Page 41 of Musical Games
He nodded again, now arranging the ingredients. ‘I’ve cooked Thai from scratch more times than I can count.’
‘But, but, your mum?’
Jamie finally turned around, his hands gripping the edge of the counter. ‘My mum doesn’t trust me to cook, but Fiona does. Before Liam came along, I’d come over twice a week and cook for her and Duncan. Now I come over, cook and babysit if they want to go out. Fi said she wanted to try the new Italian in Inverness, so tonight I’m just cooking for us.’
‘You can actually cook?’
He grinned. ‘I would withhold your judgement until after you’ve eaten it.’
Sam rubbed the holy basil between her fingers and brought it to her nose. ‘I love this so much. After our final year at uni, Zoe and I went to Thailand for a couple of months. I did this crazy fast whilst Zoe stuffed her face and did yoga. Once I was eating again we went on this amazing cookery course.’ She picked over the ingredients and paused. ‘What’s on the menu?’
Jamie turned to the fridge and pulled out chicken and prawns.
‘Pork and prawn spring rolls, chicken satay, pad thai, green papaya salad, green chicken curry and sticky rice with coconut and mango for pudding.’
‘That’s literally a menu of my favourite Thai dishes ever.’
His eyes met hers and colour flooded his cheeks.
‘I know,’ he said quietly. ‘I asked Zoe.’
13
Sam’s mouth opened and closed like a drowning fish as her brain went from assimilation, to overdrive, to meltdown. Jamie pulled on a pair of disposable gloves, then grabbed a chopping board and started dicing shallots like a professional chef. Sam continued to stare.
‘The gloves are so I don’t have anything on my hands when I touch Liam. Chilli juice on a baby’s skin would not be any fun for the wee man.’
Liam gurgled in agreement and Jamie wiggled his eyebrows at him. Liam’s arms and legs kicked in excitement and Jamie blew him a raspberry. Liam cackled with laughter, so Jamie did it again.
Sam watched, incredulous.
Jamie turned back to chop as if he’d forgotten Liam was there, then suddenly turned.
‘Boo!’
Liam shrieked with excitement.
Who the fuck was this man and what had he done with Jamie?
‘Liam, I just want you to know, for future reference,’ Jamie said. ‘I’m currently chopping an onnnnnnnyyyyyyon.’ His impersonation of Sam’s vocal warm up was so perfect she couldn’t help but giggle. Liam laughed like a chipmunk. ‘Oh, did you like that? Do you like a bit of onnnnnnyyyyyyyon?’ Liam was now laughing so hard his face resembled an overripe tomato.
Sam caught Jamie’s eye and they smiled. Every cell in her body leapt up, then landed back in completely the wrong place. What was going on? She felt like she was ten feet tall and made of rainbow marshmallows.Stop grinning like an idiot!
‘How about Sam? Do you think she also likes a bit of onnnnnnyyyyyyyon?’ Jamie wiggled his eyebrows at her and the rainbow marshmallows burst into flames.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, no!She crouched in front of the Jumperoo, turning her back to Jamie.
‘Liam,’ she said. ‘Have you ever considered galangal?’ On the word ‘galangal’, she made her mouth wide like a letterbox and emphasised all the ‘al’ sounds. Liam stopped laughing and looked at her in surprise. ‘Onnnnnnyyyyyyon or galangal?’
Liam snapped straight into a cackle so all consuming, Sam worried he wasn’t breathing enough.
‘Or maybe chilli?’ She said the word ‘chilli’ so high it sounded like a bat with a squeaky toy. She couldn’t help but laugh as Liam lost his shit.Jesus, if only all audiences were like this. She sat on the floor in front of him. ‘Right, little man. Let’s see if I can amuse you long enough for your uncle to cook my dinner.’
Sam spentthe next half hour making Liam laugh whilst trying to ignore the sounds of Jamie moving around the kitchen, chopping and preparing dinner. It was like discovering the most tone-deaf person in school was now an opera singer at La Scala. She’d spent so long trying to figure him out, then he’d thrown her this complete curve ball. She heard the snap of a pair of gloves behind her, then felt the heat of him.
A muscley set of arms reached down to pick up Liam. She watched, her heart in her mouth and her ovaries rolling out the red carpet, as Jamie held Liam to his chest and swayed from side to side. She’d been ambivalent about having children before, but now every cell in her body was screaming ‘Procreate! Procreate!’ like a demented Dalek.
‘Dinner’s prepped and on. I’m just going to get Liam down.’
