Page 16 of Finding Tane
“Listen, if you’re not going to stay in town, please don’t mess around with him? He’s not as tough and together as he looks, and I don’t know what he’d do with a broken heart.”
Biting on my lower lip, I nodded. “Yeah, I hear that.”
“I don’t mean to assume, although you weren’t exactly subtle just now.”
“I’ve been thinking about it,” I admitted. “It would be nice to have someone as... stable as him in my life. But I really don’t know what my plans are. I’ll be careful, I promise. Just friends.”
“Thanks.” Ivy went to set the table.
She was sweet, looking out for him like that. I wondered what had happened to upset her the other night, and wondered if I could ask. We were apparently being straight up with each other, which I appreciated. When she came back into the kitchen, I figured I might as well ask.
“Are you okay, after the other night?” “Hmm? Oh yeah.” Ivy’s voice lacked expression when she replied, not convincing at all. “I’m just going through some... I dunno, I guess you could call it questioning.”
“Want to talk about it?”
She shook her head. “Nah, still processing things. Thanks though.”
She excused herself soon after and left me to cook. I put on some lofi music on my phone and lost myself in the simple art of cooking, thinking only of what my hands were doing, and sending thanks to my grandmother for teaching me this recipe.
Dillon
Nervousness fluttered through my chest as I locked up for the day and headed home. I knew Tane meant well, and I was touched that he wanted to return the favour like this, it’d be nice not having to cook for myself. But I was also unreasonably worried that I’d return to find my kitchen messy, not just messy but destroyed.
Okay, maybe I had some trust issues... or control issues. Ivy had said something like that to me before. But things being out of place just rankled. I couldn’t concentrate until it was set right again. I hoped beyond hope that Tane had stuck to his word and kept things neat. I knew I couldn’t relax and enjoy dinner if I knew there were ingredients and dirty dishes left strewn around.
It was a silly thing to worry about, but knowing that didn’t make it any less stressful.
I slowed down on the walk home, taking my time, delaying the inevitable.
Letting myself into the apartment, I was immediately greeted by the most delicious smell imaginable — baking bread. Warm, sweet and the epitome of homey. A knot in my stomach unravelled.
“I’m back!” I called out.
“Welcome home!” Ivy poked her head out of the living room. “Table’s all set.”
“Hope you’re hungry!” Tane called from the kitchen.
“Thanks Ivy.” I gave her shoulder a squeeze and went to the kitchen. My fears had been for nothing. Tane had the place nearly spotless. There were pans and things draining on the drying rack, the countertop was clean and a beautiful round loaf of bread was steaming on a chopping board. On another chopping board, something steamed under a tent of tinfoil. There was a small saucepan bubbling on the stovetop. Gravy? My stomach rumbled, all knots gone in favour of a voracious need to eat.
Tane grinned at me and pulled a tray of roast vegetables out of the oven. They smelled great too, but it was all overwhelmed by the bread smell. My mouth watered.
“You made bread?”
Tane set the hot tray on a trivet and gave me a shy smile. “Yeah, it’s Maori bread, kind of like a sour dough but better. Go sit down, I’ll bring it all out in a minute.”
I did as he said, moving through to sit at the table. Ivy sat beside me. She beamed and leaned close to murmur. “I’m staying for dinner, then I’m headed out, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do...”
I blushed. Even with my little sister here, the lengths Tane had gone to really made this feel like a date. I shook out my napkin and spread it over my lap.
Tane brought out a serving dish with sliced roast lamb, roast potatoes and sweet potato and a chopping board of the sliced bread.
“Roast lamb is really part of the England settler history of Aotearoa,” Tane said, setting it down on the table. “And I can’t get proper Kumara here, but sweet potatoes are close enough, that’s a Maori import. So, uh, yeah, enjoy.” He sat down, ducking his head like he was shy about the bounty he’d set out.
“Holy crap, Tane.” Ivy shook her head.
I stood up and started serving out the slices of lamb. Ivy took the serving spoon and dished out the roast veges.
“Oh the gravy!” Tane sprung up and hurried back into the kitchen. For all the world reminding me of a fifties housewife in an old sitcom. It was absolutely adorable.
