Page 18 of Sugar and Spice
“What is it?” I asked.
“Not playing by Bunny’s rules.” She grabbed flour, milk and some yeast before she snagged a bowl and whisk. “She’s got another thing coming if she thinks I’m going to go for the throat over some butter.”
“What are you-”
“I decide when I’m gonna destroy your butter, not that little woman,” Daisy told me and before I could answer she leaned in close and gave me a kiss. It was just a peck. A quick press of her lips to mine, but it was unsolicited. It was the first kiss Daisy had given me on her own. My heart felt like it might explode, or stop, or whatever it was that chick flicks said happened when you kissed the ‘the one.’ I wasn’t sure if Daisy was the one, but she’d been the only woman I’d fought with for years, so I guessed that was just as good.
I watched Daisy flounce back to her station, my body already demanding that I follow after her, but I stayed where I was. I needed ingredients, or this was all over before it began. For a show there had to be a bake off, and that meant I had to battle against her. Funny how the thing that had come the most naturally between us wasn’t the thing either of us wanted to do now. I snagged a bag of marshmallows, semi-sweet chocolate, sea salt, molasses and ginger, plus a blow torch of all things from the table. Why Bunny had thought to give us a blow torch but couldn’t rustle up more than a dozen eggs, or half a pound of butter, was beyond me.
We had only been working for a minute when one of the crew approached a mic in hand. “What are you making?” They asked us.
“Honey and cinnamon Crumpets!” Daisy called out, already whisking her ingredients into the bowl she held. “No butter necessary,” she said, looking right at Bunny.
“Deconstructed s’mores with a ginger glaze,” I answered and because I couldn’t help myself, I also added, “No butter needed.”
The crew member was obviously not hip to the little game going on between Bunny, Daisy and I and he wrinkled his nose. “What is this? A vegan bake off?” he asked.
Daisy laughed. “Sure.”
From where Bunny was sitting, I saw she wasn’t laughing and she crossed her arms over her chest, leaning back in her chair watching us. “Aw, isn’t that sweet. No ones going for the butter,” Bunny chirped, though her delicate features didn't look like she thought it was all that sweet. She was frowning as she watched us intently. I half expected her to try and coerce the snow storm I could see brewing to dump on our heads for a little more drama. Hell, she might if she got desperate enough to see sparks fly, but if we were lucky it would pass us over. It was somewhere after the quick bake intro, and the foraged dessert field mission, that the wind shifted and the sky darkened with the impending snow storm. There was no way around it. We were going to get hit by a storm, all right. I had just finished dropping a slate piece onto the ground, a piece that I had fully intended to use as a sort of baking stone for what I knew would be quality flatbread when a gust of wind hit me.
I wiped my brow and frowned at the turning weather. “It’s gonna storm,” I said.
“What? No. It’s fine, it’s fine.” Bunny shook her head, her ever present clipboard glued to her hand as she spoke. “Really, we just have this one more challenge, and-”
“It’s about to come down on us. We have to get inside.”
But for all its coziness, the fact remained that it wasn’t big enough for more than the two of us. The low ceiling was barely high enough for me to walk in comfortably. If the film crew had to stay it was going to be a shit show, and I didn’t much like the idea of that. Another look at the sky and the suddenly dropping temperature, told me that we had maybe twenty minutes before a snowstorm was right on top of us.
Twenty minutes was plenty of time for us to get back down into Clarity. We could pick up filming the next day without spending the night right on top of each other.
“All we need is another half hour to finish filming, you’ll see.”
“No,you’llsee,” Daisy said, coming to stand beside me. She wiped her hands on the apron she wore and shook her head at Bunny when the other woman made to protest. “Just because we live in Alaska doesn’t mean we know how to forage for food, or cook on a damn rock. But we can tell when a snowstorm is coming. Austin is right. You have to get back down the hill and into town.”
Bunny’s lips pressed into a thin line but she sighed and looked back at the two men with her. “All right, pack it up. You heard the love birds. We’ll be back to check on them tomorrow. Rick, keep filming until we’re out of sight.”
“Got it, boss.”
“Wait, what do you mean you’ll check on us tomorrow?” Daisy asked.
“No reason for us to all leave when you have this little escape. Besides, you’ve been filming all day. Take some time to relax, you two. It’ll be romantic! Good for filming when we pick it up tomorrow!” Bunny called over her shoulder while she began marching back to the car we had ridden up in.
Daisy and I looked at each other. “Are they leaving us here?” Daisy whispered.
I gave a quick nod, watching Bunny hurry Rick and the sound guy out of the clearing and into the van. “Looks that way.”
“Do you think we can beg to come along?”
“Doesn’t look like it. She’s fast.” The doors to the van slammed shut and Bunny threw the van into reverse, but not before waving at us through the driver’s window. I lifted a hand in farewell and was still watching the van speed down the dirt road when Daisy groaned from behind me.
“What is it?” I asked, not turning to look at her.
“What the hell are we doing?” she asked, sounding as agitated as I had ever heard her. I looked over my shoulder to see her sitting on the front step of the cozy cabin.
“Hell if I know.”
She was quiet for a long while, just staring at her feet before she spoke, her head still lowered. “Why are you helping me?”
