Page 60 of Baking and Angels

He sighed, understanding what she meant. “It is possible for something to be both,” he said. “Right and wrong don’t cancel each other out. They are independent of each other, and neither are irrelevant. They’re both important.”

She smiled at that. “You know, I think you are wiser than you thinkyou are.”

That was a hard statement for him to swallow, so he cleared his throat and looked away. “Does she have akitchen?”

It was an asinine question. Of course she did, but it was the first one his brainspat out.

Chapter 23

We Talked

Honestly

Rafferty didn’t have many moments in his existence where he thought something was truly unfair. He had seen the pain and suffering of the people he had been forced to serve from every level and walk of life, from the ultra-poor to the ultrarich and all the layers in between. All of them believed that they weren’t getting their fair share no matter what they actually had.

The former demon believed he would continue to think that… that is, until he walked into Scarlet’s kitchen.

“Oh my…” He didn’t know who to direct those words to, but it didn’t matter because he could barely process anything at that moment.

It was the ultimate, state-of-the-art kitchen. It was more than a restaurant-style space. While it had a multi-range stove lining one wall, it had also been designed with modular units for every type of cooking his heart could desire, including an induction surface, an inset steamer, and something called an air fryer. Throughout the rest of the room, there were dedicated task stations and a workhorse sink with a faucet that extended on a metal hose, one that could be pulled all the way across the room and that would snap back home whenreleased.

“Oh wow,” Helena said, impressed herself, and a warmth slipped in through his chest. He couldn’t have loved her more than in that moment.

Two different fridges, set at different temperatures, had touch screens reporting data on their surfaces. When he tapped the screen to see what was inside, a list appeared beside a picture of the items along with tags like “date bought” and “date expected to expire.” The screens even went further to show a meal plan, laid out three months in advance, typed and organized with ingredients listed and buying requirements. There was also a list of forbidden foods and another with foods that could be consumed once in a great while.

“She was on quite the restrictive diet,” Helena commented as she slid her finger over the surface, scrollingthe list.

Rafferty nodded as his eyes scanned it, still trying to take everything in. “So much”—he turned to look at it all—“thought and design went into this room. And itwasused.”

“Looks like by Yosef,” she said, tapping at the list. “He used to make notes like that. His own little abbreviation system that I had to learn just to understand his emails. Helivedhere. They really werea couple.”

Rafferty had no doubt about it. He just let his eyes linger over the list of Do Not Eat. “If we are going to make her something, it should be from this list. She is well now. There is nothing forbidden toher now.”

“I suppose so,” Helena said, but waited as his eyes scanned the list again. “Food of the Gods?” she asked, basically at the same time he saw it himself.

He tapped the heading, and, sure enough, it opened up to a typed-up recipe and a link to a paused video; a paused video of Eleanor.

“As you can see there are many versions of this recipe that call themselves the Food of the Gods, but this one is my all-time favorite,” his rival’s recorded self said, doing her thing of preparing herself to make what looked to Rafferty to be a dessert ofsome sort.

“This is it,” he said, pausing the video and refocusing on the ingredient list.

“Are you sure?” Helena asked.

“Yes,” he said, turning to go to the cupboards to see what suppliesthey had.

Helena didn’t simply accept that. “Howcan yoube sure?”

He couldn’t help smirking a little. “I have always had a knack for knowing what people truly want or need to eat.”

“Oh.” Helena wrinkled her nose. “That’s not… I guess, I thought… that was all a part of your whole demon thing?”

He shook his head. “No, that belongs to me alone. My mentor used to call it the‘Sense.’”

“Oh,” Helena said, but she sounded distracted, cocking her head to one side as if listening. In fact, he was sure she was. When she noticed his scrutiny, she looked up. “Sorry. I was just making sure she was okay. It’s so weird. If I just focus long enough, I seem to be able to hear her no matter how far away she is.”

That gave Rafferty pause, the only thing that really could distract him from his marveling at the stockedness of thecupboards.

“Oooo, whipped cream!” Helena declared, grabbing up a can from the shelf. She popped off the top, brought it to her mouth, and did the most horrifying thing he had ever seen: blasted white foam into it.

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