I waited until she disappeared across her yard, then closed the door carefully.
EMILY
“Now comes the fun part.” I pulled the electric mixer from the cabinet, both girls watching me avidly. “We’re going to mix everything together. But fair warning, it might get a little messy.”
“How messy?” Audrey asked, her eyes lighting up.
“Let’s find out.”
I plugged in the mixer and turned it on low. The beaters whirred to life, slowly incorporating the dry ingredients.
“Okay, great. Now let’s pour the milk in. Audrey, you can do that.”
Audrey carefully tipped the milk in and I turned the mixer up a smidge.
Everything was going smoothly until Alice leaned in too close and the mixer kicked up a splat of cake batter that hit her square in the face.
She sputtered, stumbling backward, and her elbow caught the edge of the cocoa powder container. It tipped, spilling brown powder across the counter.
“Oops.” Alice’s eyes went wide.
“It’s okay. Accidents happen.” I turned off the mixer and grabbed some paper towel. “Here, let me...”
But before I could wipe her face, she dipped her finger into the spilled cocoa powder and bopped Audrey on the nose.
“Hey!” Audrey laughed, then retaliated by dipping her finger in the cake batter, flicking it at her sister.
“Girls, girls.” I tried to sound stern, but I was trying not to laugh. “We’re supposed to be baking a cake, not making a mess.”
Alice grinned up at me, that mischievous glint in her eyes that I was starting to recognize. Then she very deliberately dipped her whole hand into the mixing bowl.
“Alice, don’t you dare...”
She flung it.
The mix hit me right in the chest, exploding across my t-shirt.
“Oh, you are so in trouble now.” I grabbed a handful of batter and tossed it back at her, catching her in the shoulder.
Audrey squealed and dove for the cocoa powder, tossing a handful that mostly missed me but decorated the cabinet behind my head.
“That’s it!” I grabbed the bag of flour, scooping out a generous handful and flinging it at both of them. “Cake fight!”
What followed was absolute chaos.
Flour flew through the air like snow. Cocoa powder left brown streaks across counters and faces. Someone knocked over the sugar, sending granules skittering across the floor. The eggs that Audrey had so carefully cracked ended up splattered on the tile.
I was laughing so hard my stomach hurt. The girls were shrieking and giggling, their faces covered in various shades of brown and white. Alice had cake mix in her hair. Audrey had cocoa powder smeared across her cheek like war paint.
The sound of the front door opening echoed through the house.
We all froze.
“Hello?” Cam’s voice carried down the hallway. “I’m home!”
As he approached the kitchen, I had exactly three seconds to register the state of absolute destruction around us before he appeared in the doorway.
His eyes went wide.
