in his gaze, and warmed by that, she sped up. "You reached into a part of me and made me feel things I didn't know I could feel anymore. See, I thought I had it all closed off. So I pushed you away, thinking it would be easiest. I said you were bad in bed. You… uh, weren't."

"I know."

She stared at him, absorbed the cocky words, and had to laugh. Hope might be the one taking classes this summer, but the truth was, Mia was the one getting several life lessons. One, there was something a little terrifying and a lot arousing about a man so damn sure of himself. Two, keeping a man like that would never be boring.

And three, she'd missed him with all she had, heart and soul. She missed him so damn much she didn't want to be alone tonight. Or any night. She wanted him in the same bed, in the same house.

Day in and day out. "And then you kept wanting more," she said. "And even though in theory it sounded exciting and right and good, I wasn't ready."

"I tried to give you the time you needed. I even understood your need to have it. I just couldn't take it anymore."

"So were you always on to me?" she asked. "From the beginning?"

He nodded.

"See," she said with a catch in her throat. "That's what gets me, right there. You saw right through me and my neurosis, and you still liked me."

That brought out a smile. "How do you know I like you?"

"You-you said."

"That's right." His voice was low and so achingly familiar she wanted to crawl into his lap, but he still hadn't touched her. "I said. I always say what I mean, Mia. What I feel. No pretense. No hidden meaning. No games."

"I know." Oh, God, her voice cracked now. Her eyes burned. "That's new for me. But, Kevin, it's very, very welcome."

"So welcome you walked away."

"Actually, technically, I believe it was you who walked," she said much lighter than she felt.

"Whatever lets you sleep at night," he said wearily and closed his eyes again.

She looked into his face, rugged, rangy, tough, and yet kind. The kindest face she'd ever known. He gave and gave and gave, to his family, to his students, to anyone who was in need.

Who gave to him?

She sure as hell hadn't, and the shame of that nearly choked her. "I'm not. Sleeping at night," she added.

His eyes opened again.