Page 47 of Love Lives
"Needs more pepper," Remy murmured, picking up the pepper grinder.
"You think it's gonna be edible?" Aldrich asked, trying to focus his mind back on the task at hand. Remy stood so close, though, their hips almost touching. If Aldrich leaned just a little bit to the left...
"It'll be great," Remy said.
Aldrich couldn't tell if he was lying or not, but he was gonna take the compliment with a grin. "Of course it'll be great. Didn't you know I'm awesome at everything? Maybe I was a chef in my past life."
"Sure you were."
"I could have been."
Remy licked his lips, gazing first into the pot and then at Aldrich. "You really don't want to know, do you?"
"About my life before I was turned?" Aldrich hazarded a guess. Trust Remy to bring up the one topic that would be a total buzz kill. "I don't need to know about that." Aldrich turned away from the mortal to get a bowl out of the cupboard. "Sit and eat. Dinner's ready."
Chapter Eighteen
I studied Aldrich,wondering how it was possible for him to just not care about his past. If it were me, I'd want to know. Ididwant to know. "You might not care, but I'd love to find out more about who you used to be."
"I'm not going to let you read my diary."
"You won't even read it yourself. I don't understand how you can just--"
Aldrich shut me up with a glance. His eyes rarely turned cold on me, but that moment, they did. "Everyone I knew back then is dead by now. Ever think of that?"
I had not thought of that. "I'm sorry."
"No need to be sorry." Aldrich turned back to the pot and filled a bowl for me. "Seriously, squish, you spend too much time worrying about stupid shit. My past doesn’t matter." When he faced me again, the frost was gone from his gaze. I still remembered it, though, and the fact that he wasn't always as easy-going as he liked to pretend. Even while he was cooking for me, he was still a vampire.
Still a killer.
With a shudder, I thought back to that night at the hospital when I hadn't been sure if he'd murdered the person he'd fed from. He hadn't, but he could have. It was a horrible thought.
The worst thing, though, was that it didn't keep me from smiling as Aldrich placed a steaming bowl of soup before me as if he were my own personal chef. "Dig in."
"Don't mind if I do."
Truth be told, Aldrich's minestrone could hardly be called a minestrone at all. When he served me my dinner, half of the vegetables in the bowl weren't even cooked through all the way. At least he'd allowed me to season the broth, though...
Keep a straight face, Remy,I told myself as I lifted my spoon to my mouth again to continue eating. Aldrich was doing this to be kind. He'd never once cooked in his life, except for tonight. For me. It made me feel warm in a way that was different from the hot soup sliding down my throat. It made me feel warm in the same way that... my train of thought lost itself as if reaching a dead end.
I'd had this feeling before.
Wasn't it exactly what I'd been trying to recreate every time I'd attempted to make this soup for myself? Only I'd always failed. It had never been right. And now Aldrich's disaster of a dish managed to accomplish what mine failed to achieve.
I let my spoon sink back into the soup, staring at the red liquid.
Aldrich had said my grandma used to make this for me, hadn't he? I didn’t remember her, not exactly, but I remembered that there’d been someone in my life who’d shielded me from my parents’ crap. A kind warm presence. Someone who kept me clothed and fed and loved.
I bit my lower lip to keep it from wobbling. Dear lord, I had to get my shit together. I waswaytoo old to cry over something simple like soup. Even if I was food-obsessed.
"That bad?" Aldrich asked. "It was my first go at it, don't expect too much."
"It's not bad." Swallowing down my tears, I gave the vampire the brightest smile I had in my repertoire. "It's absolutely perfect."
Aldrich grinned right back at me. "Now you're just lying, but I'll believe you anyway."
"Of course. In fact, this meal is so good I don't want to eat it all at once. We should put it in the fridge so I can enjoy it longer."
