Page 35 of Painting Together a Family
“Hey. Is everything okay?” Bryan asked without even thinking. Something was obviously wrong.
“I burned dinner.” She held up a bandaged hand. “I burned my hand. Daddy says it’s no big deal, and he ordered something, but I wanted to make tacos for you guys!”
“Oh, sweetie, I’m so sorry you got hurt. And I love that you wanted to cook for us. That was really nice of you. You wanna show me what you were doing and how it went wrong?” He didn’t want to overstep, but he could maybe help Marley some, if she was interested in learning how to cook.
“I’m no good at this part. I followed the instructions—I put the oil in, the chicken…”
Oil was splashed around the stove area and the whole bone-in chicken breast was incinerated.
“So you followed a written recipe, eh? Have you considered going with Youtube? They walk you through it, and often it’s easier to understand when you have it being done right in front of you rather than having to figure out what they mean on the page, you know?”
“I guess? Daddy says it counts that I tried…”
“Hey, baby girl. How’s the hand? I ordered in tacos.” Dev smiled at him. “Hey, guys.”
He smiled right back at Dev but then made himself turn back to Marley—she deserved his full attention on this, and the last thing he wanted to do was discourage her in her cooking endeavors. “It totally counts that you tried. It’s amazing that youwanted to do that for us. Thank you. I’m serious. I can teach you if you want. I’m going to teach your dad some stuff.”
“You aren’t mad?”
“I told you no one was going to be mad,” Dev told her.
“You tried to do something special for me and my boys; why would I be mad? Besides,” he leaned in to whisper into Marley’s ear. “It’s not my kitchen you tried to burn down.”
“Yeah…” She offered him a crooked grin. “That was stinky.”
“I bet. I’ll help you clean up if you like, though.” The place was a huge mess.
“I’ll help.” That was little Juni. “Her hand hurts a lot.”
“Sounds great. Boys, you can help too. I bet we get the kitchen cleaned up before the food delivery gets here.” Bryan grabbed a bunch of paper towels and started soaking up the lake of oil before realizing this wasn’t his house, Marley wasn’t his girl, and maybe this was inappropriate. He’d kind of made an assumption or two here.
“I’m going to check Mar’s hand, and then I’ll be right back to help,” Dev offered him a warm little smile.
Oh, good. Dev wasn’t offended or upset about him kind of just wading in like it was his place and like he could offer Marley comfort and support. “Cool. We’ll try to have it done before you get back.” He gave Dev a wink and turned back to the task at hand.
Juniper was flinging water and suds like a wild thing. “Stupid. Cooking is stupid and hard and nasty!”
“Oh, honey, it doesn’t have to be. It can be fun and exciting, and you make really good things.” Bryan had to wonder if she’d overheard her dad saying that at some point when he thought he was alone.
“We used to have help, but she left, and Daddy hasn’t found someone he likes.”
Well, he would totally be willing to volunteer to help in the kitchen. He actually liked cooking, and he had to make food for him and the boys anyway… He shook himself. That was not a discussion for now, he imagined.
“Well, I’m here to help now, and we’ve almost got it all done. You and the boys have done most of it—you wanna take them to your room and play?” They actually had helped, but the biggest thing now was clearing away the mess the cleaning up had made. Juniper had used too much soap and water and that needed to be cleared up. But then it would be done. It was just easier doing the ‘finessing’ without a ten-year-old, a six-year-old and a four-year-old ‘helping out.’
“You want to come play Legos?” Juni asked, holding out her hands to the boys.
“Yes!” They grabbed onto her hands and the three of them took off, leaving Bryan chuckling. He was impressed actually, that Juniper had volunteered in the first place. The boys adored Dev’s girls and thought they were both so cool, but he had to wonder if the older girls were as happy with two younger boys tagging along after them.
He grabbed a bowl and used the dishcloth to push the water off the counter into the bowl. Then he poured the water into the sink before pushing more water into the bowl. He did that until all the water and soap were cleaned off the counter and the stove. Then he cleaned the last bit of grease off the far end of the stove where Juniper couldn’t reach before setting about scrubbing the poor burned pot. He was surprised actually that Dev even had pots if he never cooked. On the other hand, Juniper had said something about help.
“How can I help?” Dev asked, reappearing at the entrance to the kitchen. “I put some Solarcaine on Marley’s burn and she’s resting until the food comes.”
“I’m almost done. It was so sweet of her to try to make us something. I’m just sorry she got hurt. You know if she genuinely wants to cook, I’d be happy to teach her.” He wrung out the cloth and set it in the sink.
“She downloaded a recipe; she was convinced she could do it.” Dev shook his head. “Sorry you came into a mess.”
“No problem. I told her to try YouTube next time. Visual step-by-steps are so much easier. Especially for someone who’s never done it before. She’s a sweetheart.” He liked both of Dev’s girls. They were so different, and yet they both reminded him of Dev, and not just in looks.
