Game of Chance

Chapter 21

“Morning, Hailie!” Contessa said enthusiastically as she padded into the kitchen.

Hailie looked up briefly from an animated series playing on the television.  “Morning!”

“Are you hungry?” Contessa asked.

“Um…maybe!”

“What do you want for breakfast?”

“Well…what do you have?”

“I have some eggs, do you like those?”

Hailie’s face twisted slightly into a grimace.

Contessa laughed.  “I’ll take that as a no?  Cereal?”

“What kind do you have?” Hailie inquired, perking up.

“Lucky Charms and Frosted Flakes.”

“Can I have the Lucky Charms?” the young girl asked with a pout.

“Of course!  How about we both have a bowl?”

“Okay!”

//

“How are my two favorite ladies this morning?” Marshall asked, sauntering into the quaint dining area.

Contessa blushed slightly.

“Super great, Daddy!”

“Yeah, what you eatin’?”

“Lucky Charms!”

“Are they good?”

“Duh, they’re only my favorite ever!”

Marshall smiled at his daughter.  “And what are you eating, Contessa?”

“Same as Hailie.”

“Am I supposed to eat them, too?” he mused with a smile.

“I can fix you eggs, toast, bacon…”

“Bacon!” Hailie exclaimed, her eyes lighting up.

“You like Bacon?” Contessa asked.

“I love it!  Please, please, please, will you make us some?  I know Daddy loves it, too!”

“Of course, I will.  You two just have a seat, and let me do the cookin’.”

“’Tessa, you don’t have—”

“I want to,” she whispered and went into the kitchen to begin making breakfast.

//

“Are you sure you’ll be okay with her for a few hours?” Marshall said worriedly.

“Marshall!” Contessa muttered in frustration.  “It’ll be okay.”

“Anything you do, I’ll reimburse you for—” he replied quietly.

“Anything we do, I’ll pay for happily, I assure you.  I told you before, your money isn’t what I want,” she interrupted and pushed him out the door.  “Have a good day, dear!”

//

“So, Hailie, what do you want to do first?” Contessa asked as she joined the young girl in front of the television.

“What can we do?”

“Hmm,” Contessa thought.  “What sort of things do you like to do?”

“I—I don’t do a lot of things…  Just go to school and play at my friends’ houses.”

“Let’s have a girls’ day in, how about that?”

“I don’t know what that is!” she whined.

Contessa simply laughed.  “Honey, that means we eat, watch Disney movies, play with dolls, and just act like total girls!  Now, you know, your Daddy would so not do that with us.”

“Really?” Hailie said in awe.  “You’re gonna play dollies with me?”

“Uh huh, if that’s what you want!”

The girl nodded her head vigorously.

“Why don’t you pick out a movie to watch first?” Contessa suggested.

“Okay!” Hailie replied happily and ran towards the movie shelf.

//

“You guys okay?” Marshall asked.

Contessa fiddled with the telephone cord before answering.  “Of course we are!  I’d call you if things weren’t okay.”

“What are you two doing?”

“Planning genocide,” she replied, tonelessly.

“Funny.”

“I thought so.  We just finished watching ‘Dumbo,’ and I’m about to make brownies.”

“Brownies?” Marshall stuttered.

“Hailie said that she wanted them.”

“I hope she’s not being too much trouble—”

“I’m having tons of fun, honest.”

“Fine.  What else are you guys gonna do?”

“We’re going to play dolls later…it’s a girls’ day in.”

“A girls’ day in?” he repeated.

“It means we’re going to do all that girly stuff that you hate doing with her.”

“Oh, that’s good!” he laughed.  “Now, I won’t have to do it.”

“I know,” she smiled.

//

Contessa watched Hailie dump an excessive amount of flour into the bowl; she smirked to herself, just thinking how much fun she was having hanging out with a seven-year-old.

“Honey, I think that’s just a bit too much flour.  Here, why don’t I show you how to measure?”

“You don’t mind?”

“Of course not.  Now you see this?” Contessa asked, holding up a measuring cup.

Hailie nodded.

“When the box says two cups, we want to fill this cup up twice and put it into the bowl…”

//

“Do you think Daddy’s going to like our brownies?”

“Your brownies, sweets,” Contessa corrected.  “He’ll love ‘em!” she assured the nervous girl.

“You helped me!”

“Hardly!”

They burst into a fit of giggles so loud that they didn’t hear Marshall enter the room, but he instantly took in the sight of his daughter and girlfriend, respectively, clutching their stomachs, faces and hands covered in flour, and the scent of slightly burned something-rather.  He couldn’t possibly hold back the smile that threatened to crack his face and light his eyes on fire.

“Honey, I’m home,” he mocked.

“Marshall!” Contessa screamed, putting a hand over her heart.  “You scared me!”

“Daddy!” Hailie yelled and ran towards her father, jumping into his arms.

“Hey, pumpkin,” he replied, holding her in his arms.

“I made brownies for you!”

“Did you really?”

“Uh huh.  Contessa taught me how!”

“Then they must be good!  Where can I get these fabulous goods?” he asked, taking a sniff of the air.

He pretended to catch the smell suddenly, settled his daughter on the carpeted floor, and ran into the kitchen.

“Mmm, these are good, baby!” Marshall said sincerely as his tongue savored the first bite of the chocolate mess.

“Really?  You’re not joking?” Hailie asked with a pout.

“Oh, baby, these are delicious.  When can you make me more?  You gonna start cookin’ for us at home?”

Hailie blush shyly.

//

“I didn’t think those brownies would turn out so well,” Marshall admitted after they’d put Hailie to bed.  “She’s never even touched a measuring cup.”

“I could tell,” Contessa grinned.  “Shh, I have a secret to tell you,” she whispered and pulled him into their bedroom.

“What?” he hissed, keeping his voice low.

“You can’t tell Hailie, but after she finished making the brownies, I suggested she go take a nap while they baked—”

He was half-smiling, his mind already figuring out what she did.

“Now, don’t get mad at me, but I threw out the first batch and made a new one…  I—I didn’t want her to think she was a cooking failure.”

“You know, she’s been lied to a lot.  But this is a good lie.  Thank you,” he replied and kissed her.  “You’ve made her very happy—that’s more important than how good the brownies were.”

“I just…remember when I first made something, and they came out terribly…  I didn’t even try to cook again until I started living on my own.  I didn’t want Hailie to feel the way I did.”

“You saved her embarrassment, and you saved my stomach!  We both thank you,” he laughed.

Chapter 22

Author: zines@aol.com

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These stories are for entertainment purposes only.  They are completely fictitious, and the authors mean no harm to EMINEM, his family, friends, or anyone else that may have been depicted as a 'real life' character.  No money was made on the fiction here, either directly or indirectly, i.e. paid advertising. In other words - it's just a bunch of shit we wrote for fun. Please don't take it seriously.