Katie Just Desserts

by Coco Simon

  As I finished the chicken, I couldn’t help thinking how lucky Mia was to have such a nice stepdad. And she was double lucky, because her real dad was just as nice too. So Mia had two dads, and all I had was a Marc Donald Brown. So, when the universe was giving out dads, why did I get shortchanged? It was kind of not fair.

  I heard the doorbell ring and the dogs yap, and I knew that Alexis and Emma had arrived. I got up and handed Eddie my plate.

  “Thanks so much,” I said. “That was awesome.”

  “You’re very welcome. I’m glad you liked it!” Eddie said.

  I joined Mia in the dining room, which was set up for our meeting with a pitcher of water, some glasses, and a plate of homemade cookies that I guessed Eddie had probably made for us.

  “Yay, cookies!” Emma cheered, taking a seat.

  Alex sat next to her, placing a stuffed (but neat) binder down on the table in front of her.

  “Wow, Alexis, your hair looks cute,” Mia remarked. Alexis had pulled her wavy red hair into a thick side braid. It was a new look for Alexis.

  “Thanks,” Alexis said. “Sometimes it’s nice not to have to keep brushing my hair away from my face, you know?”

  “I know,” agreed Mia, who often wore her glossy dark hair slicked back in a neat ponytail. (I like to wear my hair in a ponytail too, especially when I’m baking. But it never looks as neat as Mia’s.)

  Alexis opened her binder. “So, exciting news,” she said. “Did you guys see that new magazine office that opened up downtown?”

  “New Jersey something, right?” Emma asked.

  “It’s called Relish New Jersey, and it’s a food and lifestyle magazine,” Alexis explained. “They’re launching their first issue in a few weeks, and they want to hire us to make the cupcakes!”

  “Wow, so how did they find out about us?” I asked.

  Alexis grinned. “It might have something to do with that letter and flyer I sent them,” she said.

  We high-fived. “Way to get the business, Alexis!” I said.

  Then she put on her serious face. “So, the editor wants a cupcake that speaks to the latest food trends,” she said. “I did some research, and it’s clear that the top new trend is vegetables in desserts.”

  Emma made a face. “Ew!”

  Alexis passed out a sheet of paper with examples to each of us.

  “ ‘Sweet potato ice cream,’ ” I read out loud. “ ‘Candied kale chips.’ ”

  “Double ew!” said Emma.

  “I don’t know,” I said. “It sounds kind of interesting.”

  Mia was frowning. “How can you make vegetable cupcakes look pretty?” she asked.

  “Well, I think we can make it work,” Alexis said. “Let’s all think about it before our next meeting. And, Emma, if you can come up with a different trend, we’ll consider it.”

  “Oh, I’ll be looking for one,” Emma promised.

  “All right, now let’s talk about our budget,” Alexis said.

  Budget stuff is definitely not the most exciting thing about running a cupcake business, but it’s important, and I’m glad Alexis is good at it. When we finished that, and started talking about other stuff besides cupcakes, I decided I should tell Alexis and Emma about what happened with Marc Donald Brown.

  “So I totally freaked out and left the contest,” I explained. “I’m so glad I had Mia there with me.”

  “I’m glad I was there too,” said Mia.

  “Oh, Katie, that’s just awful,” said Emma. “What a weird coincidence!”

  “I don’t know,” Alexis said. “Your dad owns a popular restaurant close by. I guess there was always a chance that you would run into each other sometime.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, in a way it was easier when he was living across the country and I didn’t have to think about him so much.”

  “And now you have to think about him all the time,” said Emma.

  “So what are you going to do?” Alexis asked. “Are you going to meet him?”

  “I’m still not sure,” I said.

  “Well, I think you should do it,” Alexis said. “If you don’t like him, you never have to meet him again. But at least you’ll stop wondering.”

  “That makes sense,” agreed Mia. “I know it will be hard, but at least you’ll get it over with, and you won’t have to keep worrying about it.”

  “I think it’s okay as long as you don’t feel uncomfortable doing it,” added Emma.

  So there it was. My three best friends thought I should meet with my dad. So did my mom.

  “Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

  When I got home from the meeting, I talked to Mom first thing.

