Page 25 of An Adventure For Aster

“Good,” she said. “You can peel some more apples. I’m not fussy on how you cut them. Just make sure they are all the same size for the most part so they cook evenly.”

She was peeling some apples with him and cutting them the same size as him, then she put them all in a pan with water, sugar and cinnamon and set it on the stovetop.

“That’s it?” he asked. “Nothing more than that to make it?”

“That’s it,” she said. “It will cook about twenty minutes or so and then I’ll mash it up and we are good. We still have about a dozen apples left. Do you want to take some home with you?”

“If you don’t think you’ll eat them all, sure,” he said. “I know you don’t like waste.”

“You paid for the apples,” she said. “You should get at least half.”

She’d argued with him over that, but it was a date in his eyes. He wasn’t letting her pay for anything and he knew she was getting annoyed.

He wondered if that was why she was cooking today.

“Does it bother you that I’ve paid for everything?” he asked.

Her head went back and forth. “Yes and no. I get it. You’re a little old school and I like that. I don’t need a man to take care of me, but I find it gentlemanly that you’re paying for things. You’re like my brothers that way. I know it’s not to make you feel all macho.”

“No,” he said. “But you cooking for me puts us in that old fashioned role too.”

He’d been with a lot of women who expected him to pay for it all and did nothing in return. He didn’t care about the cooking or things like that, but he expected that they did something equally and then realized he was dating the wrong women.

“I like to cook. I think at the heart of it, I just want a family-style life. I grew up that way and there isn’t anything wrong with it. I don’t expect a man to provide for me. I’ve got friends who want equality but then expect the man to pay for it all. I said you can’t have it both ways. If their spouse is paying all the bills and they aren’t working and staying home, they can’t complain that he might expect them to have the laundry done or food cooked. I know I sound sexist, but what are they doing all day, just sitting around watching TV? If they had kids, different story, but that isn’t the case. It’s just like being a kept woman. That is old fashioned. Don’t preach one thing and act another. Does that make sense?”

“Complete sense,” he said. “My parents both work. I have no idea how they managed their money and didn’t ask. Not my business.”

“That’s the thing. I think everyone should contribute whether it’s money or doing housework. No one person’s job is more important than the others. I don’t make as much as a teacher as you do. But I work a lot of hours and then come home and do more. Just because I make less doesn’t mean I’ve got to do more work at home to even it out. That is my point. You’re paying for things and not letting me, but I need to show my appreciation of that. Plus I like apple pie and muffins.”

She was laughing when she said that. He understood what she was trying to explain and agreed with a lot of it.

“Your job is important, regardless of what you make at it. I told you that.”

“I know. It’s nice hearing it too.”

She went to check on the muffins and turned them around. “But you’ve heard the opposite more than once and someone has obviously said it to burn you,” he said. “I can see it on your face. It hurt you or is making you carry some internal scars.”

If anyone knew about internal or external scars, it was him.

“Yes,” she said. “I dated someone for six years. Thought we had our lives all planned out and then realized they weren’t matching up.”

“Six years,” he said. “Damn.”

She forced out a laugh. “We dated for two years in high school, then went away to college together for four years. When we were graduating, I thought we’d return here. We talked all the time. He said it was the plan.”

“But when it came time to pull the trigger he dropped the gun?”

“Good analogy,” she said. “So there you go.”

“Did you feel as if you didn’t get to enjoy college the way you wanted since you were with him? Is that why you’re all about adventures and activities?”

She turned to look at him. “Maybe,” she said softly.

He’d let it go because some of the sunshine went out of her eyes and he was missing it.

“Then it’s my gain. Just like all this food.”

“You know, Aster. You’re a walking confusion. One minute you’re secretive, then the next talkative. You can be gruff and now you’re being sweet.”

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