Page 14 of Dominate
“The food is delicious, Sloan. Are you the one I pay my respects to?” Vaughn asks, looking up from his plate and eyeing me with his steely gaze. He’s been overly polite to me since he arrived, our battle at the hospital all but forgotten.
I dab the corners of my mouth with my napkin. “Both Freya and me I suppose. I wanted you guys to have something comforting. Since I’m not the best chef of classic British meals, I enlisted her guidance. In Chicago, I would have whipped you all up tater tot casserole, but England doesn’t have the exact kind of tater tots I like, so I embraced the culture for once.” I smile and Vi, Vaughn, and Gareth look at me with puzzled expressions.
“What’s tater tot casserole?” Vi asks curiously.
I press my lips together to stop myself from laughing. “It’s a hotdish with beef and these round, fried potatoes on top. Kind of like a hash brown but bite-sized.”
“I want that recipe!” Vi states happily.
I wince. “It’s so basic…Like, it’s really nothing special. But it has a comforting feel to it that I think the British would enjoy. You guys really nail comfort food.”
“I can agree to that!” Freya states brightly and forks another bite of her pie.
Vi nods in agreement. “Nothing beats beans on toast, but I’ve got loads of really great Swedish recipes from our mum. She was a great chef.”
I can feel Gareth tense beside me and look over to see him staring down at his food.
“Was your mum a full-blooded Swede?” Freya asks innocently.
Vi nods. “She was. Most of her recipes were written in Swedish. I had to have them translated.”
“That’s so brilliant! Did you guys ever learn any of the language growing up?”
The table grows quiet as Vi and Gareth both shake their heads softly. What’s not being said is that they were too young to remember, even if they did.
It’s Vaughn’s deep voice that breaks the awkward silence. “I learned a bit.” We all turn to look at him sitting at the opposite end of the table from me. His aged face turns a deep shade of pink as he says, “Tack så mycket för maten.”
I smile back at Vaughn, who quickly drops his head.
“What does that mean?” Freya asks.
“Thank you very much for the food.” Vaughn looks up and stares back at me, his eyes pink around the edges as he holds my gaze captive for a moment. It feels like he’s saying something else, but I can’t be sure. The longer he stares at me with that sort of intense twinkle in his eyes, the more I find myself softening to him. He was horrid at the hospital, but he’s clearly a man who’s just sad at the core.
It’s Freya who’s brave enough to breach the unspoken subject. “Did you meet your late wife in Sweden then, Mr. Harris?”
I swear the entire table takes a deep breath and holds it. Vi’s fork of potatoes freezes in the air as she watches for her father’s reaction.
“Excuse me?” Vaughn asks, breaking his eye contact with me to look over at Freya’s bright, freckled face. His eyes are tight around the edges with obvious discomfort.
Freya flushes and slouches down slightly in her seat. “I was curious how you met your wife. You had such a large family together, I imagine it was a bit of a whirlwind romance.”
“Freya.” I state her name softly and give her a tight shake of my head. “I’m sure Mr. Harris doesn’t care to discuss—”
“No, no, it’s quite all right.” Vaughn cuts me off and I look over at Gareth, who’s watching his father intently when he adds, “It was love at first sight, so I suppose you could call it a whirlwind.”
Freya beams back at him with glee. “Really? I always thought that was something made-up in romance novels.”
Vaughn smiles tightly, his eyes crinkling around the edges. “Not for Vilma and I. I saw her across the room at a pub in London and I knew I was in love.”
Vi makes a strange noise in her throat. “I never knew that.”
Vaughn wipes his mouth with his napkin and rests it on the table. “Well, your mother didn’t know it either. It took some convincing.”
“Do tell!” Freya tuts. As much as I want to kick her under the table and tell her to shut up, I can’t help but love my friend for being so brave and innocent.
Vaughn looks off into the distance as he tells the story about all but forcing Vilma to attend one of his football matches in Manchester. He said he loved her the moment he saw her, but it wasn’t until he saw her after his match that he knew he had to marry her.
“Vilma was the woman of my dreams’ dreams. She had this light in her eyes that she could so easily turn off and on. And when it was on and directed at you, you couldn’t help but feel like you had this incredible gift. This incredible immortal amongst humans staring you right in the face.”
