Read Bliss and the Art of Forever (A Hope Springs Novel) for Free Online Page B

leaning her forehead against it and listening as Callum started the bike. Listening as he roared down the street. Listening until there was no more of him to hear.
    She would not do this to herself— she would not! —tease herself, torture herself, with something her leaving meant she couldn’t have. Even if she feared it might be the very thing she wanted.

TWO OWLS’ ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE BROWNIE CAKE
    For the cake:
    ½ pound room-temperature butter
    2 cups granulated sugar
    2 large eggs
    2 cups all-purpose flour
    1 teaspoon baking soda
    6 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
    ½ cup buttermilk
    ½ cup sour cream
    1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
    Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans and line with parchment paper, coating with nonstick spray.
    In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix until thoroughly combined.
    Into a medium bowl, sift the flour, the baking soda, and the cocoa powder.
    In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, the sour cream, and the vanilla.
    With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and the liquid ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg mixture in three alternating batches. Divide the batter evenly between the pans.
    Bake for 30–35 minutes, or until an inserted tester comes out clean from the center of the cakes, and the edges begin to pull away from the pans’ sides. Transfer the pans to a cooling rack. Once cooled, carefully remove the cakes.
    For the frosting:
    1 stick softened butter
    ¼ cup sifted Dutch-processed cocoa powder
    8 ounces cream cheese
    1 pound sifted powdered sugar
    2 tablespoons buttermilk
    1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    Using an electric mixer, combine the butter, the cocoa powder, and the cream cheese at low speed, mixing until thoroughly combined. Increase the speed to high and cream the mixture until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low, slowly adding the powdered sugar, the buttermilk, and the vanilla.
    Beat until the mixture is smooth. Frost the top of one cake layer. Cover with the second layer and spread the remaining frosting evenly over the top and the sides.

THREE
    “I’m so sorry I’m late.” Having hugged and helloed her way across the Two Owls Café dining room, Jean Dial tucked sunglasses with lenses the size of chrysanthemums into a nearly bottomless tote. A watch with a sunflower face battled two or three bracelets for real estate on her thin left wrist. She hung the bag on her chair back, but not before digging out two paperbacks. “Have you read either of these?”
    “Ooh, I don’t know. Let me take a look.” Brooklyn scanned the titles and gave the back copy a cursory glance—the settings were Wales, 1157, and York, 1069—then said, “I don’t think I have.” She set both in the seat of the chair beside her with her purse. “Thank you. And you’re not late. It’s five minutes till noon.”
    “I was at the hairdresser’s so long I guess it just feels that way. Pearl took a while to get started”—Jean patted the back of her silver bouffant, the charms on her bracelets jangling—“what with Maxine Mikels already in rollers and Peggy Butters getting a permanent wave. There was so much chatter, I’m surprised I didn’t come out looking like Bozo the Clown. Of course, it didn’t take Pearl long to finish, or me long to get out of there, once Shirley Drake came in and started carping on poor Vaughn. That man is a saint, yet all Shirley’s done since he retired is find fault with everything he doesn’t get done, and everything he does.”
    Though she’d lived in Hope Springs for thirteen years, Brooklyn had yet to give up the Austin salon she’d trusted with her hair since grad school. She needed little more than a monthly trim, and enjoyed catching up with her college roommate when in the city, but her relationship with her stylist was sacred. It would be easier to grow her hair down to her feet than replace