Coffee Shop Romance

Eight

Jamie's pov

"Ah, right!" Recipes swirled in their head, there were so many things they could make! They would probably work on easier things, it was only their first day after all and they were getting a late start. But what to make, there were so many things fruit flan, plum dumplings, coconut macaroons, rum balls, blueberry cheesecake, maybe linzer cookies.

Their mind swarmed with ideas. "Can I start now?" They asked, but they were already moving, pulling up their sleeves and finishing off their drink. Eyes bright with excitement, ears fluttering quickly.

Myth would be helping wouldn't she? The thought of baking, their favorite thing to do, with her brought surprising joy to them and a helping hand would be nice. They were used to doing all the work themselves, it could get lonely sitting all alone in silence as they waited for something to be done.

Myth pov

She nodded as she stepped back over to the fridge to retrieve the pastry dough and biscuits she had been working on the night before. Since sleep wasn't exactly an issue for Myth, she tends to work on items at random hours of the day.

"Oh absolutely, go for it! I've got a pastry dough prepped for danishes and whatever is leftover is usually an experimental item I make. Then I have a biscuit dough ready for the last bit of butter shavings and to cut 'em out. Fresh fruit is in the fridge, fresh jams and jellies are in that far cabinet." She rattled a few things off as they came to mind, excited to have someone in the kitchen again.

After she set her stuff down for the last bit of resting, she stepped over next to Jamie with open hands. "What can I help you with?"

Jamie's pov

Jamie thought for a while going through a mental check list of all the recipes they knew deciding to make flan and rum balls for today. They quickly set to finding and pulling out a few pie pans, they took a moment so settle their nerves and pull out a more confident side of themselves.

"I want to make fruit flan to start with so we should set to baking the crust, the pastry dough you have will work unless you want to make a more traditional flakey crust." They thought for a moment before continuing to speak. "And do you have any rum? Rum extract will work too." By the time they finished speaking they were proud of themselves, a determined look upon their face. It wasn't often they were able to put their nerves aside, but they found it to be surprisingly easy in Myth's company.

Myth's pov

Myth observed them, following along as the gears turned in their head. It was fascinating to her how others worked, specifically in the kitchen as that's where she spends a majority of her time. She stayed out of the way for the most part, and allowed them space to get comfortable which seemed to not to take long at all. She smiled warmly knowing that.

"Oh yes that sounds delicious! I always have extra dough as my Nan's recipe makes dozens of sweet treats from one dough type. It'll be grand." She nodded and stepped back over to the counter space where she had set aside the dough. It wasn't a very spacious kitchen, but most of the space was just for work tops. So it was a nice trade off in her mind.

The dough had set just long enough to barely spring up and had a nice stretch to it, which was perfect. She floured and used a sharp edged, flat scrapper to divide the dough roughly into six half pound rounds. There was still almost half the log left over.

With a splatter of flour on her stomach, she turned to Jamie. "Alright so that's all I have to have for the danishes, is that enough for what you're thinking?" Then she realized she had forgotten their second question. "Oh sugar sorry! My alcohols are all in the freezer. I prefer 'em chilled usually" Myth breathed a laugh at herself. She just had restocked after some rough past few weeks.

Jamie's pov

More than enough." They smile back at her serpreasing a giggle at the flour on her front. They work on flouring the pie pans and preheating the oven to 375°. They left pressing the crust out and into the pans to her as they pulled milk, eggs, and butter from the fridge. "I plan on making a no-bake flan so I'll be making a vanilla pudding as a cold filling." They set themselves to finding vanilla extract, cornstarch, sugar, and salt.

They had found everything else before noticing the lack of salt, it was as they were about to ask when they realized why and thought better of it. They easily found lemons to use instead, it would work just as well and add a little extra flavor. Pulling out mixing bowls they took a second to turn to myth watching her work.

"Nice, they always taste better with actual rum." They turned to pull the rum from the freezer. "The rum balls are really simple, mostly just chocolate, hazel nuts too if you have them." Setting the rum aside they continued with setting up and measuring out ingredients for the pudding, finding and pulling out a whisk.