“Father Donnelly’s in town, but he didn’t come by.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “That’s definitely one good thing.”
9
Ileaped back, my arm stinging from the unexpected assault, then steadied myself and glared at the hot, bubbling chaos in front of me. The pale white faces. The gooey yellow eyes that seemed to be laughing at me. That overpowering scent of burning oil accompanied by snapping and popping.
I had no one to blame but myself. I knew that. I’d gotten myself into this mess, and I didn’t have a single clue what to do now.
“Just flip them,” Laura said from behind me.
“They’re cooking too fast,” I retorted, thrusting my hand with the spatula closer as I winced in anticipation of another drop of oil splattering against my arm.
I slid the spatula gently under one, lifted, then flipped. The yolk broke, and half the egg ended up outside of the frying pan. I sighed, once again defeated by domesticity.
Frankly, that was more or less par for the course as far as me and cooking were concerned. But considering I had mouths to feed, knowing that the status quo was still intact didn’t make me feel better.
“Why the hell did I think eggs for breakfast would be a good idea, anyway?”
“I told you to go with scrambled.”
“Fine, fine. You were right. This is why I need you living on site.” I’d called her at dawn to beg her to come to the school early. “I need to feed the masses,” I’d said, “and I haven’t got a clue.”
She’d scored major bestie points by not even complaining. Just yanked her hair into a ponytail, thrown on jeans, and raced over here. We’d decided on eggs, but I’d insisted on fried and scrambled, just to make sure all the kids were happy.
My bad.
“Fix it?” I begged meekly, passing her the spatula.
She grimaced but took it, then expertly flipped the remaining eggs, only to discover they were all burned on the bottom.
I blew out a noisy breath. Seriously, fighting a demonic horde was less stressful than this.
“So why exactly don’t we have a cook?” Laura asked.
I raised my hands as if in defeat. “We will. But then the kids came early, and…” I trailed off with a scowl.
“I’ve got your back until then,” she assured me. “I’m thinking lots of Pop-Tarts and microwave bacon. And now I’m pulling kitchen rank. No argument.” She stared me down, waiting until I nodded in meek agreement and said, “We’re starting over with scrambled.”
“And that,” I said as she headed to the giant fridge, “is why I love you.”
“Except that we’re out of eggs.”
I blew a raspberry as I exhaled, then met Laura’s eyes. “Cereal?” we said in unison, then laughed.
“Oh, God, check for milk,” I said. “I don’t want to get our hopes up.”
She waved a hand at the interior of the fridge, well-stocked despite the shortage of eggs.
“Look at us,” she said. “Feeding an entire school. We are amazing.”
“Oh, yeah, we are,” I said as we took the cereal boxes and cartons of milk to one of the huge tables that dominated the dining room. Then I went to the system control panel thatForza’stech team had installed and pressed the button to announce breakfast. I’d already sent the wake-up alarm before I started the Great Egg Debacle, so I expected a horde of kids any moment now.
Sure enough, I heard the clatter of feet pounding down the corridor, then squeals of appreciation at the breakfast selection. Apparently, cereal was a big hit.
“We nailed it,” I said, pouring a cup of coffee and adding more cream than a human needed. I deserved it.
We both took a moment to hug our girls, then headed out to let the students get to know each other on their own. To be honest, I wanted to linger and listen—they were once again reliving last night’s battle, going over each of their attacks and victories—but Laura urged me away.
