I decide to go over to The Cookie Jar during my break to see my new fiancee. When I get to the back door, I knock. I see her look through the peep hole.

When she opens the back door I say,
"Good job remembering to look through the peep hole." In response she just hugs me.

"Hi." Hannah says, her voice muffled because she's still hugging me.

"What are you baking?" I ask.

"Lemon bar cookies and they're just about cool. Want one?"

"Yeah. Have you made those before?"

" Yes. You've just never been around to try it." With that, Hannah lets go of me and puts a bar cookie on a plate while I sit at the workstation. I try it.

"This is amazing! I found my new favorite." I say after I try it.

"Mike, you have a new favorite every day." Hannah says while laughing.

"Yes, but these are my favorite. When was the last time you made these?" I question, mentally going through our time together, trying to figure out the last time I was not around for an extended amount of time.

"Do you remmeber our first fight? The one just before Norman left town?"

"Yes."

"Durring that fight. That was the last time I made these. You never came here so you never tried these."

There's a knock on the back door.

"Its Andrea." Hannah says.

"How do you know that?"

"Her knock." Hannah goes to get it. Andrea comes in is attracted to the bar cookies still in the pan.

"Can I have one?"

"Yes. Let me cut it for you." Hannah says as she cuts it.

"Mmm. What flavor are these?"  Andrea says after she finished her cookie.

"Lemon."

"What happened? Not a blowout fight between you and Mike, Norman didn't come back.... Who died?"

"No one died, Andrea. There were no fights. No body came back. I decided to make these because Lisa and I wanted to try something new in the shop."

"Andrea, why did you come to that conclusion?" I interject, attempting to understand. I am a detective after all.

"Everytime she makes this specific dessert, she is upset. When Dad died, when our family dog died, when her first cat died, when Grandmother died, durring the big blowout fight you guys had and you weren't coming around. I am sure there are many more times she made it that I don't remember." Andrea explains to me.

I look over at Hannah and see her shaking her head, carefully measuring out ingredients for whatever she is making next.

"You forgot when Tracey was in the NICU." Hannah adds, distractedly.

"Right. I guess I sort of blocked that time from my memory. That was hard for Bill and I."

"I remember. I was cooking and cleaning your house."

"Alright, I am meeting a client at a house in twenty minutes, I have to go. Bye, you two, see you at dinner in a couple days." Both Hannah and I wave as she leaves.

"Hannah, why was Tracey in the NICU?" I ask.

"She was born two months prematurely. She was there for a month, she wasn't able to breathe on her own, she wasn't eating right, and she was so tiny. Tinier than my forearm."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Durring that time, I had practically moved in with Andrea and Bill, I was spilting time between them and Mother and Michelle. Michelle was seventeen at the time and didn't spend too much time at the house. I was cooking for all of them." Hannah explains.

"So these are your comfort cookies?"

"Yes."

"Hannah, I hate to do this, but my break is almost over and Lonnie and I have to do the paperwork no one else wants to." I get up from my stool and walk around to the other side of her workstation and kiss her cheek.

"Text or call when you get off," she tells me as I walk out the back door.

"I will, don't worry," I give a final wave and walk out to my cruiser.

I decide to take Hannah on a date tonight becuase if she was making comfort cookies, then something is upsetting her. I think I will probably take her to The Cornor Tavern. Hannah and I both love double cheese burger with fries.

One of the things I love most about her, she eats. She eats whatever she wants whenever she wants. Most girls only eat salads and watch thier weight carefully, meanwhile Hannah eats.

Soon I am back at the station. I walk in and go to my office where Lonnie is waiting for me. He already got out the paperwork.

"That pile looks bigger than the last time I saw it," I tell my partner.

"Yes, it does. Anyway, I want to do this and get it over with." Lonnie starts spliting the pile in half, putting the top half on my desk.

The next four hours is spent doing paperwork. At some point Lonnie decides to grab us some water bottles of water and some snacks. While Lonnie does that, I get my phone out and text Hannah.

'Hi. How are you?' I text. A reply comes in instantly.

'Hey. I let Lisa off early. No one here so I am on resister duty.' Hannah replies.

'Tonight, are you free?'

'Should be, why?'

'I want to take you to the Cornor Tavern.'

'I'm free. Maybe we can go back to the condo later and watch a movie with Moishe.' I smile at the way Hannah includes her cat whenever we watch movies. It's like he is her son. It is adorable.

'That works.' At that point Lonnie comes back in with water and snacks.

"You ready to finish? Shelly and I have a movie date tonight." Lonnie says.

"I am ready to finish." I respond, taking a bottle of water and bag of chips.

Thankfully, there are not that many papers left.

I get out of there in half an hour. As soon as I get into my Hummer, I call Hannah.

"Hey, Mike," Hannah answers.

"Hi, Hannah. You still at work?" I ask.

She sighs, "Unfortantly, yes. I can't close up early, last week I did and the mayor and my mother lectured me about it."

"Do you want me to come over there and keep you company?"

"You don't have to. If you want, you can go back to the condo, change and wait for me." She tells me, "You do have a couple shirts and a pair or two of pants there."

"It would be faster for me to do that. I will do that then after I shower and change, if you aren't there yet, I will watch something with Moishe. By the way, do you want me to feed him when I get in or do you want to do it when you get home?"

"The only way you will get a peaceful shower is if you feed him, so go ahead. You know where the key to his food cabinet is."

"I will do that. You close in half an hour don't you?"

"Yes, I do. I will be able to just check that everything is off, clean the tables and stack the chairs then lock up."

"When will you be home?"

"In an hour and forty-five minutes." I can hear the smile in her voice.

"Perfect. When you get home do you want to go straight to the resturant?"

"Yes," She readily agrees and I can tell by her tone that she is already dreaming about the burger.

"See you in an hour and forty-five minutes," I tell her.

"See you then, Mike." She tells me.

"Bye, Hannah."

"Bye." We both hang up. I am almost ten minutes away from the condo. I pull in and park in Hannah's extra spot.

When I park, I unbuckle my seatbelt and get out of the car. I walk up the stairs and pick the key out.

The moment I unlock the door I brace myself to catch Moishe. I, unlike Hannah, don't tumble back when Moishe jumps at me.

"Are you hungry, Big Guy?" I ask the cat as I set him down to get his food. He follows me to the kitchen and watches me with disintrest as I grab his dish from the floor and place it on the counter. When I unlock the cabinet, however, he watches with intrest. I get the bag of food and reach in for the measuring cup Hannah keeps in there.

Moishe is a little over-weight, so the vet wants us to keep a close eye on how much we feed him and when.

I measure a cup and a half of the food and put it in his Garfield bowl before setting it on the floor for him. After I make sure he has plenty of water, I lock the bag back up and walk to Hannah's room. I get clothes out of her closet and go take my shower.

Twenty minutes later, I am out of the shower and dressed. I check my watch and see that Hannah shouldn't be home for at least and hour. I walk out to the living room and see Moishe sitting on the back of the couch, ready to watch something with me.

I laugh slightly and sit on the couch. I grab the remote and change the channel from the wildlife channel Hannah leaves on for Moishe to the comedy channel. My favorite comedian, George Lopez, is on. I settle in and prepare myself for an hour of laughing.

Soon Hannah is home and we head out.