Sugar and Spice and Oh, So Nice

Chapter 1

One

Clementine Baker rushed up the steps to her apartment.

Her arms burned from carrying six bags of groceries, but she didn’t have the time for multiple trips up and down three flights of stairs.

She readjusted her grip and thought in dismay that she should have double bagged a couple of them, though.

The new sack of sugar bumped up against her leg, far lower than it should, and Clem sucked in her breath.

Grocery bags were not meant to stretch that much.

Before she could make the decision to stop and readjust, the grocery bag split, and the bag of sugar tumbled down the stairs, bursting open in a spray of white.

“No!” she wailed. Sugar poured out of a tear in the bag and Clem let her head fall back.

She looked at the spiderwebs on the awning of the outdoor staircase as she listened to the rest of the sugar leave its package.

“You have got to be kidding me.” Now, on top of everything else she still needed to do, she would have to clean that up.

For a moment Clem considered letting it be, but she thought about her neighbor across the landing, who was a ballerina nursing a broken foot.

It was already rough enough for her to navigate outdoor stairwells — not to mention the rocky path to the parking lot.

Crutches on sugar was just asking for an accident.

“Gah!” Clem growled as she clomped up the rest of the stairs and dropped her items outside her door. Frustration settled on her, lowering her brow and leaving her feeling positively Scrooge-like. “Bah!” she corrected.

Clem’s expression was dark as she shoved open her door and stomped through her tiny apartment.

God, all she wanted was to spend the evening with a bottle of wine and a cooking competition show.

For one brief moment she considered texting her friends to cancel and just leaning into couch time.

Then she wrenched the broom from its place tucked next to the fridge, grumbling curse words as she returned to the stairway.

It was too late to cancel now, and besides, there hadn’t been any other evening that her friends could come over for their annual Christmas cookie making party.

She could have her couch time after they left.

Resigned, she picked up the paper sack, which was now mostly empty. All the sugar was in a mound on the step. She glanced over one shoulder, then the other — then over the railing to make sure no one was on the steps beneath her — before sweeping it off the edge of the stairs.

“I guess that’s one good thing about outdoor stairs,” she allowed. She took some satisfaction in watching the sugar rain down to the grass at the base of the apartment building. It was short lived, though, when her phone dinged and she read a text from her best friend, Lily.

On my way! Need me to get anything?

Clem groaned. She was just about to ask Lily to bring sugar — how can you have a cookie making party without sugar?

— when her gaze landed on all her things still sitting outside her apartment door.

Her lips pressed together in a flat line of annoyance.

The office Secret Santa exchange had happened today — after work — and Tanzy McGregor had given her a kitschy canister with the words The Secret Ingredient emblazoned across it.

There had been something in it, but Clem had been so taken aback by it that she had just nodded when Tanzy had held an arthritic finger up to tap the side of her nose and given Clem a knowing smile.

It had not gone over well with Clem, especially after she had sent out an email to over three thousand people in which she had misspelled a student’s name.

Even though she had sent out an immediate correction and she knew her boss would be over it by the next morning, he’d made his displeasure apparent by glaring at her whenever he looked her way.

It had pulled a storm cloud over her head, and Tanzy’s “mischievous” gift had not helped matters.

Now Clem did wonder what was actually in the container.

She trudged up the rest of the way to her apartment, thumping the broom on the steps behind her.

When she got to her door, she crouched, then wrenched the lid off the cylinder.

She took a pinch of what was inside and tentatively touched it to her tongue.

Sugar.

She closed her eyes and dropped her chin to her chest. Relief and annoyance warred within her. This definitely solved the immediate problem of not having enough sugar. She could let Lily know she didn’t need anything.

But what the heck, Tanzy?

A canister of sugar as your Secret Santa gift? Who did that? It screamed I don’t care! more than almost anything else could.

Clem looked down at the offending sugar canister now where it sat beside her doormat and sighed. She needed to get things together before her friends arrived.

