I have tears in my eyes at this point because watching this is comical and sad at the same time. She swallows the last bit and forces a smile on her face.
“Ellie, it’s okay, they were terrible.” I wipe my eyes.
She walks over to me. “No, they were so good! I mean, they can definitely use some work. I think you missed a step, but they were good.”
I look at her, and my cheeks hurt so much from the laugh attack I just had over a fucking cookie.
“Well, I would love to know where I messed up.”
She taps her finger on her pink lips, looks around the kitchen, and then looks back at me. “How about you make cookies with me, and I can show you?”
“When?”
“Right now.”
“Right now?” I ask.
“Right now.”
“I’m going to be a terrible student.”
“In my kitchen, no one is a terrible student. Now, let’s get to work.”
thirty-six
ELLIE
“Okay,now go ahead and put the mixer on, and I’ll grab the chocolate chips,” I tell Rowan while I open the door to the freezer, pulling out my favorite brand of chocolate chips.
Luckily, I had them on hand. I went to the store the other day for some regular groceries but ended up in the baking aisle. I added some simple ingredients, wondering if this would spur some inspiration for me to bake. I haven’t touched any of it until now.
“You keep them in the freezer?” Rowan asks.
“Yes, I like to put them in there. Not everyone does, but I think it helps during the baking process. Don’t ask me how. I have no idea. It just works.” I put the bag on the counter and looked at the stand mixer. “Are you going to turn it on?”
Rowan startles. “Oh, yeah. Sorry, I did all of this by hand at my place. I don’t have one of these things.”
“You see that lever on that side?” I point to the side of the mixer. “Flip it to the other side and it locks the top of this in place.” I place a hand on the top of the mixer. Rowan does it and then looks at me. “Then, on the other side, you have the same lever, and the numbers represent the speed.”
I see Rowan’s hand go over it to turn it on. “Oh, that’s it? That’s simple.”
“Yeah, but?—”
He turns it on at the highest speed, and flour goes everywhere. It hits my face and then I look at Rowan, and he’s covered more than me. His hands are out in front of him and he’s too busy trying to stop the flour with his hands instead of the lever.
“Shit, shit, shit,”he shouts repeatedly.
I laugh and quickly turn it off, slowing it down to a stop. Rowan’s eyes have gone wide; his mouth slightly opens out of horror, and he looks at me. The flour that’s in his hair whips into the air. I keel over in a laughing fit.
His chest rises and falls quickly. “What the hell just happened?”
I try to talk through the laughter. “You put it on the highest setting,” I point at it.
“I put it on five. Isn’t five slow, and then one is fast?”
I pinch my brows together and continue to laugh. “Five is the highest speed.”
He looks back at it and carefully pushes the lever to number one. The mixer slowly starts up at a calming speed, the ingredients mixing beautifully. Rowan drops his head down and lets out a sigh. The flecks of flour float in the air. We brush the flour off our clothes as much as we can, but Rowan’s hair is pure white.
