Page 71 of The Second Kiss
“And this is from me.” Jacob hands me a box of conversation hearts. “I remember how much you liked these when you were a little kid.”
“Thanks. You shouldn’t have.” I bat my eyes and then set the box on the counter. “Excuse the disaster, we’re making cookies.”
He surveys the mess on the counter. “Who are you making them for?”
“Us.” Jasmine looks up from the card attached to the roses. She’s glowing, or maybe blushing. Whatever Gage wrote, she's cheered up immensely.
“You’re going to eat all of these yourselves?” Jacob asks.
I look over a mound of dough. “Maybe not all by ourselves. You can take some with you back to base.”
“So what have you been up to, kid?” Jacob helps himself to a piece of dough.
I slap his hand. “You can’t call me that anymore. I’m an adult now.”
“Wow, you mean you reached the big one-eight. You’re officially all grown-up.” I know he’s mocking me, but it feels good to be back where we were, back to casual teasing. No mention of Nate or what happened on Christmas Eve.
“Yep, January 28th. You missed it.”
“Sorry about that. I was doing some training in Spokane.” His revelation makes me feel better. Maybe he hasn’t completely been avoiding me for the last month and half.
He samples one of the freshly baked cookies. “These are pretty good. Not poisonous at all.”
I give him a wicked grin. “Yeah, well, we didn’t know we were making them for you.”
“That reminds me, you still owe me breakfast in bed,” he says.
Jasmine gives me a look, but I’m not about to explain that now.
“And you still owe me an oil change, but it would probably be pointless. I think The Nag is finally ready for the glue factory.”
“It’s not running again?” Jacob shakes his head. “What do you do to that car?”
“She’s an old beast,” I defend myself. “It doesn’t take much to slow her down.”
“Maybe you should give her to me. I know how to treat a classy lady like The Nag,” he finishes his cookie.
“You could give me your car. I’d be willing to go for a straight across trade.”
“Way too much power for you, little girl,” he dips his finger in the flour canister and draws a white line down my nose.
“I told you. I’m not a little girl anymore.” I reach into the canister and get the tiniest pinch of flour. I hesitate for a few seconds and then I sprinkle it on top of his head.
He sneezes and looks at me in disbelief. “You did not just do that.”
I start to back away from him. “Sorry, my hand just slipped.”
He grabs me around the waist with one arm and reaches into the flour with the other. He puts a big handful on top of my head. A cloud of white dust settles over me. The flour starts to trickle down my back and onto my face. I cough, then shake my head. Flour flies into his face. He grabs another handful. I duck and it catches Jasmine full in the face.
She screams, “What the–”
Suddenly flour is flying all over the kitchen. The whole room is enveloped in white powder. We don’t stop until we’re completely blanketed with flour, choking on flour dust, and the kitchen looks like a blizzard hit. I can’t believe how far a little bit of flour has gone.
I survey the disaster. “Mom is going to kill me.”
“You already look like a ghost,” Jacob pats my back and a puff of white comes up.
I pat Jacob on his head. “And you look like you’re ready for the nursing home, old man. Your hair is totally white.”
