‘I have zero expectations for a piece of fried bread.’
‘Then the only way is up, isn’t it. Taste it, taste it, taste it,’ he chanted.
‘Alright, calm down. Here goes nothing.’
I took a bite and chewed slowly, savoring the taste, keeping my expression neutral. It was crispy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside. The butter added an oily sweetness, cut through by the tanginess of the sea salt.
‘Well?’ Jonah asked impatiently.
I nodded slowly. ‘It’s good.’
It was his turn to look disappointed. ‘Just good?’
I couldn’t keep a straight face, dissolving into a look of ecstasy. ‘OK fine, it’s absolutely delicious. Happy?’
‘Very.’ He beamed and took a bite of his own piece, closing his eyes and moaning loudly, not seeming to care that we were in public. People nearby flicked amused glances our way.
‘Should I give you two some privacy?’ I asked.
He finished off the last of the bread. ‘It’s been my favorite thing to eat since I was a kid.’
‘I’m surprised you’re not the size of a house in that case,’ I remarked, licking butter off my fingers.
He laughed. ‘Not every day, obviously. Only on special occasions like this. Willow runs a little animal sanctuary outside of town, but the fry bread stall is her side hustle. In summer there’s a farmers’ market every Sunday morning.’
‘I can’t wait,’ I said, feeling excited for my future here for the first time in days. ‘I love the idea of buying fresh produce and having the time to actually cook instead of relying on microwave meals or vending machine fare.’
‘What do you like to cook?’
‘That’s what I’m looking forward to finding out,’ I admitted. ‘I know what I like toeat, so I’ll just start there and figure it out.’
‘You didn’t get a lot of time to cook back in the city, I take it.’
‘Not really. My mother is an excellent cook, who loves nothing more than feeding her family, so we weren’t the kind of teenagers who were encouraged to learn how to cook for ourselves, unfortunately.’
‘We?’
‘I have an older sister, Casey. She’s married to a nice guy named Alastair and they have a couple of boys, Logan and Blair. Alastair owns a construction company. He’s done really well for himself. My sister has been a stay-at-home mom for the past ten years, but she recently took on an administrator job and seems to be enjoying it. She’s good at managing people and bossing them around, so it’s perfect for her.’
‘Can she cook?’
‘Yeah. I guess being a mom she had no choice but to learn. Whereas I bounced from student flats to nursing school to shift work and never really had the need. Don’t get me wrong, I can cook some things. My steak and fried potatoes, for example, can’t be beat. I just don’t know how to cook anything creative. Anything that has more than six ingredients. I want to learn how to cook curries and chowders. How to balance flavors. Do you know what I mean?’
‘Sorry? Oh, I stopped listening after steak and fried potatoes. As far as I’m concerned you’ve got two out of three of the most important things nailed.’
‘What’s the third?’
He held up his hands. ‘Lobster, of course.’
‘Of course. How stupid of me.’
‘It’s OK. I can teach you how to cook lobster. And a killer Balinese chicken curry, if you like.’
I was pleasantly surprised. ‘You know how to cook a Balinese curry?’
‘I do. An ex-girlfriend and I holidayed there once.’ He pulled a face. ‘Well, she was more into lying around a pool and visiting the beauty spa, but I managed to explore the island and take a cooking class from a very small lady named Ni Luh.’
The idea of this large lobsterman from Pine Harbor, Maine, taking a cooking class halfway across the world from a tiny Indonesian lady made me smile.
