Veritas by MJ Duncan

surprised to find that she did not resent Lauren for reminding her. She had spent the last few years remembering the happier times they had shared, the big moments that marked their years together, but she had forgotten about this. Had forgotten about how they would just sit up here and watch the sunrise. It was one of the little things that seemed insignificant, a simple routine that did not mean much in the grand scheme of things—but looking back on it now, Grey realized that it was the little things that meant the most.
    She swallowed around a lump in her throat and shook her head. How could I have forgotten about this?
    Lauren had no idea what made her turn to look at Grey , but the absolutely shattered look in the brunette’s eyes rocked her to her core. “Grey?”
    “I’m fine,” Grey murmured, closing her eyes and scrubbing a hand over her face. “I’m fine.”
    Grey was obviously anything but fine, but Lauren accepted the lie at face value, not wanting to push. “Right, well…I’m getting hungry. You wanna help me go make some waffles?” she asked, offering Grey both a distraction and an opportunity to be alone, depending on what she needed.
    Having something else to focus on sounded like a godsend, and Grey drew a shaky breath as she ran a hand through her hair. “Making waffles sounds great.”
    “Good.” Lauren nodded and pushed herself to her feet. “You can be my sous chef.”
    Grey smiled in spite of the pain that was radiating through her chest . “Oh, I can, can I?”
    “Absolutely. ” Lauren winked at Grey. “Besides, everybody who loves waffles needs to know how to make these. They’re orgasmic.”
    “Orgasmic, huh? ” Grey absently pressed her free hand to her chest, trying to ease the feeling of aching loss that threatened to cripple her.
    Lauren nodded. “Bet your ass.”
    “You sound pretty sure of yourself ,” Grey pointed out as she dropped her hand to her side.
    “Well, yeah,” Lauren scoffed as she turned and headed down the stairs. “I mean, I am pretty awesome.”
    Grey shook her head and followed Lauren into the galley, and she smiled when the redhead threw an apron at her. “You’re seriously going to make me cook?”
    “I am.” Lauren arched a brow challengingly at Grey.
    Grey slipped the apron over her head and tying the strings around her waist and gave Lauren a disbelieving look. “I could have sworn that I was paying you to cook the food.”
    Lauren pulled a large glass mixing bowl full of batter from the fridge and set it down besi de the waffle machine. “Come on. Orgasmic waffles do not cook themselves.”
    “ What does orgasmic mean?” a little voice piped up, making both Grey and Lauren jump.
    Reid wiggled himself up onto one of the barstools and looked at the two women expectantly.
    “It, um…” Grey muttered, shooting Lauren a desperate look begging for help.
    “It means really good,” Lauren explained, biting the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. “But, you should probably just say ‘really good’.”
    “Okay. ” Reid folded his arms on the counter and looked interestedly at the waffle machine. “Can I have a really good waffle?”
    “Absolutely, buddy. ” Grey smiled and plugged in the waffle machine. She turned to look at Lauren, whose shoulders were trembling with silent laughter, and shook her head as she muttered, “Way to teach the kid new vocabulary words, Murphy.”
    Lauren finally lost it at that, and started laughing as she grabbed the squeeze bottle full of the melted butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon mixture she would use for the cinnamon roll swirls and set it by the batter. “I know!” she hissed, glancing sideways at Grey. She laughed harder at the playful smirk Grey was giving her and shook her head. “Just…get ready to make some really good waffles, Wells.”
    “Right, because I’m paying you to put me to work,” Grey said, nodding sagely.
    Lauren grinned and slapped a ladle into Grey’s hand.