Page 147 of The Baby Bargain
"You too."
"But you're happy." Disbelief drips into his voice.
A laugh spills from my lips. "Usually."
"I'm—"
"If you say you're a bitter asshole again, I'm going to hit you."
He chuckles. "Now, I have to say it. I want to see how well you punch."
"Forest convinced me to join his karate class."
"It's aikido."
"Okay, I'll aikido your ass."
"Aikido is about not harming your opponent."
"Yeah, but I'm not very good at it."
He chuckles. "Okay. Say I'm not a bitter asshole. What am I?"
"Hurting."
He nodsfair. Steps back, releasing me.
My body whines from the loss of contact. I want his warmth, his hardness, his softness. How can one person be two opposite things?
Not that I'm getting attached.
Just… we're friends. Friends notice these things.
"Small saucepan," I say.
He nodssure, grabs a pan off the rack.
For a while, I focus on our task. We're making bun cha, a simple dish. Cold rice noodles, savory pork, crunchy vegetables.
There are a lot of steps, but I know them like the back of my hand.
We cook and rinse the noodles.
We boil water, dissolve the honey, combine with fish sauce, garlic, and chili peppers.
Chase cuts the veggies into perfect long rectangles. Like something out of a cookbook. Like he actually knows what julienned means and he doesn't just cut them into whatever size is easiest.
For a while, routine takes over. This was one of the first dishes I learned to make. It's simple, light, refreshing.
But there's something about the smell of fish sauce and mint.
It's too familiar.
I can't see anything but Phillip's mom's smile as she showed me how to stir the sauce.
His laugh.
Them teasing each other in Vietnamese. I never knew what they were saying, but I knew it was about me.
