Chapter 32: Sweet as Sugar
Moana

The children all began to cheer once Edrick agreed to stay longer so that we could make cookies. I lifted my gaze from Clara to see the Alpha billionaire standing in front of me, but he wasn’t looking at me; he was looking at the children.

We all made our way down to the kitchen. I lingered at the back of the group, still in utter shock as I tried to wrap my head around Edrick’s sudden change in demeanor. Had the tour of the orphanage and seeing how disadvantaged children lived given him a bit of compassion?

Once we were in the kitchen, I put on an apron and started to get out the ingredients to make the cookies while the children watched hungrily, licking their lips in anticipation for the sweet taste of sugar in their mouths.

“Do you like to bake, Mr. Morgan?” Clara asked, standing on her tiptoes as she gripped the edge of the counter to see.

“No,” Edrick replied, avoiding eye contact with the little girl. “I don’t.”

“Not even cookies?”

“No, not even cookies,” Edrick said. Then, in a slightly lower voice: “I’ve never baked anything.”

The children erupted into gasps, causing me to stifle a laugh. “Here,” I said, grabbing an extra apron and tossing it to Edrick. “I’ll teach you.” Edrick caught the apron and gave me a puzzled look while the children exploded with a chorus of giggles.

“I think I’d just mess it up,” he replied. “You can do it.”

if Mr. Morgan doesn’t help,” I said, to which all of the children

his suit jacket and put the apron on, coming over to me. Without thinking, I reached out and rolled his sleeves up for him. Our eyes caught

protest became even louder as

stepped away from Edrick, shaking my head as I felt my face get hot. Next, I showed Edrick which ingredients to pour into the

cups of flour into this bowl,” I said, “and the

group, helping them to roll the dough into little balls and place them on the trays, while Edrick and I helped

Morgan?” Clara said — she seemed to have taken a

as he rolled a ball

you have a

“I do,” Edrick replied.

to the side a bit as she focused on rolling a wa d of cookie dough into a misshapen ball between her tiny hands, then slapped it down on the tray with an unprecedented amount of force for such a

mouth to speak, but

the room, “That’s an

Sorry, Mr. Morgan.” Clara drooped her shoulders and dug into the bowl of cookie dough

his eyes. “My dad doesn’t always think that boys should do the same things that girls do,” he said. “So, I grew up thinking that if I tried to ask to do things like bake with my

orphanage, Sophia had always allowed the boys and the girls to play however they wanted and to try new things. I grew up not only baking and doing traditionally feminine things, but I also had all of the opportunities in the

boys, who was sneakily stuffing raw cookie dough in his mouth, suddenly spoke up. “That’s dumb,” he

the little boy. “Don’t

into laughter again. When I looked up, I saw that Edrick

and I to the door; we hadn’t realized it, but

really can’t thank you enough, Mr. Morgan,” Sophia said as we stood in the doorway. “Your donation means the world to us. We’ve really been struggling lately — the government isn’t so generous with their money when it comes to human orphanages like this one. I really thought–” I watched as Sophia blinked back a few tears. “–I thought that we would have

arm. Edrick fell silent

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