Page 37 of Mistaken Impression

He nods his head and joins me. “It’s weirdly satisfying,” he says, as he helps to toss the vegetables, our hands touching every so often.

“Nowhere near as satisfying as kneading bread.”

“If you say so.”

We keep going until the vegetables are thoroughly coated and then wash our hands.

“Okay. You can put the pan into the oven now.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You’ll have to get used to it. I can’t do everything for you.”

He stares at me for a moment, and I wonder if that came across as sarcastic. I didn’t mean it to, but before I can say anything, he grabs the pan of vegetables and turns away, putting it into the oven.

***

Mac

This is so frustrating.

Just when I think I’m getting somewhere, and finally breaking through the permafrost that seems to surround Ella, she closes down on me again.

I honestly thought I had no chance at all with her after she refused to even return my smile yesterday afternoon. I went home last night feeling quite depressed about the whole thing, bearing in mind we’ve got to work so closely together, and she seemed to want nothing to do with me. My mood was so low, I even contemplated changing my novel, just for the sake of getting Delilah to take it seriously, but when I started re-reading it, I still liked it, and I’m just tweaking a few bits as I work my way through the manuscript to keep myself occupied… and to take my mind off of Ella.

Except this morning, when she arrived, she was a completely different person… all sweetness and light. I might have been right in the middle of trying to re-write a tricky paragraph in chapter three, but I couldn’t help wondering if yesterday’s reactions might have had more to do with first day nerves and tiredness than with me. It was a possibility, and once I’d worked out how to phrase the end of that paragraph, I gave Ella my undivided attention. It wasn’t hard. She looked fabulous in her skintight jeans and a pretty white blouse with a floral embroidered panel at the front.

We’ve had fun working together so far this morning. I especially enjoyed the part where she showed me how to hold a knife. It meant I got to hold her hand for a brief moment, until she got embarrassed. I don’t know why she did that. There was nothing to be embarrassed about, and her method seemed to work. The knife felt a lot more comfortable in my hand after her demonstration. Although I’d rather have gone on holding her hand instead.

Mixing up the vegetables in the spices was good, too. We touched hands quite a few times. She didn’t seem to be so self-conscious about that… or maybe it was just that she didn’t notice. Perhaps that was because she’d just been explaining what Vivian had said about her food. She seemed really affectedby that, and I can’t say I blame her. I thought it might have been another reason she was so deflated yesterday, and I tried to make her feel better by telling her that Kennedy was insisting I should be called Blain all the time. Ella seemed to find the idea just as ludicrous as I do, but we didn’t dwell on it… perhaps because she’d sensed how much it was bothering me.

I’d like to think so. It would be good to think she’s that in tune with me.

Even if she isn’t, we still had fun mixing up the vegetables.

At least, I did, until she made that sarcastic remark about not being able to do everything for me. I mean… who’s asking her to?

I’ll admit, that took the edge off of what had been a fun morning, and since then, we’ve been clearing up in silence.

“We need to prepare the lamb,” Ella says, breaking into my thoughts.

“Okay.”

“I should probably explain… in the recording, you’ll demonstrate the lamb preparation first.”

“In that case, why did we do the vegetables before the lamb?”

“Because they’re harder to prepare, so I wanted to get them out of the way early on.”

“I see. So we’re not doing this in the right order?”

“No.”

I nod my head, although I’ve got no idea how I’m going to remember all this. It’s confusing enough as it is, without doing it all backwards.

“Shall I get the lamb?”

“Yes, please.” I go over to the fridge, pulling out the leg of lamb. “Can you grab another roasting pan while you’re there?” she asks.

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