"Nana said she made me cake but we already left before she could give it to me."
I shrugged nonchalantly and deadpanned. "Bummer."
Mikayla climbed the kitchen stool and dropped my phone on the island. "She said she didn't make almond cake this time."
I paused the mixer to add sugar to the soft butter. "What did she make this time? Chocolate?"
"Nope. Red velvet cake."
I coughed to cover the snicker that was at the tip of my tongue. I loved the fact that I wasn't the only person making mistakes. "Alright then." I nodded in satisfaction and turned off the mixer when those tiny bubbles appeared in the batter. I'd successfully creamed the butter and sugar.
"Can I break the eggs for the cake?" I took a few seconds to consider her request before nodding slowly. To prevent shells from getting into the batter, I gave her a bowl to break them in.
"Honey, I don't know how good your egg-breaking skills are, so you'll do it in this bowl first. We wouldn't want a bird nest in the cake, would we?" She chortled as I handed her the bowl and eggs. "Careful there, sweetie." I chuckled under my breath when she bit her lips in concentration as she started the task. "Yeah, that's it. You're doing it just right."
After mixing everything in the batter, I greased the pans and shooed Kayla away when she tried to touch it. I let her pour the batter in it though, even spread it in the pans with an offset spatula.
"Why aren't we putting the pan in the oven yet?" She whined and I rolled my eyes in humor.
"Bebe, I'm preheating the oven. Calm your tits down." Speaking of tits, mine had been poking out since I started beating the butter. I tried tucking my nipples behind the dungarees straps without staining the denim with my buttered hand but gave up after a few tries. They'd just have to stay out in the open till I put the baking pan in the oven and wash my hands.
"What's tits?"
I cursed myself for my flippancy. "It's another word you shouldn't be using. It's adult people's word."
She nodded slowly in understanding. "Oh, like fuck and bitch?"
Narrowing my eyes at her, I murdered Nelly in my head for the thousandth time since the previous day. "Yeah, like those words that I don't want to hear you say again."
She chuckled and I huffed in mock annoyance before putting the baking pans in the oven. "So you just going to stand in front of the oven and watch the cakes bake?"
She probably heard the humor in my tone because she laughed at my question but still didn't take her eyes away from the oven. "Yeah. I gotta watch this." I let her be and proceeded to make the mocha filling while she stood starstruck and only came around when I started beating butter and sugar for the second time that day. "You're baking another cake? I thought you wanted to make the filling."
I pointed to the wrapped cocoa mixture on the table. "I am. It's mocha filling. I'll add that to this and mix. Maybe a little vanilla too." I laughed and bumped my hip against her shoulder. "Relax. I know what I'm doing sweetheart."
She watched with awe as I mixed white chocolate and cream for the ganache. "That'll be the frosting?" I nodded and she squealed in delight. In an hour, her grin was as wide as Piedmont Park as I placed a gigantic slice in her plate.
My eyes fluttered shut when the chocolate wonder entered the heat of my mouth, my cake was that good. It was even better than sex. My sweet tooth was probably shedding tears of joy because of the sugar overload. I might had even put a little too much sugar in the filling but I wasn't complaining. Neither was Mikayla. She devoured the chocolate mountain in a jiffy and demanded for more.
"Mikayla!" I said with a mouthful of cake. "You literally just started eating."
She cackled and slid her plate across the table. "It's so good, mama." I beamed at her before taking the plate. "You should do something like this in the next bake sale my school will hold. You'll win, I'm very sure about that. Most of the moms can't bake anyways. The carrot cake James' mom made tasted like a vegetable patch. Even the cake aunt Lee bought at the store was way better. I felt bad for poor James."
Our joint laughter filled the air. "I feel bad for James and I don't even know him." She smacked her lips in sheer rapture when I gave her back her plate with cake in it. "So who won the bake sale?"
Kayla scoffed and my brows quirked with curiosity. "Nicole's mom. Nicole didn't let the school breathe it down for a whole week and I wanted to squeeze a sock in her mouth more than once."
My eyes widened a bit before I burst into laughter. Kayla must really hate that girl because I'd never heard such violent speech from her before then. Staying with Nelly could do that to anyone. "That's sucks. When's the next bake sale? I'll come for that one."
Her teeth had chocolate all over them when she grinned. "Really? Oh, that's so cool. I think it's in two months. You gotta make this exact cake." She pointed at her unfinished portion. "Exactly the way it is right now. With this one alone, you're already the winner. Might as well crown you now." I shook my head in humor. When did my daughter get so grown? "You should work with Nana. Or even open a restaurant of your own."
I cringed at the thought of working with Sara. Several images of hypothetical scenes played in my mind and I shook my head to clear my thoughts. Nah, the fishes in Mississippi River would have to fly in the sky first. "You think I should open a restaurant? What will I name it then? Dulce y Picante also?"
Mikayla made a show of thinking by stroking her chin slowly with her fingers and I guffawed. My daughter was an official clown. "You should switch it up."
"Ohhhh?"
She nodded and finished off the cake in her plate. "Yeah. Name it Dulce y Dulce. That one's perfect, mama."
I eyed her warily. "Dulce y Dulce? You want me to name my restaurant Sweet & Sweet? I don't know, honey."
"Think about it, mama. Sweet & Sweet. It's not going to be like Nana's cos you'd just sell cakes and ice cream and waffles and stuffs like that. The good and sweet stuff."
I waited a few seconds before nodding. "Hmmmm, that sounds just about alright. I am going to think about it." I scoffed inwardly at my declaration. Like hell I was. I didn't even like cooking for myself to be honest, Kayla was the only one I liked doing it for.
"I'll be the manager of the restaurant." I laughed and she stood up from the stool. "I didn't do my homework all weekend. I should do that now."
I also got up. "I'll just clean this place up while you do that. By the way, how have your classes been going?"
She started walking towards the kitchen door. "Which one?"
"All of them."
"Horribly." She called out from the hallway and I chuckled softly. Mikayla loved normal school and always had the best grades so she had to be joking. Who knew she had a sense of humor?
You would have known if you'd always been around.
"Not today, satan." I muttered at my ever annoying subconscious. I was aware of my shortcomings in the past and I was ready to right the wrong. So as I wiped down the kitchen, I strategized on how to make sure I was as involved as possible in my daughter's life.