Page 33 of The Love Penalty

I move around my kitchen with ease and pull out all the ingredients I need for dinner. I already breaded the chicken, it just needs to be fried, so I get a pan ready with oil. I didn’t have time to make pasta from scratch, so I am boiling a pot for dried spaghetti. While the chicken is frying, I am getting salad ingredients out and prepping the mozzarella.

“That smells delicious,” Olivia says, as I am flipping over the chicken. The crust is crispy and perfectly browned.

“Hopefully, it tastes even better,” I say with a smile over my shoulder. “Would you like some wine?”

“Sure.”

“Any preference?”

“White, if you have it.”

“Why, I do, Miss Olive. Take a seat.” I gesture to the bar stools at the kitchen island. I reach into the wine cooler that’s built into the kitchen island and open a bottle of Chardonnay.

“I want to help. What can I do?” Olivia says.

“Would you like to make the salad? Everything you need is right here, it just needs to be mixed up.”

She squints at me, but her lips are tugging at the corners. “Are you saying I can’t handle something more complex than a salad?”

“Honey, you told me you burnt pasta the last time you made it. I am not letting you anywhere near my stove.” I grin at her and catch the cherry tomato she chucks at me.

“I may not know how to cook, but I want to learn.” I nod along and point over to the stove for her to join me. My other cat, Beans, is circling the area, looking for bits of food and Olivia stops to pet him on her way over to me. I’m surprised he lets her. Like I said, my cats are not super friendly.

“Okay, so the chicken is fried now, so we are going to move it into this pan, then top it off with lots of sauce and mozzarella.”

“Got it, I can handle that.”

“Good, in the meantime I will add the pasta to the boiling water.”

“Okay, that’s good that you’re doing that. I’d probably manage to burn myself somehow,” she says, eying the pasta water like it personally offended her.

I laugh and she does too, and we work in companionable silence for a few minutes. Once the chicken is in the oven and the pasta is boiling, we take a few sips of wine and a couple bites of salad.

“How often do you cook for yourself?” Olivia asks.

“As often as I can. I really like cooking and baking, it soothes me somehow. I like having something to do with my hands Iguess. I was never still as a kid, so my mom would always take me in the kitchen with her and make me help out.”

“It’s nice that you learned so young.”

“Yeah, she taught me a lot,” I say softly. “I’m actually baking some pies and focaccia tomorrow. So if you hear noises early in the morning, I promise it’s not a burglar.”

She laughs, “I wondered why there were earplugs left on my nightstand. I just figured you snore really loudly.”

I bring my hands up to my chest in mock offense. “I do not snore…that badly.”

“I’d like to help with those too, if you want company in the morning,” she says looking up at me with her hopeful, bright green eyes.

“Of course I want company. That’s kind of the whole reason you’re here.” I lightly jab her with my elbow.

After we eat dinner at the kitchen island, we fill up our wine again and move to the couch for a movie. I’m a gentleman so I let Olivia pick and she choosesBack to the Future. Not even twenty minutes into the movie, Caramel jumps up on the couch and loaves up between me and Olivia. I was going to try to get closer to her, but now I can’t. What a cockblock.

Olivia tentatively reaches out a hand and pets him all over and he starts purring so loud he sounds like a helicopter about to take off. Traitor. He never sits with me like this. Beans is usually around me and more likely the one to ask for pets.

Speaking of Beans, the devil appears. He jumps up on the other side of Olivia and after taking one look at Caramel and all the pets he’s getting, he decides to get in on the action as well. He slowly moves to Olivia’s lap and after making some very defined biscuits on the blanket covering her legs, he sits down. In her lap. Fucking hell.

I’ve had these cats for years and they never do this with anyone except me on occasion. It looks like I’m not the only one that’s smitten with Olivia.

She turns her wide eyes at me and mouths,Oh my god!

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