* * *
“I think your cat wants to murder me.” Daisy eyed Hades warily from where she sat, poised on top of Lily’s refrigerator like a queen sitting on her throne, green eyes watching their every move.
“I wouldn’t worry. She looks like that all the time,” Lily said, spreading flour generously over the countertop and glaring up at the cat. “And don’t you dare jump in the middle of this.”
Hades had done it before, streaking her black fur with white, treading it all over the house before Lily had managed to catch up with her and wrangle her into the bathtub.
The scratches had taken weeks to fade.
Lily rolled out a thin sheet of the dough she’d made earlier. “What are these cookies for again?”
“My mommie’s group. It’s my turn to bake.”
“And you couldn’t go to the store because…?”
Daisy looked appalled. “I can’t give them store-bought, Lily. I’d be kicked out.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes.”
“But getting your sister to bake them for you is allowed?”
“If they don’t find out about it, yes.”
Lily snorted. “Right, of course.” It had worked out well—the bake sale for the GSA was on Monday, so Lily had already been planning on spending the day baking. She just needed to double up her batches. “You could help, you know.”
“And ruin your good work?”
Lily tossed Daisy one of her cookie cutters. “If you can ruin it using one of those, I’ll be impressed.”
Daisy mumbled something under her breath, but she stepped up to the counter. Lily left Daisy to the cookies as she began to gather the ingredients for her famous red velvet cupcakes, which Daisy had also requested.
“Thank you, by the way,” Daisy said, once the first batch of cookies were baking. “I know there are other things you’d rather be doing on a Saturday.”
“I don’t mind.” It was preferable to work, that was for sure. “Could you check the recipe on my phone? I can’t remember how much of everything I need.”
“Sure. It’s one and a half cups of—wait a second. Who is QueenElsa35?”
Lily froze with her hand outstretched toward the flour. “What?”
“She’s sent you a message. On CuteMeet. You know, a dating app that you seem to be using even though you swore you weren’t interested in dating?”
Lily swallowed as Daisy leveled her with a piercing stare.
“Let’s see what she has to say, shall we?”
“No!” Lily tried to grab her phone, but her sister was nimble, pirouetting away like a ballerina.
“Jesus Christ, Lily. You’ve been talking for weeks!” Daisy’s eyes widened, her thumb scrolling, no doubt through their message thread.
It distracted Daisy long enough for Lily to wrestle her phone back, but she knew the damage was already done.
“It’s nothing, okay?”
“Nothing? All those messages aren’t nothing. Why didn’t you tell me you were seeing someone?”
“Because I’m not. We’re friends.”
