The Baker's Detective

| The Backsplash and the Cookies |

With a good bit of difficulty, Liam and Elliot — and, eventually, Raven — got the couch downstairs, and they put it in front of the light blue rug, which Lily had bought a couple days prior. Now, Elliot and Liam are putting down the backsplash — which is white with a floral, light blue pattern on it — while Raven, Lily, and Elliot's wife Gabby are finishing painting the hallway. Once the three of them are done with that (Liam and Elliot likely won't be done until tomorrow), they're going to paint the stairwell wall pale yellow. Tomorrow, the plan is to bring down the coffee table, chairs, and shelves, put up the light blue curtains over the larger window in the sitting area, then shorter yellow ones over the small window over the kitchen sink. Then, they'll install the TV, and start work on the bedroom and bathroom. The office will be done after Lily's moved in.

"Doing alright in there?" Raven asks Liam and Elliot.

"Fine," Liam replies absently, probably focused on what he's doing.

"Considering how well bringing down the couch went, I wasn't so sure."

"Do you want to come and inspect these tiles just to be absolutely certain?" Elliot asks sarcastically.

Raven puts her paint roller down and smiles with equal sarcasm. "I would love to, Elliot." Lily chuckles and continues painting, a few moments later hearing Raven say, "Those tiles are closer together than those are." Elliot sighs deeply, and Lily and Gabby laugh.

"Let's fix them," Liam breathes tiredly.

"You've only just started working," Lily says. "Don't tell me you're already exhausted."

"I brought a couch down here, remember?" Liam replies.

"Oh, so you did it single-handedly, did you?" Elliot jokes.

"Feels like I'm doing this backsplash single-handedly right now."

"I'm waiting for you to get that tile off; I can't do anything with your hands in the way."

"Now, boys, let's not have a row," Gabby says, laughing all the while. She says to Lily, "I can only imagine what they were like when they were roommates."

Lily chuckles. "I saw a few displays of bickering for sure." Gabby laughs, but Liam and Elliot say nothing, having not heard. Lily turns to making conversation about the baby as she and Gabby continuing painting and Raven stays in the kitchen to help with the backsplash.

The hallway's first coat is finished before lunch, so Lily and Gabby open up the yellow paint and start on the stairwell, beginning with the wall to the left of the door. They nearly finish when Raven announces that it's lunch time, and she and Lily go to Speedy's to pick up everyone's food.

"Hey, if I help you guys paint can I take a break from this backsplash?" Liam calls as they're halfway out the door.

Lily stops and looks back at him. "You'll have to ask Elliot and Raven about that."

"Ask me what?" Raven says.

"If he can stop working on the backsplash if he helps us paint."

"Absolutely not," Raven replies, loud enough for Liam to hear her. He groans, and Elliot laughs at him.

Lily chuckles herself as they walk over to Speedy's. The scent of bread hits her when she walks in, and she smiles a little, this time much less conscious of her old clothes, messy hair, and paint splotches.

"Back again, are we?" Speedy asks from behind the counter, replacing the cheese in the glass case while someone else takes orders. She's only met the man once, and therefore probably isn't his friend, but she refers to him as Speedy anyway.