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There was something wrong with the pie.
Allison had always been a good baker – excellent, even – which is why she knew something was wrong as soon as she took her latest creation out of the oven. She wasn’t sure when she’d made a mistake, or what that mistake was, but the pie didn’t look half as good as it was supposed to, which was…
Well, it wasn’t a great start for what was yet to come. She’d barely even started her day of cooking, and she’d somehow already managed to mess up the one thing she’d promised Kira she could do in her sleep. And she could, theoretically. She’d made hundreds of pies in her short life, which was why she’d been so confident when she’d walked into the kitchen that morning.
Now, though, she was starting to think that she’d overestimated her capabilities. Kira was going to wake up and realise that for all that she could talk, Allison apparently couldn’t act on her words.
A pie, for god’s sake. What was so hard about baking a pie?
She’d thought it would be a nice surprise for Kira to wake up to, but now the first thing her girlfriend would see that morning was Allison’s obvious failure. How on earth was Kira supposed to trust Allison with an entire meal if she couldn’t even get dessert – her specialty – right?
“You look like you’re seconds away from having a stroke.”
Allison jumped at the sound of Boyd’s voice. Even after over a year of dating Kira, she hadn’t quite gotten used to the woman’s roommate. The man wasn’t unkind; in fact, he’d been nothing but polite and welcoming to Allison, but he tended to appear out of nowhere when Allison least expected him. She would be lying if she said he hadn’t scared the hell out of her a couple of times in the past two days.
(Not that she would ever admit that out loud. The last thing Kira needed was another piece of blackmail to tease Allison with.)
“Good morning, Boyd,” Allison smiled faintly, trying to tear her thoughts away from the pie in front of her. Maybe if she ignored it completely, it would disappear. One could hope, right? “Happy thanksgiving!”
“Same to you,” the man answered, furrowing his brows for a second before speaking again. “Do you even… Is Thanksgiving even a thing in France? I thought it was a purely American holiday.”
“It’s not a thing, but it can’t hurt to take some time to be grateful for the wonderful things in life,” Allison shrugged. Truth be told, she’d never cared much about foreign holidays, but she was more than willing to make an effort for her girlfriend’s sake. “Kira told me you were going to have dinner with your family; are you looking forward to that?”
“It’s just going to be my siblings and I, so yeah,” Boyd replied, a soft smile gracing his features for the first time since Allison had landed in the States a week earlier. “And Kira told me that she had invited her family to have dinner with you guys. How do you feel about that?”
“Oh, I’m sure it’s going to be amazing,” Allison lied through her teeth, unable to keep her eyes away from the sad-looking pie. She didn’t believe in Fate, but surely a failure so early in the morning couldn’t be a good sign for the rest of the day, right? “I told Kira I would take care of the food.”
“Damn, good luck with that,” Boyd raised his eyebrows – Allison honestly couldn’t tell if he was amused or impressed. Maybe a little of both. “At least this won’t be your first time meeting the folks. I heard some horror stories about one of her exes’ attempts at cooking for her family and let me tell you it wasn’t pretty.”
“Um… Thanks for the support?” Allison frowned confusedly. Sometimes, Boyd was truly unreadable. “I should probably get back to…” She punctuated her sentence by gesturing at the various ingredients she’d spread out on the counter as well as the pie, which she’d been trying to slowly inch towards the back of the pile to keep away from Boyd’s curious eyes.
With one last sympathetic nod in her direction, the man walked out of the kitchen and back to his room. As soon as he disappeared, Allison let out a relieved breath and shoved the pie as far away from her as she could without destroying her carefully organised mess of foods.
She’d been planning on making a second pie right after the first, eager to mix some of her favourites with some of Kira’s, but given what she’d achieved thus far, she figured it might be in her best interests to wait a little before giving pie-making another go. One disappointment might not bother Kira, but two? Allison wasn’t willing to risk it.
Sighing, she untied the ‘Les-presso’ apron she’d found in Kira’s cabinets – complete with a drawing of a lesbian-themed coffee mug – and carelessly threw it onto a nearby chair, hoping she hadn’t missed her mark.
Truth be told, Allison wasn’t sure why she’d put so much pressure on herself to begin with. Kira had repeatedly told her that she didn’t need to do anything special for her parents’ visit, and she’d even suggested they cook together as a fun couple activity. This failure, as much as Allison hated to admit it, was entirely her own fault. She’d never been good at working under stress, yet she’d put herself in that exact position in the hopes of…
Of what, exactly?
“Good morning babe,” a sleepy voice interrupted her thoughts. Allison spun around and felt some of the tension in her shoulders melt at the sight of her tired-looking girlfriend.
Kira was still in her pyjamas, rubbing at her eyes tiredly and blinking repeatedly as though the gesture would somehow help her wake up faster. Allison only watched on amusedly as the other woman padded towards her unsteadily, wrapping her arms around Allison’s waist as soon as she reached her side.
“Hi, baby,” Allison murmured, pressing a soft kiss to Kira’s temple and breathing in her girlfriend’s familiar scent.
