He chuckles. “There are some things my soon-to-be wife doesn’t need to know, and this is one of them. Bro code and all.”
I’ve never had anyone I could have a bro code with. Maybe Kenzie storming into my life has made things better in more ways than I’ve really yet to consider.
My phone vibrates, and I anxiously flip it over, hoping to see Kenzie’s name. Disappointment fills me when I see Celia’s.
“Hey, sis,” I answer the call.
“I still have over five hundred penises to make, and that fucking oven just blew another fuse!” She yells so loudly in my ear that I have to pull the phone away.
Owen’s eyes widen, telling me he didn’t miss the comment about the penises, either.
“Calm down. I’ll run to the store and get a new box of fuses, then I can replace them all and you shouldn’t have to worry about them.” I gather my files together and get ready to leave.
She lets out a huge sigh. “Thank you, Bentley. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”
“You know you’re going to have to figure out a way to mass produce these cookies outside of your shop if you keep selling this much, right?” I say, because the oven might have blown a fuse, but I’m pretty sure it’s because of overuse, not a faulty piece of machinery.
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll work on it after this weekend, but since I’m helping you tomorrow, I don’t have time to worry about other solutions,” she whines.
“Alright. See you soon.” I end the call and glance at Owen. “I gotta go.”
He grins. “So I gathered. Do you want help?”
My eyes widen ever so slightly. “Do you really want to get sweet-talked into helping make hundreds of penis cookies?”
He grimaces. “Not really.”
“Didn’t think so. Hopefully you can go home soon.” I actually feel bad leaving him here by himself, which is an odd feeling.
He chuckles. “I doubt those women will be done with ‘girls’ night’ anytime soon, but I might be able to sneak in and hide in the bedroom soon.”
I frown as I wave goodbye and head for the door. Is that what I’m signing up for by letting Kenzie in all the way? Sneaking into my own house when she has friends over?
The answer is most likely, but surprisingly, I don’t actually consider that a bad thing.
* * *
Within the last hour,I’ve gone to the store for parts, picked up tacos for me and my sister, and changed all of the fuses out on the oven. Now, I’m ready to go home since we have a big day tomorrow for the carnival, but the tears welling in Celia’s eyes aren’t boding well for me.
“I don’t know how I’m going to get all this done and get even a few hours of rest for tomorrow.” Her palms rub over her face, and her shoulders shake.
“I can stay and help for a while. Kenzie’s busy with her friends anyway,” I say, almost a little regrettably. If I didn’t need my sister to be present and reliable tomorrow, then I’d never agree to make dick cookies.
Celia pouts. “I know. They invited me, and I was so mad I couldn’t join them.” Then, she looks up at me with wide eyes. “You’ll really help me?”
I wrap an arm around her. “I’ve got you, sis. Tell me what to do.”
She brightens and goes around the table to grab containers of ingredients and tosses a measuring cup in each of them before placing an empty bowl in front of me. “One scoop of each of these goes into this one plus an egg and one of these butter sticks I’ve already measured. Once you have everything in, knead it all together, but not too rough. Be gentle with dough or it won’t rise right. When you have a good enough consistency, throw some flour on the tabletop and you can finish kneading on the counter. I’ll take over after that.”
I already feel underqualified, and I haven’t even started helping. “How many batches of these do I need to do in order for you to have the rest of the cookies you need?”
She bites her lower lip and stares at the floor. “Probably twenty? Maybe more if some batches don’t pass quality checks.”
Fuck. It’s already eight. We can’t do this on our own.
I pull out my phone and click on my messages. I feel bad interrupting Kenzie’s night, but I have a feeling she’d be more pissed at me for not telling her Celia needed help.
Me: Celia is in over her head. How do you feel about baking?