Page 66 of Only Ever You

* Sebby, you look cold

* No, I’m okay

20

FAYE

Faye did indeed getthat hot chocolate once they’d found their torchlit way back to the house, as well as two hours to mix all of the ingredients for the doughnuts she’d suggested they bake to replace the ruined Yule log for the Christmas Eve party, with less than a day to go until then.

After the nightmare that was Uncle Mortimer, Michèle had visibly relaxed when they’d mixed those doughs before leaving them to prove in what little space was spare in the fridge overnight.

Faye hadn’t taught many people to bake before, much less her own doughnuts to someone so excellent in the kitchen as Michèle. The woman was in no short supply of knowledge on how to keep her family with full, happy stomachs. And she was determined she wouldn’t be intimidated by the fact that this was Bash’smother.

Not having her hands on dough for a second day in a row had felt weird, and she’d been a little more excited than she expected herself to be. Michèle had all of the utensils and equipment necessary, most importantly a mixer with a dough hook Faye might’ve squealed inside to see.

The kilo of dough had proved just right, nice and smooth and elastic when she poked it, and this morning it had cut up nicely into balls she left on the counter for a few hours before frying. Such a short turnaround meant there was just enough time this afternoon to decorate them, which was, let’s be honest, more fun and festive than simply coring out a hole and filling them in.

Uncle Mortimer had been banished from the kitchen for the foreseeable future; barred from entering at the door by Michèle’s folded arms and a glare that made Faye glad to be onthisside of her. She’d glanced at Arthur quietly saying he'd take Mortimer to the pub to keep him out of the way. By all accounts, Matt went too, and Bash had hijacked Michèle’s drawer of gift wrapping supplies to wrap the two toys he’d sneakily bought from the supermarket yesterday. Given that Faye spotted Saira going upstairs with a book in her hand, she guessed that she’d be cherishing the time alone.

In the kitchen, Faye was completely in her element. She’d prepared everything: different colours of icing ready to be piped out, bowls of different chocolate treats for snowman buttons or reindeer antlers –ladies, of course, according to Bash. The Phillips-Dumont Christmas Eve soirée was tonight and there was a lot, though comparatively less than she was used to, to get done.

She’d been so prepared to steam roll ahead and finish all thirty of the doughnuts by herself that she’d forgotten about Maya and Imara. The professional part of her needing all decorations to be clean and identical had put up a fight when two pairs of dark brown eyes peered over the edge of the kitchen island.

What was it Ellie always told her to do? Let go of the reins? Relax?

Usually she didn’t pay attention, but seeing those excited eyes … Faye accepted that today wasn’t about being professional. Today was about enjoying the moment and forgetting about perfectionism. And so the two little eager beavers hopped up onto stools and helped. Clearly, if the mess of icing which got absolutely everywhere was any indication, they enjoyed themselves.

Michèle flittered in and out of the kitchen every now and then in between adding even more festive decorations around the house and tidying up what she considered was “mess” before any guests arrived.

“I can’t do it.” Maya dropped the piping bag of red icing onto the counter.

“Can’t do it,yet,” Faye emphasised, keeping up her optimism in the vein of her old school teachers. Upsetting a four year old the day before Christmas wasn’t really what she wanted to be doing.

“Here, let’s see … ” She thought for a moment, studying the icing, the un-decorated doughnut, and Maya. “What if you balance the bag on your arm and point the nozzle with your hand, and I can roll down the top and squeeze?”

Maya’s eyes came up on the brink of tears. The last thing Faye wanted for her to feel was that her differences would stop her from doing this how she wanted. Which wasn’t true at all. Baking was for everyone. There was a whole TV show she religiously watched which was about just that.

“You’ll do all of the drawing,” she added, “just tell me when to stop.”

“Okay!” Maya didn’t think about it for a second and reached for the icing straight away.

Thankfully their method worked, even if it was a bit messy, and no one was more relieved than Faye. Maya made her designs, most of which looked like a cross between elephants and unicorns, and Faye paid strict attention to her instructions. Even if they were a little—No. Today wasn’t about being perfect. Though she did purposefully set aside a third of the bare doughnuts for herself to decorate after the girls were done.

Imara had sat across the island in her own corner, quietly piping out what was definitely a Christmas stocking for a while, dancing in her seat to each of the songs filling the kitchen. Faye was still yet to have found where the speakers were hidden, but they produced song after song of children’s movie soundtracks in a welcomed break from the Christmas jazz.

She didn’t want to only give one girl her attention, an impulse that was perfectly timed when Bash strolled in.

“How’s it going in here?” The white T-shirt hugging his body tightly enough for just a hint of definition caught Faye’s attention first. Not for his physique, no, though that was lovely. More than adequate. But for the fact that this situation was absolutely not the place to wear white.

Faye unclogged her throat and tore her eyes away from him long enough to flusteredly answer, “Good.” She still hadn’t recovered from his admission yesterday that she was his favourite woman, whether he meant it or not.

“Look what I made!” Maya held up a doughnut and the icing began to slide, layered on so thick that some unfortunate soul would have the biggest sugar rush tonight.

“Ooothat looks lovely.” Bash squeezed her shoulder and dutifully stroked over her hair that, in hindsight, should’ve been tied away.

It seemed like the right time to sneak off and see how Imara was doing.

Faye slid off of her stool and held out the cone-like bag of green icing to Bash who, by the way his body froze, had absolutely no idea what to do with it.

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