Standing right there, holding the woman she loved with her eyes closed and her mind focused entirely on Kira, she could almost let herself forget about the disaster of a morning she’d had so far. After all, there were very few things Kira couldn’t make better, and a bad pie wasn’t one of them.
“Why does it smell so good in here?” Kira mumbled into the crook of Allison’s neck, lifting her head lazily and looking around even as Allison tried to distract her with the gentle carding of fingers through her silky hair. “Oh my god, did you make me a pie? A breakfast pie? Ally, that smells wonderful!”
Allison huffed lightly, wondering – not for the first time – what she’d done to deserve someone as amazing as Kira in her life.
“I think you’re being too kind,” she chuckled self-deprecatingly, angling herself towards the pie in question and wincing at the dubious-looking crust. “I was actually planning on getting the pies for dinner ready this morning, but… Well, I can hardly serve that to your parents.”
“That just means more for me,” Kira smiled sleepily, making grabby hands towards the pie and pouting when Allison gently tugger her away from the counter. “Are you not going to let me have any of the pie you made? How dare you keep a waking woman from her breakfast, especially since you don’t have any coffee ready for me.”
“You can’t have any of that,” Allison grimaced. “Seriously, I doubt that it’s any good. However, I can make you coffee if you want. I can even add that nightmarish caramel syrup you love to have in it when you’re in a fall mood.”
“Who’s to say I’m in a fall mood right now?” Kira asked challengingly, crossing her arms over her chest and – very unsubtly – moving back towards the pie. “Maybe I don’t want any of the delicious, wonderful caramel syrup I know you bought specifically for me.”
“I’m going to follow my instincts here and assume that you are, indeed, in the mood for your sugary coffee from hell,” Allison rolled her eyes, tapping the tip of Kira’s nose lightly before heading for the coffee machine. “I don’t know as much about Thanksgiving as I probably should for someone who has to cook a meal for four today, but I do know that you love the holidays too much not to want a disgusting drink to start your day.”
“First of all, that drink is not disgusting,” Kira protested, kicking the back of Allison’s shin playfully. “It’s the best way to get my energy up in no time, and it’s absolutely delicious. Not that you would know, since you refuse to take even a sip of it. Coward.”
Allison shook her head amusedly at her girlfriend, grabbing two mugs from the cabinet – matching ones that Kira refused to admit she’d gotten just for the times when Allison could visit – and starting the coffee machine for Kira before turning on the kettle.
So focused on the drinks, it took her a few seconds to realise that Kira was being suspiciously quiet, even for someone who’d only just woken up. Usually, Kira had thousands of questions about how Allison was doing and what their plans for the day were on her lips. Silence wasn’t something Kira did very well when she was around Allison, and it took the French woman less than a second to spin around towards her guilty-looking girlfriend.
Kira’s mouth was obviously full, her cheeks almost impossibly stuffed, and Allison would have laughed if it weren’t for the missing piece of pie she could have spotted from a mile away.
“Kira! You weren’t supposed to eat that!” She exclaimed, snatching the rest of the pie away from the other woman and shoving it behind her, trying to level Kira with as serious a look as she could manage considering how ridiculous her girlfriend looked.
“Why not?” Kira asked between bites, ignoring Allison’s disapproving look. “You must have known I wasn’t going to resist a pie my girlfriend baked just because she said I couldn’t have any. This is really good, for a pie.”
“Thank you for the glowing praise,” Allison snorted. “It was supposed to be for dinner with your parents, although I made it pecan with you in mind.”
“You know my parents would love this, right? I don’t know what you think is wrong with it, but it’s amazing,” Kira smiled, waving her fork at Allison’s face and sneakily leaping forward to grab another bite. “You weren’t actually going to throw this away, right?”
“Of course not,” Allison scoffed, smiling sheepishly when Kira only raised her eyebrows at her. “I was going to hide it and have it at a later date, maybe when you weren’t around.”
“You don’t even like pecan pie,” Kira frowned. “But if you’re that worried about what my parents will think of it, we can keep it for Boyd and I, and we can make a new pie together. How does that sound?”
“It sounds…”
It sounded perfect, if Allison was being perfectly honest. If there was one thing she loved more than baking alone, it was baking with Kira. Her girlfriend always tried to distract her and, although she failed more often than not, Allison appreciated her company more than she could possibly express.
However, although she wanted nothing more than to spend her entire day in the kitchen with Kira, sipping at their drinks as they baked – and maybe got distracted a few times – she couldn’t help but feel a pang in her chest at the thought of disappointing the other woman. She’d made a promise to Kira, had told her she could spend the entire day relaxing while Allison worked, and she hated going back on her promises.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake,” Kira nudged her shoulder gently. “Ally, I’m not going to be mad at you for letting me cook with you. I accepted your offer because it was very kind, but I think you deserve a bit of a distraction while you work hard on creating an undoubtedly wonderful dinner for my parents.”
“And for you.”
