Page 36 of Forever Fickle

He was a typical guy, despite his protests.

She shook her head in disbelief at him.

Twenty minutes later, he was hauling the bags of groceries up the stairs to her condo, right beside her. A part of her worried about showing him where she lived, but another part realized that she had no reasonnotto trust him. He’d been beyond truthful with her so far and everything had been speculation.

When Alpo cornered her this afternoon to talk about Jace, she’d asked him the same question she posed to Firefly the day before… with the same results.

As they put away the groceries, she showed him where the pots and pans were and then stepped back, curious to watch him work. Jace looked completely at ease – and she felt the same.

Sitting on the counter, she listened as he talked about his family and what it was like growing up in Massachusetts, as he grated the brick of parmigiana cheese into a bowl.

“You could have bought the already grated stuff…”

“Ugh, no… there’s cellulose in it,” he frowned, making a face.

“So?”

“Cellulose comes from wood to keep the cheese from sticking together and I want our food to actually taste like food. Besides, this will melt better.”

“Are you serious?”

“As could be - just look at the ingredients. My mom is the one that told me that and it makes a huge difference to use real ingredients. I try to do it all by scratch.”

“I see that…” she smiled, watching him as he got the head of garlic out and chopped off the top, before dousing it in olive oil. Jace wrapped it in foil, turned the broiler on, and then looked around for a pan.

“Under the stove.”

“In the warmer?”

“That’s not a warmer… it’s just a drawer. Why don’t I slice the bread? I can do that much without ruining dinner.”

“You don’t cook?”

“I microwave incredibly well…” she said breathlessly, mocking him, before smiling as he put the garlic in the oven on the top rack.

“I bet you do…” Jace laughed, shaking his head. “That’s fine by me. I can at least bring some skills to the table to complement yours.”

“Oh yeah?” she teased, flirting with him, and feeling the start of a bond between them. She really liked him and who he was turning out to be, which would have shocked her only a few days ago. “What other skills do you bring to the table? Cut these sideways in large rounds?”

“Like this…” Jace said, taking her hand in his and laying his other hand on top of hers where she held the loaf. He angled the knife slightly on a diagonal. “Let it glide across the crust, so it doesn’t tear the bread.”

His hand held hers as they sliced through two cuts and he finally released her, his voice gruff as he spoke.

“I’m going to start cooking the bacon since we didn’t have any pancetta.”

“What is that?”

“A type of crumbly Italian bacon, kinda like ham…” he tossed a smile over his shoulder, causing her to laugh easily.

She finished cutting the bread and heard him moving about, multi-tasking like a professional chef in his element instead of her dated kitchen in the condo she rented.

He was turning the bacon, checking on the garlic cloves that were beginning to get fragrant, and then working on grating the cheese again, while everything cooked.

Feeling inspired, she got out two plates and began to set the table. She saw him glance towards her almost expecting him to say something, yet he didn’t. He stayed quiet and kept working, humming along softly as he cooked.

Grabbing her phone, she took a quick picture and hoped he didn’t notice her doing so. If he did, he didn’t say a thing.

Digging in her junk drawer, she pulled out two votives she kept for emergencies and unwrapped them, putting them on a saucer and wishing she had something prettier or more decorative to make it look nice.

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