Page 139 of You Float My Boat

Oz groaned, while I rolled my eyes.

‘Yes, why do you think I’m making all these?’

‘Honestly, no idea. I just thought you liked baking and decided to send her some.’ He looked back down at the paper, ‘It says here chocolate,justchocolate, but I distinctly remember those ones being chocolate chip. I still think about them.’

He reached across the counter where a lone biro was resting on the side, and I watched him scribble acrossmypiece of paper.

‘What are you doing?’

‘Adding in the chip. You need to get it right even if you’re not rhyming.’

‘No!’ This time I successfully snatched up the paper from his grip. ‘Chocolate chip doesn’t fit.’

‘What?’

‘Each line has to be ten syllables.’

‘Why?’

My shoulders jerked up, ‘I dunno, it’s the rules.’

‘Of what?’

‘Sonnets.’

‘Says who?’

‘Shakespeare?’ I snapped back, wondering what was with the twenty questions. ‘Look it up.’

This entire time Oz had been watching the back and forth like he was sitting centre court at Wimbledon, only with an expression of amusement I hadn’t seen on him in a long time. His grin widened even further as Brooks pushed out of his stool, rounded the counter and roped me into a big hug.

‘Oh mate. Shakespeare?’ he cried, holding me in a grip I couldn’t escape from. ‘Is this what my sister’s turned you into? You poor bastard. I’m so sorry. It’ll be okay. There, there.’

I eventually managed to push myself free, and the laugh which barrelled up my chest worked to dislodge some of the tension sitting there, especially when he tried to stroke my head. ‘It’s fine. But thank you for the sympathy.’ I put my arm back around him, ‘I’m sorry I’ve fucked up so much.’

‘Nah, you won’t have done,’ he grinned. ‘She’s justdoing that thing that girls do, you know … they like to prove a point. She’ll calm down.’

‘Not on all this sugar she won’t,’ Oz laughed, his mouth full of the cookie he’d grabbed after Brooks left the tray unguarded.

I threw down the tea towel I was holding, groaning as I glanced around the kitchen. ‘I probably shouldn’t send all of this, right?’

Oz’s eyebrows raised so high they almost disappeared into his hairline. ‘Um … there’s enough here to last her all year.’

‘So … no, then?’

‘Pick your best twelve and send those,’ he suggested.

Yeah. I could do that. Twelve made more sense than several hundred. Thank God I never pressed order on the three dozen cupcake boxes I’d found on Amazon.

‘Sure you don’t want to send any to Kate? There’s plenty,’ I laughed.

‘No, she’s the chef of the two of us,’ he replied, and the sadness in his tone was so profound I pulled him into a Brooks-style hug. ‘God, we’re a mess aren’t we?’

‘Yeah.’

‘Now we’ve sorted Violet, there’s something else we need to discuss.’ Brooks downed the remainder of his tea, as Oz and I turned to him. ‘What are we doing about Evie?’

I leaned back against the counter.

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