“I noticed the two of you have a special relationship.” He leans back in his chair, folding his hands over his stomach.
I smile. “Yeah, she’s the Summer whisperer.”
Zander laughs. “That’s a good name for her. So what does this mean? How can I help you?”
I shrug, unsure how to answer. “I’m healing. There are no rules or plan for any of this.”
“Okay, well, thank you for telling me. Let me know if you need anything. I want to help you any way I can,” he says sincerely.
I nod. “I will try to do that. So my great grandmother had a green thumb like me?”
“She did. She spent as much time as possible in the yard here. I tried to help when I visited as a kid, but like I said, I have a black thumb. I always ended up helping my grandpa in construction.” He gets up and grabs a photo from the bookshelf. “These are your great grandparents. They were in their 60s in this picture.”
I take the photo from him.Mara and Philip 1996,is written on the frame. Mara is short with dark, straight hair cut just below her chin. Philip is tall and still in great shape for a man of his age, with light grey hair. They are in front of this house, holding hands with big smiles on their faces. It seems Zander renovated the house to resemble the original. “Mara has your dimple,” I say, looking at Zander.
“You have the same one, Summer. We get our green eyes from grandpa. Why don’t you keep that photo on your bookshelves in your room?”
I hug the photo to my chest. “Thank you, Zander.” I can now count three new people in my family.
“You’re welcome,” he smiles. “So, on a different note, Troy has asked for your phone number. Are you comfortable with my giving it to him?”
“Sure, I don’t mind.” He seems like a nice guy, and Zander obviously trusts him.
“Good. How about we head to the kitchen? I need to make a list for shopping tomorrow.”
Nodding, I follow Zander into the kitchen. “I asked Troy to pick up a few things while we were gone from the list Sue helped with,” he winks. “I’m missing the stuff for hot chocolate, though. Can you check the fridge and pantry and tell me what food you need me to buy for you?”
“You don’t need to buy anything for me, Zander. I’ll eat whatever.”
“Humor me, please? I’d like to get at least the basics in for baking. Except for flour, I don’t know what they are. You can help me with that list, right?”
I see the plea in his eyes and sigh, “yeah alright.” I go over and open the fridge and see tubs of fruit, eggs, water bottles, soda, beer, and some condiments. That’s it. The life of a bachelor, I guess. “Do you mind if I eat some fruit while you make your list?”
“This is your house now, too, Summer. Please eat what you want. No need to ask about anything in the house. Consider everything yours.”
I gaze at Zander who’s smiling at me, genuine sincerity in his eyes. “Thank you. Do you want anything?” Turns out Zander likes melons. After he tells me where the silverware is, I grab a tub of melon mix and a tub of pineapple and set them on the islandand push the melon tub and a fork across to Zander. Opening the pineapple, I pick up a chunk and pop it into my mouth. It’s super sweet, so I grab one more and look around the kitchen.
“Start rooting in drawers, Summer.” I raise my eyebrows at him. “Really, open everything up. Tell me what’s missing.” He waves his hand around. “Seriously, go crazy.”
I hesitate for a minute before opening the drawers and cupboards in the island. While moving through the kitchen, I find some essentials. The pantry has a sparse selection of food, including fresh boxes of my favorite teas, old all-purpose flour, and baking soda.
“So, how bad is it?” He asks.
“Well, you need everything for baking. Your flour is caking and your baking soda is chunky.”
He cringes. “Yeah, I use baking soda for scrubbing pots.”
“You really don’t need to buy baking supplies unless you’re planning on baking, Zander. I don’t need them.” It would be a large cost to him.
“I thought you might teach me how to bake? Maybe it's something we could do together, since you enjoy it?” He actually seems excited about the prospect.
“Oh, okay,” I nod. That’s sweet, actually, and I enjoyed baking with Sue. I list off the things he’ll need as he takes notes on his phone. I add measuring cups and spoons as I didn’t see them anywhere either. Speaking of baking… “Zander, I’ll be right back.” I say. Heading to my room, I grab my suitcase and wheel it out to the kitchen. Arranging it on one of the island stools, I unzip it to reveal Sue’s baked goods.
“Damn, I almost forgot about all that Summer. You’re gonna share, right?” He smiles.
“Yeah, I’ll share. I should freeze some, though, so they stay fresh.”
Zander grabs some freezer bags, and we divide up the baking, leaving a large plate full on the island to eat now. He places the full bags in the fridge-freezer. “There’s a large chest freezer in the laundry room if the fridge freezer is full. The meat is stored there. I was going to order takeout tonight since there’s no food. What kind of takeout would you like?”
