The Little Things

Chapter Three

I walked down the stairs to find Cole standing in the kitchen with a beautifully decorated cake and a vase full of flowers on the counter.

    "Hey," I laughed.

    His head jerked up, his eyes locking with mine. "Sleep alright?"

    I walked over to him. "Mhm, what's this for?"

    "You," he whispered. "D-Do you like it?"

    "It's so pretty," I whispered. His nervous stuttering was cute, I liked that I made him nervous. I felt I had some sort of power that I had never had.

    He took a step closer to me and placed his hand on the side of my neck. Okay. Maybe he was faking the nervousness. I felt my heart rate quicken.

"Not as pretty as you though," He whispered.

I looked up into his eyes, I never noticed the small gold flecks in his hazel eyes. Time seemed to stop. Until a screeching noise filled the room. I backed away from Cole and sat down at the island.

    "Sorry," Mary whispered. "I thought you two were outside."

    "It's fine," I replied. I stuck my finger in the frosting and tasted it. It was light and fresh with a vanilla taste. I looked at Cole who was giving me a look, he was stuck in the moment.

    "I was thinking about making soup tonight with the leftover vegetables," she explained. "Does that sound alright?"

    "Yeah, of course," I answered. "Sounds delicious, right Cole?" He had been staring at the mark I made on the cake since I made it, his OCD was taking hold of him.

He just nodded. "Mhm."

"Oh, I'm sorry Hon, I didn't think that would upset you," I laughed. He was like a little child with some things. I took a knife and fixed the small divot with one swipe. He finally looked up from the cake and at me.

"Nicknames already?" Mary laughed.

"I call everyone Hon," I argued.

Mary smiled. "Whatever you say Hon." She took the vegetables out of her basket and set them down. "I'm still sorry I interrupted Cole, maybe tomorrow you can cut the cake when I'm gone." She gave him a small wink. I had no idea what that was about, I might have to do some investigating.

Cole cleared his throat. "Yeah, I probably will," he replied. "Well, I should go check on the horses." He started to walk out the door.

"I'll come with," I answered. I ran out the door after him. The horses got their afternoon hay and grain. We then filled their water up. Cole shook the bucket and water splashed onto me.

"Cole!" I shrieked. "Now I have to go home and change."

He laughed. "I'm sure Mary has something you could borrow. Aren't you staying the night here anyway?"

"I wasn't planning on it," I mumbled. "Maybe, only if I get too drunk to go home."

"Challenge accepted," he said.

I didn't know what he was talking about so I just went along with it and filled up Ashing's water. Ashing was my horse that I kept here. He was a beautiful nightmare-ish horse of all black.

We eventually made it back in the house, Kade was back from his meeting. Mary gave me a dress so I didn't have to wear my wet one. All four of us sat down at the dining table and ate the dinner Mary had made.

"Thank you for having me for dinner," I smiled.

Mary nodded. "You know you're always welcome here. Same with you Cole." She turned to Kade. "How was the meeting Sweetheart?"