Ansley's Big Bake Off Page 4

“That’s because it is all from a bake shop. My grandmother’s! She owns and runs Lynda’s Lovin’ Oven.”

  “Wow,” I said. “So you have professional bakers in your family. No wonder Krista says you’re good.”

  Taylor narrowed her eyes. I was pretty sure she was remembering when Krista called my cinnamon rolls better than her cookies. “I am good.”

  At that moment, Kitty ran over to me and started taking Aunt Sam’s cupcakes off my hands. “What’s taking so long?” she demanded to know. A glowing Cammie and Lena followed close behind, fresh from jumping on the trampoline.

  “I’m so hungry!” Cammie said to no one in particular.

  “Have one of these,” Taylor said, picking up a slice of sticky-sweet looking cake with crushed pecans on top.

  “Um, thanks,” Cammie said. “Is there any, you know, like plain vanilla cake, maybe?”

  Taylor’s face fell.

  Lena went into big-sister mode. Not noticing Taylor’s reaction, she put the cake down on the table and patted Cammie on the back. “You need something a little more substantial, first,” she said. “Let’s go get you a burger.” She led Cammie away and Kitty followed.

  Taylor stayed, staring down at the grass.

  “I’ll try a red velvet cupcake,” I piped up, remembering I had agreed to sample something.

  Taylor quickly snatched one off the table. “Sure! Here. Now tell me that isn’t the most amazing red velvet you’ve ever had!”

  I shoved half of it into my mouth immediately to show some enthusiasm. It was good. Was it the best I’d ever had? I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to lie and say it was, but I didn’t want to hurt her feelings, either. So I munched and made a lot of “Mmm” noises and flashed her a thumbs-up sign.

  This seemed to satisfy Taylor and even seemed to make her a little more relaxed around me for the rest of the afternoon. She hung around me for a while until Nikki took us inside the house to her indoor gym. There were some uneven bars there, and when I ran over to try them out, Taylor wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like gymnastics,” she said plainly. Then she waved. “See you girls in school tomorrow!” and left.

  Nikki didn’t skip a beat. “Let me show you some of the leotards I’ve worn at our meets!” she said, and she led me to her room.

  It was a fun afternoon. By the time we got home we were all tired, but in a good way. Dad let us watch a movie because it was our last day of summer break, but he made us all go to bed early so that we would be rested for our first day of school.

  But as I lay my head down on my unicorn pillowcase, the morning’s incident with my aunt came galloping back into my mind. My eyes would not stay closed. I couldn’t sleep. Not without speaking to Aunt Samantha first.

  I crept out of bed in the dark. I had to do it super slowly since my room was still new to me and I was afraid of bumping into things I couldn’t see or remember were there. When I got out into the hall, I had to shut my eyes for a minute. The difference between the darkness of my room and the brightness of the landing was almost too much. I heard creaking footsteps coming toward me and had to squint to try to make out who was coming up the stairs.

  “Ansley?” Aunt Samantha sounded surprised. “What are you doing up?”

  “I’m not sleepy,” I said, rubbing my eyes to relieve them from the stabbing glare of the lights.

  My aunt’s smile was half-doubtful, half-understanding. “Well, you best get back to bed so that you can be fresh in the morning.”

  “But I can’t. Not without—hey! What are you carrying?” I was sure I had just spotted something suspiciously . . . unicorn-y . . . in her arms.

  My aunt looked down at the stack of folded items she was carrying with a puzzled frown. “Laundry?” She held up an oven mitt. “By the way, I washed these and your apron too. It looked like it had been a while since they’d seen the inside of a washing machine.”

  I felt so relieved at the news that I took one of the mitts and hugged it. “So you didn’t throw them out,” I whispered to myself.

  “What?” Aunt Sam asked. “What are you saying? Why would I throw out anything that belonged to you?”

  I looked up at her. “Can we talk for a minute?”

  “Come on.” She led me up to the family room next to her bedroom and sat down on the couch. She put the stack of laundry on the sofa cushion to her left and patted the empty cushion on her right for me to sit down. “What’s going on?”

