A Very Stormy Holiday

Chapter 2

"Yes!" Lys says happily.

"Eat something healthy first," Rain calls after them. He knows it's a lost cause, Sky is as bad as Lys when it comes to sweets.

Phayu watches with amusement as Rain interacts with his sister and friend. The omega is so adorable. He had come here this afternoon with the intent of talking to Rain about his role in Tasty Treats but had been distracted by his moment of intense jealousy when he thought that Rain might be going on a date tonight. Then finding the omega was anxious over his orders, he decided now wouldn't be the best time. Luckily Phayu has learned a lot about baking since opening Tasty Treats with Pai and he is happy to help Rain out.

They eat dinner sitting at Rain's worktable, while Rain excitedly tells Phayu about what they will be making tonight. Several types of cookies and the two cakes. Listening to Rain chattering on about them, Phayu thinks he definitely sees the resemblance between Rain and Lys. Both are cute when talking about what they love. Phayu thinks he could listen to Rain like this forever.

After they eat, Phayu washes their dishes while Rain cleans the workstation and starts laying out all the ingredients he needs. "Do you know how to make a basic cookie batter base?" Rain asks. "I mean I have the recipe here as well of course." He holds up the card.

"I'm familiar." Phayu says.

"Good if you can make the cookies, I will start on the cakes. We are making four different types of cookies for the birthday party and three different types for the wedding party, five dozen of each type." Rain says. Phayu raises his eyebrows at this. Rain had said they were large orders but that is a lot of cookies.

"The engaged couple both have an extensive number of friends and family, and the mother of the twins having the birthday wants to make gift boxes for the children to take home." Rain explains. All the cookies they are making have the same basic batter, after the basic batter is made, they will divide it and add in the individual ingredients for the different cookies.

"Do you know how to use the industrial mixer?" Rain asks.

"I have used them before." Phayu says.

Rain looks surprised at this. "That's nice, I'm lucky to have this one. It came with the bakery, left behind because it was broken. Sig, who owns the hardware store next door, was nice enough to help me fix it. There is no way I could have afforded to buy a new one. This kind can be over 360,000 baht. It had been a life saver for big orders. The ovens, too, I had to buy those second hand." Rain admits.

Phayu is starting to get a picture that things haven't been easy for Rain since his parents died. The fact that he has managed a successful business and is raising his sister leaves Phayu in awe.

They get to work, Phayu easily makes the dough for the cookies and divides it into seven bowls before adding the ingredients that Rain has laid out for each different type of cookie. He mixes these with a hand mixer changing the heads between types to keep from mixing up the different doughs. When each one is ready, he covers them with plastic wrap and places the bowls of dough in the refrigerator to rest for an hour. He uses the time to clean up the dishes and wash down the work area.

Rain lays out the double layer baking pans and cooling racks and Phayu uses a cookie scooper so that each cookie is almost the same size. Once those are in the oven. Phayu starts putting the boxes together and lining them with birthday paper for that party and silver and white paper for the engagement party.

Meanwhile Rain is making the two cakes. One is a half and half birthday cake. Apparently one of the girls is really into sports and her side is decorated with soccer balls and goals, the other girl is into cheerleading and her side is decorated with cheer paraphernalia. The cake is very cute with twin figurines on the top, one in a sports uniform and one in a cheer uniform holding hands.