Kissing In Cars

6

I spend the next day at home experimenting with new baked goods that I could possibly add to the bakery's menu.

I start with banana and coffee muffins. They rise weird, flopping over the side more than they should. They do taste good, though, the banana slightly more present than the coffee flavour. I mark it down as a maybe for the menu, vowing that I'll get them to rise properly next time.

After I move on to mini bite size apple pies. The first batch of six turn out so good that I try some with a blueberry flavouring as well, which turn out as good as the apple ones. I could easily sell these together, each apple pie with a discounted blueberry one to promote sales.

Sticking with the lemon craze that was happening two weeks ago, I make a lemon cheesecake next. Since I opened the bakery I've had a soft spot for cheesecakes especially a no bake cheesecake. They're decadent and easy to make, what more could I ask for? I don't wait for the cheesecake to set in the fridge like I should, my impatience getting the best of me, As soon as I do take my first bite of the lemon cheesecake I made, I decide that this is going onto the menu permanently.

"Hey, hon, can you come sample these?" I yell into the house hoping that Jordan hears me.

To my delight two seconds later I hear his chair scrap against the ground as he gets up followed by his footsteps on the stairs as he descends to get into the kitchen. 

Jordan works from home which is a pretty nice thing to be able to do. He's a consultant for companies that are implementing new processes and products, he's there to make sure they have what they need and that everything goes smoothly before it begins and before it launches. Somedays it sucks because he'll have to work late into the night especially before a launch, but he makes his own schedule and tries to make sure he works decent hours which he usually does a good job of. Lately he's been working a bit more which gives me a lot more me time.

"What're we making in here?" he asks as he walks into the kitchen, rubbing his hands together in anticipation. He's my favourite and best guineapig that I have. No matter how weird a dessert looks he'll try it and he gives me his full opinion every time even if it's not good and I have definitely had some not good experiments before.

"Okay, so here I have banana coffee muffins." I say gesturing to the left side of the counter. "And right next to them I have both apple and blueberry mini pie bites. And then my favourite is this lemon cheesecake. Its so good."

"Any cheesecake is good." he says as he grabs a fork from the drawer. "But I know this one is going to be amazing. I don't know if I should start or end with it."

"Its definitely a finale dessert." I tell him.

"Finale it is, I trust the expert any day." he says, giving me that same grin that I fell in love with.

I met Jordan at a time where I had sworn off dating. I had been single for a couple of years by that point and I had fully intended to stay single for a long while, but then it just kinda happened between him and I. We met at a mutual friend's apartment. They were having a party for another friend's birthday that both Jordan and I were close with, so we had already seen one another a couple of times prior but we had never spoken before until that night.

We got stuck in a conversation about someone's baby that they had two months earlier. I don't even know who we were talking to, it wasn't someone I knew and it looked like he didn't know them either, but there we both were stuck listening to her stories and looking at the thousand photos she kept showing us. Just when I thought we would be stuck there forever, Jordan bailed us out.

"We know how you feel," he said, referring to him and I as a "we". "We just got our first dog and he's our baby too."

The woman gave Jordan a look, obviously offended that he was comparing a dog to a human. 

"A dog is great," she started slowly. "But it's not the same as giving birth to a baby."

"You're right, you're absolutely right." he said, his eyes glimmering. "A dog is way more responsibility."

It took everything in me to not spit my drink out in that moment. Not just because of what Jordan said or even how he said it, but the sheer look of disgust and annoyance on the woman's face was priceless. She immediately excused herself leaving Jordan and I alone together.

He shrugged at me giving me that beautiful grin of his. "I had to do something."

We spent the rest of the night talking, dodging our friends so that we could revel in one another's company. Once the party was winding down he offered to walk me home and I was surprised when I agreed immediately, not even trying to think of an excuse to say no. 

We ended up seeing each other the Friday after that, and then the next one. Eventually our once-a-week hangouts became twice a week, then three times, then one day I asked him to move into my place with me and so he did. 

And now here we are, him being my best test-taster in the world and me being his, as he puts it, "cutest baker in the world."

"Oh, definitely need to put these apple pies on the menu." Jordan says pulling me back to reality. 

"Yeah?" I ask, lighting up. 

He nods at me happily as he tries a blueberry one. "Yeah, these too."

I shove the lemon cheesecake towards him. "Try this now, I can't wait any longer. I want to know if you love it as much as I do!"

He doesn't protest but instead sinks his fork into the cheesecake, taking a generous sample to try out. As soon as the fork hits his tongue he closes his eyes, making a noise of pure enjoyment.

"How are you this good?" he asks after he's done chewing. 

I smile shyly at him. "I'm not that good." I say, fully aware of the fact that I'm fishing for more compliments by saying that.

"No you're right. You're better." he says. He swipes his finger through the top of the lemon cheesecake and holds it out to me for my own personal tasting. I happily accept.