Page 72 of I Wanna Text You Up

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“Please don’t bemad atme!”

Caleb pauses in the doorway, one hand still on the knob, the other holding a paper bag. “That’s never a good thing tohear.”

“I know, I know, but you have to understand, this is kind of yourfault.”

“My fault?” He sniffs at the air. “What’s that smell? What did you do,Zoe?”

I hold out my hands, trying to defend myself against his words. “You’re the one who said I would be just fine on my own for ten minutes. You were right, but Caleb? You were gone fortwelve.”

His eyes widen as he makes his way into the kitchen, sets the bag on the counter, and peers into the pot on thestove.

“Am I looking at what I think I’m lookingat?”

“Y-Yes.”

“That’s the sauce we workedon?”

“Uh, yes. Yes itis.”

He tips his head to the side. “How?”

“Um…how?”

“Yes.How?”

“It justhappened.”

Caleb barely manages to suppress a shocked laugh. “Just happened? The sauce magically conformed to the pan and turnedbrown?”

I nod and wiggle my fingers. “Magic.”

“Mmhmm. And thewater?”

“Th-Thewhat?”

“The water? For thenoodles?”

My mouth drops open. “Oh.”

“Oh? What does ‘oh’mean?”

“Iforgot.”

His head whips toward the pot thatusedto hold the water for the noodles, just in time to catch smoke billowing out from underneathit.

Rushing into action, he grabs the pot and switches off the burner before a fire can catch. He takes the pot to the sink, running water over it to cool it off before refilling it and setting it on a newburner.

He points at it. “No touchytouchy.”

“But…but…” My shoulders sag in defeat. “Fine, but I didn’t catch it on fire! That’s animprovement!”

He regards me with an amused smile. “You turned our nearly done sauce brown and you boiled an entire pot of water until it was empty. Within ten”—I open my mouth to correct him and he holds a hand up—“sorry, twelve minutes. You are officially fired from cookingtonight.”

“And thecookies?”

“I said cooking. You can still bake. You’re somehow actually good atthat.”

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