Snow Crushing

Chapter 6

Noa

My hands are covered in sticky dough. Flour has found its way to my jumper even though I'm wearing an apron. It's only a matter of time for it to get in my hair as well.

Marcie seems to have the same struggle. "Now I remember why I stopped baking. It's messy."

"But it's fun. If you don't mind the messy."

"That's true. Thanks for joining me, Noa. I spend way too little time enjoying this kitchen. No better occasion than Christmas to try something new."

We're in the hotel kitchen and have an entire counter filled with baking ingredients. I ran into Marcie at breakfast this morning and we chatted for a bit. She said she was going to bake some Christmas treats and invited me to join her.

I must admit I spend little time in the kitchen myself. I make a quick dinner most days, but even that is too much trouble some days. If I'm in the mood for pastries, I'll just go find a bakery. Spending hours messing around with dough and waiting for the oven to do its job is not for me usually.

I never realised the fun I was missing out on. When with the right company, everything can be fun. Marcie and I have been talking the entire time. About her ex and her pregnancy. About my work. About my parents.

For years I barely told my friends anything about my family and my past, but I've been here for less than five days and I've already told two people about myself.

"My parents never did these kinds of things. I don't think I ever saw my mom bake or cook anything."

"I'm sorry you never had that."

"It's fine, I never knew better. It must have been great to have parents to look up to. And a brother." I still remember seeing my university friends with their siblings and going home during the holidays and just wishing I had someone to go home to. But from a very young age I learned that I only ever had myself to rely on.

"Brothers can be the best and the worst at the same time. My parents were amazing but because they had it all, it made me feel a lot of pressure to have all that too." She turns around to place the two trays of biscuits in the oven. "And look where I ended up. A cheating ex-boyfriend and four months pregnant. Five years of my life wasted on that bastard only for him to pack his bags when it became too real for him."

"But look at you glow! You run this amazing hotel, you have people supporting you. You don't need that sorry ass of a man."

"Thanks, I needed to hear that again. And I'm truly happy to have this baby. I never expected to do this on my own but you're right. I do have friends and family here. I think I just take them for granted a bit."

"I'm starting to feel like I should have been a therapist instead of a writer."

"Do people always come to you with their issues?"

"It seems like it. You today, Camden two days ago. My parents definitely like to dump their shit on me."

"Wait, Camden talked to you? About Aydin?"

"Yeah, after you and Rowan left. I think he was just going through too many emotions at once."

"Wow. He never talks to people about it. I mean, he talks to me but half the time only because I give him no other choice. You really bring out something in him that I haven't seen in a long time."

She continues cleaning up, leaving me with a billion of questions. I feel like since I've been here all I did was be a stressed out mess. When I wasn't working, I was worrying about my parents. Somehow I still managed to connect with these three amazing people. And now Marcie says I did something good for Camden.