“Bloody hell! My nephew getting the special treatment now?” He gestured for me to step into the living room. “Come in and have a seat. It’s not every day we get a visitor.”
“Well, my birthday isn’t every day,” my shadow remarked as I tentatively ventured into the house and took note of the furniture, which was arranged exactly as Gran had instructed.
“Looks spiffy. Baked goods delivered unannounced? That’s wife material where I’m from. Let’s get some plates and tuck in.”
Kai grimaced with embarrassment, and I couldn’t help but feel slightly smug that it was him being embarrassed by one of his family members for once.
I was ushered toward the living room, pushed into the ‘good chair’, and forced to listen to endless praise about the smash-lova.
“Have you ever made a pavlova before? It looks bloody good!” Tane gushed.
Were they looking at the same fucking thing as me? By this point, I was seriously questioning whether he was messing with me or if he actually thought my misshapen creation was a sacred offering.
Tane strode off into the kitchen, presumably to get plates.
“It’smybirthday pavlova, I get first dibs!”
Kai pried the platter out of my hands and looked down at me, beaming. His eyes sparkled with joy, his teeth flashing brilliantly white, and the expression on his face softened.
“Thank you so much, Tori. It looks amazing, I can’t believe you remembered.”
I cleared my throat, averting my gaze and feeling my cheeks burn. “Of course I did. But it’s nothing really. It didn’t even come out right.”
“So, it’s got a little character. I know it’s going to taste good, it smells fucking delicious.” His voice was pitched low, in the warm tone he used when he wasn’t being annoying.
The way he carefully set the platter on the coffee table was akin to him handling a newborn. He was probably just afraid it would collapse even more if he set it down too roughly. For some reason, I thought it was cute nonetheless.
“I know it didn’t turn out the way it’s supposed to, so if you don’t like it you don’t have to—”
“I’d eat anything you make for me. Literally, anything.”
“Don’t make it weird,” I said quickly.
“Too late. You know it’s my specialty.” He flashed me another grin.
The moment we were all sitting, each with a plate in our hands, Tane leaned back and sighed like a man settling in for a tale.
Before he could take a full breath, Kai took a bite of the pavlova and froze. I stared at him, my eyes wide, as his face contorted not with horror but with delight.
“Ohhh my God.” He closed his eyes like he was about to confess a deep spiritual revelation. “That’s proper. That’s actually proper.”
Tane stabbed his fork in for a bite of his own, chewed once, and made a sound suspiciously resembling a dying whale. “Mate, I haven’t tasted a pav like this since we moved. Holy shit. I could cry.”
Meanwhile I took a bite — and immediately regretted my life choices.
It was … crunchy?
Andgooey?
And weirdly sugary, to the point where my teeth ached in self-preservation.
I blinked down at the dessert, baffled.
Why would anyone want this?
Why would anyone choose this for their birthday?
What was wrong with cake? Normal fucking cake with goddamn frosting?
