“Keep an eye on that pot, and there’ll be a serving ofrealstew with your name on it,” she said. And after laying her teatowel on his shoulder, she handed him a wooden spoon and marched off muttering something about a break for her aching feet.
So, as had become second nature over the last few weeks and months, Ger kept his mouth shut and did as he was told. It was different, though, in the busy warmth, with the rich overlap of voices in place of the unending swirl of Aera’s winds. Instead of forcing his mind away, he could stay in the moment; escape into it. Let the burble of the stew and the repetitive motion of his wooden spoon lull him into a kind of calm he’d almostforgotten about. No screaming in his mind, no strangled breath, no thundering pulse—
“She’s got you on the stewagain?”
His pulsedidkick up a little at that.
Jack sidled into his periphery, arms folded as he leaned on the countertop at Ger’s side and peered into the pot he was stirring.
“Thought you’d be banned,” he said mildly. “I’m still picking charred celery out of my teeth after the last time.”
Ger felt his lips twitch. An almost smile; so close.
“I see you’re no longer trying to get on my good side,” he said. Even without a smile, he was pleased to hear the slightly lofty air to his own voice; he almost sounded playful. Teasing, like he might have been if it’d been Adeline goading him.
Jack chuckled.
“Ah, well, no need,” he said, then pitched his voice a little lower; confidential. “I got what I wanted from you.”
Ger nearly dropped his spoon into the stew.Well, that’s honesty for you.He allowed himself a quick glance at Jack’s face; shiny black hair feathered over his brow, and pin-straight lashes that nearly brushed his cheekbones as he mused over the stew. It might not have been aquickglance, as it turned out. Those lashes flicked up before Ger could look away, and Jack’s face immediately split in a grin, his broad nose spreading wide in a way that was oddly pleasant. It made his face look sunny and open, his brown eyes soft.
Ger had always rather liked brown eyes.
“Candid,” he said dryly. “Although I have to say, most people want a little more than a kiss.”
“Oh, don’t get me wrong, the kiss was very nice—”
He felt his brow pitch, voice rising to meet it. “Verynice?”
“—but that’s not what I meant. I just wanted your attention.”
Amusement swelled like a bubble in Ger’s chest, its warmth flushing quickly up his neck. Hisattention?Why did that sound so … innocent? So stupidly endearing?
But he forced a nonchalant shrug, an airy nod. “Can’t say I blame you.”
“And I got what I wanted.”
Ger swirled his spoon, not without flourish.
“Oh?”
“Yep,” said Jack, the word popping merrily between his full lips. “Still have it in fact.”
Ger’s laughter burst out of him in one short breath, so surprising it made his heart skitter into his ribs like he’d caught it unawares. Daughters, that felt good. Short-lived, but fuck—the shift in his chest, the pressure relieved. He was nearly lightheaded with it, especially when he looked up and found Jack positively beaming at him.
His own lips tugged in response, the smile coming a little easier in the wake of his laughter.
“D’you think so?” he said wryly.
“Iknowso,” Jack grinned. “Why else would you keep coming back?”
Ger’s brows rose, mouth popping open at the sheercheek. He nodded at the pot. The open flame beneath it was heating his face, and he knew it probablylooked as though he was blushing—which of course, hewasn’t—but that must have been why Jack didn’t look too convinced when he said, “I’m just here toeat. And to help Marie.”
“And a fine job you’re doing with that.”
Jack breathed a short laugh, but he was moving before Ger could scrounge up a retort—he really had lost his touch. Jack stepped around him and appeared at his other side, then waved a finger over the pot in a quick, swirling motion.
“You want to be stirring it all the way through, so you can make sure none of the heavier roots are sitting at the bottom getting burned. Here, just—”
