Jas took a step forward. There was no need to make Katrina feel like she was imposing. “You didn’t need to know. I told Bikram.”Who told Mom, who definitely told you.“And this is my house.”
Andrés gave him a tight-lipped smile. “Of course it is.”
“Would you like some tea?” Katrina stepped aside. “I’m afraid I’ve been baking, so the kitchen is a mess, but if you don’t mind that...”
His grandfather lifted his head and sniffed. “What’s that I smell? Cookies, perhaps?”
“Mom said you’re watching how many sweets you eat,” Jas interjected, unable to help himself. Just because he was in a semi-feud with his grandpa didn’t mean he wasn’t concerned about his health.
“I don’t need you to lecture me on my diet,” his grandfather said coolly, and sailed into the house, past Katrina.
His grandfather was mad at him, too, but this went deeper than Bikram’s annoyance with him for not staying longer at his engagement party. This went back almost two decades.
His grandfather froze when he entered the kitchen, and he turned in a slow circle.
Katrina wrung her hands. “I know, the place is a mess.”
Andrés waved that away. “The kitchen hasn’t been used like this since my wife passed twenty years ago. I don’t come here much. Startling to see signs of life in it.”
He hadn’t known his grandpa had avoided the place. Jas softened.
Katrina visibly melted into a puddle of goo. She gestured to the table. “Please, have a seat.”
Doodle padded into the kitchen and immediately made her way over to Andrés. “Who is this?” Andrés asked. The dog leaned into his petting.
“My new dog,” Katrina said with pride. “Doodle.”
“A stray we found,” Jas said quietly. “Do you know of any neighbors who might be missing her?”
Andrés cupped the dog’s face. “No. I’ve never seen a beauty like her. You know how it is. Lots of strays out here.”
Doodle flopped down at Andrés’s feet and Jas narrowed his eyes at the canine. It had taken Doodle a day to show him even a fraction of this adoration.
“Do you like tea?” Katrina asked.
“I like chai.”
Katrina moved briskly to the cupboard. “I think I saw some masala in the supplies Bikram brought us. I can make that.”
His grandfather’s mustache quivered. “Can you make it well, though?”
Katrina gave him an amused look. “I can make everything well.”
Andrés harrumphed. “We’ll see. Not much cause for a fancy rich lady like you to be making her own tea.”
Jas straightened, but Katrina only smiled. “If I don’t make it, who will?”
“Hardeep would have never made his own tea.”
She put a pot on the stove to boil, and pulled out milk. She picked up the takeout bag Jas had brought from the buffet and examined it.
“I brought you some lunch from the restaurant while I was out. Forgot to tell you,” Jas explained, the tips of his ears going red as his grandfather’s sharp gaze fell on him.
She glanced at him and nodded, replacing the food. “Thank you. Sit down, please.”
Andrés settled into a seat at the kitchen table. Unsure of what to do with himself, Jas sat opposite the man. A tense silence settled over the kitchen, though Katrina hummed as she bustled around. When she was done making the tea and had arranged the freshly baked cookies on a plate, she finally came to sit down and gave Andrés a smile of challenge. “Let me know if it’s to your satisfaction.”
Jas’s grandpa took a sip of the tea and a bite of the cookie, then nodded. “The tea could use more sugar. The cookie is perfect.”
