Page 50 of A Little Christmas! 4: Song
“Cocoa will be perfect,” Nan said.
“Make that too,” Ms. Lottie added.
“Two cocoa confections coming right up,” Cooper said as he lined six mugs up on the counter and started filling them.
Knowing Zachy and Song, they’d want some the moment they caught a whiff of it, so Cooper broke out the crushed Butterfinger pieces to sprinkle over the whipped cream he topped their drinks with.
“How were the roads?” he asked as he added marshmallows and drizzled caramel on top of every cup before adding the Butterfinger bits to Song and Zachy’s.
“Fine, until we got on this side of Chicago,” Ms. Lottie said. “After that it started to look like the world had frozen over. Next winter you boys will have to come see us in Arizona. We can sit out on the patio and sip lemonade made with fresh lemons from the tree out back. We’ll fire up the grill too, since I doubt even your Yeti isn’t about to try and barbeque on a day like this.”
Cooper glanced towards the door leading to the hallways, but so far, there were no sounds drifting their way, which probably meant that the door was still closed.
“Don’t be so sure,” Cooper declared. “He’s been complaining about wanting brisket, so it would not shock me if the smoker got a workout before New Years.”
“Now, you keep on telling us things like that, and we’ll be parked in your driveway until March,” Nan said.
“Somehow I doubt Zachy will have a single complaint about that,” Cooper replied. “He’s missed you guys something fierce, despite the video chats.”
“Uh-huh, I just bet he does,” Ms. Lottie said, giggling as she blew on her mug of cocoa. “Us and all the baking we do whenever we’re around. That boy will put us to work; you markmy words. We’ll be up to our ears in fudge- and custard-filled donuts in no time.”
“You make custard-filled donuts?” Cooper asked. “How am I only hearing about this now! Those are my favorites. I will seriously mow through a breakroom full of people just to grab one from the box.”
“Oh boy,” Nan said, “I guess the cat’s out of the bag now, and we’ll have to make double.”
“Yes!” Cooper blurted, then slapped both hands over his mouth, eyes going wide as he silently listened to see if that had drawn any footsteps from down the hallway.
Mercifully, it was still silent. That thick-ass door was more than worth its weight in gold some days. Other times it was scary as hell when Cooper thought about what might be going on behind it.”
“Don’t forget the cheesecake bites and cake pops,” Nan said. “Now those are my specialty.”
“You just wait until you taste the ones she wraps gummy worms around,” Ms. Lottie said. “There are three flavors of cake swirled together and frosting that tastes like biting into a Sour Patch Kid.”
“Sold,” Cooper said.
“Oh, we have got to make them the chocolate peanut butter crème fudge you perfected and a marshmallow crème one too.” Nan said.
“Unless those are big batches, you might want to make two,” Cooper said, face flushing.
He felt a little sheepish admitting it, but he had as big of a sweet tooth as everyone in the house and was already planning out the perfect tins to use to hide treats away in the back of his desk drawers. Cooper licked his lips at the very thought of savoring a few plump pieces of fudge with his mid-morning coffee.
“Two is doable,” Ms. Lottie said. “And after seeing those Butterfinger bits you pulled out, we’ll have to make a batch filled with them and pulverized Twix. I just love seeing them come apart in the food processor. The best part is that there are so many varieties now that we can always make a new twist on an old favorite.”
“Oh yes, there will be plenty of fudge to go around by the time we’re through,” Nan said as Cooper finally heard Zachy in the hall. “And hopefully that brisket you mentioned too.”
Cooper was just about to mention that Gage would need no further encouragement to fire up the smoker than hearing Nan and Ms. Lottie were in the mood for some when the pace of Zachy’s footsteps increased, and he switched his frame of thought.
“Boy, I know you have more home training than that since I taught it to you,” Nan called out, beating Cooper to the warning about no running in the house that he’d been about to issue.
She was cackling when Zachy burst into the room, skidding as he rounded the corner and rushed to hug her. Ms. Lottie got in on it too, the older ladies sandwiching Zachy between them. Thanks to our frequent video chats, they knew who Song was the moment he entered the room and converged on him as soon as they let go of Zachy. Cooper caught Gage’s gaze and raised an eyebrow, wondering what they’d done to be reduced to chopped liver and miss out on all the hugging. Gage just shook his head and shrugged.
They did eventually get hugs, but only after Nan and Ms. Lottie had finished fussing over the boys. Zachy fired off several questions about why they hadn’t said anything about coming to visit and if they’d stopped at any cool places along the way, but his Nan knew just how to handle him and got him settled down in the chair in front of his cocoa, right beside Song. Sitting around the island in the kitchen, they all started sipping while itwas warm, quietly waiting to see which road trip stories Nan and Ms. Lottie were going to share first.
“I tell you boys, the cold is getting harder on these old bones with every passing year,” Ms. Lottie said. “Takes awhile to get warm these days. You wouldn’t happen to have a bit of Irish Cream orButtershots[TM6] I can toss in this?”
“We’ve got both and Peppermint Schnapps,” Gage replied, pushing back his seat. “Which can I grab for you?”
“The schnapps, if you don’t mind,” she said, so Gage got up and grabbed the bottle.