I can’t keep the smile from spreading across my face. I’m still nervous, but I have hope.
56
The time has come
When the four men arrive home from work, I’m already there, adding cream into a pan and preparing to steam green beans.
“Becca!” Devin’s the first of them to come in. “We didn’t think you’d be here already.” His eyes move from me to all of the signs of activity in the kitchen. “What’s going on?”
Khalil comes in next. “Whoa, what smells so good in here?”
As soon as Shane and Marcos come in, I tell them all, “I’m making dinner for you. Are you hungry?”
I’m the one who’s suddenly hungry, looking at all of them in their work clothes. They’re dirty and a little bit sweaty, and my eyes can’t get enough of them.
“I thought you were coming over to talk,” Khalil says. “What’s going on?”
“I wanted to do something nice for you. I hope you don’t mind. Since I still had your key, I thought I’d come over early and cook.” I’ve actually been at their house for hours, wanting to make sure I had enough time to prepare the meal without having to scramble.
“Do you need help?” Marcos asks.
“Nope. Everything should be ready in about fifteen minutes.” The four of them stare at me for a long moment, still startled by my presence and my cooking. “If you want to get cleaned up, you have time.” Because the only thing sexier than dirty construction workers are freshly showered ones.
“Okay,” Devin says, nodding. “Wait, what’s this?” He spies the envelope that I propped against the fruit bowl on the island.
“That’s rent money, for the nights I stayed with you.”
“Nope.” “No. “Uh uh.” All four men add to the chorus of refusal. Khalil slips the envelope into my purse that’s sitting on a stool. “If you try giving it to us again, you’ll just get it back,” he says.
As I suspected, but at least I tried.
With that settled, they file out, casting a few glances over their shoulders as they go. As I stir the chicken, the butterflies in my stomach take flight, fluttering toward my throat. Though I’m the farthest thing from a cooking pro, making this meal is going to be the easy part of the night.
I distract myself from my nerves by focusing on the beans, and then on slicing bread, which I got from Jade’s bakery at her suggestion. There’s also a fancy cake in the refrigerator that she asked her boss Maddy to make especially for me.
I’m setting the dining room table when Shane reappears, smiling, but with a hint of caution in his eyes. “This is a really nice surprise,” he says. “Here, let me help.” He takes the silverware from my hand and picks up where I’d left off.
“I hope so,” I say.
“Everything been okay with you?”
“Pretty good.”
“Any problems with your mom?” he asks.
“Just a few texts.” When he frowns, I ask, “She hasn’t come back here, has she?”
He shakes his head. “No, we’ve only had one intruder. A sexy woman who broke in to cook dinner for us.”
Laughter helps calm my nerves as I head back into the kitchen. Devin and Marcos are there, looking around for something to help with, so I give them dishes of food that are ready to go to the table. When Khalil comes in, I ask him to get drinks for everyone, and then it’s time to eat.
“Becca, what is this? It looks delicious,” Devin says as we start to pass the dishes around.
“Coq au vin. I don’t even know if I’m pronouncing it right. It’s chicken, basically, but I guess that’s obvious.”
“It looks like you were fooling us when you told us you couldn’t cook,” Marcos says, spooning sauce over the chicken on his plate.
“Just like when she acted like she’d never played darts before,” Khalil says with a laugh.
“I watched a bunch of cooking videos,” I explain. “I hope it tastes good.”
As soon as they begin eating, the men rave over the dish, and my cheeks glow with pride. I’m almost too nervous to eat, but once I sample it, my hunger kicks in.
Everyone is quiet for a couple of minutes as they eat. When conversation picks up, it’s somewhat stilted. I’m not ready to dive into what I came here to say, and we all seem aware that there’s an elephant in the room.
With second helpings, the guys eat every bit of food I made, and it appears that my only misstep in cooking tonight was that I didn’t make enough for four hungry men.
“I have dessert, too,” I say, when Shane checks the dish that had held the green beans and finds it empty. “I didn’t make it, but it came highly recommended by my roommate Jade.”
“You’re living with Jade again?” Khalil asks.
“Jade and Rachel both. It’s a little tight, but we’re making it work. Jade broke up with her boyfriend and needed a place to stay.”