At No Time || Bruno Mars

69

Trystan did not know how to feel about Peter's behavior the night before, him leaving her alone in the kitchen without explaining the actions she knew she had seen. She did not like when he did things like that, keeping her wondering of what he could possibly be thinking, what his next move could be.

Alas, she did not question him further about it—she felt he would not leave her clueless for long. Peter could be placid, but not completely silent, so she thought it best to wait it out and focus on Raina, who was growing more and more anxious as her favorite holiday neared.

Trystan and Peter moved about as they usually would, amiable and light in nature as if nothing had happened. They were glad Raina did not see anything different amid them, their usual jests between each other in place though their eyes did not meet squarely often.

"Mr. B, do the reindeer land on the roof like in movies?" the little girl asked as she haphazardly rolled a ball of cookie dough between her palms. "What if we hear them? Can we go outside and see?"

Peter chuckled from his place at the table. He had been playfully forced out of the kitchen when he thought that a batch of cookies needed an entire carton of eggs and a whole bottle of vanilla extract to be made.

"For the safety of our stomachs, please leave," Trystan snickered with a floured-hand on her hip.

"Okay, okay." Peter held up his hands in surrender. Before he made his way out of the makeshift bakery, Raina tugged at the sleeve of his hoodie and motioned for him to lean down. "You can help me put some sprinkles on them," she whispered into his ear, and he grinned and gave her a high-five when Trystan's back was turned.

While the two were having a blast powdering the counter with ingredients, Peter tried finishing some work, his laptop open and a few manila folders open on the table. He took a small break to haphazardly shake some crystals on top of the sugar cookies to Raina's giggling delight, and then he was back to his tasks. He was shifting his attention between his computer screen and papers when he felt a tap on his arm. It was Raina, staring up at him expectantly.

"What are you doing?" she queried, her head tilted as her eyes went back and forth between he and the portfolios.

"Work," Peter replied with a chuckle and sigh. "Which probably is way less exciting than making cookies. You don't wanna help your mom?"

"She's making the shapes right now, like trees and stars and candy canes, but every time I try, I always mess up so I just let her do it," Raina explained promptly and then proceeded to ask if she could see his work.

"Uh, sure. But I don't think you'd like it much," he edified and then lifted her onto his lap. "It can be really boring."

Raina giggled and picked up one of the papers, its print tiny and close together and very different than words in her storybooks. She squinted just to see if she could read any of them, but just like with anything else, she had not progressed that far and settled for asking Peter what some of the top words said.

"That's actually my name—Peter. Peter Hernandez."

Raina turned to look at him with a tilted head. "Peter? But that starts with a P. I call you Mr. B and Mommy calls you Bruno."

Peter chuckled, "Yeah, Bruno's just my nickname. Peter is my real name."

The small girl tapped her chin, and though he had not asked for her opinion on the matter, told him, "I like the Bruno one more better," and Peter laughed.

"Yeah, I do, too."

"Do you write on here?" She pointed to the laptop opened to yet another file of work.