Page 11 of The Alien Reindeer's Bounty
“What’s for dinner?I’m starving.” Ruby climbed onto the barstool and swung her legs, her feet kicking against the kitchen island.
“So glad you asked,” Odessa said, setting down the kitchen knife. “Tonight, we have roasted parsnips and carrots with rosemary. Juicy chicken breasts in a garlic butter sauce that will make your eyes roll back in your head, and fresh bread, still warm from the bakery.”
Ruby rolled her eyes. “Ugh, parsnips. Gross. Why do you always make the weird vegetables?”
“That’s not fair, goblin. You think all vegetables are weird.”
“Because they’re covered in dirt. That’s gross,” Ruby said, demonstrating impeccable logic for a seven-year-old.
“Food comes from the dirt. That’s where it grows.”
“Nuh-uh. Food comes from the grocery store.”
Odessa narrowed her eyes at her daughter and teased, “I cannot believe you came out of my body.”
“Mo-om,” Ruby whined, stretching out the title.
“Now make yourself useful and empty the dishwasher,” Odessa said, turning her attention back to slicing the parsnips and carrots. She had a hard time wrapping her head around how she could be such a foodie—she loved food, loved to eat, and her waistline paid the price—while her daughter turned her nose up at anything that wasn’t packed with salt and artificial flavors. “Your dad was a picky eater too.”
“Really?” Ruby’s entire body perked up with interest. She had never met Jamie, being a posthumous birth, and soaked up any scrap of Jamie-related intel she could get.
“Yup. When we were in grade school, he only ate chicken nuggets and Cocoa Pebbles.” Odessa failed to mention that Jamie had been teased mercilessly for eating the same food every day, long past when other picky eaters outgrew their habit. At least she hadn’t been one of the kids who teased him. She barely knew he existed back then, being far too infatuated with her best friend.
“I like Cocoa Pebbles! Can we get a box? Please, please, please.”
“Pebbles for parsnips, kid,” she said, seizing her opportunity. She wasn’t above bribing her kid with a box of sugary cereal if it got her to eat some gross dirt-covered vegetables.
“How many?”
“You clean your plate; I’ll get you a box at the store.”
Ruby scrunched up her nose and made a sour face, making Odessa’s heart flip. No one should be that adorable.
“Grandma Becker wouldn’t make me eat parsnips.”
“Oh, a desperate ploy from a desperate child,” Odessa said in a sing-song voice. She loved her daughter’s spirit but trying to manipulate her with the grandparents? Not cool. “Grandma Becker isn’t in charge of your breakfast. Deal or no deal?”
Getting Ruby to eat anything that didn’t come out of a box or from the frozen food aisle was a challenge. Odessa continued to make the rich, flavorful meals she enjoyed from local, organically grown foods. Sometimes Ruby ate a few bites out of curiosity and occasionally she cleaned her plate.
“Ugh, I guess,” Ruby said, full of attitude.
Odessa dumped the sliced veggies in a dish, coated the pieces with olive oil, and seasoned them with salt and pepper. The chicken breasts got the same treatment. Everything went into the oven. “Dinner in an hour. Do you have homework?”
Ruby nodded. “We need to draw connie-fur needles. You know, pinecones and stuff.”
They had a surplus of that, but the sun was already setting. “We’ll do it tomorrow. It’s getting dark.”
“But it’s due tomorrow.”
Mother forking—
“Of course, it is.” Odessa sighed. “Get your hat, gloves, and coat on. Don’t go into the woods, just the edge. Don’t get out of eyesight from the house.”
“Mo-om, I’m not a baby.” Ruby jumped down from the stool and rolled her eyes.
“You’re my baby.” Odessa knew that Ruby spent her summers tromping through the woods, just as she had done at that age. Ruby probably knew the woods surrounding their mountain house better than most hunters, but it was cold and there was snow on the ground. “Stay in my line of sight and come back if you get cold.”
“Grandma Becker says my dad liked the forest,” Ruby said as she wiggled into her coat.
