I knew she would’ve. While I had avoided eating dinner with them most nights, she still left a plate of food for me in the oven to keep it warm.
Just like old times.
I pushed that thought down and took a step back. “Probably not a good idea,” I commented.
“Mama made baked chicken with rosemary,” Aiden said, his eyes glittering with excitement. “It’s delicious.” He sounded as if he was trying to persuade me.
Savannah didn’t say anything.
My stomach took that opportunity to growl. Loudly.
I hadn’t eaten lunch that day, and my hunger suddenly became apparent to all of us.
“I helped with the mashed potatoes,” Aiden continued. “And we’ve been dancing.” His smile grew. “Mama says you can’t trust the food of anyone who…”
“...doesn’t dance while they cook,” I finished at the same time Aiden did.
His eyes widened. “How did you know?”
Unconsciously, I looked over at Savannah. “She used to say the same thing to me.”
I lost count of the number of times I came home to my wife dancing in the kitchen. Her motto was that anyone who didn’t dance while they cooked didn’t deserve to have their food eaten.
“Dancing makes the meal taste better,” I mumbled.
A smile touched Savannah’s lips. It was small, and just that quickly, I wanted to see her smile wider.
“I’ll join you,” I heard myself say.
“Yay,” Aiden cheered.
“You can help set the table?” Savannah asked.
“I’m still pretty good at that.” Our eyes connected again. That was always my job when we lived together. Savannah did the cooking because she loved it, and I set the table and cleaned up after the meal.
Aiden chattered about school and his new teachers as I put the utensils and plates out and Savannah finished cooking. A warm feeling invaded my body as I listened to him talk about his favorite class, which was math.
“I need to be good at math if I’m going to be a pilot, right, Mr. Ace?”
Savannah and I both stopped to look at Aiden.
I nodded and swallowed. “All subjects are important.”
“It’s such a cool job, and I’ll get to fly planes and protect our country, right, Mr. Ace?”
I gave him a half smile. He reminded me a little of myself when I was a kid and first learned what a fighter pilot was.
“Something like that.”
Aiden nodded as if it were a done deal.
Savannah turned off the music that’d been playing.
We sat down a few minutes later, plates full and appearing delicious. My stomach growled as if telling me that I’d better not pull out of eating this meal. I had already started thinking of ways to excuse myself from dinner, but my hunger and that feeling in my chest wouldn’t allow me.
“Mama said there was a movie that you watched that made you want to become a pilot.”
I shot Savannah a look.
