Page 33 of Icing on Top

“I told you I wasn’t good at baking. That was always Sadie’s forte.”

“Did she have a favorite dessert to make?”

“Pies.” The answer came easily. “She enjoyed playing around with the crust and making different designs.”

Zoe gasped. “I’ve always wanted to try that, but we rarely get pie orders at the bakery. Some designs are so pretty that I don’t think I could bring myself to eat them. I would probably cry the first time someone cut into it.”

“She made sure to take all the pictures before serving it,” I said.

“I’d love to see them sometime if you still have them.”

Normally, I danced around talking about Sadie with people, mostly in hopes of avoiding the pitying looks directed at myself and, especially, Charlie. I’d rather remember the wonderful things about Sadie and not the loss of her. It was easy to talk to Zoe about her, though. After the initial ‘I’m sorry for your loss’, she never batted an eye whenever Sadie was mentioned. Instead, she was eager to learn more about her, and that warmed a part of me that had been frozen numb for years.

Charlie came scampering down the hall then, giant wet spots on her fresh pajamas from her hair. “Are the cupcakes done? They smell done.”

Zoe laughed softly as she took another peek into the oven. Then she grabbed an oven mitt and removed the two trays.

“They’re done baking, but we’ll have to let them cool before we can ice them.”

“Why don’t we put on a cartoon while we wait?” I offered before Charlie’s pout could make an appearance. It worked.

As if she’d been waiting for Charlie to settle down somewhere, Delilah came bounding into the living room and hopped right up on the couch next to her to receive nose scratches, which Charlie happily gave. I pulled up a kid’s channel and then passed the remote to Charlie.

“Zoe and I will be in the kitchen. We’ll let you know when the cupcakes are ready, okay?”

She was already distracted by the show, giving only a simple nod in acknowledgement. Confident that she would be sufficiently occupied, I returned to the kitchen to find Zoe loading up the sink.

“No way, Cupcake.” I shook my head adamantly as I joined her. “You already cleaned the counters after I made a mess. You are not doing the dishes.”

“But some of them are my dishes,” she argued.

“I don’t care. You’re helping us out.”

Her gaze just stayed locked on me. Zoe wasn’t one to back down either, no matter how big or small the challenge.

“Seriously.” I glanced toward the living room and lowered my voice. “The whole reason she got sent home the other day was because she’d made herself sick stressing out over this bake sale.”

Zoe’s whole demeanor softened, shoulders lowering as her own eyes moved in Charlie’s direction.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Everyone was talking about baking with their moms, and she was the odd man out.”

“Oh, Charlie girl,” Zoe breathed out.

“My suggestion to ask you to help was the only thing that got her to smile that day. So, I mean it. Tonight is really important to her, and I cannot say thank you enough.”

Zoe relented and handed me the sponge. I gratefully directed my attention to the sink full of dishes instead of the look in her eyes, switching on the hot water.

“So, what got you into baking?” I asked after I’d rinsed out the largest bowl. “Did you always want to be a baker?”

Zoe settled in against the counter next to me, letting out a laugh, but there was an edge to it.

“Definitely not. I mean, I always loved desserts and enjoyed helping my mom bake around the holidays as a kid, but I never saw it as a career.”

There was only the sound of the faucet and clanking of dishes as she gathered her thoughts.

“My best friend, Jada, and I were roommates in college. She was always baking something in the dorm kitchen.” She picked up a tea towel and started drying the dishes I’d cleaned. “Once the off-season hit, I started to join her and realized how relaxing baking is.”

“You didn’t have any baking disasters like me?” I grinned over at her.