Page 39 of The Cowboy's Bullfighter
“Thirteen is too young for coffee.” It was awful young to try to make a cake first thing in the morning.
“How about you have a glass of chocolate milk? Or we could have cocoa, and then we’ll make it another cake, okay?”
“You’ll make hot chocolate?”
“Of course, no problem.” He’d do damn near anything for this eager child. “Can you pull out some eggs, the milk, and the butter. We’ll make something up. Do you know what Uncle Coop’s favorite is?”
She shook her head. “No. I’ve never seen him eat cake, but you have to have a birthday cake, don’t you?”
Dammit. “Well, what have you seen him eat? What is his favorite dessert? Favorite treat?”
Her head tilted. “You mean like chocolate chip cookies? He loves chocolate chip cookies.”
Oh, that was excellent. They could so do that. He knew that there was a big bag of chocolate chips. Coop snuck them in his coffee. “Wanna make a giant chocolate chip cookie?”
She nodded, and her eyes lit up. “You won’t tell about the cake?”
“It’s our secret. No worries, huh?”
That earned him a happy little grin. “No worries.”
“Cool.” He grabbed the milk, then the flat disc of Mexican chocolate to melt into it. He loved that he didn’t have to use powdered. Not that there was anything wrong with that. Pot. Milk. Heat.
Okay, now they needed to soften the butter. “Is the oven still on, kiddo?”
“Uh-huh. I was hoping you would help me.”
“Well, sure. Now, do we have a pizza pan with a lip?”
“Yes! Uncle Coop uses it for his Bisquick breakfast pizza.”
He grinned at her. “I have yet to experience this.”
“It’s pretty yummy.” She ducked down and grabbed a pan out of one of those narrow cabinets that housed cookie sheets. “Ta-da!”
“That’s perfect.” He put the butter on the back of the stove, then stirred the milk. “Does Uncle Coop like nuts in his cookies?”
“Pecans. Walnuts break his mouth out.”
Good to know. “Can you break some into pieces?”
She dug out a jar. “Uncle Coop keeps some chopped, because he likes them in oatmeal.”
“Even better. Then you can break some eggs for me.”
“Okay!”
She was such an amazing kid. She really was. He stirred some more, and when bubbles formed around the edges of the milk, he put in the chocolate.
“Uncle Brooks?”
“Mmm?”
“Do you like horses?”
“Yes.” He chuckled, because that was such a weak word for it. “I love them.”
“Are you going to get horses?”
