Falling Dawn (II)

Chapter 11

The engagement party for Dave and Corey was already in full swing by the time we arrived.

I'd set my mind on baking an engagement cake for them, and as usual when I baked anything more advanced than a gugelhupf cake, it turned into a drama. I attempted rainbow coloured layers, separated by layers of buttercream. First I ran out of butter, then I realised that I didn't have all the colours I needed, and then one of the layers broke in half. I was screaming and cursing. Tom had been quite amused by my spectacle, going back to the shops twice to get new ingredients. The kids had been lingering around to lick the bowl, but I was in no mood for arguments over who gets the spoon and who the bowl. After silently watching me for some time, Tom grabbed me from behind and dipped his finger in the dough. Pleasurably, he licked it off. "It tastes amazing," he announced. Immediately, Sam and Emma appeared, complaining that they didn't get a taste.

"Just go away. Leave me alone," I shushed them all away. Sam and Emma knew when I was serious and turned around immediately. But Tom took the bowl off me in a surprise attack, with a wicked smile, sinking his finger in again.

"The only time I got to lick a bowl was for my ninth birthday," he whispered, dipping his finger in again with an evil grin on his face.

"Oh, mum is so going to freak out," I heard Sam say to Emma from the kitchen door. So far, I had only watched him with my angry face. That didn't seem to bother him at all though.

"What do you mean?" Tom called over to Sam. "She's been freaking out the whole morning, hasn't she?"

"No!" Emma gave back. "That's just part of the baking process." I took the chance of Tom being distracted to grab the bowl back off him.

"Don't do that again," I warned him. "I'll call you three for licking later." Tom looked mischievous at the twins.

"I think we should lick it out now." He grabbed the bowl back off me, holding his arm stretched out, so I couldn't reach it, while tickling me with his other hand to keep me at arm's length. In an expert Baseball defense, Tom kept the bowl hidden from me. Sam and Emma were so confused they didn't know what to do. They expected me to explode any minute. I expected myself to explode any minute.

"I need to finish this cake, Tom. Let go."

His finger was again in the bowl. This time, he stuck it in my mouth. "Here, try. It's way too good to freak out over. I can taste three hours of pure stress in this dough and smell another three coming. We're going to lick from this bowl now and then buy a cake for tonight."

"I won't be able to get an engagement cake last minute anywhere."

"Yes, you will. Here, try some more." And while he poked his in vanilla dough covered finger in my mouth again, he waved for the kids to come over. While I was shouting for Tom to give me back the bowl, jumping up and down in an attempt to grab it off him, Tom took four large spoons from the drawer, submerged them fully in the dough and handed one each to the kids. Their eyes lit up like Christmas candles. I refused to take a spoon, but gave myself defeated. Standing in front of me, Tom looked at me for a long time, then refilled his spoon, but instead of licking it off again, he flipped the dough at me. The kids joined in and before I knew what was happening, I found myself in the middle of a dough fight. The kitchen looked like a battle ground, but I had to admit, it was fun.

Tom kept his promise. While I was cleaning the kitchen, he'd made his way to the shops for the third time, and sure enough, just over an hour later he came back with the most sophisticated engagement cake imaginable. The three tiered cake was covered in white icing, with a veil of colourful sugar roses floating from top to bottom.

"How did you do that?" I asked him, astonished.

"I've got my ways," he winked. Tom's mood had been so much better ever since Tanya dropped the accusations against him.