Page 20 of Keeping Secrets

"Tell me when it’s time for sprinkles!" Finn shouted as he ran out the back door.

"Goodness." Willa smiled and leaned back against the kitchen counter. "I live here, and their energy still catches me by surprise sometimes."

"They’re full of energy," Keely agreed mildly. It was crazy to think that Nick and Chloe would have a little boy running around their place before long.

She started in on the dirty mixing bowls that had piled up, but Willa shooed her away from the sink.

"You sit down. You’ve done enough. At least until it’s time to make the buttercream frosting. Mine never turns out right."

"Okay if I make some coffee?" she asked, eyeing the coffee maker that was tucked under one of the cupboards. She had been up late into the night working through the stack of library books that she had borrowed. They were much better company than the shadowy figures who populated her bad dreams.

"Coffee would be amazing," Willa said. "Thank you."

She got that going, and the sharp scent of coffee joined with the warm smell of baking cupcakes and cooling pie crests.

By the time the dishes were finished and the coffee had been consumed along with good conversation, cold rain drove the kids back inside.

Ellie helped to whip up the strawberry buttercream, and then Willa supervised cupcake decoration while Keely finished making the French silk pie. Once that was in the fridge, she washed the next round of bowls and mixers. Willa was too busy trying to contain the chaos of sprinkles to stop her this time.

They had just settled the kids at the kitchen table with a cupcake each – Finn’s seemed to be more sprinkles than frosting – when someone knocked at the front door.

Willa hurried to answer it while Keely bit into one of the cupcakes. No sprinkles, just Meyer lemon pound cake with fresh (well, frozen) strawberry buttercream. It was phenomenal, even better than the first time she had tried the recipe. She had doubled the lemon zest this time and added some to the frosting as well, which pushed the small cakes into over-the-top deliciousness.

Even the kids were quiet, too busy enjoying the strawberry lemon cupcakes to tell stories or bicker the way that they had all through the making of them.

There was a mix of voices in the front room. Keely walked to the doorway, cupcake in hand, to see that three of Willa‘s friends had dropped by all at once. Nat and Willa were deep in conversation about something related to Community Property Restorations, Ali was unwinding a scarf of ridiculous length from around her neck, and Chloe beamed when she saw Keely.

"Funny seeing you here!" She hurried through the living room and gave her a hug, leaning forward to avoid squishing her round belly. "This must be your baking day. The kids were so excited. What is that? It smells amazing."

"Lemon strawberry cupcakes. We made plenty." She backtracked and grabbed one of the sprinkle-crusted cupcakes off the cooling rack.

"That’s… festive."

"Sorry about the sprinkles," she said quietly. "The kids were in charge of decorations."

"I see." She surreptitiously removed the gold and silver baubles – technically edible, but apparently not something that Chloe was willing to feed her unborn child – and disposed of them before biting into the cupcake. When she finally did, her eyes widened.

"This is amazing. Wow. I knew you were a great baker, but this is next level."

Keely felt her cheeks color. "Thanks."

"Nat!" Chloe walked out into the living room and interrupted Nat and Willa’s conversation, utterly unrepentant and waving her cupcake in their direction. "You have to try these."

Nat looked annoyed. "The fundraiser is in one week and we–"

"I know, and Keely is the perfect person to cater." Chloe turned to look at her, wide-eyed and smiling. "You will, won’t you? I’ve got the savory stuff covered, but if you could handle the dessert table, the event will be a knockout."

Her mouth was open in surprise, and she quickly shut it. "I’ve never catered an event before."

"But you totally could. This is amazing. If you don’t have enough room for everything at your place, you could bring the overflow to me. You could even use my oven if you needed to." As she spoke, she took another cupcake from the kitchen and carried it over to Nat. She accepted it with a frown – but when she bit into the cupcake, her irritation fell away.

"This is really good," she said through a mouthful of lemon cupcake and strawberry frosting.

"I know, right?" Chloe fetched another cupcake for Ali, who was equally quick with her praise.

"It’s not a big event," Willa said thoughtfully. "I don’t see why you wouldn’t be able to. Only if you want to, of course."

"Obviously we’d pay you," Nat said through another mouth full of cupcake.

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