Since that was my last class for the day and my adviser rescheduled our meeting I head home, stopping at the grocery store first. I want to celebrate this little step forward by doing some baking.
When I make it back to the house, I lay out all the ingredients that I’m going to need on our marble countertop before getting started. There’s something that’s so soothing about baking. With every step, every measurement, I can always feel my stress and anxiety washing away.
Admittedly, not all my forays into the baked arts have been unmitigated successes. I’ve made the occasional miscalculation or unfortunate substitution. Plus, I like to experiment with new flavors or with things we have on hand and those haven’t always been... edible. I think that Bianca once renamed a batch of my triple chocolate chip cookies “Mini Salt Licks of Doom.” To be fair, I did accidentally mix up the salt and sugar on that one but theylookeddelicious.
Just as I’m taking the golden-brown loaf of bread out of the oven, I hear the front door open and close. A few seconds later both Hollie and Bianca come into the kitchen, setting down their own bags of groceries.
“Oh no.” Bianca lets out a groan. “She’s baking. What have we done to deserve this?”
“Did we do something to upset you, Vi? Is this our punishment?” Hollie teases.
I can’t help but laugh, from anyone else it might have hurt my feelings but I know that these two women have nothing but love for me. Besides, I can’t deny that some—okay most—of my baking experiments have turned out badly and they are usually my unfortunate test subjects.
“You two better be nice to me, or I won’t share,” I say, eyeing the loaf of bread that’s currently on the cooling rack. It really does look tasty if I do say so myself.
“Oh no, say it’s not so,” Bianca says in the most deadpan, sarcastic voice I have ever heard.
I answer by simply throwing the kitchen towel at her and laugh when it gets stuck on top of her head.
“Hey, did you guys see that they finally sold the house next door?” Hollie asks, drawing Bianca’s attention from me before we can engage in a full-on towel throwing match. “There’s a sign up.”
Bianca makes her way to the kitchen window, presumably so she can see the proof for herself. “That place has been on the market for months. I’m surprised it didn’t get snatched up immediately. It’s not like this is a terrible neighborhood.”
“I wonder who’s going to move in,” I say.
“With any luck, it will be three hot guys. One for each of us. We could use some eye candy in this neighborhood. If it’s another family with a boatload of noisy kids, I’m going to scream,” Bianca says.
I can see Hollie roll her eyes behind Bianca’s back. We both know she has no tolerance for children. “I, for one, really don’t care who moves in,” she says.
“Of course not, now that you’ve got a sexy as hell boss waiting for you every day at the office why care about the lack of single men around here? But think of Violet and me. Don’t we deserve something pretty to look at?”
Hollie just started working for the CEO of Clarke Hotels and even though she adamantly denies it, both Bianca and I know she’s got the hots for her billionaire boss. Honestly, I’ve seen the pictures. Who wouldn’t?
“How many times do I have to tell you? I’m not attracted to Mr. Clarke. If you knew how much of an asshole he was, you wouldn’t be either.”
“Hey, sometimes I like my guys a little mean, it’s hotter.”
“Jesus, Bianca, you need to get laid.” I laugh.
She grabs a bottle of white wine from the fridge and pours herself a generous glass. “Girl, look who’s talking. I don’t know how you’ve survived to the age of twenty-three without some dick.”
My cheeks heat just a touch. “Hey, I’ve got myfriendsin my drawer and an entire internet’s worth of porn. I don’t see the need to complicate my life with some man-child that will only annoy me and waste my time. Besides,” I continue before Bianca can interrupt, telling me how wrong I am, “I got asked out after class today.”
Both Hollie and Bianca freeze in their tracks. It looks like they’re doing the statue challenge, and it sends me into a fit of giggles. “Well?” Hollie asks. “What did you say to him?”
“I told him yes,” I say and turn my back to them both so I don’t have to look at them while they holler and whoop like I just scored the winning touchdown. They’ve always been my biggest supporters in anything I do.
I slice the now cooler bread and plate it before setting it onto the kitchen island in the middle of the three of us.
“Who’s the lucky guy? When are you going out?” Bianca asks.
“It’s this guy, Tyler, from one of my classes. We’ve known each other for years and I guess he’s been dropping hints that he’s wanted to go out for a long time but I’ve just never caught on.”
“Not surprising,” Bianca mumbles which I choose to ignore.
“Anyway, he’s going to text me to set something up.”
Hollie rounds the island and envelops me into her arms, giving me a warm hug. “I’m so happy for you. I mean, this is good, right?”