  When I told her about how scared I’d been that she’d done something with my apron and mitts, her mouth fell open. And when I told her I’d felt, well, kind of “kicked out” of the kitchen that morning, she put a hand over her heart.

  “Oh! You must have been so hurt! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to make you feel that way!”

  I felt my eyes grow moist and warm. “I know that now, Auntie Sam.”

  “Of course I’ll let you help me in the kitchen—and bake things on your own like you did before I came. I wouldn’t take that away from you.”

  “I love cooking,” I told her, and I pictured myself in my younger days when Mom first showed me how to break eggs over a bowl. “It was something Mom and I had a lot of fun doing together. And now . . . now when I cook, well, it’s one of the times that I can still feel close to her.”

  Aunt Sam sniffed and rubbed my back.

  “You know,” I said, tilting my head, “I never thought about it before, but maybe my love of cooking is also something I got from you!” I tapped my chin with my index finger as I mulled over this new idea. “I mean, from Dad’s side of the family. Maybe it’s in my blood.” Like Taylor, I thought to myself.

  “I bet it is. You are a natural! Those cinnamon rolls were delicious!” my aunt said. “I’m just sorry we didn’t have time this morning for you to help with the cupcakes.”

  “And I only got to eat half of one at the barbecue,” I admitted.

  “That’s too bad. We’ll have to bake something else together one of these days.”

  Suddenly I blurted, “Mom used to make us a surprise on the first day of school . . .” And I explained the tradition to my aunt.

  She looked thoughtful. “I think the whole point of traditions is that they should be kept up. Don’t you?” Her eyes twinkled at me.

  “I do!” I nodded vigorously and rubbed my hands together. “And I want to help!”

  My aunt got up off the couch and began guiding me out of the family room. “I’d love you to, of course. Only, you do realize that if you do, your after-school surprise won’t exactly be a surprise anymore, right?”

  “I don’t care!” I said. “It’ll still be a surprise to Lena, Cam, and Kitty!” I imagined the excited faces of my sisters when they came home to a treat tomorrow. I loved the idea of being the reason behind their smiles. (Not to mention being the one responsible for continuing our mom’s tradition.)

  But my aunt woke me out of my fantasy with this point, “If I have to wait for you to come home from school so that we can bake together, your sisters will all be able to see or smell what we’re making, and it will end up not being a surprise for any of them, either.”

  “Then . . .” I could only see one solution to this problem, “why don’t we make something now?”

  My aunt took a step back. “Isn’t it kind of late for you? And with tomorrow being your first day of school, I don’t think that’s such a good idea.”

  I shook my head. “But that’s just it! It isn’t late! We went to bed early, remember? And I can’t sleep. And if we made something now, it would be a real surprise to the others tomorrow.”

  “I don’t know . . . We’ll have to ask your dad. He sets the rules around here.”

  I nodded. That was very true, but I also happened to know of a loophole in one of those rules.

  The two of us went downstairs to my dad’s office. When we walked through the French doors together, he looked up from his computer in curiosity. “What’s up, you two? Something wrong?”

  My aunt and I began talking a
t the same time. When he began to understand what we wanted to do, Dad began to shake his head. But then I reminded him of his loophole.

  “Dad, what’s your one rule about us staying up past our bedtime?”

  “That you have to work, not play.” He gestured toward his computer. “That’s usually why grownups stay up later. I was writing something for work—”

  “—and I was doing laundry,” Aunt Samantha said.

  “Isn’t cooking work?” I asked. “Isn’t feeding my sisters housework? I’ll clean up afterward too. I really can’t sleep, Dad.”

  My dad chuckled. “You should become a lawyer, Ansley.”

  I could feel my heart pumping fast. He was going to let me do it. I could tell!

  With a sigh, he leaned over, shut off his computer, and announced, “Okay, ladies, if we all work together, I’m sure we can get something done in hardly any time at all. Then Ansley will be able to sleep and . . .” He patted one of my dimpled cheeks, “you can surprise your sisters the way Mom used to surprise you all. But . . . what will we make?”

