He takes my face in his hands and kisses me, sliding his tongue across my lips before claiming me completely. It’s one of his don’t-forget-me-kisses and so much more. I slide behind the wheel as he takes off across the parking lot. I pick up take out from the deli at my favorite Mexican Food place on my way home and consider my baking options.
Text from Rick - Cross wants to know what you’re baking.
Text to Rick - I haven’t started yet. Picked up tamales for later on my way home.
Text to Rick - Do you or Chase have any baking requests?
Text from Rick - Cross wants you to save some for him and says he likes it when it’s still warm.
Of course he does.
Text to Rick - What about you?
Text from Rick - I’m a fan of cake and whipped cream.
My body reacts to his response, low in my belly and I’m going to make a cake. I need to check the whipped cream supply.
Text to Rick - I have a couple 12 packs hiding in the cupboard if you want to bring the guys by. I’ll bake up some good stuff, save the cake for us later. ;)
Text from Rick - Chill the beer just in case. You’re perfect.
First thing, I put the beer into chill. I look through my pantry trying to decide what I want to make and I decide on PB&J Thumbprints, butter cookies, brownies and, of course, cake. I mix up a batch of my butter cookie dough and a batch of my peanut butter cookie dough, putting them both in the refrigerator to chill. I turn on the oven to get it preheating and mix up some brownie batter, adding chopped walnuts and toffee bits. I butter my brownie pan, pour the brownie batter into it and slide it straight into the oven. I clean up the kitchen and get a bowl for my cake batter, but I can’t decide what flavor I want to make. I pull the butter cookie dough from the refrigerator, portion out the dough onto two cookie sheets, and put them in the oven. I get the peanut butter cookie dough and portion them out evenly over two cookie sheets. I press my thumb into the middle of each one and pull the brownies out of the oven, replacing them with the peanut butter thumbprints.
Text to Rick - What kind of cake would you like? I made brownies with walnuts and toffee bits, I have my PB&J Thumbprints baking and butter cookies are about to come out and get dipped.
It takes a few minutes for him to answer, but I finally get a response.
Text from Rick - Be creative. I like it when you make stuff up.
Text from Rick - Now Cross is rushing us because the brownies are warm.
Text from Cross - Seno hit me because I want brownies and they’re warm
Text to Cross - They’ll be warm for awhile. The cookies aren’t done yet. Play another game of pool.
Text from Rick - Is Cross texting you?
Text to Rick - Yes. Lol.
Text from Rick - Looks like the guys are going to come home with me. Since Cross can’t shut up about brownies now.
Text to Rick - He’s such a sweet kid.
Text from Rick - You really don’t need to talk to him.
Text to Rick - Gotta go, baking!
I pull the butter cookies from the oven and let them cool. I search my kitchen for something creative to do with cake. I see the leftover coffee from this morning, s’mores flavored instant pudding mix, and marshmallow fluff. Coffee makes everything better, especially chocolate. I pull the peanut butter cookies out to cool and move the butter cookies to the cooling rack. I mix up my cake batter starting with a box of yellow cake mix and start adding things to make it delicious. I replace the water with my leftover coffee and add the instant pudding mix. I add about a cup of milk and debate with myself about adding the marshmallow fluff in place of the eggs or dropping spoonfuls on top, so they get toasted like at a campfire and go with toasty. I add eggs and stir it up, adding some melted butter instead of the oil and more milk until I get to the right batter consistency. Baking is a science, but it’s never been a problem for me to doctor stuff up and make it better. I taste the batter and now I can’t decide if I want to cover it with mini marshmallows instead of pools of fluff. Sometimes it’s hard to be me, but when baking decisions are the hardest thing you deal with—I guess I shouldn’t complain. I can swirl the fluff through the cake. I can mix the marshmallows into the cake. That’s it, I add mini marshmallows to my cake batter and pour the batter into my buttered cake pan. Then I drop spoonfuls of marshmallow fluff all over the cake and kind of swirl it through, which doesn’t work very well and I go with it anyway. I slide the cake into the oven and cross my fingers. I melt some chocolate and chop up some pecans, and proceed to dip my butter cookies using the chocolate as the glue for the pecans. I get the grape jam from the cupboard and put a few big spoonfuls into a small bowl with a small amount of water and microwave it, stirring it repeatedly until it’s the consistency I’m looking for. I move the peanut butter cookies to the cooling tray and fill my thumbprint with the grape jam mix. Both cookies are done. Brownies are done. Cake is baking. Not bad for a couple of hours. I clean up the rest of my mess, making sure I lick all of the utensils and don’t let any batter go to waste. Just as I’m
