Page 93 of Man Advantage

“Right. So think of these like that.”

He seemed to consider that. Then he turned those puppy dog eyes on me. “After the class, can we try it on a real cake?”

“Uh.” I swallowed. “Well, we were going to watch your dad’s game tonight, but maybe tomorrow? If you want to?”

That brought him back to life, and he smiled. “Okay!”

Phew. Crisis averted.

While we were still waiting for people to settle in, Zane started chatting with an older girl sitting next to him, and I texted Trev.

Did you know this was a cupcake class?

Oh. Shit. I might’ve? Is Zane mad?

He was a little disappointed, but I convinced him it’s like a video game tutorial.

Good thinking. And it worked?

Yep. But now he wants to do a boss-level cake at home.

Pretty sure we can make that happen.

I stared at his message, then glanced at Zane. Then I started typing.

I told him he and I would do it, but maybe that’s something for you and him?

Uh, you’ve taken the class, not me.

I can supervise. (wink emoji)

Oh. Yeah. Because you count as adult supervision.

I do today, don’t I?

Yes, you do, and I seriously appreciate you doing this with him. And defusing the situation when I fucked up and put him in a cupcake class.

We’ll settle up when you’re back in town (wink emoji)

Damn right we will.

Ok class is starting. Text later.

The class was pretty basic. Marci started by showing everyone the basic process of making a few varieties of frosting, which was fairly straightforward but had a lot of steps. Fortunately, there was a handout with the recipe and detailed instructions, so neither of us would have to memorize any of it.

“Once you have this,” she told us, “you can add different flavors and colors. That way you don’t have to mix up a batch every time you want to change something.”

Well, damn. There was me learning something in this class. Not that I’d given it a ton of thought before, but it hadn’t occurred to me you could just make a big ass bowl of frosting, and then modify smaller portions of it.

Duh, Cam.

For starters, Marci just had the kids use a plain off-white frosting and do very basic lines and dots on a piece of waxed paper. Using the piping bag was a challenge for Zane, mostly because his hands were smaller than everyone else’s. Fortunately, Marci found one that was thinner and easier for him to manage, and after a few practice stripes, he was handling it pretty well.

He did get a little aggravated, though, when his rosettes didn’t come out the way he wanted them to. After four tries, Zane’s still didn’t look like Marci’s examples.

He glared at his failed attempts. “It’s hard!”

“It’s okay!” I touched his shoulder. “Remember what she said? Mistakes just mean more cake and frosting!”

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