She looked imploringly at Iris and Sammy. “Can you help me?”
“Sure.”
“Of course,” they said at the same time.
They washed their hands, and both of them began to examine the recipe. Cutting and talking between each other.
“What are you doing?” Rose asked.
“Game plan,” Iris said.
“Wow. I didn’t know baking was so serious.”
“Baking is deadly serious,” Iris said.
After that, they tasted every single cookie that Rose had produced. Sammy had never had the original cookies, so she couldn’t taste them in that way, but Iris had, and did remember them.
“I think... I think your problem is the amount of vanilla. And, I don’t think these are the right chocolate chips. I remember her using a really specific brand. You need to make sure that the chocolate chips are semisweet.”
That resulted in a quick trip to the store, followed by the most successful batch of cookie dough she had produced so far.
“So, if this is it make sure to write down all your tweaks,” Iris said. “And you can give him that, too.”
She smiled slightly, and she could feel heat blooming in her cheeks. “Right. I could do that, too.”
“It’s very sweet of you,” Iris said slowly. “To give that to him.”
“He’s been talking about her lately,” Rose said. “About his mom.”
She did not touch the necklace that was hanging from her neck. Nobody had commented on it, nothing beyond the look that Pansy had given her when she had come into the house wearing it. So, if anyone had noticed that she was suddenly wearing jewelry, she had no idea.
“I just... I thought it was really sad. He said it was one of those things that he just had to miss. That he could never have her back, so he could never have her cookies, either. And... I don’t want him to miss that. He’ll always miss his mom. I know I do. Our mom and dad. His mom. Our aunt and uncle.”
Sammy smiled faintly and touched her stomach. “It makes me feel good to hear that you miss them. Not because I’m glad that you do... That’s not what I meant. It’s just... I don’t know what it’s like to miss my parents. I miss the idea that I could’ve had functional parents. That I could’ve had something. A life that I didn’t get. But that’s not the same as missing actual real people that you loved. Since I’m going to be a mother... It makes me feel good to know that kids love you that way. I’m going to get to be loved that way. Of course, the way that Ryder loves me has been pretty great and amazing.”
“I’m happy for you both,” Iris said. “We’ve missed enough love. It’s nice to have it.”
Iris sounded slightly wistful. “Of course, baking feels a lot like love.”
“Hopefully cookies do,” Rose said softly.
She saw Iris and Sammy exchange a glance. But neither of them said anything to her. And she wondered if she should. She decided not to. Because her feelings for Logan were not something she wanted to share with somebody before she shared them with him. Not that she was embarrassed about it. Not because she wanted to keep them a secret. She didn’t particularly. She was getting to the point where she felt like they couldn’t keep it a secret anymore, frankly. She just didn’t want to have a whole discussion about feelings for him without him involved. She would tell them all when the time came. And she would know when it was time.
Anyway. It was clear they were suspicious.
So, they could just go on being suspicious. It wasn’t like they were going to be blindsided by it.
“You know,” Sammy said slowly, when they were taking the cookies out of the oven and waiting for them to cool. “He cares about you.”
She looked at Sammy, and she wondered very much what her sister-in-law knew.
“Yeah,” Rose said. “I know.”
“Good,” Sammy said. “I’m glad you know. I think you’re really special to him.”
Sammy might have an idea that Rose had some feelings for Logan, but what she suspected was that she didn’t know that things had progressed between them. That things had become...naked between them. And again, that was something she wasn’t going to talk about just yet.
“Well, hopefully he cares about these cookies. And likes them.”
Iris got a spatula and slipped them beneath three cookies at once, plopping them onto a plate. She did the same to the rest, and the three of them picked them up.
“We need milk,” Iris said. “Remember, we would always dip them in milk?”
They got the milk out and poured three glasses. Then the three of them dipped their cookies and took a bite.
“This is it,” Iris said, triumphant.
“It is,” Rose said in wonder, memory flooding through her.
Of all of them in the kitchen. Logan’s mom having just baked cookies with her mother. Of all the kids, happy, chatting.
Her eyes filled with tears. “It’s so hard for me to remember them sometimes,” she said. “This makes me remember. The way it was.”
“Yeah,” Iris said. “Cooking always makes me remember. It’s why I love it so much. It’s how you bring moments, and people, right to the table with you. How you take them out of the past.”
She looked at her sister, remembering what she had said to her the other night. About how taking care of Rose had helped with her grief. How it had helped make her feel close to their mother.
“I love you,” Rose said. “You took such good care of me.”
“I love you,” Iris said. “Just you being there took care of me. Trust me.”
She wrapped her arm around her shoulders and gave her a squeeze. And Sammy wrapped her arms around both of them, her big pregnant belly bumping up against Rose’s side. “And I love you both. Thank you for adding me to your kitchen. And making me part of
