“Yes, I would like to go out for breakfast. What time?”

“Pick you up at eight, or might seven thirty be better? You are a morning person, right?”

“I’m usually walking with MJ at seven thirty so I guess you can call me a lark.”

“That sounds better than ‘morning person.’ I love the song of the larks out in the field in the morning.”

Roxie chuckled. “Me too, though we don’t hear them often around here. So, see you at seven thirty?”

“Good. Although if I had my druthers, we would be eating together out on my deck. Mornings, the lake is beyond beautiful.”

“Rich.” Even her fingers tingled. “I—I’ll see you at seven thirty…here.”

“Sorry if I offended you.”

“Oh, believe me, you did not offend me.”

“Uh-oh, gotta go, wouldn’t you know he’d be early. Sleep well.”

Roxie stared at her phone. Had they really had this conversation? To quote her Norwegian grandmother, “Don’t that put the sizzle in the meat!”

The sun was nearing the horizon when Loren and Nate returned, both of them beaming. They came in the kitchen with her laughing at something he had said. Seeing Loren laugh out loud always made Roxie’s heart sing.

“Oh, Mom, the lake was so beautiful, just enough white caps to sparkle. We need to bike over there more often.”

Roxie watched the look on Nate’s face. Yep, besotted. “I made lemon iced tea, figured you’d be thirsty.”

Loren smiled at him over her shoulder as she opened the refrigerator door. “We have chilled bottle water if you’d rather.”

“Lemon iced tea sounds good, thanks.” At the same time he reached for a cookie, giving Roxie a questioning look. He grinned at her when she nodded and one bite equaled half a cookie.

Sir Charles greeted him with his usual exuberance and Juno paraded past with her nose in the air. Snubbed, typical cat style. At least she didn’t run and hide.

“We have rocky road, vanilla bean, or mint chip ice cream, so what is your flavor and would you like chocolate syrup drizzled on top?”

“Choices even?”

Roxie nodded. “I’m having rocky road, Loren usually has vanilla bean, so what would you like?”

“Rocky road and vanilla bean.”

“Hmm, that sounds good. Me too.”

“Drizzle?” Loren asked.

“Why not? Splurge all the way. And just-baked cookies. Dessert fit for a king.”

“You want to be king?”

“Not really but I feel like one.” Nate grinned at her. “I’ve learned that living alone makes for a simpler life, like with cooking and, well, everything. Fast food is too easy to go for.”

“Let’s go outside,” Loren said as she and Roxie finished the dishing up. Around the table with a plate of cookies in the center, they finished off the sundaes in short order.

“Pretty soon the days will start getting shorter again.” Nate looked toward the west, where oranges, reds, and yellows ribboned the sky. The clouds right above them wore shades of pink into purple. “Spectacular.” He reached for another cookie and eyed it. “These should be outlawed, they are so good.”