“Why don’t we have hamburgers tonight. We can make homemade fries like we used to. I’d say steak, but you don’t have a grill yet. Did you ever learn to grill?” he questions me as I pull out the hamburger and set it on the counter by the sink.
Digging into a box, I find my large frying pan, a cutting board, plates, silverware, and bowls. There’s bottles of water, soda, and beer for us to drink. I don’t always drink beer, but didn’t want to stop to grab wine and hard liquor. Right now, I don’t really want a lot of alcohol in my house. Not after TJ and all the parties he threw in my previous house. No one will have a chance to get wasted on my dime if I have any say in the matter.
Once I have everything I need to cook our dinner with, Rex and I wash the dishes. Well, I wash them and he dries the dishes before placing them by the stove so I can reach everything easily. Rex continues to load the dishwasher while I prepare the burgers. Once they’re in the frying pan, I pull out some fresh asparagus I bought and place it in a pan to boil. Rex is done loading the dishwasher and he washes his hands before turning to look at me.
“Where did you put the potatoes?” he asks me, looking around the kitchen.
“They’re in the cupboard by the refrigerator on top of the bottled water,” I answer him without turning from the stove.
Rex moves around my kitchen as if he’s been in it a thousand times before. The two of us work seamlessly like we haven’t missed the last eight years of doing this. When we were younger, the four of us would take turns cooking. If it was my turn, Rex would be in the kitchen with me. I taught him how to do more than microwave something. Bhodi always helped Elara cook when it was her turn even though he already knew how to cook. Our parents and grandma taught us from a young age. We loved being in the kitchen with them. Especially when it came time to bake something. That was always my favorite thing to do with my mom and grandma. I learned so much from them and we created a ton of memories.
I watch from the corner of my eye as Rex peels the potatoes before slicing them into long strips. When I went shopping for the furniture, I bought other things including an air fryer. I don’t know that Rex has ever used one before so I move closer to him and plug it in before setting it to the proper temperature to heat up. He continues working as I move back to the stove to pay attention to the food. Once Rex has cut up enough potatoes for us, he grabs the onions and tomatoes. I won’t eat onions, but he loves them on his burgers. Always has. Then, he’ll chew a piece of gum he typically has in one of his pockets.
“Do you want cheese?” I ask him when the burgers are almost fully cooked.
“Yeah. You got any white cheese?” he questions me as if I don’t remember his preferences.
“Of course I do. It’s all I use for burgers and grilled cheese sandwiches. I don’t really buy the yellow cheese these days because your sister and Bhodi were the only two who ateit on everything,” I tell him with a smile because we always used to fight over the cheese when we would cook. It was a silly argument and one we had countless times. Elara and I were just talking about it a few weeks ago when I had lunch at her house.
Rex gets our plates ready to dish the food up on before grabbing our condiments from the refrigerator. I bought them all today and my mouth starts to water as the aroma of our dinner fills the house. When the timer goes off for the French fries, I watch as Rex shuts off the air fryer and uses one of the plates we washed to dump them onto after placing paper towels down. He’s left the tomatoes and onions on the cutting board on each half so they don’t touch. That’s how much I hate onions. Next, I watch him walk over to the pantry and open the door before he turns back with a jar of gravy.
“I’m gonna wash another pan so we can heat the gravy up for your fries,” he says, grabbing what he needs and washing the pan. Instead of handing it over to me, Rex places it on the stove and pours the gravy in while turning on the heat. Our arms brush against one another and an onslaught of memories flood my mind from our shared history.
“I’ve really missed this,” I murmur more to myself than to him.
“You’re not the only one,” he responds without looking at me.
It doesn’t take us long to finish cooking our meal and plating up our food. I even warmed up our hamburger buns in the oven. This is what I miss the most. Having more than just myself to cook for. I love cooking for other people and Elara can’t always come over for dinner like we used to. Our lives have changed and we’re both busy now. There’s not always time to spend together like we once did. Debbie thinks it’s another reason I latched onto TJ and kept him around. She might beright. But I won’t make the same mistake with Rex. I know there’s nothing between the two of us.
We take seats at the island where the new stools I bought sit waiting for us. I’ve never eaten at an island before so this is something new. Something I’ll more than likely do on a regular basis because I don’t want to eat in the living room and if I’m the only one here, there’s no point in sitting at the table all alone. It would make me feel too lonely. Rex takes a huge bite of his burger after adding everything to his burger. He’s got a pile of French fries smothered in ketchup as normal and I have gravy on my plate for my fries. While he loads his burger with a ton of toppings, I use more condiments than he does.
“This is really good, Doll. I’ve missed your cookin’,” Rex compliments me as he takes the last bite of his burger.
“Thank you.”
I eat slower than Rex and savor my food while he always eats as if he’s starving. That hasn’t changed. Bhodi and him always used to say they were growing boys and always hungry. Elara and I always made them wait for us.
“You still eat so slow,” Rex teases me as he pushes his plate away and turns to look at me.
“I don’t take giant bites like you, Rex. You always eat double the amount of food and it’s gone before half of mine is. Bhodi and you always ate so fast and then complained because Elara and I didn’t eat as fast. I think that’s why you two stopped taking us out to eat and would only drop us off,” I admit as I finish my burger before starting on my fries and gravy.
“That was part of it. The other part was we’d go home and grab our bikes while you were eatin’. We could get in a half hour at least before we had to pick you two back up. He made me promise we would never tell you that’s what we were doin’. Saidwe’d tell you if you ever asked, but you didn’t until now. Not that you asked, but you brought it up,” he tells me with a sad look in his eyes as I think back to all the times they’d leave us at a diner or other place to eat.
When I’m done eating, Rex and I wash the dishes we used for dinner after putting all the leftovers away. There’s not much, but I can use it for tomorrow’s lunch. I have two burgers left, some sliced tomatoes, and the gravy. Fries can always be made in the air fryer because it doesn’t take long. Once we’re done in the kitchen, I turn to Rex and wonder how long he plans on staying here tonight.
“Not goin’ anywhere, Doll. Gonna be here all night long. Go pick a movie and I’ll grab some chips and other snacks. You want soda?” he asks me, already moving around the kitchen.
“Yes, please,” I say, already moving toward the living room so I can choose a movie for us to watch. “We made a lot of progress and can’t really do more in the kitchen until the dishwasher is done. I’m going to switch the laundry over really quick because one of my blankets should be done.”
“Okay. I’ll have everythin’ ready in a few minutes,” he responds as I disappear down the hall toward the laundry room.
When I get done switching the laundry over, I bring my blanket out to the living room and toss it in the corner of the couch before grabbing the remote and sitting down. Rex walks in as I turn the TV on and choose one of the streaming services I use. While I go through the movies to find something we haven’t seen a million times in the past, Rex settles in next to me. He’s once again close enough our arms brush against one another as he moves around. Goosebumps cover my skin where he touches.
I finally manage to pick an action movie I haven’t seen before. Setting the remote between the two of us, I settle back onthe couch and cover myself with the warm blanket. Rex hands me one of the sodas I place on the end table next to me and then he places the bowl of popcorn closer before sliding the table up as close to the couch as it can get. Reaching forward I grab some of the peanut butter cups. I always eat something sweet before having popcorn. Rex grabs a handful of popcorn as usual and sits back against the couch without reaching for the remote. The silence stretches between the two of us as I think of something to say instead of starting the movie. Maybe it’s time we have that long overdue conversation.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Master