The knock on her door pulled Clem from her fridge. She paused for a moment to see if the door would open or if she would have to go and answer it. Sure enough, she heard the knob turn and the door open with a friendly, “Hey Clem!”

Lily Gordon stepped into the apartment and turned to hang her coat on a hook. She ran a hand through shoulder length brown hair, then straightened her red Christmas sweater. Clem grinned at her, feeling glad for the first time since lunch.

“Hey, I’m glad you’re here.”

“I know I’m early, but I figured I could help with any last minute set up.” She looked around Clem’s apartment. “Not that you need any help.”

Clem followed her gaze and let some smugness creep into her grin.

Her place was small, only bigger than a studio because it had an official bedroom, but it was homey and cozy and already decorated for the holidays.

Christmas lights twinkled along her balcony outside, and inside a small tree was set up on an end table.

A Christmas throw was tossed over the back of the couch.

Her table was set up with dishes of snacks and finger foods, and her kitchen counter was lined up with all the ingredients they would need for their recipes.

“Damn,” Lily said. Clem heard the admiration and appreciated it. “You really do know how to get yourself set up for a party.”

“And that’s on planning ahead.” Clem’s laugh turned into a sigh. “Lils, you will not believe the day I had.”

Lily looked up from where she was scrolling through playlists on her phone. Her eyes were wide and a laugh bubbled out of her. “Dude. What was with Tanzy McGregor’s gift?”

“Thank you!” Clem noted the music Lily had selected and nodded in approval. “I thought I was going crazy for a minute when I opened it.”

“It just felt like she didn’t put any thought into it at all,” Lily said, totally validating the disappointment Clem had felt when she opened it.

“Well, thank goodness she didn’t, because guess what we have to use for our sugar tonight.” Clem did her best Vanna White to highlight the sugar canister on the counter.

“Shut up,” Lily laughed. “Are you for real? So it really was sugar in there? And you’re actually using it?”

“I mean, there’s a very good reason to.” Clem relayed her distress about losing the new sack of sugar.

“You know I would have picked some up on the way.”

“I do. But then you wouldn’t have been early and we couldn’t have hung out and talked about how it’s so obvious that Tim has a thing for Mary.”

“Ohmygosh, isn’t it?”

It was such a gift that she and her best friend worked in the same office, where they worked in fundraising for a private school.

It had been Clem who had given Lily the tip about an opening two years before, and she was forever grateful that her boss had seen how qualified Lily was for the position.

Clem wasn’t a person who could call strangers and ask for money, but Lily sure was.

Her presence made the office dynamics more bearable for Clem.

They took ten minutes to gossip about about how Tim and Mary just needed to admit their feelings and get on with it already. “I mean, if you have someone you feel that connected to, you need to grab with both hands and not let go,” Clem declared.

“Speaking of which …” Lily’s voice took on a tone that set Clem immediately on edge.

“…Yes…?”

“Well, there’s that new girl in admissions.” At the look on Clem’s face Lily put her hands out and rushed to continue. “No, listen! I was talking with her at lunch yesterday and she causally dropped that she and her girlfriend had broken up a few months ago and I just thought —”

The doorbell rang, cutting her off and interrupting the chance for Clem to reply.

The door opened, and a woman with red hair thrown into a messy bun entered.

She had on a lime green Christmas sweater and jeans with heels, and victoriously held up a bottle of wine as she entered.

“Damn, Clem, I always forget about those stairs,” she huffed.

“But I am still upright and I didn’t drop the wine! ”

“Very grateful on both counts, Darcy,” Clem chuckled. She went to take the wine and hug her friend hello.

Darcy McCoy threw two peace signs up and cheesed in a wide grin, then raised an eyebrow. “So, what conversation did I just step into?”

Before either Clem or Lily could respond, the door opened again, revealing Vanessa Clemons and Jules Hartman, the last two of the group.

“Whoa,” Jules said when the door bumped into her. “We’re all in the same four square feet. I love being so close to everyone.”

