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She smiled.“I did.A night with the girls was just what I needed.”She looked right into my eyes for a second, and as if remembering my message to her, her cheeks flushed slightly.
In order to not make a big deal out of it, I gestured towards the kitchen, and she followed me through and put the bag on the countertop before taking off her boots as she always did, then headed into the living room, where Nan was sitting on the sofa, doing a crossword in a magazine.
“Hey,” Nova said brightly, and Nan looked up, smiling when she saw her.
“Hello, love,” she answered.“I thought the two of you had plans this afternoon.”
“We do, but we’re going to do them here instead.I was wondering, if Donovan doesn’t mind, if you want to join us.”
“I don’t mind,” I said from the doorway.“What are we doing?”
Nova turned around to grin at me.“Making cookies.”
I laughed.“When you said ‘Keep it sweet’, I was hoping it meant eating sweet things.”
“Well, we can eat them afterwards,” she pointed out.She turned back to Nan.“What do you say, June?Do you want to help?”
Although she looked a little worn out from the emotion of the day, she nodded.“Yes.I think I will.”
Nova smiled at me over her shoulder as Nan stood up, and I stepped back into the kitchen to wait for them.“It’s just as well,” Nova said as they joined me.“It’s been a long time since Donovan and I baked together, so we need some adult supervision.”She grinned, and Nan laughed.
“You’re probably right,” I said.“I remember flour going everywhere and Mum complaining we were too messy.”
“And yet still joining in,” Nova added with a raised eyebrow.
That was my mum.She was, in many ways, a free spirit.Someone who let me just be who I was without trying to change anything about me or force me to be a certain way becauseshedidn’t like to be forced into being something she wasn’t either.She was a mother and a wife, but she also worked hard and played harder.She never neglected the things she had to do, but once they were done, she was damn sure she was going to have a good time.Nobody had ever embodied living life to the fullest more than my mother, and I loved her for it.
“I would have tanned your backsides for making so much mess,” Nan said sternly, but a smile still slipped through.She couldn’t help it.After all, she was the one who had raised my mum, so she knew full well what life with her was like.
“I can believe that,” Nova said, chuckling.She went to the table to pick up her bag of supplies and began unpacking them on the countertop.Sugar, flour, a carton of six eggs, butter, salt, icing sugar, food dyes, and baking powder.Then she dipped her hand into the bag and pulled out some cookie cutters in the shape of a gingerbread man, a Christmas tree, a candy cane, and a star.She turned back to Nan.“I’m hoping you have mixing bowls and baking trays.If not, I’ll run back to the house.”
“I have everything you need,” Nan said, and she fixed her gaze on me.“Bottom cupboard in the corner.Go and get them, and I’ll get the rolling pin.”
“Hold on,” Nova said.“There are two more things we need to do.”
I couldn’t help thinking she was enjoying this way too much as she reached into the bag and pulled out a thin pile of brightly coloured folded material.She giggled as she handed one piece to me and one to Nan, keeping the third for herself.
“What’s this?”I asked with slight trepidation, hoping my guess was wrong.The hope was pointless.I knew exactly what this was, and as I held on to a string, I let the material unfold.
Yup.An apron.It was bright red with an upright reindeer body on it, the idea being that when I put it on, my head would be in the place the reindeer’s should have been.I gave her a mock glare.“Please, please be kidding.”
“Uh-uh.”She shook her head, opening out her own apron to reveal a Santa body on hers, and she slipped it over her head, tying the strings behind her back.“This is part of the deal.”
“I did not agree to dressing up like a tw...twit,” I corrected myself, and Nan shot me a disapproving look while Nova snorted.
“Put your pinny on,” Nan said, opening hers out and finding the body of a fairy in a pink dress on the front.“Unless you want this one?”
Nova threw her head back, and I assumed she was imagining me in that one instead.
“You are both evil.”Still, I put my apron on, Nova watching me with amusement.
“Shall we take a photo for your blog?”she teased, raising an eyebrow.
I really needed to put some new content on there soon.I had scheduled a couple of things in advance, but after I’d posted that I was in Devon, I’d set those posts to hidden until a later date, knowing they would no longer make sense.I’d only posted once more since the post that had set Nova on this Christmas hit list thing, and I usually posted a couple of times a week.I’d also neglected my TikTok since I’d been in Dawlish.I’d been in to watch and like things and reply to comments, but I hadn’t put up anything new in a while.Typically, I always went quiet on TikTok around Christmas and people understood I needed some downtime from new content now and again.Somehow, though, I thought if I posted a photo of me in a reindeer apron, my entire reputation as a moody asshole would be ruined.
“Maybe not for the blog,” I said.“But I’m not against taking one just for us.”
As much as a lot of my travels were online, I wasn’t a big fan of selfies, and it hadn’t occurred to me to take a photo with my nan yet.But this would be a good one to pick me up on days when I needed cheering up.