  “So, I think I want to meet with Marc Donald Brown,” I said. “Can I send him an e-mail?”

  Mom raised an eyebrow a little bit, but that might have been because I was calling my dad by his full name. I usually referred to him as “Dad,” but somehow that didn’t feel right anymore, not since he e-mailed about meeting up with me. Why should I call him Dad when he’d never been a father to me? Now, in my head, he was Marc Donald Brown.

  “You feel okay doing this?” she asked, and I nodded.

  “Then get your laptop,” Mom replied.

  With Mom looking over my shoulder, I typed in the message.

  Hi, it’s Katie. Maybe we can meet on Saturday somewhere. E-mail me back.

  “Is that all what you want to say?” she asked.

  I stared at the e-mail. Actually, there was lots of stuff I wanted to add.

  Maybe you can explain why you haven’t been in my life.

  This is totally weird for me.

  If you don’t like me, just pretend that you do so it won’t hurt my feelings.

  “No, this is good,” I said.

  I pressed send, and that was that.

  The next move was up to Marc Donald Brown.

  CHAPTER 4

  Achoo!

  When I woke up the next morning, my throat felt like it was on fire. It hurt to swallow. And my nose was all stuffed up. I tried to breathe, but I had to do it through my mouth. And that just made my throat hurt more.

  I groaned and pulled a pillow over my head. I had a cold! How did I get a cold overnight? I wondered. Well, there was no way I was going to school. I closed my eyes and fell back asleep. I knew my mom would come looking for me when I didn’t come down to breakfast, and I’d tell her then I was sick. I didn’t have the energy to get up and tell her myself.

  When I opened my eyes again, my digital clock read 9:10. I bolted awake. Why hadn’t Mom come in to see me yet? School had already started!

  “Mom?” I called out in a scratchy voice.

  There was no answer.

  Worried, I got up and walked to her room. The door was half-open, and when I peeked inside, I saw Mom in bed, snoring loudly.

  “Mom?”

  Mom’s eyes opened. She shot up in bed.

  “Oh gosh, Katie, I’m sorry!” she said. Her voice sounded scratchy, and her nose sounded stuffy, just like mine. “I have a cold and I feel awful. I started to get up to make you breakfast, and then I thought I’d tell you to make yourself cereal, and I just fell asleep.”

  “It’s okay,” I said, climbing into bed next to her. “I’m sick too.”

  “Poor Katie!” Mom said, hugging me. “I’ll get up and call the school and tell them you’re not going. Then I’ll make us both some tea and toast and get out the vitamins and the cold medicine.”

  “Thanks, Mom,” I said, snuggling under her covers.

  I hadn’t climbed into bed with Mom since I was little and was scared by a bad thunderstorm. My new puppy, Snickerdoodle, jumped on the bed and cuddled up next to me. It felt nice.

  I started to doze off again, and Mom came back with some hot tea and toast, like she’d promised. We ate in bed, and then I closed my eyes and fell asleep some more.

  When I opened them again, Mom was up and dressed in sweatpants and a T-shirt.

  “I think it’
s time we moved Cold Central downstairs,” she said. She felt my forehead to see if I had a fever. “Let’s watch some TV. And you can bring down your laptop and check to see if you’re missing any homework today.”

  “Can we have soup?” I asked.

  Mom frowned. “I checked. We’re all out. We’ll have to settle for P-B-and-Js. But I’ll make some more tea.”

  A little while later we were set up in the living room under blankets that my grandma Carole had crocheted for us. Mom’s was blue and green, and mine was every color of the rainbow because Grandma knows I like crazy colors.

  After we ate our P-B-and-Js I got out my laptop, like Mom had suggested. Before I checked the school’s website, I checked my e-mail. There, in my in-box, was a reply from Marc Donald Brown.

  “Achoo!” I sneezed right when I saw the e-mail. Then I clicked on it.

  Katie, I am so glad that you are willing to meet. Can we meet at Lane’s on Main at 11:00 on Saturday morning? Let me know if this works for you. I’m happy to change the time or place if it doesn’t.

  Lane’s on Main is a coffee shop here in Maple Grove. Before I typed back a message, I turned to Mom.

