CHAPTER 10
Staci stoodin her kitchen with the cupboards opened, staring at all the canned goods and heaved a heavy sigh. She closed all the doors, grabbed her coat, and hurried out, then walked over to Caleb and Katherine’s cabin. Caleb let her in after she pounded on the door, and when she saw Katherine, she grinned.
“What’s up?” Caleb asked.
“I’m here with a question for Katherine.”
“What’s up?” Katherine asked as she parroted Caleb.
“I need something, and I don’t have any at home.”
“I’ll leave the room,” Caleb said and they saw his cheeks had turned pink. “I’ll let you two talk in private.”
“It’s not that.” Staci quickly reassured him with alaugh. “You can stay.” She turned to Katherine. “I want chocolate.”
Katherine laughed as she rose and went to a door in the kitchen. She pulled out several baskets and when Caleb went to inspect them, she slapped his hands away with a laugh. “Do you want a quick fix, I have candy, and junk chocolate.” She pulled out another basket and set it on the table. “I have brownies, but you have a choice of dark, milk, fudge, with chunks or without. Then I have cake, devil’s food, milk chocolate, and that comes with frosting. Unfortunately, that only comes in milk chocolate. Well, it comes with more, but that’s all I like.” She looked at the two before her and laughed.
“Sorry, I’m a chocoholic. I found that it’s easier to have all different varieties on hand for when the mood strikes. Which do you want?”
“As much as I want the dark chocolate brownies, I hate to admit that I don’t know how to cook, so I’d be afraid to try to make them. If you don’t mind, I’ll settle for one of these Ding Dongs.”
“Absolutely not,” Katherine said with feeling. She pulled out the brownie box, put the rest of the stuff away, and went to the kitchen. She got out a bowl, a pan, and some ingredients. In under five minutes, after washing their hands, Staci looked at Katherine with a grin.
“That’s it?”
“That’s it for mixing the brownies, now that it’s allmixed up, then you just have to slip them into the oven. Check the times on the box based on the size of the pan.”
“What is this? An eight by eight?”
“No, this is a nine by nine.”
“Okay,” Staci looked at the box, and slipped the pan into the oven.
“The most important thing to remember,” Caleb said as he stood in the doorway and studied the two women cleaning up after themselves.
“What’s that?” Staci asked.
“Making sure you don’t burn them. Set the timer and check them when it dings. I know you’re smart, and I’m not saying you’re not. I am saying that they might not be completely done when the timer goes off. You’ll have to check them to make sure.”
“How do I do that?”
“Stick a knife in the center, that’s what I do, if it comes aways clean, they are done, if there’s sticky brownies on them, then they should bake a little longer.”
“Huh,” she said and nodded. “That actually makes sense.” She turned to Katherine. “I may be smart, but like I said, I don’t know how to cook. Tony showed me how to make spaghetti, and I used that, but you told me and showed me how to add different noodles to make goulash. Now I know how to make brownies.”
“They aren’t done yet,” Caleblaughed, and caught the wet sponge she threw at him. The three of them sat around the table and talked until the buzzer went off. They sat there and allowed Staci to take control, and when her knife came out dirty, she shut the oven, looked off to the side, then reset the timer on the stove for another five minutes. When that went off, she checked them, then grinned and did a happy dance once she removed them from the oven and set them on the top of the stove.
“Now is the absolute hardest part,” Katherine said with a laugh.
“Now what?”
“Waiting for them to cool enough that you don’t burn your mouth when you bite into them.” The three of them shared a laugh and they sat for another forty-five minutes while Katherine showed Staci what they had in their refrigerator and cupboards, and was telling Staci what she could cook with the ingredients. It wasn’t long before Caleb cut into the brownies, dished them up, and passed them out.
“Oh, god,” Staci said with feeling as she took her first bite and closed her eyes. She did a small dance in her seat and savored the flavor. She opened her eyes, and smiled with her mouth closed. “These are so good.”
They ate their brownie, and after cleaning up, Katherine took three of them to wrap for Staci to take home. She tried not to take them, but Caleb handed them to her with a grin.
“Trust me, you’ll want them.” She didn’t argue as she took them, then walked home. Once she returned home, she went through her own cupboards and sat down to make a grocery list, and accessed the website that Katherine had given her to check out some easy recipes. By the time she went to bed that night, she was hopeful that she might be able to learn how to cook for herself and stop eating cereal or canned soup all the time. It was a good feeling to do something for herself.
