“What the hell is this?” Harvey gestured to some round sugar cookies with Christmas trees, reindeer, and Santa emblems baked in. “This isn’tbaking, half of these are pre-decorated sugar cookies. You just pop them out of the container and put them on a baking sheet.”
I shrugged. They were cheap and easy, especially for mass-baking. “We don’t trust Joon with real frosting," I said. “But we don’t have to worry about these. The kids just wanted to ‘help’ make something. You and I have the bulk of the real decorating duty.” I showed him a tray of cooling, home-made cookies in the shape of candy canes and Christmas trees. “We have lots of frosting and candy. It should be cool by now, so we have fun and do our thing.”
He nodded and rolled up his sleeves. “I need a piping bag, STAT.”
Oh, I was sous-chef. I scanned the kitchen. “Can we cut the corner of a plastic bag?”
“That's good enough," he said. With his efficient methods, we worked through the trays in now time.
I was more chaos and sprinkles. But when I tried to replicate his cool pine needle frosting effect, it oozed at me.
“No, babe, you have to twist to keep the back end of the bag closed.” He placed his hands over mine, demonstrating the action.
I smiled over my shoulder at him, my affection rising along with the cookies in the oven. “Being messy looked a lot more romantic with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore inGhost.”
He smirked. “Yeah, well, their fingers weren’t dyed green. By the way, what are those green cookies supposed to be?”
“Oh, those don’t need decorating, they’re my special recipe: green tea cookies. I tried to make a tree, plus a cap and a grinch in your honor.” They’d morphed into blobs in the oven, but I bet they still tasted great.
He raised his eyebrows. “You made my hat? And The Grinch? For me?”
“Yeah. Try some.” I sucked my thumb clean. Whew, that was some sweet frosting. I shook my head and offered him a cookie. "Baked with love."
Harvey took a tentative bite, then smiled and licked his lips. “I need that recipe.”
“Really?” I beamed.
“Amazing.” He took a bigger bite. “You’re a pro, Shelby. Or you would be, if you stopped eating the candy.”
“Never.”
We played around in the kitchen until we ran out of space, and even then, we kept talking and reorganizing so we had room for more cookies. The kids occasionally ran through for candy. My aunts snuck through to 'wash their hands' despite the bathrooms being closer and available for that kind of thing. But we weren’t doing anything spy-worthy.
I rolled my eyes as soon as they walked away. “How about we go to my room?” I suggested. It would give us some element of privacy.
Harvey pushed back from the table. “Finally.”
I laughed and picked up the poinsettia plant, then led him to my room. We left the door ajar so my family didn't have to come in to make sure we weren't canoodling.
He scanned the cheap but sturdy furniture. “This is yourroom?”
“Yes," I said. Was he expecting something else?
He gestured to the bare walls. “There’s nothing here.”
“I know.” I sighed and set the plant on my nightstand, my heart twisting. “This plant brings a nice splash of color, though.”
“Shelby…” He shook his head and played with his eyebrow ring, looking lost or sad or something.
Did he feel sorry for me? My room had no personality, that was true, but that was mostly because my mom wanted to keep it clean. It wasn’t bad. There weren’t bugs or holes in the wall or anything. Harvey’s frown and pacing made me want to crawl out of my skin or at least peel back a curtain so he could see I wasn’t as boring as this blank slate would suggest.
“Let’s go back to the cookies,” I said, wiping my hands on my legs.
“If you want.” He chewed on his lip ring. “I’m not even sure I would fit on the bed.”
To sit? Or cuddle? I patted the mattress. “Try it.”
He stretched out on my sheets, his feet grazing the end of the bed frame. “How do you sleep here?”
