She smiled again.
He turned his attention to the chafing dish. “What’s this?”
“I scrambled eggs!” Prue chirped.
This I had to see.
I got up and stood by Battle to peer at the messy, wet, underdone slop in the chafing dish that had cooked bits of eggs floating nauseatingly in it.
Mercifully, Battle put the lid on it and looked down at me. “Darling?—”
“Speak not another word,” I cut him off and turned to the room. “No offense, Prue, but I’m not sure that’s healthy to eat.”
“I didn’t want them to be overdone,” she replied.
She achieved that.
“This is why we’re all sitting here, starving, waiting to see if you two would unearth yourselves from Battle’s room to ascertain if we should try to find somewhere open to serve us breakfast,” Tempie said. “Or if we should send Battle to the grocery store for American muffins or something, seeing as someone ate all the croissants.” She narrowed her eyes again, this time on Battle.
“It wasn’t us,” Battle replied.
“I got peckish yesterday afternoon,” Chassie mumbled.
Good God, this lot wouldn’t last a day on Naked and Afraid.
“Right, consensus,” I announced. “You get one thing. Pancakes and bacon? Eggs and bacon? Or French toast and bacon?”
“American pancakes?” Prue asked.
“Obviously,” I answered.
“That’s my vote,” she trilled.
“That sounds amazing,” Chassie said.
My eyes homed in on her.
Something was…
Different.
“Is it much effort for you to toast me a muffin?” Tempie requested.
“No,” I said distractedly, attention still on Chassie. Then I informed them, “It’s going to take about thirty minutes.”
“I can wait,” Prue said.
“Can I help?” Chassie asked.
“You can flip bacon.”
I noted Battle took his seat, reached for the coffee pot and didn’t say a word.
Men.
I grabbed my cup and Chassie and I headed for the kitchens.
Once there, it took a second to get the lay of the land.
