Impossible

Legacies

Jessica's mother was a cheerful woman. She tried to keep her spirits up as much as she could despite the state of the economy and having to raise two daughters all by herself. She never complained and she was for most of the year an impenetrable force. She only ever showed sadness twice a year.

During the Christmas season, there was the anniversary of her husband's death and in April there was their wedding anniversary. The first year after her father's death, their mother dropped them off at the Webers' to spend the night while she spent the whole day by herself in the house. The next day, their mom picked them up and it was like nothing happened. Jessica saw through her mom's fake smiles and the next year when the anniversary rolled around again, she made an awful chocolate cake that collapsed when she took it out of the oven.

Her mother had laughed at the mess and hugged her even with tears in her eyes. It became another tradition that Jessica had taken upon herself for the family. Her dad couldn't be there to go celebrate his anniversary with his wife so Jessica was going to bake a cake for her mom to show her how much they loved and appreciated her. Since she was going to be at college this time next year, she had to pass this responsibility over to Emily. Her sister had no idea how to bake and it was going to be a long day of trial and error.

Edward tagged along as they went to the supermarket to buy ingredients. He pushed the cart as Jessica picked things off the shelves. She gave Emily the grocery list and taught her what exact things she needed to make a cake. Her sister frowned as she looked at two different brands of cake flour.

She asked, "What's the difference?"

"The price," Jessica took the cheaper one and threw it in the cart and returned the more expensive one on the shelf. "Consumerism. They're trying to sell you the same thing but more expensive."

"You're paying the extra dollars for the brand," Edward added. "Don't give in to their shady marketing tactics."

Emily frowned as she processed this. This was the first time she was really hanging out with Edward and didn't know what to make of him. She asked him again earlier if Jessica had bribed him to date her. Jessica was not amused.

The rest of the shopping trip consisted of Emily asking more questions. Like what was the difference between white eggs and brown eggs? Why was there white sugar and brown sugar? Why does food coloring only come in a certain amount of colors? And so on.

Thankfully, they got everything they needed and they made their way back to the house. Edward drove a lot slower when Emily was in the car which made Jessica a bit jealous as he always drove like a madman when she was in the car. Jessica usually held unto the car door and her seat belt, constantly tense as Edward drove at a hundred miles per hour and swerved around like he thought he was Paul freaking Walker. By the time they arrived at their destination, she would step out of the car on shaky limbs relieved she survived and was on land again.

Edward hid his smug smile and she glared at him. He parked the car especially slowly and carefully as if he was mocking her. They made their way inside and to the kitchen and Jessica looked for her copy of Nana Caroline's chocolate cake recipe. Edward and Emily had emptied out the ingredients on the island and she took out a mixing bowls and a whisk from the cabinets.

"Okay, squirt," Jessica held up the small index card where Nana Caroline's recipe was written. "This is Nana's personal recipe. She doesn't give this out to anyone but she gave it to us so we have to guard it with our lives."

Edward looked over her shoulder to see the recipe and she elbowed him away. "This is a family secret! Not for your eyes, Cullen."

He nearly rolled his eyes. "I don't even eat cake."