“How? With what? Where’d you learn?”

He raised an eyebrow, one side of his mouth barely curling up in a smile. “Have you heard of this new thing, Ree? It’s called the internet. There’s so much information there—”

“Let me see,” she said, still disbelieving.

She followed him into the kitchen. And sure enough, cooling on the kitchen counter was a golden, flat, sourdough loaf.

“I made it with Al,” he said, “but something went wrong. It didn’t rise like yours.”

Reena pressed her finger into the crusty loaf. Good spring back. Crisp crust. True, it was a little flat, but it had some lift. She lowered her nose to smell the crust. Nice, slightly sour, nutty scent. Not bad for a first time.

“You made it with what?”

“Al. My all-purpose starter. Remember, the puppy from Brian’s litter you let me keep?”

“You kept that starter? And you named him Al ?”

“Yes, I told you I planned to keep it. I wanted a pet. I’ve been feeding him every day. Al’s quite robust.”

Reena tilted her head. This man. She’d spent the last four days wallowing in self-loathing, mind swirling with doubts about how he felt about her. And he’d spent it … figuring out how to make bread.

He was so strange. In all the same ways she was. They were a set. And, for now, at least, they should stay that way. She had to find a way to salvage this friendship. She opened her mouth to apologize for everything, when he interrupted her.

“I’m glad you came early. Before I say or do something else stupid, I wanted to say I’m sorry,” he said. “I shouldn’t have, I mean. I know everything I told you Monday came out wrong. I hate that I upset you. We had this boundary between us, and I overstepped it when I kissed you, and I’m sorry. I didn’t come on to you because of my dad. Or yours. You were warm and smelled so good and I just forgot everything and … ” He sighed.

He looked upset. And so weary. “Wait here,” he said. “I have to do this before I lose my nerve.”

He went into the living room, took a small white gift bag from the coffee table, and pulled a black velvet jewelry box out of the bag. Leaving the bag on the kitchen counter, he walked around until he stood in front of Reena.

He took a deep breath. “I took today off work and went shopping.” And then he did the unthinkable. Slowly, remarkably, eyes only on Reena’s, he lowered himself to one knee, and opened the box.

Inside, nestled in black velour, sat a beautiful, glimmering ring. A large, clear stone in the center, with several thin bands of rose gold and white gold dotted with tiny stones on each side of it. Reena’s eyes widened.

What. The. Hell. Reena tried to speak, but her tongue seemed to have grown three sizes.