“Well, this is a real winner. Nicely done, Lucas.” She spooned up another bite and grinned at him. “You’re really earning your keep.”
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Harper came back from Mitch’s ready for a quick bite to eat and a couple of hours of mindless television. She didn’t know when Frankie would be back from Lucas’s but it didn’t matter. Frankie was a big girl and could do what she wanted.
She could stay over, for all that it mattered. Harper smiled. A sleepover might do Frankie a world of good. She and Lucas probably weren’t at that stage of their relationship yet, though. And no doubt Frankie would be cautious about how fast things progressed.
Willa might have something to say about that, too. Then again, it was going to be a while before Willa got to say anything about her mother’s decisions.
Harper found Willa on the back deck, watching videos on her phone. She opened the sliding door and stuck her head out. “Did you eat yet?”
Willa barely shook her head. “No.”
“You want to make a big salad and watch some really bad television? Or good TV. Either way, you can pick it.”
Willa smiled reluctantly and looked up from her phone. “You’re just trying to make me feel better.”
“So? What’s wrong with that? Come on. Quit being antisocial and get in here and slice a cucumber.”
Willa followed her in. Archie joined them in the kitchen, always ready to take care of anything that might fall to the floor.
Harper smiled at him. “You’re such a good helper, aren’t you, baby dog?”
He smiled and wagged his tail.
Willa pulled things from the fridge. “What meat is there?”
“Chicken breast, but there’s also some ham for sandwiches. Chicken’s probably better for the salads.” Harper grabbed two tomatoes and one small sweet onion from the bowl on the counter.
Willa got the chicken breast out, along with a head of lettuce, a cucumber, and a red pepper. “What else?”
“How about some feta cheese and kalamata olives?”
“Greek? Sounds good.”
They went to work chopping and slicing and building the salads. They threw in some chickpeas, too, then after they’d cleaned up, drizzled each bowl with Greek vinaigrette.
“Those look amazing,” Willa said. “Lucas would be proud.”
Harper got forks for both of them. “They do look pretty good.”
They went to sit in front of the television. Archie followed, taking his usual spot on his blanket.
Harper ate while Willa found a competition cooking show for them to watch.
She glanced at her aunt. “Is this okay?”
“Whatever you want. Your choice. But yeah, this is fine.”
“Cool. I don’t think I could ever compete on a show like this. Too much pressure.”
“I don’t know,” Harper said. “I think I could give it a shot.” She pointed her fork at the screen. “She’s going to get pointstaken off for not doing more with that basket ingredient. Just crumbling up the bacon seems like an uninspired move.”
“Oh, really?” Willa’s brows went up. “What would you have done with it?”
“Chop it up and add it to the corn fritters. She’s already making them. Bacon and corn are good together.”
“Yeah, actually, that would have been better. Point to you.” Willa grinned.
