Page 137 of You Float My Boat

Back to the trusty chocolate chip with violet frosting I went.

But ‘Proving My Love’ cupcakes were different from Valentine’s cupcakes, and they had to be absolutely perfect. The first attempt hadn’t turned out quite the way I’d hoped, so I made some more … and more … and more.

You see where I’m going.

After two trips to the supermarket on my bike, I decided to take Oz’s car and load up the boot with ingredients so I wouldn’t have to go back again.

The ones I’d just made space for were my thirteenth effort. I was standing in the epicentre of a sugar explosion. I glanced down at the bowl of cookie dough and slumped back against the stove.

Yup. It was official. I’d lost it.

Maybe we could have an impromptu bake sale, because even Brooks couldn’t eat all these. Not that he wasn’t trying hard. However, he was sniffing everything before he ate it.

‘You didn’t make any peanut butter cupcakes, did you?’

I shook my head. ‘Nope.’

‘When is this house no longer going to resemble the inside of Willy Wonka’s factory?’ asked Oz, walking into the kitchen and sliding onto the stool next to Brooks, only to jump back off and flick the kettle on.

I scrubbed a hand down my face with a deep sigh at the new job I had to add to my list.

‘Today. Maybe tomorrow.’

Probably tomorrow as three solid days of baking would take longer than an afternoon to dismantle. I didn’t want to count how many cookies there were.

‘And explain to us again, why all this?’

‘Well,’ I began, trying to come up with something that didn’t make me sound crazy. ‘It was helping me think.’

‘About Violet?’

I nodded, ‘Yes. I need to prove that I love her for her, and that my feelings aren’t because of an accident or because of Evie. I think.’ To be honest, I wasn’t entirely sure. I’d kind of lost track of everything amidst all the sugar. I was still largely confused at how I’d gotten into this mess. I just heard the ‘prove it’ part, and that’s exactly what I intended to do. Though I’m not sure how close I was.

‘How do you fall in love with someone by accident?’ asked Oz, which was the question I’d been asking myself.

‘I don’t know.’

‘I mean, you can’t control who you love. The entire notion is absurd,’ he grumbled, again repeating myexact sentiments. ‘Love isn’t accidental. It’s purposeful. It has meaning.’

I nodded, I was in total agreement.

‘Do you want to send any of these to Kate?’ I interrupted before we fell down another rabbit hole of Oz’s attempts to get Kate back, and while I reallyreallywanted to be empathetic and a great friend, I also had my own shit to deal with. Namely how to get rid of/pack up/eat enough baked goods to have McVitie’s worried.

‘Um … no, she’ll never believe I made them,’ he replied, removing three large mugs from the cupboard and throwing a tea bag into each. ‘Have you heard from her?’

I shook my head. ‘Nope. She wanted no contact. Have you heard from Kate?’

His response was the same – a long, slow shake of his head. I’d only been dealing with it for a matter of days. Oz was going on six weeks. At least now I understood why he’d nearly killed us in training every day. For the first time I was thankful Oz couldn’t cook. There’s no way this kitchen could handle baking from both of us.

We turned to Brooks, munching away on another chocolate chip cookie, and I raised my eyebrows at the little pile of peanut butter ones he’d pushed to the side on the counter.

‘I haven’t heard from her either, if that’s why you’re looking at me like that. And I’m not getting involved. Consider me the Switzerland of the house.’ He threw the rest of the cookie into his mouth. ‘She doesn’t text me about stuff like that anyway.’

‘Wonder why,’ Oz mumbled.

‘Mate, I think you’re going to be fine. Keep baking like this and I’ll go out with you, if you’re not too fussy about which Brooks you want.’

That had me cracking a real smile, the first one all week. ‘Sorry, I kind of have my heart set on the one with the purple hair. Plus, you snore.’

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