At least Andy and Henry were halfway competent. I wasn't sure what to do with Davy. He was maybe three? He sat on the large table, watching me intently.
“I want to help,” he piped up.
“Um, okay, how about you—” I looked around. “You can start on the whipped cream. We need a lot of it to make the custardy layers fluffy and light!”
Davy nodded solemnly as I gave him the bowl of whipped cream, which was big enough for him to sit in. The whisk was as long as his arm.
“This is a lot,” he said as he stirred it with two hands. He was occupied, but baking the cakes was slow going. I couldn't just cook; I was also basically babysitting.
“I feel like this is turning into a gimmick,” I said when Anastasia came over. “Not that I don't enjoy the world's cutest sous chefs!”
“I'm not sure why they were parceled out like that, honestly,” she said, laughing. “But seriously, this footage is going to be gold!”
I was finally able to put the sponge cake in the oven to bake while I strained the fruit filling and portioned out the whipped cream cheese. Then I helped Andy and Henry stir the fruit in. Davy was still slowly whipping the cream as I started the custard. I had just turned my back for a second when there was a crash and aclang!
The whipped cream had fallen and splattered all over the floor. I hurried to grab a towel.
“You're fine,” I told Davy. “We have so much whipped cream it doesn't even matter.” I patted the splatters on his pants as his lower lip trembled. “See, you didn't get anything on your nice outfit,” I assured him, trying to keep him calm.
A production assistant hurried to mop up the whipped cream.
“See, it's all cleaned up,” I told Davy.
His eyes watered, his lips parted, and hescreamed.
“Oh dear,” I said, picking him up. I looked to his teen brothers.
Isaac shrugged. “Davy's a crier. He'll go for the next few hours.”
“He's messing up my sound,” Zane said as I patted Davy on the back. He screamed and writhed in my arms.
“Maybe one of my older brothers is around,” Isaac said, looking around as he expertly whipped cream. “Garrett can sometimes make him stop crying.”
Zane made hurry-up motions as I tried to rock Davy and stir my custard before it burned. Owen came into the studio, annoyance clear on his face. He stormed over to me, Belle following behind him.
“We can hear him screaming in the Quantum Cyber offices upstairs,” Owen complained. “Isaac, where are your brothers?”
The teenager shrugged.
“Honestly,” Belle complained. “Gunnar just disappeared.”
“The Svenssons are flaky as hell,” Owen said, looking around in frustration. “Someone's going to call the police. One of the interns said she heard him screaming from the street. She thought a raccoon was trapped or something.”
Davy screamed even louder, and we all winced.
“Give him to me,” Owen said. “I got it.”
“Do you?” I said skeptically. “He's purple.”
Owen glared at me.
“Fine. He can blast your eardrums,” I said, handing Davy over. As soon as Davy was in Owen's arms, though, he stopped crying. The purple subsided, and he hiccupped.
“I know,” Owen said, his voice low, almost a purr. “Baking is rough, isn't it? I bet you'd rather execute a corporate takeover or monopolize a market.” He bounced the kid in his arms. I felt my ovaries pop. There was something about a powerful man in a suit cuddling a little kid that made me lose myPfeffernüsse.
Owen snuggled Davy in his arms then lightly pressed his nose to Davy's small one, grinning at him. Davy giggled. A nuclear bomb went off in my womb. In the distance, sirens.
“That's it. I need a baby right now,” I said under my breath.
