Page 17 of Family Bonds: Coy & Angel

Which might be why it was in the pantry. Duh.

The pantry was about the size of a small bedroom and she turned and saw pots and pans neatly arranged and grabbed two. One for the pasta and one for the potatoes.

“Here you go, Mom,” she said.

She set them down by the pot filler for her mother to put the water in that she needed.

“Have you learned to cook yet?” her mother asked.

“I can cook,” she said. “I just don’t do a lot of it. I haven’t had time and it’s not really all that exciting for one person.”

“You shouldn’t be eating junk food,” Spencer said. “It’s not healthy.”

She growled at her brother. She spent so many years of her life having everything viewed under a microscope.

What she put in her mouth.

How much sleep she had.

The amount of exercise she did.

When it was time to go away to college, maybe she let loose a bit.

It’s not as if she gained any weight.

She got even stronger with her exercise routine, but she did let the whole nutrition thing slide.

You’ve got to live a little and it was a good stress reliever to munch on chocolate.

M&M’s, to be exact.

And she found it funny that Coy had them too.

She didn’t care what kind or flavor, she just liked that they were little and it didn’t feel as if you were eating much—until you made your way through a whole bag.

Which had happened more times than she cared to recall.

“I’m not going to live my life in a bubble,” she said. “I did it enough. Some chocolate ice cream or chips isn’t going to kill me.”

“But it could clog your arteries.”

“There is nothing wrong with my arteries. I had a hole in my heart that grew rather than closed. My arteries are fine. Probably better than yours. It’s not as if I eat like that daily.”

“Children,” her father said. “Spencer. Let your sister go. She’s an adult just like you. And she’s right.”

“I thought you were watching out for her as much as me,” Spencer said to his father.

She saw her father look at her mother, form a frown, and then put his head down as if he was warned not to say anything.

“Ha,” she said. “See. Let me live a little, please, Spencer.”

“Fine,” her brother said. “Coy is going to keep an eye out for you anyway. I already had the talk with him.”

“Your lips are twitching and your nose is scrunched. You don’t want it to stay that way,” her mother said. “Chop up these vegetables while I peel the potatoes. Todd, get a beer foryou and Spencer and get out of this beautiful kitchen and go enjoy the view before Angel unleashes hail-force winds on your overbearing butts.”

Her father went to the fridge and pulled out two of the beers he bought and then started to open cabinets until he found glasses and poured them.

Once the men were out of sight, she turned to her mother. “Say it. I know there is something on your mind.”

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