Sincerely

[Ruggahissy]

Jonah looked at the clock on the wall: 10:00 p.m. It was closing time at Lil' Susie's House of Soul, the restaurant his parents owned and that he worked at. He'd worked a full shift and had waved good bye to the other staff as they exited out the front door after another busy day.

He took a deep breath and went to one of the counters in the kitchen where he'd stashed a bag of ingredients he'd bought for personal use. He re-tied the apron around his waist that had come lose during the dinner service and rolled his sleeves up a second time. Jonah bit his lip and looked around the empty kitchen, making sure that he was alone, and smiling fiendishly when he confirmed that he was indeed alone. The kitchen was large, with wood paneling on the walls that gave it an old-school feel, but the appliances were new.

Out of the bag he took flour, eggs, lemons, lemon extract and sugar. He started going around the kitchen to the supplies and taking a few things here and there out of the cupboard that he needed but that wouldn't be missed much, particularly in the amounts he needed to use.

He preheated the oven to 350 degrees and started beating together the butter and sugar and then the eggs and flour together with lemon juice from the lemons. Instead of using the mixer he whipped at the bowl feverishly with a wooden spoon, mixing until his muscles started to become prominent and by the end he was starting to breathe a little more heavily than he normally would. Jonah wiped his forehead and looked down at the mixture. Rather than stick a finger in, as was his initial thought, he scooped a bit of batter from the spoon and tasted it. He smiled and his fists balled slightly in joy.

The last item was removed from the bag: a cake pan in the shape of a heart. His fingers tingled as he poured the batter into the heart pan and he gently slid it into the oven.

Under the glow of the orange-tinged light of the kitchen he looked to his next task of making the frosting, which was quickly achieved. Jonah hopped up on to the counter (though people were not supposed to sit on the counters) and stared at the oven. Would she like it? Would she like him? He hoped it would be yes for both. Maybe it was a bit forward of a gesture. He was starting to doubt the whole endeavour. Jonah hadn't been as present at school recently due to feeling pretty crummy most days from his sickness, so he hadn't gotten to talk to her as often as he would have liked.

He quickly felt guilty and hopped down, leaning against the counter instead.

The oven dinged once, but he had been patiently watching the clock countdown and opened it the instant it hit zero. Jonah slid a toothpick into the cake and it came out satisfyingly clean. He frosted the cake with the help of a lazy susan in the restaurant's kitchen, spinning his creation around as his spatula evenly spread frosting over the cake's surface. Jonah put the cake aside and cleaned up the kitchen, feeling sluggish but determined.

Finally he clicked off the last light in the restaurant and locked the front door behind him. Driving home in his convertible, the cake was safely nestled in the passenger seat. It glistened slightly when the streetlights scanned over it. He parked his car and grabbed the cake. Looking down at the heart-shaped lemon cake in the dark, an embarrassed smile and faint flush spread across his face.

Jonah and the cake walked up to the front door of his home. He looked up and noticed a light from his brother's window and his brother sitting by the window. David looked upset. Jonah looked from David back to the cake and deliberated for a moment before walking inside.

"I'm home!" he announced.

"Welcome home!" called back David from upstairs, voice wavering slightly.

Jonah walked up the stairs and knocked on David's door, which was half-open.

"Hey what's up?"

Jonah, pushed the door a bit with his foot and hefted the lemon heart-cake up with both hands pushing it forward.

"I made us cake."