Chapter 15 WESTLEY
TRICKSTER:
SOS
I frown down at the text on my phone, picking it up off the bench in a hurry.
ME:
What’s wrong?
TRICKSTER:
It’s Aurora. Mum’s trying to bake choc chip cookies. It’s not going well.
Stubborn woman. I knew she didn’t want to accept my help.
She’s independent, she’s done the whole parent thing entirely on her own, which is amazing, but it’s just baking some damn treats for God’s sake.
We’ve crossed paths a few times this week, but I don’t know if she’s giving me space because of Callie or if there’s something else on her mind.
I pop my head into Callie’s open bedroom door. She’s sitting in the middle of her bed, already in her pjs, her reading glasses perched on the end of her nose as she scrolls on her laptop.
“I’m popping over to Maevyn’s. Turns out she does need some assistance with the baking.”
“Okay,” she says without looking up. “Have fun.”
“You need anything before I go?” I linger in the doorway.
“I’m good. Go play hero.”
“Hardly heroic. It’s just baking.” I laugh, stepping away from her room. “Love you!”
In the kitchen, I find a shopping bag and start filling it with everything I need to make my favourite cookies, the ones Mum used to make when I was a kid.
I grab the recipe card from the box in my pantry, a big baking tray, some vanilla extract, icing sugar, cornflour, and a big container of sprinkles.
Hopefully, Maevyn has everything else we’ll need.
I make my way next door, and after knocking a few times, I’m greeted by Aurora with a streak of flour over her shoulder and a silent cry for help in her eyes.
“Thank you,” she gasps, then pushes the door open and pulls me inside.
“I wasn’t expecting it to be so…” The words die on my tongue as I take in the disaster area that was formerly their kitchen. “Bad.”
“Okay, I think it was the baking soda. I definitely didn’t read this as teaspoons.” Maevyn walks out of the pantry, staring at a piece of paper in her hand.
She has fuzzy socks pulled up her calves and tiny shorts just peeking out from under a button-up shirt that falls off one shoulder. Dishevelled has never looked so good. In fact, on her, it looks downright sexy.
“Need some help?” I drop my bag onto the barstool and not the benchtop covered in flour.
Maevyn’s gaze flies to mine. “West? What—ah—what are you doing here?”
“Face it, Mum. We need help,” Aurora says, sitting on the other barstool.
Maevyn takes a moment to look at the space around us, surveying the mess that stretches over every surface of their kitchen. I see the second she realises she’s in over her head, then she looks at me with a resigned sigh. “Turns out, I may have overestimated my baking abilities.”
“Again,” Aurora mutters beside me.
“Okay.” I clap my hands together. “First things first. Aurora, you go through the list in the bag and make sure we’ve got everything, and I’ll start cleaning the kitchen.”
Aurora starts searching through my bag, then dashes into their walk-in pantry.
“What do I do?” Maevyn asks, soft and sweet and unlike anything I’ve ever heard from her. I’m used to the fierce feminine side of her, not the vulnerable mum, and dammit, it just makes me want to know who she really is underneath all the layers she seems to hide behind.
I put my hands on either side of her shoulders, dropping down slightly to look directly into her eyes. “You clean the benchtop, and I’ll do the dishes.”
She nods, and I start to pull away, but then she grips my forearm. Her warm palm holds me in place as she looks at me from under long, dark lashes.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
“Don’t mention it.” My thumb rubs over her shoulder, where her shirt has slipped down, granting me access to the stars inked on the soft skin there.
“We’ve got everything,” Aurora says brightly, breaking the moment as she comes over to us, ingredients piled high in her arms.
I step over to the sink and start filling it with hot, soapy water so we’ve got clean mixing bowls and measuring cups, while Aurora and Maevyn get to work on clearing the island bench.
At some point, Aurora cues up a playlist, filling the kitchen with song after song that they both laugh and sing along to.
Both of them are terribly off-key, but still, something nestles comfortably in my chest as I watch them.
Like I’m right at home in their presence.
I stand between the two of them once we’re ready to start.
They each take a bowl, and we measure out two batches of my mum’s fairy bread cookie recipe.
Aurora is so much like her mum; show her the ropes and then step aside so she can do it herself.
She still checks with me at every step to make sure she’s doing it right, but she’s definitely got that drive in her to learn as much as she can to be able to do things independently.
I wonder if it stems from them being on their own.
Maevyn said she hasn’t had any help in raising her from day one.
I hate thinking of all the tough times she may have endured alone along the way, but at the same time, her strength and bravery are so damn hot.