  “Marc Donald Brown says he can meet at Lane’s on Main at eleven on Saturday,” I told her.

  “Okay,” Mom said. “I’m not working, so I can take you.”

  “Achoo! Thanks, Mom,” I said. I guess I should have started to feel nervous about meeting Marc Donald Brown, but I wasn’t—not yet. I was probably just too busy being sick.

  I e-mailed him back that it was okay, and then Mom and I settled in to watch TV. Luckily, Mom likes watching cartoon channels just as much as I do, and there’s nothing like being sick and watching silly cartoons. So even though I felt terrible I was pretty content.

  Mia texted me around 3:00, after school was out. Katie! U okay? Where are u?

  Bad cold, I typed back, and then I sent an emoji of a sneezing smiley face. Hope you don’t get it.

  I’ll be okay, Mia said. Miss u!

  Then Mia and I started texting back and forth about what had happened that day in school. I was still texting when the doorbell rang.

  “Who could that be?” I asked.

  “I don’t know,” Mom said. She walked to the door and peeked through the small window at the top. Then she smiled. “It’s Jeff!”

  So, Jeff Green is my mom’s boyfriend. He’s also a math teacher at my school. At home, I call him Jeff. At school, I call him Mr. Green.

  “Hey, there,” Jeff said as he walked in. He had a shopping bag in each hand. “How are things in the sick ward?”

  “Sore and stuffy,” Mom supplied. “You really should get out of here. I don’t want you to get sick!”

  “I’m a teacher. Our bodies build up cold and flu defenses after being around runny noses and sniffles day after day,” he said. “Anyway, I brought you some soup.”

  “Soup!” I cried happily. “Achoo! Thanks!”

  “You’re welcome,” Jeff said. “I got it from Kleiner’s deli. Chicken and matzo ball. It’s the best. Now, sit back and let me take care of you two.”

  He walked into the kitchen, and I could hear him moving things around. Mom shrugged and got back onto the couch with me.

  A few minutes later Jeff came in with two bowls of soup on a tray and set them down in front of us.

  “Be right back,” he said as we picked up the yummy-smelling, steaming soup.

  He returned a moment later. “Okay, so I got the tissues with the lotion in them,” he said, putting some boxes down on the coffee table. “And I can see they’re just in time. Your noses are so red!”

  “The lotion tissues are awesome,” I said. “Thanks.”

  Then he handed me the latest issue of Cooking Monthly, and Mom got a home decorating magazine.

  “My dad always used to bring me a comic book when I was sick,” he said. “I wasn’t sure if you liked comic books, though.”

  I eagerly picked up the cooking magazine. It’s got tons of great recipes and cool pictures. I’d been wanting to subscribe to it, but lately I’ve been spending my Cupcake money on baking supplies.

  “This is better than a comic book,” I told him.

  Jeff smiled. He straightened out Mom’s blanket and then pulled it over her legs and tucked in the edges underneath. He did the same for me.

  “Anything else I can do for you guys?” he asked.

  “No, thank you, honey,” Mom said. “This was so sweet of you. I’m so happy you stopped by. Love you.”

  “Love you, too,” Jeff said. “Call me if you need anything. I’ll let myself out.”

  Jeff left, and I turned to Mom.

  “ ‘Love you’?” I repeated.

  Mom blushed. “Yes, we have grown to love each other,” she said. “It’s nice.”

  I let that sink in. Mom and Jeff loved each other. A few months ago I might have been worried about that—worried that Mom might not have enough love for both me and Jeff. But now I was pretty sure that she did.

  “Cool,” I said. Then I put down my soup and snuggled under my blanket. This was so nice of him.

  “It was,” Mom agreed.

  I thought about what Jeff had said—about how his dad had always brought him a comic book when he got sick. And now he was doing the same thing for us. Not just for Mom, but for me, too. Just like a father would do.

  I closed my eyes and tried to imagine Marc Donald Brown bringing me soup or tucking a blanket around my legs.

  I couldn’t. Then I started to wonder if he did those things for his three perfect little blond daughters. . . . I didn’t want to think about it.

  “Katie, look! It’s Captain Cookie’s Happy Hour!” Mom said, turning up the volume on the TV with glee.

