He moved to the stove, his eyes to a pot. “Are those grits?”
“Um hmm. And fried potatoes, and there are cheese biscuits in the oven. I didn’t make gravy, I know how you love biscuits and gravy, but I couldn’t find—”
He cut her off by pulling her into his arms, his mouth coming down on hers with a smack.
She looked up at him startled. “What was that for?”
“You cooked for me. I haven’t had anybody cook for me, hell, probably since you and your mom. At least not a good southern breakfast like this.” She pushed back out of his arms, grinning, and he watched her face flush. With embarrassment or happiness that she’d pleased him, he couldn’t be sure.
“Well, go sit down, and I’ll bring you a plate.”
He let her go and walked back out to the bar, taking a seat on one of the stools.
A moment later, she carried out two plates, setting one heaping helping in front of him. It smelled amazing. He dug in and groaned around the mouthful. “Damn, baby. This is delicious.” He looked over at her where she sat beside him. “I forgot how good you could cook.”
She gave him a shy smile and shrugged. “Its just breakfast. Anybody could do it.”
“Uh, no. In my experience just anybody can’t do it. Some people can’t even scramble an egg, let alone the rest of this.” He waved his fork over his plate.
“Mama taught me.”
He nodded. “Whatever else you say about her, she was a phenomenal cook.” He grinned. “Probably how she hooked my old man.”
She looked down at her plate and replied quietly, “Yeah, maybe.”
He bit into a strip of bacon and studied her suddenly sad expression, frowning. Was it the mention of her mother that made her sad, or the mention of his father? “Jess?”
“I miss him, you know.”
He frowned, chewing. “Who?”
She turned suddenly glassy eyes on him. “Robert.”
He swallowed at that, the food suddenly feeling like a rock in his throat. He looked down at his plate. “I know, brat. I miss him, too.”
When she was quiet, he reached over and took her hand, giving it a squeeze. “Remember that time he tried to sneak into the pool of the apartment complex down the street? He climbed up over the little storage shed and fell through the roof.”
That got a smile out of her. She looked over at him, a tinkle of laughter escaping.
“Funniest thing I ever saw,” he admitted, grinning.
“Me, too.”
“Management chased him through the whole complex, remember?”
“You hid me behind the dumpsters, while they chased him.”
“Couldn’t let you go down for our crime.”
They finished the rest of their breakfast in happy chatter, reminiscing about days gone by.
“You cooked, so I’ll clean up,” he said, reaching for both their plates.
“You remember that rule, huh?”
“You’re momma taught me well. I do my share.” He stood with the plates in his hands and nodded with his head back toward the bedroom. “Go take a shower. I got this.”
She jumped off her stool. “Sounds good to me.”