AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I couldn’t bring myself to look at Elara, but I could practically feel her blushing.
"Need a cushion, brother?” Ida asked me, her expression so innocent that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
"Nope. I'm fine, thank you."
We called the kids to the table, and Ida carried in the massive steaming pot before setting it down. She'd already covered the tabletop in layers of wax paper. Anthony was going berserk, circling the room in anticipation.
"Everyone ready for messy hands?"
Ethan raised an eyebrow. "You're braver than me, serving a dish that actively encourages the kids to use their hands."
With a flourish, Ida pulled out a colander from the huge pot, letting bright red water draining out of it.
“Smells incredible, Ida,” I said.
Ida loved a bit of theater. At home, she liked to cook extravagant meals that weren’t practical at the diner. A Louisiana-style crawfish boil was her party piece, a dish so decadent it stunned the kids into silence whenever she brought it out.
She tipped the food out onto the wax paper—crawfish, cold-water crab, lobster, potatoes, Cajun sausage, and corn. It looked incredible.
"Oh my goodness," Elara said. "This is so impressive!"
"Ida always pushes the boat out."
"More like she was in the boat, catching half the seafood in the Atlantic Ocean," Elara joked.
Ida swiped a few things onto a bowl for Anthony, then took a gravy boat full of bright red, paprika-spiked butter and poured it over the food on the table until it glistened.
"Bon appétit!" she declared.
I never thought I'd find the sight of someone sucking juice from a crawfish shell sexy. But everything Elara did had me squirming. It was like she was passionately in love with every single moment.
"Oh. My. Hecking. Heck!" Elara said as she bit into a steaming, fluffy potato, sleeves rolled high and fingers slick with juice. "How is the potato the best part of this?"
"You gotta get a small one," Lexi said, her mouth red with juice. "They're the best."
"The corn," Ava groaned. "It's incredible."
"Call me old fashioned but I like the lobster best," Ethan said, with a satisfied look on his face.
Ida watched us all eat, a happy smile on her face. “Thanks for coming over, y’all. I know it wasn’t my turn to host for another couple of weeks, but I found these amazing crawfish, and well . . . you know I enjoy your company.”
We all muttered our thanks, assuring Ida that it was our pleasure.
"Shame Dad couldn't make it," I said.
Dad was helping Susie get the community center ready for the upcoming jujtisu grading. He'd grumbled quite a bit about missing the crawfish boil, though.
"He seems to be doing better, back-wise," Ethan noted.
"How's the refurb of the bar going, hon?" Ida asked Elara. "Dad was meant to help with that, right?"
"It's good," she said. "Cole and I have made a lot of progress."
"We uncovered some beautiful vintage tiles under layers of old cement,” I added. “It's really shaping up."
"Any leads on potential buyers yet?"
"Not yet," Elara replied, reaching for a link of spicy sausage. "But the real estate listing is going live soon, so fingers crossed. Now, I want to hear more about Fred Jones's new fancy lady."
