Teddy laughed. “Lebkuchen are German cookies made during the Christmas season. They’re one of Geoff’s favorites. When his parents came to visit a few years ago, his mother taught me how to make them.”
“Sounds fun. I’ll follow your lead.”
Teddy and Ciaran began pulling out the ingredients. Butter, milk, honey, brown sugar, eggs, and every spice in the kitchen.
“This has a lot of spices,” Ciaran noted, handing Teddy ground ginger and cinnamon.
“It’s a spiced cookie,” Teddy laughed. “We need a lot.”
He preheated the oven and showed Ciaran how to combine the ingredients. Then, Teddy heated the honey and sugar on the stove, stirring until the sugar melted.
“Drop the butter in, please,” Teddy said, adding the lemon zest after Ciaran had dropped the butter, continuing to stir. “Can you get the ground almonds and flour ready? They’ll go in soon.”
“Sure thing.”
Teddy added the spices, the egg, baking powder, and baking soda.
“Okay, now we can add the ground almonds and the flour.”
Ciaran dumped the flour, causing it to cover Teddy’s face. He looked over to see Ciaran laughing.
“What was that for?” Teddy laughed.
“Sorry,” he said cheekily, grinning. “It slipped.”
Teddy grabbed a palmful of flour and tossed it at Ciaran, hitting him square on the nose. Ciaran laughed as he wiped the flour off.
“Okay, that was fair.”
“Stir this while I get the glaze ready.”
Teddy automatically went to kiss his cheek but backed away at the last second. He’d made it an inch from Ciaran’s cheek before realizing what he was doing.
What the fuck?
If Ciaran noticed, he didn’t show it. Teddy let out a silent sigh, relieved. After Ciaran had finished with the batter, Teddy showed him how to prepare the pan and cut the batter.
“This smells nice,” Ciaran said.
“Just wait until they’re ready.”
They placed the cookies in the oven and stood back.
“Now we clean up and wait.”
As they tidied, Teddy couldn’t take his eyes off Ciaran. He and Geoff had cooked together, but nothing like this. Ciaran was in sync with Teddy, and they moved through the kitchen as if they’d worked together for years.
Geoff walked into the kitchen. “Something smells amazing.”
“You’re supposed to be reading,” Teddy said.
“I was,” Geoff stated. “Until I smelled the unmistakable aroma of Lebkuchen.”
“We are making them, yes,” Teddy told him.
“How long until they’re done?” Geoff craned his neck to look at the oven.
“They’ll be ready in about fifteen minutes.” Teddy smiled. “Then we’ll bring them out with tea, and we can sit and talk.”
