Page 49 of Make it Real
Linda pulled stock bones from the steaming pot on the stove with a pair of tongs. “It always tastes better with real stock.”
Carmen made a face. “Everything tastes better with real stock. Pre-made is for college students who don’t know any better.”
The others laughed at their friend’s scorn. Didn’t feel like the right time to admit I’d never made stock from scratch in my life.
“Well, this smells as good as the place I get pho in Georgetown,” I said. “It’s one of my favorite places to eat when I visit my brother.”
“Since you like it so much, why don’t you join us tonight?” Linda pulled a bag of bean sprouts from the fridge. “There’s plenty to go around.”
“They don’t want to have dinner with us,” Rita said before Callie or I could answer. “You want to be alone, don’t you?”
“Well—” Callie only got the one word out before her grandma interrupted her.
“You could eat in Callie’s rooms, if you wanted. You don’t have to sit with us all night.”
“Eating soup isn’t something you can do really well on a couch,” Callie said.
“Another time.” Suzie’s determined nod told me she’d only accept a limited number of rejections.
“How about next week?” Rita put in. “Jed can join us for game night.”
“You just want someone else to walk away the biggest loser of the night,” Linda said, rinsing the sprouts in the sink.
“I don’t think that’s her motivation,” Carmen muttered.
Callie frowned, and I kind of loved it. Was she seriously jealous over a woman twice my age? I set a hand on her back, pulling her closer, and that frown eased. Might have even looked a touch smug.
Smug away, darlin’.
“You should join us for game night next week, Jed.” Suzie paused her slicing. “We’d love to spend a little more time with you. We can play low stakes, if you like.”
“What sort of games?” I asked Callie.
“Anything,” she said. “Card games, kids’ games, board games. They’ll bet on it all.”
“How much money are we talking?”
Her mouth tipped up into a smirk. “How much do you have?”
“Sounds treacherous. What’s your favorite game?”
“I don’t mind any of the games, really, as long as I’m not losing all my money. I’ve tried to get them to play some of the more complex board games out there, but they’re not really into it. There’s this one world-building game I want to play, where you’re a woodland creature trying to establish a new town so you have to gather resources and abilities—”
“And that’s why we don’t play those types of games. It takes even longer for her to describe it than it does to play it.”
Carmen’s tart reply shriveled up Callie’s enthusiasm. She snapped her mouth shut, pasting on an awkward smile probably calculated to look like the dismissal hadn’t bothered her. I knew better now.
My hand at her back drew her a touch closer. “I’d like to hear more about that game.”
This time, the smile she aimed my way was genuine. “I haven’t actually played it yet, it just sounded fun to me. Even if it is kind of long. What could be cuter than building a little town full of chipmunks and rabbits?”
“You know, Harper’s kind of the game nut in our family. She’d probably love to get involved in something like that.”
“I’ll have to ask her sometime.”
“Well, I doubt we’ll play any world-building games.” Suzie pursed her lips as if the idea were absurd. “But the offer stands. We’d love to have you.”
“Then I’ll be there.”
