𝑀𝓎 𝑀𝒶𝓃#1~When Love Lasts
Chapter 20

A few minutes later, after Cedric finished the dishes, he told me that he needed to head home to shower and that he would see me later on at his parent's house.

Now I'm once again alone in my home, sipping on a delicious cup of Carmel coffee and thinking about that missing woman.

Is that what could have happened to me? Now I'm starting to believe what I had originally thought. Someone broke in. That someone could have hurt me or kidnapped me like that poor lady. If I'm being honest with myself, I am kind of scared to sleep alone now.

But I'm a big girl. I'll make sure I secured all my windows and doors before heading to bed. I'll keep my bedroom door locked. That will give me a little time to at least wake up and run into my bathroom again.

I just hoped it worked a second time if anything happened again. Maybe I was wrong about Cedric. Might not be such an asshole as I originally thought. He didn't have to sleep over last night. He could have dropped me off and left me alone, but he didn't. He put up with the little attitude that I gave him and still slept over.

While I was waiting for my coffee to finish making, I ran into my bedroom to grab my phone, just in case Anna had texted me back. She didn't yet. She is probably still sleeping. I wouldn't blame her. I'd still be asleep if my alarm didn't go off. I should have turned it off last night before falling asleep, but I didn't think about it.

All my thoughts were on the bossy, annoying, cocky man laying on my couch. I'm surprised I could even fall asleep with him just a few feet away, but I accomplished it.

I'm still kind of upset that he kept something like that from me. I may understand why he did it, but it's not his place to make sure I can sleep well at night. I would have preferred he told me instead. Yes. It would have ruined my night of fun, but at least I would have been aware.

I'm off until tomorrow. I got lucky to have my first weekend off, my first week of work, but I will have to go to sleep early tonight. My hours are long. Ten hours.

I sighed, my headache finally starting to lessen as I head outside to sit on my porch with my second cup of coffee. When I open my door, I noticed a small package sitting in front of my door on my welcome mat.

That's strange. I don't remember ordering anything. I bite my top lip, while I try to think back on the weeks before I moved here, thinking maybe I did order something, but nothing comes up.

I bend down, pick up the package and forget about drinking my coffee outside. I'm curious as to what could be inside the box. I guess I did order something and just can't remember at the moment.

Setting the box on my kitchen counter, I reach over to the knife drawer and pull out a small one before turning back to the box. I start to slide my knife across the tape, being careful not to damage whatever could be inside.

I got all the tape off the sides, set the knife down, and open the box and see that there is another box, a smaller box inside.

What in the world?

With one hand, I picked up my knife and the other pulled the smaller box out. I cut the tap on that before tossing my knife on the table and pulling open the smaller box, hoping that a smaller box isn't inside that one.

I'll throw it away. I'm too hungover to be dealing with this today.

My eyes peer down into the box and see, again a smaller package sitting inside. No. Fuck that. I drop the box onto the counter out of frustration and put the knife back into the drawer and head into my living room. I'm not opening another box.

I don't even think I ordered anything. It's most likely someone else's package, but I don't feel like opening another package. Two was enough.

I leave the package on my counter, brought my cup to my mouth, and downed my now-cold coffee before putting it in the sink. That can wait for later, too.

Heading into my living room, I made a beeline for my couch and laid down, reaching toward my side table and grabbing my TV remote. I have a few hours until I have to head to the barbecue at Anna and Cedric's parent's house. I'll just replace a movie to watch, and maybe I will take a nap. My body feels like it needs one, anyway.

I noticed a movie on Prime Video called the Fall, put the trailer on and grabbed my purple throw blanket, and got comfy. It looks pretty darn good, so I decide to rent it for five dollars and ninety-nine cents. I don't rent many movies, too expensive for me, but it just looked that good.

I turn onto my stomach, lay my arms across and in front of me, and laid my head down on my arms. Immediately, the scent of leather and musk hit my nose. Damn, but that man smells good.

I tried for a good ten minutes to get comfortable, but it was no use. Cedric's smell was surrounding me, and I wasn't able to get him out of my mind. I sighed and threw my blanket off me, sat up, and put my face into my hands.

I stayed like that for a few minutes.

Then I decided that I can bake something to bring to the barbecue. It would need to be something that can be finished in a few hours but that would be a nice way to thank them for inviting me to for being kind.

I happily head into my kitchen and straight to my grandma's recipe box. It's a cute box. The original one that my grandma kept them in, was an older, dark wooden box that my grandpa built her. It wasn't the prettiest, but she loved it.

Over the years, it had gotten just too old, and it fell apart. I found a fresh box for them at a home store in my former town. This one's a light lavender color, with white flower blossoms.

My grandma would have loved this one too. In sure of it. Her favorite color, like mine, was anything purple.

Now I just have to decide what I'm going to make for them. Depending on the cake, they don't take that long to bake, but then I would have to decorate it and decorations take time. Time I wouldn't have if I needed to be there before noon.

I could make cupcakes, they are easy and take less time to decorate, but to me, cupcakes are something you bring to a party, not a barbecue party. A birthday party, yes. An anniversary party, yes again, but a barbecue cookout? No, not in my opinion.

A few minutes later and a little while of digging through my treasured recipes later, I found the perfect thing.

Thumbprint Cookies.

Prep time for that is only five minutes and the total time it takes is only forty minutes. I could go shower and dress while the cookies are in the oven and still have time to add the different jams on top.

With my plan set, I get to work.