Moving Forward (Completed)

Chapter Thirty Five

Rafael spent the morning working in his office, diligently writing his closing argument until the smell of freshly baked cookies became too much to ignore. He stood almost out of sight as he watched her slide the last batch of cookies into the oven and then start arranging the counter so she could decorate. She pulled a batch of cooled cookies in front of one of the chairs at the kitchen island and lined the plastic cups with different colored royal icing along the top of her work space. He smiled when she set down, her posture giving the air of focus, and started outlining her designs on a cookie, working in assembly line fashion so that the first cookie would be dry by the time she got back to it and she could change colors.

"Are you making cookies for the whole school?" Katherine jumped when he spoke, but he had waited until she had set the piping bag down.

"I know it's a mess," she exhaled, looking a little concerned as she glanced at the kitchen. The mixing bowls were piled up in the sink, varying in colors that matched her icing, flour was on the counter surrounding the parchment paper she had used to roll the dough out on, and cookies were laid out on any flat surface she could find to cool. "I promise I'll restore the kitchen to how it looked before I started."

"I have no doubt that you will." He smirked, wrapping his arms around her from behind and kissing the top of her head.

He could actually feel her tension ease as she leaned back against his chest.

"Do you want one?"

"It's why I left my office."

Katherine chuckled and stood, moving to the dining room table where she was letting her finished cookies fully dry. "Here." She smiled, handing him one of her uglier cookies. Having not even attempted this in her tiny apartment the year before, her piping skills had needed a few warm up cookies.

"Great," he smirked, "I get the discards."

"They'll taste the same."

He smiled and followed her back to the island to watch her work again. "What's the small box for?"

Katherine had a few larger Tupperware containers laid out to put the cookies in and one smaller, more decorative box.

"It's for MJ. I'm going to fill it with cookies for her since she spends her mornings in my room. I also bought her a few books to put with it."

"That's sweet of you."

"I'm a sweet person." She smiled.

"I was thinking..."

"You're always thinking." Katherine was still playfully smiling, but had resumed decorating her cookies.

"This is true..."

"What were you thinking?" She chuckled between cookies.

"The food for our wedding... what did you and your mother come up with?"

"We were planning to arrange those cute wooden cutting boards I found on the kitchen island, using wooden crates to create elevation and make kind of a grazing table. A variety of meats, cheeses, crackers, breads, olives, fruits, different desserts... maybe some salmon, chicken, and beef skewers."

"Would you mind if asked my mom to make a few things... croquetas, bocaditos, maybe pastelitos?"

"Would she want to after helping to cook at Christmas the week before?"

"You're mother thrives in party mode... mine thrives on feeling needed and for us that usually defaults to something involving the kitchen."

Katherine paused the toothpick she was using to smooth her fill icing. "I didn't even think... my mom just kept bombarding me with ideas and she was actually listening to what I wanted for a change... I didn't mean to leave your mom out."