LJ Maas - Rebecca’s Cove

Noah laughed again. “Yes, there is.”

Baylor struggled to open her eyes, with some success on the second attempt. “Hey, Bubba. Why are you so wide awake at this hour?”

“Pancakes.” He said the word, then smiled his large, toothy grin before pushing his glasses up. “Mom makes ’em.”

Hearing Hobie’s name, Baylor looked to the other side of the bed. Hobie lay asleep on her stomach, buried under a mound of sheets and blankets.

“Tell you what.” Baylor lowered her voice. “Why don’t you and I start breakfast and let your mom sleep a few minutes longer? What do you say?”

“Do you know what my favorite breakfast in the whole wide world is?”

“Chocolate-chip pancakes, of course.”

Noah’s eyes widened. “How’d you know that?”

“I know everything,” Baylor whispered and winked. “All right, give me a few minutes and I’ll meet you in the kitchen. Deal?”

“’Kay. Baylor, do you know how to make pancakes?”

“I’ve never actually made chocolate-chip ones before, but how hard can it be, right?”

“Right.” The youngster smiled and clambered off the bed. As promised, it only took Baylor a few minutes to wash her

face and try to smooth out her morning hair. Hobie had left her a toothbrush, still in its packaging, on the bathroom sink. On her way out of the bedroom, Baylor couldn’t resist going back to the bed and looking down at the sleeping redhead.

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Rebecca’s

Cove

What a lovesick dyke I’ve turned into, Baylor thought just before she bent down to place a gentle kiss on Hobie’s cheek.

“Hmm?” Hobie muttered. “What time is it?” she rasped in a throaty voice.

“It’s really early. Go back to sleep.” Baylor kissed her again. “’Kay,” Hobie replied and instantly drifted back to sleep. Baylor almost laughed aloud at the resemblance between

mother and son. She walked into the kitchen to find Noah perched on one of the high stools.

“Mom always lets me sit here and watch. I could help, though.”

“Have you ever helped before?” Baylor asked hopefully. “Uh-uh.” Noah shook his head.

“Then I think it’s probably better to have only one person in the kitchen at a time who doesn’t know where anything’s at.”

“You go for it, Baylor.” Noah had a giant smile, as if he thought this was the most adventurous thing in the world.

Baylor reached out and mussed the boy’s hair. “You know it, Bubba.”

It took a matter of moments to realize she was in over her head. Now Baylor prided herself on her culinary abilities, but Hobie’s kitchen was a lesson in futility. It was difficult enough to find all the necessary utensils, let alone the ingredients.

“Doesn’t your mom have pancake mix anywhere? Or maybe flour?”

Noah shrugged.

Baylor finally admitted defeat when she found buttons in the flour canister and a can of baking powder that looked like it had last been used during the Carter administration.

“You sure your mom is the one who makes these pancakes you always have?” Baylor muttered to herself. “Okay, Bubba, I have an idea. Your mom likes her coffee as much as I do. I know a surefire way for us to wake her up. Where does she keep the coffee?”

Hobie smiled and stretched as the morning sunlight sliced across the bed. She breathed in and smelled the rich odor of freshly

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LJ

Maas

brewed coffee. That was when she recalled who else was in the house with her. She remembered a time when she would have dashed into the shower, brushed her teeth, and put on makeup before letting her new bedroom partner see her. She couldn’t understand why she didn’t feel that same urgency now. It all felt so natural with Baylor.

She replaced her sleeping shirt with a longer one and went in search of the source of the delicious aroma. “Good morning.”

“Mornin’, Mom!” Noah hugged Hobie when she bent to kiss his cheek.

“Morning, Mom,” Baylor added, holding out a steaming mug of coffee.

“Thanks. Nice hairdo you’ve got going there.” Hobie pointed out the cowlick that Baylor couldn’t keep plastered down.

“Speak for yourself, bedhead.” Baylor smiled and ran her fingers through Hobie’s unruly locks. She was surprised. She had expected Hobie to walk out of the bedroom, but she wasn’t sure who this woman was. The previous evening’s confessions had caused her to look different today. As sappy as it sounded to Baylor’s own ears, she thought Hobie looked much more angelic.

She leaned in for a kiss, only to have Hobie pull back ever so slightly.

“I, um...” Hobie began.

