♘ Be Brave ♘

XLVIII

That night, I get out of bed as quietly as possible and wake Cass up. "What's wrong?" she whispers. I shake my head and take her outside with me. "What on earth are you doing?" I take out a piece of cloth and blindfold her. "I have a surprise for you but I don't want you to see it yet."

"I wouldn't be able to see anyway. It's pitch dark in this place." I take her hand, careful not to let her trip. "Where are we going?"

"You'll see." Finally, we arrive at the kitchen and I remove the blindfold. "What's going on? Are you crazy?" I laugh. "I asked Kate...you know... the compound chef? I asked her if we could come in and bake a cake. Just you and me." Cassandra looks perplexed.

"First, I'm surprised you even know the chef's name. And second, why would we bake a cake right now? In the middle of the night?"

"It's your mom's birthday, remember? I thought she'd love to have one of your homemade cakes." She gasps. "Really? Matt, thank you so much!" She smiles and gives me a hug. "You're welcome. Anything for you." She starts opening drawers and taking out ingredients. "Don't you need a recipe?"

She waves my question away. "No, no, I know this one by heart." I stick my hands in my pockets. "Anything I can do?" She's so focused on measuring out ingredients that she doesn't even hear me. "I'm sorry...what?" I shake my head. "Never mind." She tries to open a sack of flour to no avail. "I can't open this thing, dammit!"

I walk over to her and take the sack. "Let me help you." I pry it open, and when I do, the flour litters the counter. "Oops." I grin. "Hey, look, there's something in here..." I scoop up some flour and pretend to observe it thoughtfully. "Really? She leans in, confused. "Where?"

I struggle not to laugh. "Here. Look." I exhale, and the flour gets all over her face. "Matt!" she shrieks. "There was something there. I swear. It was an accident." She eyes me suspiciously. "Right." She takes a handful of flour and proceeds to throw it at me.

"Sorry. It was an accident." She smirks. "Come on, help me. Don't just stand there." We spend the next half hour baking. Once we finish, it's all I can do not to cut out a slice for myself. "Thank you so much, Matt. Thank you."