Page 78 of Nanny for the Athletes

“We had crafty mac!” she squealed. “Do you know what crafty mac is, Logan?”

“You mean Kraft Mac and Cheese?”

“That’s what I said. Crafty mac,” Claire replied, as if she were the adult speaking to a child. “Auntie Em cut hot dogs into it. Have you ever had a hot dog, Beth?”

“Of course,” I replied. “Have you never had one before?”

“No,” she replied in that same condescending tone. “Ijust told youI had hot dogs in my crafty mac. You need to listen better.”

“Oh, sorry. I’ll try to pay attention next time.”

Claire swung her head in a nod.

“It’s about time for bed,” Logan said, looking at his watch.

“Want me to read you a bedtime story, kiddo?” Braden asked.

“OKAY!” Claire sprinted upstairs, tiny feet banging loudly on the wooden steps.

“Appreciate it,” Logan said.

“I’m only doing this because you’re making me dinner too. Right?”

“Right.”

Braden pumped his fist. “It’d better be good if it’s going to top crafty mac.” He glanced at me while heading for the stairs. “Although I don’t know if Logan has ever cooked anything more complicated than that…”

Logan gave the middle finger to Braden’s back.

“Do you cook a lot?” I asked.

Logan opened the fridge and pulled out a large pack of raw chicken breasts. “I get by.”

I eyed the raw chicken. “You don’t have to do anything special for me.”

He removed his hoodie and tossed it onto a chair, then washed his hands in the sink with soap. “I know.”

Visions of food poisoning danced through my head as Logan cut open the chicken and began preparing it. “Can I help at all? I make a good sous chef!”

“There’s sliced ham and Swiss cheese in the fridge,” he said. “I also need mustard and mayo. On the door.”

I opened the fridge and retrieved all the ingredients. “Is the backup plan ham and Swiss sandwiches?”

He turned to look at me. “Why would I need a backup plan?”

“No reason.”

“Mix the mayo and mustard together.” Logan grabbed a red measuring cup out of a cabinet and set it down in front of me. “About a cup total, I guess.”

“You guess?”

“Once that’s mixed, add garlic powder, onion powder, and some ground pepper.”

“How much?”

“Eyeball it. Whatever looks good.”

I wasn’t an amazing cook, so the idea ofguessingon the ingredients horrified me. But he was busy preparing the raw chicken, so I followed his instructions and mixed everything in the bowl.

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