  I knew the ingredients we had in the kitchen, and I also knew that I wanted to make something simple, but special. “Blondies,” I decided, “with chocolate chips. But first, let me just go grab my apron!”

  Chapter 6

  The next morning I took a long look at myself in the full-length mirror hanging on the back of my bedroom door. Turning around in a slow circle, I checked out my new school uniform from all angles and nodded. I looked ready for the first day of school all right! I smoothed down the pleats of my plaid skirt and smiled. I just loved the way the navy blue and forest green checks—the official school colors—looked together. Next, I flipped up the collar of my soft, white polo shirt to see how I liked it. I tilted my head to the left and squinted . . . then I tilted my head to the right and pouted. Finally, shaking my head, I tried how it looked folded down. I decided to go with down. Nice and neat. Next, I slipped on the navy cardigan. Cute, I decided, but it was too hot to wear just yet. I decided to wrap the sleeves around my waist instead. I took a deep breath. “Here we go,” I told my reflection, and opened the door to my room.

  “Kitty? Cam? You guys dressed?” I asked the twins as I knocked on their door. “Come on, we’ve got to eat!”

  “We’re ready!” Kitty and Cammie popped out of their room triumphantly. Both were neatly dressed in their school uniforms, too, and Cam had her phone out, recording as usual. But Kitty had on a pair of sunglasses and a fluffy, white jacket. She made me think of a movie star going to a red-carpet event instead of a girl going to her first day of school.

  It’s Glamorous Amber, I thought with a secret smile. Her obsession with her fluffy coat was the reason we called her “Kitty.” It had been a present from Mom last Christmas, and Amber had practically worn it every day since, even indoors. Sometimes she’d cuddle up with Mom on the couch and Mom would pet her and call her “my fluffy kitty,” and Amber would purr. After a while, whenever she’d call for Amber, Mom would say, “Here, kitty, kitty!” And so, in time, the nickname just stuck, as nicknames do!

  “Um, it’s still August,” I reminded Kitty. “That’s why I tied my sweater like this. It’s too hot to actually wear a sweater or coat.”

  “Oooh,” Kitty’s eyes zooming to my waist. “I like the way that looks.”

  “Yeah,” Cammie said, looking at my image on the screen of her phone. “I think I’ll do that too!”

  Both girls dashed back into their room.

  “You guys!” There was an edge to my tone. “You don’t have to copy me! I mean, we don’t all need to be dressed exactly ali—”

  But both girls popped back out grinning widely with their uniform sweaters hastily tied to their waists.

  My sigh came out as kind of a growl. “Fine! Come on, or we’ll be late!” I semi-stomped as I led them to the kitchen, but had to admit to myself that their copying me was better than having Kitty wear a winter coat at the end of summer. I didn’t want other kids thinking she was nuts on the first day of school!

  Lena was already downstairs, and we joined her for a quick breakfast of eggs and toast.

  Lena was taking a sip from her tall glass of orange juice when she stopped, put the glass down, and sniffed the air. “It smells kind of nice in here . . . like . . . cake or something.”

  I choke-laughed into my glass. Most of the scent of blondies had been aired out last night. Or so I had thought. I threw a very quick glance at my aunt, who I saw was hiding her smile. I teased Lena. “Your juice smells like cake?”

  Lena tsked. “That’s not what I said.” She smirked. But when the twins giggled, she joined in.

  Dad finished his breakfast first. After hurrying to his office to gather up his things, he stood at the front door. “Let’s hop to it, ladies. We need to get going!”

  With hugs and thanks to Aunt Sam, we met Dad in the foyer. But before we opened the door, we automatically took one another’s hands and gathered in a circle to pray.

  “Dear God,” Dad began, “we thank you for all the blessings you have given us. We are so grateful that you sent Aunt Sam to us to help out with the girls in our time of need, provide joy in our time of sorrow—”

  “—and yummy food!” Cam piped up.

  Dad nodded. “And yummy food. I also humbly ask your blessings upon my girls as they start a new year of learning in a new school. Help them to grow in wisdom, in stature, and in your favor as your Son did when he was a growing boy. Amen.”

  “Amen!” we all said.