It was an exaggeration, but only slightly. Clem stepped back to allow everyone else into the apartment. “I’m happy you guys are here.” She held Darcy’s wine aloft. “Darce brought some wine, so we can get going with this.”

Vanessa and Jules looked at each other in faux concern, then each held a wine bottle in the air. “We brought wine, too.”

They all laughed, and Clem gestured that they should follow her. She picked the bottle opener off the counter and passed it around. “Might as well open them all now. That way everyone can have their preference.”

“Now,” Darcy said after pouring herself a glass of wine. “You were about to tell me what conversation I stepped into when I got here.” She pointed between Clem and Lily with her wine glass.

“Were we?” Clem’s voice was innocent. “I don’t remember that.” She sat at the table and opened one of the Christmas cookie books there.

“Oooh.” Vanessa sat and opened another book, but her interest was piqued. “Do tell.”

“There’s nothing to tell,” Clem insisted.

“Might as well give in, Clem.” Jules plopped into a chair beside Vanessa and threw an arm across her shoulders.

“She’s like a dog with a bone, this one.

” Jules dropped a kiss just beneath Vanessa’s ear, then shot Clem a pitying look before sliding the book from in front of Vanessa to in front of her.

Clem took a moment to appreciate how much Jules was glowing.

It seems Vanessa had been the perfect nurse after her gender affirming surgery.

With all that time together, the two had flowed from roommates to dating with an ease that felt like a sigh, like pieces finally settling into their place.

“I second Jules.” Lily picked her favorite recipe book off the table and opened it to a well worn page.

She didn’t actually need the recipe, since she had made these peppermint bark cookies too many times to count, but that didn’t mean she didn’t like the safety net of having it near.

Lily turned to face the rest of the group.

“I was just telling Clem that the new girl in the admissions department is single and mentioned having had a girlfriend.”

“Okay,” Darcy said, her voice warming in approval. “This could be fun for you.”

Clem covered her face with her hand. “You guys.” She dropped her hand and fixed Lily and Darcy with a look.

“Okay. It has been a while since Perry…decided she wanted to be with someone else.” Her friends grimaced at the mention of her ex-girlfriend.

“And you guys know I am not interested in dating men right now. I appreciate you looking out for me. But doesn’t mean that I will automatically mesh with someone just because she is also queer. ”

“Of course not,” Vanessa acknowledged. She flipped through a few more pages, then tapped the recipe she wanted before looking back up at Clem. “No one is trying to say that’s the case. But not giving someone a chance just because you think that it might not work isn’t the way, either.”

“I hear what you’re saying.” Clem’s voice trailed off as her attentions as caught by a cardamom and orange sugar cookie recipe.

“Ooh, this looks tasty.” She went into the kitchen and started gathering up ingredients.

When she looked up, four pairs of eyes were staring at her.

It snapped her back to the topic at hand.

“Right. Like I said, I hear what you’re saying, but I’ve sat next to her at lunch a few times and I just don’t think we mesh.

” Clem thought about the attempts she’d made at conversation with the woman and wrinkled her nose. “Like, at all.”

Lily handed her the Secret Ingredient canister. “Okay, that’s valid. But what are you looking for?”

Standing hip to hip with Lily in the tiny kitchen, Clem dipped a quarter cup scoop into the sugar and considered.

“I want someone I feel passionate with — and about. I want to be attracted to her and also able to just sit and talk and be my true self around her. You know, someone safe and honest.” As a joke, she held the full scoop in front of her chest and closed her eyes to make a wish.

“May the universe please send me an exciting, sexy lady who is trustworthy and fun to talk to.” She opened her eyes and grinned wolfishly. “And who also likes to fuuuuck.”

Lily barked out a laugh, then took the measuring scoop from her. “While you’re at it, bring me a gentle man who makes me laugh.” She shot a glance at Clem. “And who also likes to fuck.”

“Hey, that sugar canister is new,” Darcy interrupted. “Where did that come from?”

Clem met Lily’s eyes, then rolled her own. “Want to hear about the best Secret Santa gift ever?”