Page 19 of Grumpmas

“Expired.” I tossed the bland pasta into the garbage can.

Noelle had a ton of leftover food, but the selection was boring for a kid. Even I lost my appetite staring at the unappealing food selection. Faith deserved something fun to eat for dinner, and I had the perfect solution.

“How about we make chocolate chip pancakes?” I asked.

Faith stared up at me, puzzled. “But Mommy said those are for breakfast.”

Well, Mommy was too fucking overbearing, and she needed to take a goddamn chill pill. Every kid should experience a fucking milk chocolate stack of deliciousness at suppertime.

I lifted Faith up onto the countertop beside the stove.

“We’ll keep this our little secret.” I held up my pinkie finger. “Deal?”

Faith peered at my finger and wrapped her smallest limb around mine.

She smiled. “Deal.”

ELEVEN

Cookie Catastrophe

Noelle

Faith stood on a stool beside me, wearing a red apron as she mixed ingredients together. Flour dust was on her face as she accidentally smeared homemade batter across her cheek and made me smile. Nothing beats preparing homemade sugar cookies for the upcoming holiday season. Home-baked goods always brought people together.

Faith licked the batter off her fingers. “Yummy.”

“Nuh-uh. No eating while baking,” I scolded with a grin because my daughter was far too cute. “Go wash your hands.”

Faith pouted all the way to the sink, where she got some soap and water. She scrubbed until her hands were full of bubbles and rinsed them off. I took over her spot of making the two dozen sugar cookies for school at Wonderland Elementary and double-checked my recipe.

Preheat oven ?

Stir in the flour, baking soda, and baking powder ?

Beat sugar and butter in a mixing bowl ?

Add the egg and vanilla ?

Gradually add the flour mixture ?

Roll into balls and place two inches apart on baking sheetX

We still had one more step to go before popping those sugar-coated beauties into the oven. Faith had got carried away and too eager to taste. I didn’t blame her as I smelledthe sweet aroma of the sugar cookies and wanted to dig in too. My stomach growled at the smell, and my mouth watered, but I refrained and set a good example for my daughter.

“Now. We have to roll these up into a ball like so...” I took some batter, placed it between my hands, and rolled the ingredients until it formed a smooth round sphere. “And there you have it. Why don’t you try it, Faith?”

Faith was back on her stool beside me.

“Mom...” Faith rolled her eyes up toward the ceiling and exhaled a deep sigh. “I know what I’m doing. It’s not like I haven’t baked with you before.”

Jesus. Faith was in the tweenager stage. Lord, please help me.

“I know.” I sighed back. “I was simply giving you a refresher in case you’d forgotten.”

“I’m good.” Faith stated as she rolled up a ball all on her own and placed it on the baking sheet.

Faith was one step ahead of me. I grinned like a proud mom and didn’t care if she saw me. I had taught my girl well.