When I didn’t take it, Levana or Snow set one on the bed and opened the other, then she took a bite and licked her lips. Unconsciously I found myself mimicking the movement.
“It’s yummy,” she said. “It’s got nuts, caramel, and little nougat bits. Would you like to try it?” She nudged the bar on the bed closer to me. When I still didn’t take it, she smiled. “What about a trade? My bar for your book?” She pointed toHamletlying on the nightstand.
It was one of the new books Xavier bought. They all held a special place in my heart now, and I wasn’t about to part with them, not even for a chocolate bar I wanted to taste again. I shook my head.
Levana sighed. Remaining on her knees, she inched closer. “I’m trying here, Angel. Throw me a lifeline.” Not knowing what that meant, I frowned. Levana understood. “It means, help me to help you. You’re too beautiful a woman to sit in this room with nothing but the television for company.” She reached out and touched my arm lightly. “Wouldn’t you like to make Xavier smile? He’s so sad because he doesn’t know how to help you.”
Her words awakened that need to please him to give back to him. “I want to thank him, but I have nothing to give him.”
Levana’s eyes widened. “You speak?” She laughed. “Would you really like to say thank you to Xavier?” I nodded. “Hmm.” She tapped a forefinger to her lip and looked like she was thinking. “And you have nothing to give him, right?”
“Everything I have now, he gave to me,” I said softly, wishing I did have a way to repay him. “All he wants is a smile, and I don’t know how to. It won’t come.” My chest tightened, thinking of his words after I woke from breaking the mirrors. That was all the payment he wanted.
“Sometimes things come to you when you least expect it. Don’t force it. It will come in its own time when you’re not thinking about it or worrying about trying to do it.” She rubbed my hand lightly. “When I’m sad, my sister bakes me the most divine chocolate cake. I know Xavier loves chocolate cake. Would you like to bake him one? It’ll be your special way to say thank you.”
I brightened at the idea, then sagged into the pillows almost immediately. “I don’t know how to bake.” Besides painting and reading, I knew nothing else. I didn’t even know how to write. There’d never been anyone to teach me.
“I can show you,” Levana said, “but it means you’ll have to leave this room. Can you do that?” When I hesitated, she added, “remember, you’re doing this for Xavier.” She rolled off the bed and came around to my side. “Think of my hand as your lifeline.” She held out a hand. “I won’t let go until you want me to.”
I looked at this pretty woman wondering how she was so nice to someone like me, a girl who’d so far been shunned by the women I met, criticized for the scars I hated, and looked down upon for appearing stupid because of my silence.
“Sometimes, all you need is one smile, one touch, or one friend,” Levana said as if she could read my mind.
Pushing the covers off me, I slid my hand into hers and took a deep breath. Five minutes later, while I pulled on jeans and chose a pink T-shirt, Levana waited for me.
“Why are you called Snow?” I asked.
“Have you read the Snow White fairytale?” I nodded. “Well, somehow, Saint and I have a similar family history to Snow White. And when we first met, he called me Snow because I’m related to a witch.”
My fingers paused on the T-shirt I was pulling over my head. “You’re related to a witch?”
She nodded. “Bit of a long story I’ll tell you about someday.”
I was intrigued. “So you’re Snow from Snow White, and I’m Cinder from Cinderella. Isn’t that strange?”
“Trust me, with the Sinclair family, nothing is strange.” Her laugh sounded bubbly and loud. “Come on.” She held out a hand again.
Sometime later, I watched Levana pop the third cake pan into the oven then glanced at the other two cakes we’d made. One was cooling on a rack, and the second looked pretty on a glass plate and a matching glass dome covering it. Levana showed me how to decorate it with chocolate icing, and I chose strawberries for the top. Turned out baking wasn’t tricky if you could follow instructions.
The kitchen was enormous, with lots of pots, pans, and equipment, as Levana called them. She tried explaining what each one was and how they worked. At first, I was intimidated by the size, but Levana quickly took charge. By the time we finished the first mixture, I’d forgotten everything around me.
“Cinder.” I turned to look at Levana. “Want to see what a Cinder cake looks like?”
I frowned. “Cinder cake?”
She nodded. Before I could respond, her hands slipped into the flour jar. Her eyes sparkling with laughter, she scooped out handfuls and threw them up in the air. I gawked as flour rained down on me, turning the dark jeans light and the rest of me white.
“Cinder, catch.” I looked up. An egg hurtled toward me, followed by Levana’s bubbly laughter.
I tried to catch it. I missed. It smacked me in the stomach, cracked, and spilled slimy liquid over my clothes. Without thinking, I chased after her, grabbing the cocoa powder on my way. Laughing, she dashed around the large table in the center, chocolate-colored powder sprinkling her hair and turning her white shirt brown.
I grabbed an egg just as she reached for the thick cream. “You wouldn’t.” My eyes riveted on her hand, I shook my head.
“Oh, I would,” she shrieked as the cream left her hand at the same time my egg connected with her head.
Standing on either side of the table, flour, eggs, icing sugar, cocoa powder, cream, and strawberries glided through the space between us.
“Dear Lord, what’s going on in here?” Beth’s voice filtered through Levana’s laughter.