Baylor looked at Noah, who was calmly watching them. She hadn’t thought about him being in the room, but Hobie obviously had. “Oh, I’m sorry, I—”

“No! No, it’s not that at all,” Hobie said with an embarrassed grin. She set down her coffee cup and backed away toward the bedroom. “I haven’t brushed my teeth yet. Be back in a sec.”

Baylor chuckled. She leaned against the counter beside Noah and sipped her coffee. She turned to him. “Women. Go figure,” she said and shook her head.

“Yeah,” Noah agreed, shaking his head the same way.

Hobie returned a few minutes later wearing a sheepish expression. “Do you think it’s humanly possible for me to embarrass myself any more this morning?”

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Rebecca’s

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“Not if you don’t count the fact that the back of your shirt is tucked into your underwear,” Baylor said casually.

“Aw, geez!” Hobie exclaimed, her face turning red. She quickly reached around and pulled it loose. “I must look—”

“Beautiful,” Baylor finished. “Right, Bubba?” “Yep! You look beautiful, Mom,” Noah added.

Hobie leaned her forehead against Baylor’s chest as Baylor wrapped her arms around her. “Thanks, guys. You two are good for my ego.” She tugged on Baylor’s T-shirt to get her attention. “Hey, you. Come on down here.”

Baylor bent down and Hobie sweetly kissed her lips. Noah giggled and Baylor opened one eye, finally pulling away. “What are you laughing at, huh?”

Noah pointed at Baylor. “You like Mom!”

“I do not!” Baylor winked at Hobie and mustered up a false expression of disgust.

“Do too. Baylor and Mom, sittin’ in a tree k-i-s-s-i-n-g...” “Oh, now you’re gonna get it.” Baylor moved toward the boy

just as he leaped from the chair.

Hobie watched as the two ran screaming and laughing through the house. “Hey, who wants chocolate-chip pancakes?” she asked after a few moments.

All action in the living room stopped. Baylor had let Noah pin her to the ground, but both turned their heads and answered. “Me, me!”

I’m not sure whether I just gained a lover or another kid, Hobie thought as she moved around the kitchen. The thought frightened her, but then again, the future always frightened Hobie.

She smiled as she listened to Baylor and Noah in the other room. How often did a woman find a partner who loved her child and whom her child loved in return? Did some kisses and a declaration of love necessarily mean a lifetime commitment, though? Would Baylor move to Ana Lia? Could she? Hobie thought about Chicago. The city was wonderful, with opportunities unavailable anywhere else, but did she want to raise Noah there?

Hobie sighed deeply. Now she wondered if falling in love with Baylor was a good thing.

“Hey.” Baylor slumped into the chaise lounge beside the pool, Arturo in her lap. He had been happy to see her, leaping into her arms the minute she had entered the house.

“Hey.” Juliana looked up from the manuscript she was reading. “Well?”

“Well what?” Baylor asked. “Don’t make me hurt you.”

“Hurt me? Oh, yeah. Like you tried to do last night? You hit like a girl.”

The two friends paused to look at each other and burst into laughter. They had been through much worse over the years than the previous night’s encounter. They had, and always would, remain friends, no matter what idiotic things they might say in the heat of the moment.

“About last night,” Baylor began, “you know...Well, I’m sorry, I just—”

“Don’t sweat it, mate. So,” Juliana drawled with a leering grin, “how was last night?”

Baylor grinned without realizing she had done so. “I guess that smile says it all. About damn time.” “No thanks to you.” Baylor laughed.

Juliana just kept smiling. One thing she would never reveal to Baylor was that she had played a part, albeit the tiniest part, in setting the two women up. Baylor didn’t like to be pushed. If she felt that she’d been manipulated in any way, she’d ruin her life and hurt Hobie just to spite everyone.

“So tell me the good parts,” Juliana said.

“It was all good, but not in the way you’re thinking.” “Did you tell her?”

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“Yep.” “Atta girl.”

“We spent the night together, but we slept...that’s all.” “Right,” Juliana said sarcastically. “I bet there was some

major snogging going on over there.”

“Nope, that’s the honest truth.” Baylor cleared her throat self-consciously. “We sort of agreed to wait, you know, take it slow. Till the cast is off, then we can—”

“You mean she said no.”

“Yeah, pretty much. I did everything but get on my knees and beg.”