  That was great timing. Because instead of going into a dark place, I got swept up into the wacky cartoon world of Captain Cookie. Trust me—that was a much better place to be!

  CHAPTER 5

  A Special Assignment?

  By Wednesday morning I was back at school and feeling better. Well, almost better.

  “Okay, so determine the ratio of twenty-four to sixty for me,” Mr. K., my math teacher, was saying. “Remember, you need to find the greatest common factor for each number.”

  I stared down at my paper. I had been sick of hanging out on the couch and was all fired up to get back to school, and then—bam! First-period math. Suddenly, the couch didn’t seem so bad.

  Now, I have gotten a lot better at math since I started middle school. Alexis is always willing to help me, and I’ve got a secret study weapon in Jeff. But tackling ratios right after coming back from a cold. Um, no.

  But I got through it, and my next class is Spanish, which I really like. I’d love to go to Mexico someday and learn cooking from some of the chefs there, and knowing Spanish would be really helpful. When I get to high school, I want to take French, too, because all the best chefs train in Paris. At least that’s what I’ve read.

  Next came gym class, and I lucked out because Ms. Chen was doing two weeks of yoga lessons with us. So instead of running around and getting all sweaty, I got to breathe and stretch. Nice.

  After gym I walked with Mia, Emma, and Alexis to the cafeteria.

  “We missed you, Katie,” Alexis said. “Were you able to research any cupcake flavors while you were out?”

  I shook my head. “Sorry, I was a total lump for the last two days,” I said. “I mostly watched cartoons. But I’ll get on it.”

  Then I remembered something.

  “Oh yeah, and I got an e-mail from Marc Donald Brown,” I told my friends. “I’m going to meet him on Saturday.”

  “Get out!” Emma stopped in the hallway and turned to face me. “That’s great. But you must be so nervous.”

  I nodded. “Yeah, a little bit.”

  “I’ll be with my dad on Saturday, but you can text me if you need me,” Mia offered.

  “Yeah, and Emma and I will be around if you need us,” Alexis added.

  �
�Thanks, guys,” I said.

  When we got to the cafeteria, Alexis and Emma got in line to get their lunch, and Mia and I claimed our usual table. I unpacked my lunch. Mom had given me a thermos of tomato soup (I was still on a soup kick) with some whole wheat crackers and cheese. Yum!

  Alexis and Emma joined us a few minutes later, carrying their trays. Both of them had big salads with veggies and chicken.

  “Wow, the school lunches are looking better lately,” Mia remarked.

  Emma nodded. “Yeah, there’s a lot more green stuff to choose from,” she said. “And I like green stuff. Just not in my cupcakes.”

  She looked pointedly at Alexis.

  “Listen, I’m not saying we have to make broccoli cupcakes or anything,” Alexis said. “But we’ve got to pay attention to trends, and this is one of them.”

  “So when are we meeting next?” I asked.

  “Can we do Sunday night?” Mia asked. “We can do it at my house again.”

  Alexis scrolled through her phone to check her schedule. “That works, as long as you don’t mind.”

  “No, it’s easier,” said Mia. “I’ll be getting back from Manhattan around three, and I can chill out a little before the meeting starts.”

  “I hope you’re talking about a Cupcake meeting.”

  Mr. Green had approached us. Teachers take turns monitoring the cafeteria, and I guess today was his turn.

  “As a matter of fact, we are,” Alexis replied. “Are there any cupcake needs we can help you with?”

  “As a matter of fact, there is,” Mr. Green replied. “I have a special assignment for the Cupcake Club, but I can’t talk about it here. Would it be okay if I came to your next meeting?”

  Mia, Alexis, Emma, and I all looked at one another. Mr. Green was acting very mysteriously.

  “I don’t see why not,” replied Alexis. She started typing into her phone. “Our next Cupcake Club meeting starts at seven this Sunday, so why don’t you come at seven fifteen?”

  Mr. Green grinned. “Sounds great. Where should I go?”

  “It’s at my house,” Mia said, and Mr. Green nodded. He had been to Mia’s house before, to have dinner with Mom and me and Mia’s family.

  “I’ll see you then,” he said. Then he looked at me. “You look much better, Katie. I’m glad to see that.”