Alana’s eyes widened in surprise, her lips parted slightly as she processed my words. She seemed to struggle with accepting my offer, her fingers fidgeting with the fabric of the dress. “I can’t possibly let you pay for everything. That’s just too much.”
I shook my head, a small smile playing on my lips. “Consider it a gift. You look stunning in that dress, and I want you to have it.” I reached out to gently tilt her chin up so she met my gaze. “Please, Alana. Let me do this for you.”
Her cheeks flushed a delicate shade of pink and she finally gave in with a soft sigh. “Thank you, Eden. That’s really kind of you.” The gratitude in her eyes made my heart swell with warmth, and I knew at that moment, I would do anything to see her smile like that again, which was fairly odd. “Your sister picked quite a few things though… including a bathing suit.”
I hadn’t seen her try on a bathing suit, so that was news to me.
I chuckled, relieved the conversation had taken a lighter turn. “Well, you’ll look amazing in whatever Nova picked out. And hey, if you need a second opinion on that bathing suit, I have some more time to spare.” The teasing tone in my voice earned me a playful swat on my arm from Alana, and I grinned at her.
She went back into the dressing room to change out of the dress and back into her own clothes before we could make it to the register and buy what felt like a hundred items.
11
ALANA
“How have youneverbaked before?” I asked, frustration lacing each of my words as I threw away the first batch of fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies. They were burnt to a crisp.
I left the kitchen for two whole minutes, and Eden somehow managed to burn them in the meantime.
“I have,” he vetoed and leaned back against my kitchen counter. “Just not cookies.”
“So what did you bake before?” It was my easiest cookie recipe, but apparently still a tad too difficult for Eden.
I walked over to the kitchen counter and set the now empty tray back down, then reached for another sheet of parchment paper.
“Crème Brûlée,” he replied.
My hands froze mid-air, abandoning the parchment paper as my eyes met his. “Crème Brûlée?” I repeated, having a hard time believing him.
It wasn’t that Créme Brûlée was necessarily difficult to make, but it was certainly not beginner-level. Cookies were far easier.
“Don’t sound so surprised.”
“Iamsurprised.” I finally laid the parchment paper down on the tray, then went to get some more flour. “Did you burn the Créme Brûlée?”
“Nope.” He sounded surprisingly nonchalant about it. “I could make Créme Brûlée in my sleep, Ally-Bear. I thought you knew that my dad owns multipleFrenchrestaurants. He might not have taught me how to bake, but I’m pretty familiar with the French cuisine.”
My eyes narrowed at him. “So, can you bake croissants?”
His chest rose as he took a deep breath, and a guilty smile tugged at his lips. “Well… no.”
“What about Macarons?” He shook his head. “Profiterole? Éclair? Chouquette?”
“I can… make whatever my father sells and taught me?”
“Impressive,” I said sarcastically, rolling my eyes.
Eden may have had a fancy background in French cuisine, but his lack of basic baking skills was astonishing.
I sighed, realizing it was going to be a long afternoon of attempting to teach him how to bake simple cookies. Or perhaps we should avoid cookies altogether.
I rubbed my palms together, the flour dusting off in a powder cloud. “Did your sister say she wanted cookies for her baby shower, or could it be anything else?”
“Uhm… Brooke didn’t specify. I just thought cookies would be the easiest to make.”
“How about we try something different?” I suggested, grabbing the pen and paper I used to show Eden what the cookies were supposed to look like earlier. Making my way over to a space with less flour on the surface, I sketched out a simple design for cupcakes.
Eden leaned over my shoulder, examining my sketch. “Are those cupcakes?”