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Now, for food.
As Kelly searched, she found the motherlode in her cupboard. A package of Kraft Mac and Cheese. She was thrilled to check the fridge and find milk and butter inside.
Perfect dinner. Easy and delicious.
While her water boiled, she fed Pepper, who was winding his way around her legs dangerously. Then, she washed and cut up an apple, so she could at least pretend she was trying to eat healthy. She chewed on the sweet crunchy fruit as she poured the noodles in. Her phone beeped and she picked it up with her free hand, as the other popped another piece of apple in her mouth.
It was a message from Hank.
Hello, Beautiful. What are you doing tonight?
Making mac and cheese and going to bed. I am so tired, everything looks like a pillow, including my kitchen counter.
LOL
Kelly smiled in response, although she wasn’t exaggerating. She hadn’t realized how tired she was until she’d walked through the door.
She drained the pasta into a colander and carried it back over to the pot, dripping water across her tile floor. She’d get to it in a minute. She didn’t like to clean and prepare food at the same time.
Once she’d stirred in everything, she poured a healthy portion into a bowl. She set her pot in the sink, then pulled the bottle of ketchup from the fridge and grabbed a spoon from the drawer.
She’d eat, watch an episode of something on Hulu, and then head to bed. Who cared if it wasn’t very exciting?
Suddenly, her foot hit something slick on the floor and in a flash, she remembered the pasta water she’d meant to wipe up. Without thinking, she reached out to keep herself from falling.
The good news was, she didn’t fall. The bad was that her arm was lying across the still hot burner as the oven had been the closest thing to catch herself on.
“Ow!” She screamed, jerking her arm off and turning it over to examine the damage. She stared down at the thick lines that spanned her inner wrist
and forearm. It was like a brand across her skin, and although the initial hurt was gone, a terrible throb beat right where the burn was.
She slowly eased over to the sink. Kelly turned the faucet to cold water and as the stream fell across the burn, a painful breath hissed out through her teeth. The cold water soothed the sting for several minutes, until the frigid water itself became unbearable. Finally, she shut off the water and walked carefully across the floor, so she could get to the burn cream in her first aid kit in the kitchen cupboard.
She found it easily and carried it into her spare bathroom. Kelly sat down on the toilet and stared down at the angry blisters and peeling skin that had risen up on her arm. She’d never had a burn this bad; was it second degree? She had no idea what the criteria was, so she’d have to Google it.
After she put some of the burn cream on, she figured it would be fine. She’d get her dinner and go back to her originally scheduled program.
She walked back down the hallway and found Pepper on the counter, licking her mac and cheese greedily. He opened his mouth wide and an orange cheesy noodle disappeared down his throat.
“Pepper!” she yelled.
He threw his head up and when she took a step toward him, he jumped off the counter and sauntered out of the room, as though she was no real threat.
Kelly’s eyes filled with tears as her arm began to throb.
Her dinner was ruined, her arm hurt like a son of a gun, and her plans of relaxing on the couch with a little binge-watching fun were destroyed.
She grabbed her phone off the counter and went to the couch. There was another message from Hank, but she ignored it and scrolled down. She could call her mom and dad, but since they lived in Arizona, alerting them to a possible medical emergency would just cause them undue worry.
Kelly spun through her contacts and pressed call when she found Chris’s name.
He picked up on the second ring.
“Hey.”
“Hi. So, I just burned the crap out of my arm.”
“What do you mean?”