“And for me,” Kira grinned, leaning in to peck Allison’s lips quickly before leaning back and staring at her seriously. Her eyes were so full of love and understanding, Allison felt like she was seconds away from bursting into happy tears. “You know I love you, right? And as much as I appreciate your baking skills, I promise that a slightly imperfect pie isn’t going to change my mind about you. You’re already putting way more thought into this than I ever have, and everyone is going to adore whatever you make for dinner.”
“You’re biased,” Allison sniffed, blinking away tears and biting on her bottom lip to hide her wet smile at Kira’s exaggerated eyeroll. “You are.”
“Biased or not, I know how talented you are in the kitchen, especially when you have an expert taste-tester behind you every step of the way,” Kira said, grabbing Allison’s hand and unfurling her pointer finger until it was poking Kira’s chest right above her heart. “That’s me, by the way, in case you were wondering.”
“I did have a moment of doubt,” Allison deadpanned. “I thought maybe Boyd was coming back to help me cook after he saw how bad I looked after taking my pie out of the oven, but I suppose you’ll do. So long as you keep your hands to yourself.”
“Oh, I make no such promises,” Kira laughed. “The best part about cooking with you is that I get to put my hands wherever I want and you’re not allowed to complain about it. You love me too much.”
“I could never love you ‘too much’, baby,” Allison pointed out with a small smile. “You deserve all the love in the world, and I doubt that I’ll ever have access to that much love at once.”
“Psh, I don’t need all the love in the world,” Kira waved her comment away, curling an arm around Allison’s waist and pulling her close again, her lips less than an inch away from Allison’s. “I just need yours.”
“You’re such a dork,” Allison chuckled, although she didn’t complain when her girlfriend closed the distance between them to kiss her properly, lingering just long enough for Allison to get lost in the familiar motions.
When she pulled away, it was only to check on her boiling water and pour both of them their drinks of choice, marvelling at the sweet scent of caramel mixed with the hints of mint coming from her tea. Kira accepted her sugary madness with a wide grin, taking a sip and sighing contentedly before melting back into Allison’s arms, trying – and failing – not to spill any of her scalding coffee onto her girlfriend.
“Thank you for baking me a pie, baby,” Kira whispered after a few seconds of comfortable silence. “And yes, I know it wasn’t technically meant for me. I appreciate it anyways. Today’s a day for thanks, so you have to accept my gratefulness with grace and stop complaining about getting compliments.”
“I never asked for compliments,” Allison pouted, although she squeezed her girlfriend’s waist a little tighter at her sweet words. “Since we’re apparently starting the thanks part of the day already, I guess I should take a turn. This year, I’m extremely grateful for the incredibly woman I get to love and hold and fall asleep next to every time we’re together. I’m grateful for my trip to the States, and I’m grateful for every moment we’ve gotten to spent together since I got here. And while we’re at it, I’m also thankful for all the moment we’re going to spend together in the near future.”
“That was completely unfair,” Kira flushed, slapping Allison’s arm lightly in reprimand. “You’re not supposed to say all of those things at once.”
“I’d rather embarrass myself in front of you than in front of your parents, so I thought I’d get it all out of the way,” Allison shrugged. If she was being honest with herself, she would probably say the exact same thing if her girlfriend’s parents asked her about what she was grateful for.
There was nothing in the world that she was more grateful for than her girlfriend, and she wasn’t afraid to admit it. Besides, she had a feeling Kira’s parents wouldn’t mind in the slightest. After all they, better than anyone else, probably knew how special and perfect their daughter was.
“In case I haven’t made it abundantly clear by now, I’m extremely grateful for you too,” Kira said softly, carefully stepping out of Allison’s embrace and taking another happy sip of coffee, her eyes never leaving Allison. “And I couldn’t be happier to have you here with me this year. The holidays aren’t the same when I don’t have the woman I love right by my side, so I’m glad you could make it.”
“I’m glad I could make it too,” Allison answered with a pleased smile. It had taken a lot of planning and working to get her to the States, but it was all worth it to see the joyful sparkle in her girlfriend’s eyes. “Now, what do you say we forget about this whole cooking business for a while and go watch a Christmas movie?”
“Really?” Kira perked up, already backing out of the kitchen, her gaze straying to the living room – and to the cosy pile of blankets they’d installed there on the first day of Allison’s stay. “Do I get to pick?”
“My girlfriend volunteering to make a decision all by herself?” Allison gasped dramatically. “Who am I to say no to that. Go right ahead baby, pick whatever you want.”
Kira stuck her tongue out at Allison childishly, but she was already too consumed by the thought of whatever Christmas movie was on her mind to respond to the quip. Allison seized the opportunity to settle down on the couch, bury herself in blankets, and watch on as her girlfriend babbled about the latest Christmas movie she’d wanted to share with Allison.
By the time the movie started, the brunette had forgotten all about her failed pie attempts, too busy admiring Kira as her girlfriend wiggled underneath the blankets with her, settling on her shoulder like she belonged there.
All in all, Allison wasn’t sure mornings could get any more perfect than this.