33. Summer 18
“Cookie time!” Rebecca sings.
I laugh at her as I help her pull out the rest of the ingredients, including the chocolate chips and the bag of flour we purchased from the grocery store earlier today.
Andrew is sitting at the counter, watching us rush around to get everything ready for the cookies. “Are you going to help?” I tease.
He purses his lips, hiding a smile. “I already helped make dinner, and it was a complete disaster. Just ask Rebecca. I think it’s best for everyone if I just supervise this operation… and taste test!”
“I’m not sure if you can be a taste tester if you aren’t going to help.” I shrug.
“Fine, then tell me what you want me to do. I’m at your mercy.”
Rebecca eyes me, clearly picking up on the obvious flirting that is happening between the two of us. I haven’t had time alone with either twin since my conversation on the beach with Andrew was cut short. We had to part ways for dinner time, but I came over as soon as I could after both of our families had finished our meals.
“Andrew, I know something you could do to help!” Rebecca chimes in. “Can you go out to my car and check to see if I left my baking sheets in there?”
Andrew’s face fills with amusement. “Why on earth would you put baking sheets in your car?”
“Just go look!” she insists. “I think I brought them over to Lily’s house last week, but we didn’t make cookies, so I forgot about them.”
Still looking suspicious, Andrew challenges, “Since when did you go over to Lily’s house during the summer? You only ever hang out with Emma.”
“Obviously not because I saw her last week. Please just go, and then you can help taste test!”
He turns his back and begins heading toward the garage. “Where are your keys?” he shouts over his shoulder.
“Oh shoot! They’re probably on my nightstand or my dresser.”
Andrew huffs up the stairs to go to Rebecca’s room. “Alright, we have a solid minute before he comes back down and realizes my keys aren’t up there,” she begins, pulling her keys from her back pocket and tossing them across the room onto the couch. “You have to fill me in on what happened earlier. You two seem happy… flirty.” She winks at me gleefully.
I blush a little. She’s right. I know I am happy, and Andrew sure seems to be flirty.
“I already told you over text what happened. We were out on the walk, and he said he wanted to make sure we were on the same page. I told him I wished we had more time together this morning when we almost kissed, and he agreed. He leaned in—” Andrew rumbles down the staircase at that moment, so I shut up quickly.
“They’re not up there, Rebecca.”
She bops her palm to her forehead. “Oh, you’re right! I think they’re over by the couch. Silly me. Sorry, Andrew.”
He pins her with a glare as he walks over to the couch. He picks them up, remarking, “You’re lucky these cookies are so good, or I would not be doing this.” He turns to me before he walks out, and his eyes are sparkling. He winks quickly and heads out through the garage.
“Anyway.” Rebecca prods me.
“He leaned in to kiss me again, but he stopped because your mom called.”
“Why’d he stop? He should’ve just kissed you! That imbecile!” she shouts. “I ought to teach him a lesson or two in romantic gestures.”
I laugh as I measure and pour the two kinds of sugar into the mixing bowl. “Please don’t. I think he knows exactly what he’s doing. He said he’s been waiting to kiss me for a long time, so he wanted it to be perfect. He also said I ‘deserve the world.’”
She pouts. “That’s so sweet! Who knew my little Andy was capable of that?”
The garage door slams closed. “Capable of what?”
I feel my cheeks flush as I turn to Rebecca to wordlessly say Don’t tell him.
She doesn’t even meet my gaze and responds to Andrew without caring at all about embarrassing me. “Capable of being romantic.”
His eyes grow wide for a second, and I can see his calm and collected aura has been temporarily compromised. “Why do you say that?”
She moves across the kitchen to wrap an arm around Andrew’s shoulder. “Oh nothing, little brother. A little piece of advice for next time though, just kiss Emma when the phone is ringing. That in and of itself is a perfect romantic gesture because then it shows you care more about her than any other distractions, like your phone.”
Andrew pulls away from her. “How about you just butt out?”
She laughs, and he nervously laughs too, meeting my gaze. I can tell he’s only concerned about me and how I feel at this moment. He could care less about his sister’s teasing. He just wants to make sure that I’m not uncomfortable. So, I laugh along with the two of them and change the subject. “Hey, Andrew, want to help me with the dry ingredients? It should be a super easy task for you. Rebecca, you can add the eggs and vanilla extract to this bowl.”
Andrew nods and walks over to my side of the counter. “What do you need me to do?”
“Based on your horrible cooking skills, I say I’ll measure everything. You just have to pour it into the bowl.”
He nods in agreement and watches me carefully as I measure out the flour, leveling it off with the swipe of my finger.
I try to pretend I don’t feel the heat of his gaze on me as I continue with the recipe easily. I’ve only made these cookies about a million times.
I hand Andrew the measuring cups and teaspoons as I measure, and he pours them into the bowl before handing me back the measuring devices. We work smoothly together as a team.
I make the mistake of allowing him to pour the dry ingredients from their separate bowl into the wet ingredients, and half of the flour mixture ends up all over the counter.
Normally my inner neat freak would be screaming at the mess, but this time, I don’t care. Andrew looks way too cute trying to concentrate as he pours small amounts of the powder into the rest of the dough. I’m too happy right now to let a small mess distract me.
“Okay, add the chocolate chips and the dough should be ready for taste testing,” I tell Andrew.
He reaches into the bag and grabs a fistful of chocolate chips. “Just like this?” he asks.
Horrified, I rush over to pry his hand back open and get him to release the chocolate chips back into the bag. “No no no! Use the measuring cups. The recipe calls for one cup of chocolate chips,” I explain.
He laughs at himself a little, embarrassment turning his cheeks pink, a sight that I don’t recall ever seeing.
Once he’s poured the cup of chocolate chips in, he looks at me, waiting for permission to dig into the dough.
I pinch a clump of dough and hold it out for him to take. Instead of holding his palm out for me, he takes it from my hand with his mouth. I feel the brush of his soft, full lips and the brief warmth of his tongue, and it sets my soul on fire, leaving me wanting more.
“Mmmm, this might be the best batch yet, Em!”
I give his shoulder a light smack. “You’re only saying that because you helped!” I giggle and then turn serious. “They’re not even baked yet, so we will have to see how they taste when they come out of the oven.”
“Trust me—” he holds my gaze “—this is the best batch I’ve ever had. I can tell already.”
I hear Rebecca groan behind me. “Oh, please you two! Get a room already. This is going to get old fast,” she complains, but as soon as Andrew rolls his eyes at her and turns away, she smiles at me and gives me two thumbs up. I can tell this makes her happy to see. She’s been telling me for years now that this was going to happen between us, and I didn’t believe her, but here we are, right on the cusp on something amazing.
“Hey, let’s get the fire pit going on the back deck to enjoy our cookies while the sun goes down. Then I want to do something fun,” Rebecca suggests with a smirk.
Andrew and I nod in agreement.
“I’ll get the fire lit while you two finish up with the cookies in the oven,” Andrew suggests.