“Maybe,” Lisa said, shrugging slightly. “And maybe not. We’ll just have to wait and see. I hope he does, because it makes him so happy when he remembers something.”

As Lisa refilled the carafe with hot water and stocked up on tea bags for the tea drinkers who wanted a second cup, Hannah thought about what she’d said. The comment was typical of her kind-hearted partner who saw life’s cookie jar half full instead of half empty. Of course Lisa wanted to track down the recipe, but that was less important than making her father happy.

“Hannah?”

Hannah turned from the kitchen counter, where she was restocking one of the serving jars, to see Norman standing just inside the swinging door.

“Do you have a minute?” he asked.

“That’s exactly what I’ve got, one minute. We’re out of cookies and Lisa’s waiting for these. Just let me carry them out to her and I’ll have a lot more than one minute.”

“I’ll help,” Norman said, picking up two of the jars, one containing Molasses Crackles, and the other filled with Boggles. Hannah grabbed the jar with Lisa’s White Chocolate Supremes, and the one filled with Cinnamon Crisps, and off they went to the coffee shop.

With both of them carrying, it took only three trips to deliver the cookies. When they came back to the kitchen for the final time, Hannah poured them both a cup of coffee from the kitchen pot, and they sat down on stools at the work island.

“I don’t like Dean Lawrence,” Norman said out of the blue.

“Neither do I. He’s the type of person that makes me appreciate exposure at the city gates.”

Norman, who’d looked very serious up to that point, started to laugh. “He must have really gotten to you.”

“He did.”

“How?”

Hannah ticked the reasons off on her fingers. “He’s arrogant, condescending, and callous. He thinks Winnie Henderson is dumb just because she lives on a farm, and he called the people who live in Lake Eden local yokels. He steals other people’s ideas, he has no respect for anyone, and to top it off, he thinks he’s irresistible to women!”

“But other than that, you like him okay?”

Hannah’s jaw dropped open and then she giggled, something she hadn’t done since seventh grade. Norman was being sarcastic and she’d fallen for it. “You got me, Norman.”

“If only I did!” Norman sounded very serious and Hannah’s giggles stopped abruptly. “That’s one of the reasons I followed you into the kitchen. I need to talk to you in private.”

Hannah’s early warning system activated. If Ross was right and Norman was jealous, that jealousy might prod him into another declaration. “You’re not going to ask me to marry you again, are you?”