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“WHAT COLOUR DO YOU WANT?” Kali stood behind Holly Wheeler, who sat at the kitchen table, stirring a thick bowl of cake mix. As promised, she woke up early this morning to bake with the young girl, who hadn't stopped telling her how much she missed her since.
Karen stood behind them with a kind smile, always happy to have Kali in her home. She was always such a respectful girl, and she'd never met anybody better suited for her Nancy. No boy could ever compare to the reaction Nancy had to that girl. And the relationships she had with the rest of the family was adorable. She'd be such a good mother one day.
"Pink," Holly said excitedly, then shook her head when Kali went to pick up the dye, changing her mind. "Purple. No, blue. Yellow. No —"
"Why don't we shut our eyes and each pick a colour?" Kali suggested, her voice sweet and playful around the infant who worshiped her. "That would be cool, right? See what colour we could make?"
Holly nodded eagerly, covering her eyes with her hand and running it over the many food dyes they had. Karen always had fun ingredients in the house, as she was constantly doing fundraisers and charity events in their town.
As Holly picked her colour, Kali glanced at the other side of the table, where Max quietly drew on paper, still listening to her song. "Do you want to add a colour?" she asked.
Max flinched and pulled her headphones down to her neck to listen. "Sorry?" she said.
"Do you want to bake the cake with us?" Kali asked her again.
"Oh." Max shook her head, gesturing to her messy crayon drawing. "I'm doing this."
"Okay." Kali nodded, turning to her side to see that Holly was peeking through her hands, making her smile a little.
Eventually, after a really long time, Holly picked out a light blue colour. "Okay, your turn," the girl said, kneeling up on her chair with a grin.
Kali shut her eyes, running her hand over the colours for a second, before picking up a bottle. She handed it to Holly, who unscrewed the lid and poured the dye into the mixture, turning it into a pastel lilac colour.
Opening her eyes, Kali nodded. "Pink," she stated, holding up her bottle.
Holly laughed. "It's purple!" she exclaimed, grabbing the whisk to stirr the mixture together some more.
Kali smiled at the girl, standing behind her to supervise incase anything went wrong. She could cut her hand on the whisk, or spill something, or hit her hand on the table. She made sure she was there to prevent anything from going bad.
"Morning, guys!"
Nancy Wheeler gasped, relief hitting her chest at the sight of Max, safe and sound, at the kitchen table. Then, she saw her baby sister on the opposite end, mixing something in a bowl with a smiling Kali standing behind her, helping her. They were baking together again, like nothing had ever changed. Seeing Kali like that, bright and happy, showing her heart and love, made Nancy smile a little. Actually, it made her smile a lot. She could feel her chest burn at the sight of it; a familiar feeling of butterflies run into her stomach when Kali lifted her gaze onto her, sending her a soft smile. Nancy smiled back.
