Page 97 of A Hard Fit

“I might have used too many chocolate chips.” Cali frowned at the bowl.

“What? Did you use the quarter cup?”

“Yeah.”

Finn grabbed a wet dish cloth and glanced in the bowl on his way by. It was more chocolate chips than dough. “How many did you put in?”

Cali chewed her lip. “Four?”

“You put in four of these quarter cups?”

“It might have been five.”

“That’s…that’s a lot.”

Bryson continued to cry while Finn soaked the stain, then worked on blotting up the rest.

“I really like chocolate,” Cali said, lower lip pushing out.

“Yeah, but…I meant—” He stopped when her eyes started to water. “It’s okay, we’ll just add a bit more peanut butter so they stick together.”

“Can I have the rest of my freezie?” Bryson said in a trembling voice.

“Yeah, bud. How did this start leaking?” Finn unwrapped the paper towel over the sink. There was a clean slice in the plastic along the bottom. Finn started at it, puzzled. “How did this get cut?”

Bryson sniffled. “I tried to open it myself.”

“You—” Finn took a breath. “That’s okay. I’ll put it in a bowl for you. Maybe you can eat it with a spoon. Also you’d better change your shirt—oh, Cali, no, hon, that’s way too big for one cookie…”

The backdoor opened and Rory came in. They froze when they saw the mess.

“Hey, Rory,” Finn said weakly. “Welcome home.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Grand Opening

Rory needed only a second to assess the situation. “What can I do?”

Finn got Bryson a change of clothes and left his grape-stained ones in the bathroom sink to soak, while Rory scrubbed the rest of the purple out of the chair and helped Cali get the cookies in the oven. It wasn’t until Finn had introduced everyone that he realized—“Cali…did you add the baking soda, baking powder and salt?”

Cali blinked. “No?”

Finn nodded. “Okay. That’s okay. There’s so much chocolate in them, I’m sure they’ll taste just fine.”

And they were delicious. Warm and gooey, dense as fudge but soft, and oh, so chocolatey. Finn missed the salt a little, he decided, but overall, not a problem.

They were sitting around the kitchen table with glasses of milk, polishing off the first tray, when Rory asked, “Did Uncle Finn tell you what you get to do tomorrow?”

“No,” Cali said, licking a smudge of chocolate on her lip.

Bryson eyed the next tray. “Can I have another cookie?”

“I think maybe ease off, bud,” Finn said. The kid had had Frosted Flakes, a freezie —well, most of one—and multiple cookies since he’d been here. “Maybe after dinner.”

“I’m too full for dinner,” Bryson said, holding his stomach.

“You just asked for another cookie…”

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