Sometimes, fiction is better than reality.

I love fiction in almost any form, but most of all in novels. Even the classics teachers assigned in high school are still my jam. When’s the last time you read Jane Eyre for fun? No? Just me?

And though my teenage self would be embarrassed to admit it, I have also started to enjoy romance novels over the years. There’s something so fun about reading them, even though most of the time, they’re completely predictable.

But I like them for the same reason that I like romantic comedy movies. It’s not about guessing how the movie will end (newsflash, they end up together). Instead, it’s about enjoying the journey.

Can you tell I’m a romantic at heart?

All that to say, I have spent the past few years reading about fictional men with fictional flaws who can also be fictionally fixed, leading to a fictional perfect ending for the heroine of the story.

But any time I am on the verge of believing that maybe fiction really is better than reality, my husband will do something that surprises me.

On Saturday night, I fell asleep while reading a novel that is approximately 1,000,000 pages long. And I didn’t put a bookmark into it before I fell asleep.

When I woke up the next morning and saw the book closed on my desk, my heart sank. I had no idea where I had left off at all, meaning I would just have to guess when I had put the book down based on memory and a prayer.

I got up, made myself a coffee and moped through my morning routine. For the next hour, I was bemoaning my fate. When I heard my husband wake up, I went back upstairs so I could be miserable more publicly. At least if I was sad, we could acknowledge it together.

But when I told him how sad I was to have lost my place, he pulled out his phone and opened his camera roll, showing me that he had taken a picture of the open book in my sleeping hand.

Page 348.

At that moment, I knew love was real.

Of course, I knew it before. But when I tell you that this man was suddenly my literal hero, I mean it. I thought about it that whole day, and then the next one and then the day after that.

Later that afternoon, I knew I wanted to thank him for that small kind gesture, but I didn’t know exactly what to do. Eventually, I decided to bake him something sweet, since I hadn’t done it in a while. And since his favorite cake flavor is red velvet, I pulled out a recipe for Red Velvet Cookies from The Farmgirl Gabs to make for him.

I’ve made these cookies plenty of times before but hadn’t made them in several years, meaning Hunter hadn’t gotten to try them. But I remembered how easy they are to make, since they use a boxed cake mix.

Within a few hours, I was putting a plate of freshly baked and cooled cookies in front of Hunter. We snacked on them while he played video games and I read my novel. And I was reminded that sometimes reality is much, much better than fiction.

BOXED RED VELVET COOKIES

Ingredients
1 box (15.25 ounce) red velvet cake mix
1/3 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup red sugar sprinkles

Directions
■ Using a standing mixer, beat together cake mix, oil and eggs until fully combined. Place dough in refrigerator to harden for 30 minutes.
■ After 30 minutes, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
■ Scoop two tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough and roll into balls. Add sprinkles to a bowl and roll dough balls in the sprinkles.
■ Place onto the cookie sheet and repeat to make a dozen cookies.
■ Bake for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and place chocolate chips on top of cookies. Place back in the oven for another 2 minutes. Then allow cookies to cool completely on a wire rack.
■ Repeat steps with remaining dough.

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