Page 19 of Keeping Secrets

CHAPTER 6

As soon as she knocked on the door of Willa’s house, it was flung open. At first she thought that there was no one there, but the next second she looked down and saw a curly-haired little boy staring up at her with wide blue eyes.

"Are you Mama Willa’s friend?"

A little girl ran to join them, sliding on the hardwood floor when she tried to come to a quick stop in her pink and purple socks.

"Are you going to teach her how to bake?" she asked. "Because she tried to make cupcakes for my class but they were as hard as rocks and the bottoms were black and so we had to get up early and drive to the grocery store for cupcakes but the grocery store only had chocolate cupcakes and I don’t even like chocolate cupcakes and so we bought cookies instead but then Sasha was mad because I told her that I was going to bring cupcakes."

Keely blinked a couple times, taking in the sudden assault of words. "Yeah, I came here to bake with you guys. Can I come in?"

"Come in, come in." The little boy ducked behind her, put his hands on the small of her back, and pushed her through the door.

"Are we making cupcakes?" the girl asked.

"Yes, Willa requested cupcakes. I sent her the recipe for my favorite kind. They’re strawberry lemon."

"Yuck." The little boy closed the door with a nerve-rattling slam.

"Finn, you love strawberry lemonade," the girl scolded.

"So?"

"So imagine strawberry lemonade cupcakes."

Finn thought that over for a moment. "I guess that sounds okay."

The little girl smiled at Keely and rolled her eyes as if to say, Do you see what I have to put up with?

"You’re here!" Willa walked in through the back door and greeted her with a hug. "Sorry, I was out in the garden. I’ll just wash up and we can get started. I see you’ve already met Finn and Ellie."

"Where’s all the stuff for cupcakes?" Finn asked, peering into the small bag that Keely carried. "Where’s the flour and the eggs and the mixer?"

"We bought it all with Willa after school the other day, remember?"

"No." He glared belligerently at his sister and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Remember you picked out the dinosaur sprinkles?"

He gasped and threw his arms wide. "I forgot about the dinosaur sprinkles! Can we use the dinosaur sprinkles?" he asked, spinning to look at Willa.

"Yes," she laughed. "Come wash your hands, and we’ll get started."

"I want to do the sprinkles!"

"We have to make the cupcakes first."

"And let them cool," Ellie added. "And make the frosting."

"Sounds like you are already an expert," Keely said as she followed them through to the kitchen.

"I used to bake with my Auntie Ruthie. I’m really good at it."

"Good to know," Keely chuckled.

She led them through the steps of the two recipes that Willa had shopped for. First they made dough and rolled out pie crusts. Then, while those baked, they mixed up cupcake batter. Or rather, she and Ellie mixed up cupcake batter while Willa ran intermission and did her best to stop Finn from wreaking havoc.

He insisted on helping when the chocolate came out and helped stir together the filling for the French silk pie. Once the cupcakes were in the oven, the kids lost interest and went out into the backyard to play.

---