She pulled out a small plastic container and opened the lid to reveal a trio of cupcakes. Each one featured a generous dollop of pale-yellow frosting, with a sparkly red heart on top.
“Oh, wow,” Ella said, feeling another blush coming on. “Hearts.”
A little over the top, Mal…
“They look delicious,” Dalton said, turning to Dove as if he sensed Ella’s discomfort. “Are you planning to eat yours in one bite or two?”
“No,”Dove laughed.
“Which one?” Dalton asked her, pretending to be serious.
“Neither,” Dove panted. “They’re too big.”
“I could definitely eat mine in one bite,” Dalton said, nodding to himself.
“Nooooooo,” Dove laughed again.
“I won’t,” he told her. “But only because your mother is here and I want to be polite. One day, I’ll show you how to eat any cupcake in one bite. It’s easy.”
He was clearly putting on a show for Dove’s entertainment, but by now, Ella was kind of curious herself.
“You can show me,” Dove said, her eyes wide. “My mom won’t mind.”
“Well, I’ll describe my technique,” Dalton said. “But I won’t do it. Does that sound fair?”
He actually turned to Ella and she couldn’t help smiling as she nodded.
“Okay, then,” he said, turning back to Dove.
Ella pulled out a cupcake and handed it to him before handing the second one to Dove and keeping the third one in the container.
“The first thing you want to do is unwrap it,” Dalton told Dove. “You can’t eat a cupcake in one bite if the wrapper is still on. I learned that one the hard way.”
Dove laughed again while holding her own cupcake carefully in both hands.
“Here we go,” Dalton said, deftly removing the paper from his cupcake. “Next, you pull the bottom of the cupcake right off.”
Ella and Dove watched as he removed the bottom half of his cupcake, just as he’d said.
“Now,” he said, “you put it on top of the other half, like a frosting sandwich.”
He did just what he had described, mercifully hiding the over-the-top heart between the two layers of cake.
He’s doing this for both of us,Ella realized.Not just for Dove.
“Now, I could just put this whole thing right in my mouth,” Dalton told Dove. “But instead, I’ll take polite bites. And I won’t get frosting all over my face because I made it into a sandwich.”
“Wow,” Dove said, looking super impressed as she watched him take a bite.
True to his claim, Dalton did not get frosting all over his face. But he did spill plenty of crumbs.
“What do you think?” he asked Ella after he swallowed.
“Impressive,” Ella admitted.
“I want to do it,” Dove cried. “I want mine like a sandwich too.”
“Of course,” Dalton said. “Do you remember the steps?”
