Kate knew it was unreasonable to feel the ache in her heart. Her grandma was tired, was all. She didn’t mean to dismiss them. She didn’t even really know who Kate was.
That did little to comfort her, though, as she watched the nurse help her grams to the next room. At least she looked happy. Content. Comfortable. It could be worse.
She walked to the television, about to turn it off when Dominic’s voice stopped her.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m dying to see if Fred gets the girl. Care if we watch it a little longer? We still have a couple more hours until we need to be at my parents’, anyway.”
She looked at him with some suspicion. He smiled, lazy and confident, but not teasing. She managed a return smile. “Since I wouldn’t want you to wonder how the movie ends, I guess we can stick around. She’ll be out for hours anyway.”
“But you’ve got to promise me one thing. No breaking out in song.”
She tried to look offended as she slid onto the couch next to him. “I haven’t sung once—”
“You’ve been mouthing every word since the movie began. Don’t try and hide it.”
She bit back a smile. “Wait until we get to the car. I have the soundtrack.”
“I’ll just bet you do.”
Chapter Ten
Dominic’s sisters were busy chopping at the counter when Kate and Dominic walked into the bright, cheery kitchen. The aroma from the stove had Kate’s mouth watering.
“You made it,” Benny said and smiled.
His mom stopped stirring the big pot on the stove and wiped her hand off on her apron before stepping forward to crush Kate, and then Dominic, in a long embrace. “Welcome. I’m so happy you decided to come, Kate.”
Kate looked over at Dominic. “Wouldn’t miss it. Dominic tells me you’re quite the cook. And it does smell wonderful.”
His mother waved her hand dismissively, “Oh, this is nothing. Just a little stew.”
“Don’t let her fool you,” Dominic whispered loudly. “Everything she makes, even a simple piece of toast, has to be prepared just right.” He cleared his throat, and in a louder voice, asked, “So what exactly do we have on the menu tonight, ladies?”
“As if you couldn’t tell,” his mom said. “The pork has been roasting in the green chilies all day. As soon as the tortillas are done we can eat. In the meantime, make yourself useful. Go see what the kids are up to. Last I saw them they were playing some video games downstairs.”
Dominic was being dismissed. Meaning her anchor, her partner in crime, was leaving her alone with these women. But short of begging him to stay, there wasn’t really any alternative.
He winked at her, and she knew he was trying to tell her everything would be fine.
She tried to relax. “Can I help you with anything?”
“Come over here. You can help Daisy roll the tortillas.”
Nervous energy drove through Kate, not just at being left with the women, but at trying to do something she had no clue about. She went to the sink and scrubbed her hands with soap and grabbed a towel that Benny tossed her. “I should warn you, the most cooking I’ve done is frying an egg and making a mean pan of Hamburger Helper.”
Daisy laughed. “This is easy. I’ll walk you through it. You see these balls of dough?” She lifted a red towel from the counter, revealing a pile of little balls. “They’re called testales. We’re going to roll them into a round tortilla and cook them on the hot comal—or griddle. Easy. Take this.”
Daisy handed her a long, rounded piece of wood and took an extra one for herself. “Now we want to lightly—very lightly or you’ll have dry tortillas—flour the surface like this. Okay, now once your testal is in front of you, settle the pin over it like this… Now roll, stopping just before you get to the edge.”
Kate stared at the ease at which Daisy had already flattened half the dough, and she pushed and made the same attempt. Only she pushed too hard on the left and it looked a little…slanted.
Daisy smiled. “You’re doing fine. Now, just turn the dough a bit like this, and do it again. And keep repeating until you have a nice flat disc.”
Kate’s mouth might have dropped open at Daisy’s quick, easy movements that resulted in a perfectly flat, round disc. She watched as Daisy dropped it on the hot griddle, continuing to move it around just so, and flipping it, until at the end it was a poufy, round tortilla. It had only taken her about a minute to cook it and then she was placing it on a clean towel and covering it before moving to the next testal.
“How do you do that so quickly?” Kate asked in awe.
“Lots of years of practice. Now go on. You won’t get any better unless you keep trying.”