Chapter 45
CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE
JULIETTE
When I agreed to stay the weekend, I had no idea I would never want to leave. Ever. As I stand in the kitchen, Cade watches me intently. I’m creaming together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar to make chocolate chip cookies.
“What’s next?” he asks.
He’s sitting on the edge of the barstool, leaning all the way over, his mouth practically drooling as his eyes move around with the beaters, following their every twirl in the bowl.
I smile.
When Slade left an hour ago, claiming to need to be down at the clubhouse for a meeting, Cade and I were left staring at one another with no clue what to do. I thought about taking him to a movie but then decided we should probably do something where we could get to know one another better.
There was nothing in the kitchen to bake cookies with, something I thought might be a good icebreaker for our first time alone together. I didn’t want to tell him to just watch TV and ignore him. I want to get to know him better.
So I packed him up, and we went to the grocery store to get all the ingredients for chocolate chip cookies. I even let him get some white chocolate chips because he said he’d never had them before.
I may not know much about cooking, about families, about anything, really, that isn’t pain, fear, and running for my life. But Cade is a kid, a mature, smart, sweet kid, but still a kid. And since I don’t even remember what being a kid was like, I’m trying my hardest here.
So cookies.
Everyone loves cookies.
“Next, I crack two eggs and add some vanilla, then mix that together.”
He dips his chin in a single nod. “Do you think you could help me at all?” I ask.
I know he can. I also know that I don’t need any help, not a single ounce. But I want him to be involved, and this is the best way to do it. Sliding a large empty bowl toward him, I sink my teeth into my bottom lip as I try to hide my smile.
“I would love for you to mix the dry ingredients for me. That would be a huge help.”
His eyes spark with excitement. “We need two and a half cups of the flour for starters,” I instruct.
He reaches for the measuring cup and rips the bag of flour open. He makes short work of measuring the flour before he’s ready for the next ingredient.
“A teaspoon of both baking soda and salt,” I call out.
He does that, then I hand him a spoon. Slade didn’t have a whisk, which I’m not surprised at by any means. The things he has in the kitchen are very much rudimentary, which is more than I have, so I don’t judge.
“Add half of that to this creamed mixture, and I’ll beat it together,” I continue my instructions.
He does, then, once it’s mixed, he adds the other half. Once everything is incorporated, I look at the milk chocolate and white chocolate chips. “Do we do one, none, or both?” I ask.
His eyes widen, and they meet mine, searching. “I don’t know,” he whispers.
Reaching for the bags, I open both of them and take some of each out, holding my hand out for him. “Taste them,” I offer. “Then let me know.”
“Serious?” he asks.
“Serious,” I rasp.
Tipping my hand to the side, I let the chips fall into his waiting palm. I watch as he pops them into his mouth and begins to chew. Then he frowns, his eyes flicking to mine. “I like them mixed,” he states. “I think it’s going to taste good when they’re warm.”
He’s right. It is.
It’s going to taste amazing.
“Then we’ll do that,” I say with a single nod.
He pours in a cup of each, and I add a little extra. Thankfully, Slade did have a metal baking pan. So I use a spoon and scoop the dough onto it before sliding it into the oven. While they bake, Cade tells me about his favorite show. It’s an anime, something about pirates.
I don’t care about it at all, but I listen intently to every single word he says because he’s so excited about it, and not just that, he’s excited to tell me about it. I ask a few questions, and he talks to me about the fruit these pirates eat that gives them some kind of special powers.
When the cookies are ready, I take them out and let them cool for a moment on the pan before I move them over to a plate. There isn’t a cooling rack or anything here, so the plate is going to have to do.
I slide the plate across the bar, and Cade stops midsentence about the pirate anime, his eyes wide and focused on the warm cookies.
“They’re hot,” I warn.
“Can I have one?” he asks.
“Personally, I’d have two,” I say.
His head jerks up, his eyes find mine, and his lips part. “Two?” he exhales. “Wow.”
Without hesitation, he reaches for one, and I watch him bring it to his lips. He closes his eyes as he takes a bite, then lets out a moan as the chocolate hits his tongue. He chews, then swallows, before he opens his eyes again.
“The white and milk chocolate chips were the right choice.”
No. They weren’t the right choice. I mean, they probably were, and I’m going to find out in just a minute when I eat one, but making cookies with Cade…
That was the right choice.