Aurora tells me all about school, her new best friend, Ever, and the short film project they were just assigned. She earned her scholarship through the drama program, which is her favourite subject along with English. Definitely not sport.
Maevyn, on the other hand, needs a lot more guidance with assembling her cookie dough, not that I mind.
“So, I’m not just dumping this all in at once?” Maevyn asks, looking between the bowl of wet ingredients under the mixer and the bowl of dry ones in her hand.
I move to stand behind her, my hand covering hers where it hovers over the first bowl, the other on the mixer handle.
“You’re going to slowly sift this in.” I shake our hands together, letting the mixed flour fall into the bowl. “Then mix them together.”
I grab the bowl off the mixer base and hand her a wooden spoon. Covering her hand with mine, we stir all the ingredients together until they slowly fold into one.
“Then, repeat.” We do that two more times until the batter has completely formed, and then we add some of the sprinkles.
“How long do I put mine in for, West?” I look over my shoulder at Aurora crouching in front of the oven.
“Fifteen minutes, kiddo.”
Aurora nods, then pops her tray in the oven and sets a timer on her phone.
“Okay, now we’re going to get spoonfuls of the batter and roll them into balls.”
“Kinky,” Maevyn murmurs over her shoulder as she reaches across the bench for a spoon, an innocent move, I’m sure, if it didn’t cause her arse to brush against me. Right against my dick.
I suck in a breath and try to think of unsexy thoughts. Bathing Patch after that time he rolled in duck shit. Phil’s sweaty wrist wraps. Maevyn’s full, lush arse that I want to grip with both hands. No! That’s not unsexy, that’s the literal definition of sexy.
“Like this?” Maevyn shows me a perfectly formed ball of vanilla dough sitting in the palm of her hand.
“Yeah. Just like that.” My voice is breathy and raw. I should step away. We’re too close, but I can’t seem to get my feet to move.
Maevyn gestures for me to take it, and I welcome the distraction so I can get my head straight. We work in tandem, her rolling the dough, then me arranging them on the tray, flattening the tops with a fork.
When they’re all done, we place them in the oven and set another timer, then the three of us clean the entire kitchen again while we wait.
“Are we skipping dinner tonight?” Aurora asks as she finishes drying utensils and putting them away in the drawer.
Maevyn gasps. “Oh my god! I completely forgot about real food. I wasn’t expecting this to be the epic disaster it was.”
I pick up my phone from the bench. “What do you ladies feel like?”
A hand covers mine, stopping my movements but sending my pulse racing. “I’ll order us something. My thanks to you for helping us.” She sighs but smiles. “Again.”
“I’m always happy to help.”
“I know.” I like the way she says it. She doesn’t doubt me for a second; she accepts it, but what’s more, she’s starting to welcome it. “But it’s my treat. Please.”
I put my phone down on the bench. “Okay. Thank you.” I look over to Aurora, who’s watching us carefully. “But you ladies get to pick.”
Maevyn pulls up a food delivery app on her phone, then looks to her daughter. “You’re up, Superstar.”
Aurora hums as her head tilts side to side. “There’s that salad bar we ordered from the other week that was good.”
“It doesn’t have to be healthy. Anything you want.” Maevyn looks up at me now. “We tend to eat quite strictly during the week and then on the weekends… anything goes.”
“Really?” I’m smiling, and I don’t think she realises it has everything to do with her.
“Yeah, bro. That’s balance.” Aurora laughs.
“I think you two might be the coolest people I’ve ever met.”
“Mum,” Aurora calls, and both our eyes fall to her daughter. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“I think I might be.” Maevyn nods, but I have no clue what’s going on. I watch as she brings up a food delivery app on her phone, just as the timer goes off to check Aurora’s cookies.
They come out perfectly, so I transfer them to a cooling tray, and we get started on the frosting centre.
I supervise as Aurora mixes the icing sugar and butter until it looks light and fluffy.
She spoons the mixture onto every second cookie, then places an un-iced cookie on top, forming a little sandwich.
“And now, the best part.” I fill a bowl with more sprinkles, then roll the cookie in it, coating the exposed frosting sides in sprinkles.
“What are these exactly?” Maevyn asks as she looks over Aurora’s shoulder, who’s taken over finishing the cookies.
“Fairy bread melting moments. My mum used to make them all the time when I was a kid.”
“Does this look okay?” Aurora asks, holding up a cookie.
“It looks perfect, and it smells even better.” The scent of creamy butter and sweet, warm vanilla fills the kitchen. Aurora beams up at me.
