Almost Fired by the Cowboy - Natalie Dean Page 0,41

of tightrope she hadn’t been prepared for.

But if Mum Miller noticed, she didn’t point it out. “Then again, I suppose all of my boys kind of ended up going through that stage. They didn’t use to be like that, though, not when they were younger.”

“What happened?”

Mrs. Miller frowned down into her bowl as she opened another cabinet to reveal even more flour, sugar, and other baking things. Nova didn’t want to think how expensive it was to have double of all the ingredients they could possibly need. Not when she was still sticking to forty dollars a week for groceries out of habit.

“Who can say? Maybe it’s just getting older? Clint always says that I raised them too soft, that he had to harden them up for the business. Shark-eat-shark world and all that.”

“Clint?”

“Mr. Miller, my husband. I love the man, I do. But…”

“But?” Nova asked cautiously. She could sense that she was on ground that needed to be tread across lightly.

But Mum Miller just shook her head. “This isn’t really appropriate conversation, my apologies. Would you pass me a sifter from the drawer right by your hip?”

And just like that, the vulnerable state the woman had been in was closed off, just in time too, as Sal came in with his arms full of the items he’d been sent to fetch.

“There’s my handsome son. Put those on the counter, would you?” Mrs. Miller said.

He did, and then went back to his measuring, his eyes switching from Nova to his mother. She had the feeling that he knew that something had happened but was trying to figure out what.

“Your mother spent the entire time you were gone telling me embarrassing stories about your childhood,” Nova said, giving the woman an out. She also didn’t miss how Mum Miller’s shoulders dropped and she let out a quiet breath.

“Is that so?” Sal asked, his eyebrows rising.

Mrs. Miller turned to him with that brilliant smile back in place, her eyes no longer looking wet or uncertain. Amazing. Did all mothers do that or was it exclusive to the lovely older woman beside her?

“You know how I get to talking. Now, how are you coming along with that cake recipe?”

“Moving on to the wet ingredients. That’s why I went to get eggs,” Sal said.

“Right, of course. Just make sure you don’t add the sugar but set it in one of the small cups to the side.”

“Why?”

“Sugar can burn the eggs,” Nova supplied, relieved that her diversion tactic worked.

“Wait, sugar can what? That’s not true. That can’t be true.”

“Not literally,” Mrs. Miller said, pointing her sifter at the two of them. “Sugar is a hygroscopic substance, which means it absorbs water. Since eggs are comprised of fat, protein, a few natural sugars, and water, it absorbs the liquid through the yolk’s membrane, leaving the protein molecules to go all stringy and clump closer together. That’s why you get the harder, clumpy bits that are impossible to whisk out.”

Nova didn’t quite know what to say, staring at the older woman while blinking owlishly. From the corner of her eye, she could see that Sal was equally mystified, which made her feel somewhat better.

“What?” Mrs. Miller asked primly. “I was going to be a nurse before I met your father. So I needed to learn math and chemistry and biology. Did you lot think you get all your smarts from him?”

Sal whistled while Nova couldn’t help but crack a smile. “Well, baking is scientific.”

“Delicious science. Nursing was one of the few sciences a young married woman was allowed to be interested in back then.” Her sifter pointed again. “Never forget how lucky you are, sweetie. If I had the same freedoms you do when I was younger…” A dreamy look crossed her face, but then her eyes landed on Sal and she quickly shook it off. “Never mind that. I wouldn’t give up my life now for the world. Not when I’ve got six wonderful sons and a loving husband.”

“Yeah, there are plenty of people who would give up an arm, a leg, and then some for your life,” Nova said before she thought better of it. But if either of the Millers thought negatively of her words, they didn’t show it, and instead they all busied themselves baking again.

The hours flew by, with the three of them not even taking a break for lunch—although that was probably from all the sweet sampling they were doing. Nova was definitely suffering from a sugar high by the time