Page 108 of Knot Baked Out For This
"Hey!" Luca protests. "My paperwork is impeccable."
"Your paperwork is terrifying," Levi corrects. "You have spreadsheets for your spreadsheets."
"Organization is not a crime."
"It is the way you do it."
"Wait!" Levi suddenly bolts inside, leaving us confused on the balcony. He returns thirty seconds later with?—
"Are those candy rings?" I groan.
"They're SYMBOLIC," he insists, holding out the handful of twenty-five-cent machine jewelry. "Also delicious."
"You're an idiot," Luca tells his brother.
"I'm a romantic."
"Those aren't mutually exclusive."
But Hazel's laughing, really laughing, taking a candy ring with the solemnity of someone accepting the crown jewels.
"I, Hazel Holloway, take you three disasters to be my pack," she says, sliding the candy ring on. "To have and to hold, in renovation and in chaos, in good bakes and burnt ones?—"
"I don't burn things!" Levi protests.
"You burned WATER."
"—from this day forward," she continues, ignoring us, "as long as we all shall deal with this town's nonsense."
We each take a candy ring, and it should be ridiculous—four adults on a tiny balcony, pledging ourselves with convenience store candy—but it's perfect. It's us.
"To pack," I say, raising my candy ring.
"To pack," they echo.
We "cheers" with candy jewelry, and then Levi eats his immediately because impulse control is not his strong suit.
"Next time," Hazel says, giggling, "I'll save up so we can decorate the balcony. Fairy lights, maybe some plants that'll definitely die because I forget to water things, a better blanket..."
She heads inside, saying she'll pack up leftovers for us, leaving the three of us on the balcony.
"Fairy lights," Luca says thoughtfully.
"Plants," Levi adds.
"Outdoor heater," I suggest.
We look at each other, and the decision is made without words. Tomorrow, while she's at the bakery, Operation Balcony begins.
"She's going to be mad," Luca points out.
"She's going to love it," Levi counters.
"She's going to be mad that she loves it," I correct.
"Worth it," we say in unison.
Inside, Hazel calls something about containers, and Muffin and Ember race past in what's apparently become their evening ritual of chaos.