  “Tomorrow your Aunt Samantha will drive you,” Dad told us as he led us to the car. “But since today’s a special day, I wanted to be the one to do it.”

  As I watched him slide into the driver’s seat, I closed my eyes briefly and thought . . . and God bless Dad too! I wished I had prayed that out loud earlier when he prayed for all of us. But I knew God heard the prayer that was in my heart.

  As we drove along, I couldn’t help but notice that my sisters and I weren’t laughing and chattering as much as we usually did on our drives. I think we were all a little nervous about how the day would go and were lost in our own thoughts. Cam had a serious expression on her face as she quietly recorded everyone in the car. She panned the camera from Lena who was listening to music in the front seat, to Dad who was watching the road from behind the wheel, to Kitty who was looking out the window without really seeing anything that was going by, and finally over to me.

  I sighed in frustration. “We’re not even doing anything interesting! Can you put that thing away for once?”

  Cammie looked a little stung. “I am documenting our first day of school and I want to capture a little bit of everything. Besides, even regular movies aren’t all action, you know. There are quiet moments in them too. Right, Lena?”

  Lena agreed. “That’s true.”

  I hoped my dad didn’t see me roll my eyes. Even though Lena had made one movie, I didn’t think it made her an expert in moviemaking. Of course, it did mean she knew a lot more about making movies than I did. But still.

  I pointed out the window behind Cam. “Film that!”

  Cam turned the camera just as we were pulling onto the grounds of Roland Lake Christian Academy. As Dad drove through the gates, and the buildings slowly came into view, the scene looked like a shot out of some old-fashioned movie. The mansion, with its tall white columns, loomed majestically in the background while in front of it, kids in uniform milled about on the perfectly manicured lawns, running to each other and greeting one another with shouts, waves, and high-fives.

  “Here we are,” Dad said, shutting off the engine. “You girls ready?”

  “As we’ll ever be,” I muttered.

  We all got out of the car, said our goodbyes to Dad, and headed toward the school together. But right before we got too mixed into the crowd, Lena held us back and gestured for us to huddle. Thrusting her hand in the middle of our circle, she said in an almost-whisper, “Before we split up into our separate buildin
gs, don’t forget—even in times when we’re apart . . .”

  And the rest of us, placing our hands together, joined in, “. . . the Daniels sisters promise with all our hearts that we’ll always be . . .” and we chanted, our voices growing louder and louder, “Together four-ever! Together four-ever! Together four-ever! Together four-ever!”

  Then we all raised our hands up and whooped. Our moment of sisterhood made me feel lighter inside, and I turned toward the school feeling readier to face the day.

  Suddenly I saw Krista running up to me, grinning with her friendly pink-and-aqua smile. She flapped her hand at my sisters in greeting. “Hi, Lena! Kitty! Cam!” Then she took hold of my arm. “Come on, Ansley! I’m going to introduce you to all my friends. Bye, Lena! Kitty! Cam!” She tugged me along and we headed toward the school building.

  “Ooooookaaaaay!” I agreed helplessly and fluttered behind her almost like a kite.

  “Here she is!” Krista said, depositing me in the middle of a small group of girls. “This is my new neighbor Ansley Daniels!”

  I noticed a couple of familiar faces. “Hi, Nikki,” I said, trying to catch my breath. “Taylor.”

  Nikki came forward and put an arm around my shoulders. “We’re already friends,” she announced to the group. She gestured toward a girl who wore her hair in two thick, black braids and had a thin gold chain on her neck with a tiny cross on it. “See, Guadalupe? She’s the one I told you about. She’ll be joining Grace-n-Power Gymnastics. Won’t you, Ansley?”

  I nodded, glad to see how Guadalupe’s face lit up at the news.

  “We can always use more team members for meets!” Guadalupe said. “Are you good?”

  Her question sounded sincere. It wasn’t a challenge, it sounded more like she was eager to get a strong team together.

  I shrugged. “I can compete at our age level, if that’s what you mean.”

  Guadalupe clasped her hands together. “Great!”

  Nikki drew me closer to Guadalupe and away from the others. “We can discuss more at lunch—” she started to say when Krista broke in.