~Making Christmas Cookies~
“Do I smell cookies?” Jesse called as he walked through the front door and went straight to the kitchen.
“Jesse, what are you doing here?” Ruth asked, very annoyed.
Michelle had dropped Ruth off at Lisa’s house when she picked Jennifer up a few hours ago. The mothers were going to do some shopping, leaving the girls to bake cookies.
“Mom said I should pick you up after I got off work. I got off early so thought I would come bug you.” Jesse walked up behind his sister and put his cold hands on the back of her neck.
“Jesse!” Ruth shouted and gave him a kick. Jesse laughed.
“You girls are awesome to tease. Any cookies for me?”
“No,” Lisa was quick to say from where she stood at the counter icing a batch of cookies. Jesse said nothing but leaned against the counter on the other side of the kitchen.
“Watch it Lisa. He’s thinking up something really devilish to do next,” Ruth warned her friend. Lisa looked over her shoulder at Jesse. His eyes were roaming all over the room and he had a smile on his face.
“Back to what we were talking about,” Lisa turned back to her cookies. But Ruth never got around to replying, at least not then. Jesse stepped over to his sister and kissed her on the cheek then quickly stepped over to Lisa and did the same thing. Without knowing what she was doing, Lisa reacted fast and slapped Jesse across the face. She then gasped and put her hand to her mouth, shocked at herself for what she had done.
“Don’t be sorry. He deserved that,” Ruth said to Lisa. She turned on her brother. “Why did you do that?!” she demanded of him.
“It says Kiss the Cook,” Jesse pointed to the sign above the stove and shrugged his shoulders.
“Oh you!” Ruth said.
“Ruth, why do you have such a brother?” Lisa asked.
“Only the good Lord knows that. But you wait a few more years. Kent will reach an unbearable stage. Trust me,” Ruth said.
“Maybe Prince Charming will come riding in and sweep her off her feet before then,” Jesse said very dramatically.
“Jesse, go away,” Lisa groaned.
“I saw this amazing pink dress online the other day. I just have to have one like it,” Ruth said, trying to make Jesse bored. Lisa caught on and added,
“Jesse would look lovely in a puffy pink dress, wouldn’t he?”
“I get to do his hair,” Ruth said.
“Only if you let me do his nails,” Lisa tried not to laugh at the mental picture of Jesse dressed like a girl in pink. However none of it was working. Jesse just laughed.
“The day will never come girls,” he said. Lisa sighed.
“Here. Now get out!” Lisa handed Jesse 4 cookies.
“Thank you. Now bake in peace.” So saying, Jesse swaggered out of the kitchen.
“Lisa how could you?! That is just what he wanted,” Ruth was incredulous.
“He was driving me mad. Watching every move I made,” Lisa whispered.
“Oh ho!” Ruth started to say.
“Don’t you dare, Ruth,” Lisa said threateningly.
“He only does that to get what he wants from you because he knows it bugs you. One day you are going to have to not give in to him,” Ruth said in low voice, then added even lower, “It’s a good thing Jackson and Carl were not here.” Ruth’s smile was not quite an evil smile, but almost.
“Don’t even go there,” Lisa rolled her eyes.
“Well, no more secret sharing with him in the next room,” Ruth raised her voice to say.
“Hopefully you’ll get more cookies made that way,” Jesse called.
After a couple of hours Lisa and Ruth peeked in on Jesse. He lay lay stretched out on the sofa with a book.
“I’ll get some food together while you get Kent,” Ruth called in a loud voice. Jesse got up and came into the kitchen.
When Lisa came down the stairs she was followed by Kent who had been quietly playing upstairs in his room the whole time.
“Can we have chips?” he was asking.
“Nope, we’re having crackers this time,” Ruth told the boy.
Later as the girls cleared the table, leaving the boys sitting, Jesse said,
“Oh yeah, guess where you’re going for Christmas Day this year, Lisa.”
“Nowhere now.” Lisa’s family had been going to fly to New Mexico to spend the holidays with Jennifer’s family. But the weather had been so bad the flight had been canceled. So they were going to wait and go down for the new year.
“I heard Mom and Dad talking and since we are in town for the holidays…..” Jesse let the sentence hang.
“I have to spend Christmas Day with you?” Lisa groaned. “Ruth let’s do something, and fast.” They laughed.
“Yep, you all are coming over for the day. We are going to have a great time. Really we are,” Jesse said.
“Sure,” Lisa gave Jesse a look then looked to Ruth.
“We’ll have to come up with something,” was Ruth’s comment.
“Oh, come on, girls. After it’s all over you’ll talk for days about how much fun it was. And I’ll even behave, seeing as it’s Christmas.” The girls laughed at that.
“Famous last words,” Lisa said as she took the dishcloth back to the kitchen.
ENJOY!