The Baker And The Queen Pin

Chapter 46: Sudden Changes

~~~Booker

She made a sudden change to the address and I didn't know why but I was happy about it. When we got there, I saw a large mansion next to the reservoir. She lived so close to people but yet this was so far away. The park was down the street, it was Druid Hill if I wasn't mistaken. There were definitely other houses near hers but this did not quite fit her aesthetic.

It's then that I go to the door and I admire the look of the building and how well it was designed. From the large step pathway all the way up to how the brownstone formed at the door, this house was built better than most and it was beautiful. As I ring the doorbell to the house, I hear a buzzer as the door unlocks on its own. It was then that I see Maria running at me while wearing a onesie and my heart dropped. I pick her up in what appears to be a unicorn onesie, and we both kiss three times as I hold her, 'Keep walking my love, the kitchen is down the hall.'

As I keep walking, I look at the well-made house from the glossy hardwood floor that you could glide on to the electronic blinds that went up and down with just a button. I could see this was far different from her apartment. The couches were at least 3,000 dollars and I would feel like I would have to pay just to sit on one. It was then that Maria pulled me from my thoughts as she said, 'I'm sorry if this is too much for you to take in. I know you live a frugal lifestyle.'

"It's okay," I say with a smile. "Just because it's a bit overwhelming doesn't mean I haven't experienced this before." Her eyes focus on me as she then says, 'That's good. I have a surprise for you.' She never even left my grip, she was still holding onto me, 'Something that I heard you talk about a while ago. Wouldn't it be great if you could teach me how to bake? I had my fair share of experiences, but I want you to teach me more, Booker.'

As I looked around her kitchen, I could see she had the latest everything. From the stove that could only be seen in cooking shows on TV to a refrigerator that had a digital panel on it, everything in here cost at least 4,000 dollars and as much as I'd like to say I was a bit bothered by how much money she had, it reminded me all too well of how our statuses were completely different.

I was a bit sullen for a moment, but then I realized Maria wasn't with me because of money. She was with me because she loved me. It was then that she opened her refrigerator and all of the cabinets in the kitchen as she got the ingredients to make bread ready. I found myself, ready to embrace her, she wanted to learn something I could do, something that had changed my entire life, baking. It turned me from a foolish man into a proud man.

It was then that I asked for more of the ingredients as I wanted something more memorable. "Do you have any almost brown bananas?" She smiled and said 'Yes.' "And do you have any walnuts?" She shifted around to a cabinet as she pulled out a bag of walnuts, not my preferred type but something I would use. I suddenly realized that she had all the makings of banana bread, had she been wanting to bake before?

"Hey, babe. What made you want to start baking now?" She smiled and said, 'I've always wanted to bake the food that you've made but I figured since everything was going wrong with us the last few months that it'd be better that I wait to ask you to teach me.' It was then that she got a cutting board ready and we began to go to work. The first thing she wanted to make was banana bread and I couldn't pretend that I wasn't excited.

She wanted to learn something about me, she wanted to learn what I was good at and as I started to show her how to knead the bread, I saw that she was about to make a beginner's mistake. "Hey, make sure you coat your hands in flour." She paused and realized what I meant as she began to rub her hands with flour. 'Why do we do that?' She asked, curiously.

I chuckled as I said, "Because you don't want the dough to stick to your hands." 'Oh, really?' she says, shocked. "Yes." 'I always thought that bakers were supposed to be messy with it.' I couldn't help but chuckle some more as it then broke out into full-blown laughter. "You would think that, wouldn't you?" 'Well if it's not like that, why do bakers always look messy?'