AllFreeNovel
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“Start by cracking a dozen eggs into each of these six bowls. Then I need you to crack a dozen in this bowl, but they need to be separated. Whites in this one and yolks in the other.” Carla unstacks the bowls. She places the eggs next to me and takes off to a different counter to start her preparations.
“Really? Egg duty?”
She shrugs a shoulder, trying to hide a grin. “You have to start somewhere, Nixon. Can't take the training wheels off until you’re ready. But if you get a shell in the eggs, I’ll kick you back to dishwasher duty!”
We work in comfortable silence for a while. Each of us goes about our tasks like we’ve been doing them our entire lives. Carla probably has been. Me, not so much.
“What’s Savvy’s favorite dessert?”
“Cheesecake and Italian rainbow cookies.”
“Are you making those for Thanksgiving?”
“I wasn’t planning on it,” she murmurs, her attention barely on me.
“Could you show me how to make them? I’d like to do something special for her.”
Carla stares at me for a moment and her entire body stills. “What happened between the two of you? I never knew past you stopped talking to her. If you want my help getting her back, I need to know.”
“I never planned on hurting her… but after I got injured…” I spend the next hour going through everything that happened and the reasoning behind my decisions. All the choices I regret, all the mistakes I made.
“Aww, sweetheart. We’ll figure it out. You know Sav, she’s going to forgive you the second she sees you. She can't help it.”
“Maybe she shouldn’t forgive me. I was stupid and didn’t think about how my actions would affect her.”
“No, you were young and stupid. She was hurt, but time heals wounds. Lay it all out for her and I promise she’ll come around. Maybe not right away, but eventually. You had years to gather yourself, give her time.”
“You want me to give her years?” My wide eyes make her chuckle softly.
“No, not years. Maybe a few weeks though. She needs to focus on finishing school, she’s so close. Give her until after that. Give her until Christmas.”
“I’ll give her as many weeks as she needs as long as she lets me into her life at the end.”
“She won't push you away, she doesn’t like not having you in her life,” she states so confidently, like it’s a proven fact.
“How do you know that?”
“She’s never said anything if that’s what you’re thinking… but a mother knows. She’s never been as close to another friend as she was to you.”
I mutter a curse to myself, working even faster. I hate myself for letting her go. How could I give it all up?
“Come over here, let’s get started on learning how to make rainbow cookies.”
Carla spends the rest of the afternoon teaching me how to make each and every type of cookie they sell. By the time I'm done I'm absolutely exhausted and excited to go home.
Stripping out of my clothes, I step under the hot stream of water. Being on my feet all day was hard, I haven’t done that in years. I hang my head, enjoying the heat running over my tired muscles.
The ding from my phone on the bathroom sink has me jumping out and dripping water all over the place. I don’t care. If Savvy texted me, I want to answer her right away.
Savvy: Tell me it’s going to be over soon.
Savvy: I'm not sure how much more studying I can take.
I should be embarrassed for being this happy to receive a text from her without me starting the conversation. And I'm an ass for hoping she’s texting me and not her boyfriend.
Nixon: What subject?
Savvy: Accounting.