She picks up her phone, holding it over her finished tray while she leans in to take a selfie with her finished product.
“You need to get in,” she says to me before she snaps a picture.
“Oh.” I lean down, smiling next to her. Something akin to pride and purpose echoes through me.
“Mum!” I look up and find Maevyn watching us with a sheen to her eyes, but just as quickly, she shoos the reaction away and leans down on Aurora’s other side.
“Ugh, now I can’t fit us all in.” Aurora moves her hand around, trying to stretch it in a way that fits the three of us and the cookies in the picture.
“I got it.” I take her phone from her and hold it in front. “Is that good?” I ask when I fit everything in the frame.
“Perfect.” Aurora’s smile stretches wider, and I snap the picture.
When I hand her back her phone, she looks down at it happily.
“Remember not to post those anywhere,” Maevyn says.
“I know, Mum.” It sounds like something they’ve discussed before, and I wonder why. I suppose it’s not uncommon for parents to limit their kids’ exposure on social media, but knowing how guarded Maevyn is with other things, I wonder if there’s more to the statement when it comes to Aurora.
When there’s a knock on the door, Maevyn answers it, and Aurora runs to the coffee table to set up plates and napkins.
“Chinese food?” I ask, as Maevyn places containers on the table and we all sit on the floor.
“It’s not the main dishes that make this special.” Maevyn removes the lids from containers of fried rice, lemon chicken, and sweet and sour pork.
“It’s these.” Aurora holds up a paper bag, then places a fortune cookie on each of our plates.
“Whenever something important or special happens, we mark the occasion with Chinese food, but more specifically, fortune cookies. Whatever message we get in our fortune cookies becomes a new mantra that we have to live by. That message is then forever tied to the memory.”
“Such as, you have to make room for control and chaos.” Maevyn crosses her arms over the table. “That’s why we have rules and routines during the week, and we go with the flow on weekends.”
“We got that message when Aunt Pres moved in with us.”
“I love this.” I pick up my fortune cookie. “Do you check the message at the start of the meal or at the end?”
“Always the end.” Aurora takes the cookie from my hand and puts it beside my plate. “We don’t want a bad message to spoil the meal.”
“Have you ever had a bad message?”
“No.” Aurora shakes her head. “But why risk it?”
“So what about tonight made it special enough for fortune cookies?”
“You,” Aurora says simply, causing my heart to jump to my throat. “We’re a pretty exclusive club, and it takes a lot to be initiated in. We gotta know you’ve got our level of cool first, and you definitely proved yourself tonight.”
I throw my head back and laugh. “Well, I’m honoured to have made the cut.”
Sitting on the floor of Maevyn’s living room, the three of us fill our plates and talk for almost an hour while we eat, until I’m damn near crawling out of my skin to finally see my message.
“Are we ready yet?” I ask impatiently.
Aurora holds up a finger, then turns to her mum. “Maevyn Willa Day, do you promise to abide by the fortune bestowed upon you?”
“I do.” Maevyn nods.
Aurora turns to me next. “Westley… what’s your full name?”
“Westley Kade Andrews.”
She nods, then continues to ask her question. “Westley Kade Andrews, do you promise to abide by the fortune bestowed upon you?”
I place a hand over my heart. “I do.”
“Aurora Lucy Day,” Maevyn starts. “Do you promise to abide by the fortune bestowed upon you?”
Aurora’s got two hands on her cookie, ready to crack the thing open. With a cheeky grin, she says, “I do.”
The three of us rush to open our cookies and pull out the slip of paper inside.
Aurora laughs as she holds her message up. “‘Say yes, then figure it out’.”
“Sounds like we’re already living that one,” I say with a smile.
“What did you get, West?”
I unroll my message, heart thumping wildly for something as silly as a fortune cookie message.
I swallow. “‘There are no rules when it comes to falling in love’.”
“Mum?”
My own thoughts spin as I stare down at the words I promised to live by. Ones that hit way too close to home. I grab my phone from my pocket and pull the case slightly back, tucking the message inside.
When I finally look up at Maevyn, she’s staring down at the paper in her hands with a look that’s bewildered and tortured all at once.
“Mother…” Aurora calls again, forcing Maevyn to shake her head.
“Um. ‘To be found, stop hiding’.”
“Well, that’s weird. Don’t know how you’re gonna manage that.” Aurora stands, gathering up our plates. “But you made the promise. Words to live by.”
Looks like life is about to get really interesting. Maybe a little complicated. Definitely unexpected.