watch the cookies rise. Or whatever they were supposed to do.
Spread out? Cook. That’s what she would watch them do.
When they were done, Emily couldn’t believe how they
turned out. The sticky blobs had turned into perfectly formed
circles with golden edges and squishy centers. She left them
on top the stove to cool while she waited for Dani to get home.
She couldn’t wait to show her the cookies. She was so
proud that she might as well have invented something life
changing, not baked something for the first time in her life.
When Emily heard Dani come in, she rushed back to the
kitchen, eager to show Dani what she’d done if Dani’s nose
couldn’t help her uncover the evidence for herself.
“Dani, I…” Emily stopped dead in the kitchen doorway
when she saw the look on Dani’s face.
It wasn’t exactly her expression that caught Emily off guard.
It was the lack of expression. She looked like she had the night
before. Shut down. Emily couldn’t think of another word for
the blankness on a face which had once been so full of life. It
was like Dani had packed her bags and checked out of her own
body.
It scared Emily so much that she forgot all about the
cookies. “Is something wrong?” Of course, something was
wrong. That was a stupid question. She’d heard once that good
conversations were all about making the most of the questions
one asked. She just didn’t know how to put that into practice.
“Do you have another headache?”
Dani nodded. “Something like that.” She walked over to the
stove and stared at the cookies. Emily had cleaned up the
kitchen, putting everything away. She’d washed the six
hundred odd dishes she’d dirtied, so the cookies were the only