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The smile faltered again and then brightened up.
“I wanted it to be a surprise,” she said. “It’s a celebration. I got approval today to go back on light duty.”
Her expression read that she expected a response, but my heart was dropping. I could barely think, much less speak. Not only was she in the kitchen, cooking without me, but now our whole routine was about to go out the window. Wendy was fierce about two things: her work and Olly. If she went back to work now, the part of her life that I had squeezed into would be gone. It would go back to being work and Olly.
“Great,” I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster.
She seemed to notice but didn’t say anything, turning back to the stove and stirring the sauce.
“I’m so excited,” she said. “I really didn’t think they’d clear me this soon. But the doctor said I have clearly been taken care of very well. I guess we can attest that to your incredible nursing skills.”
“Hah,” I said, opening the fridge. I was going to need a beer. Or ten.
“I did the trick you taught me about the sauce,” she said, her back still turned as I opened the bottle and guzzled it down. “The one about the beef stock. I added it, and it smells so good. I just got my first taste when you walked in, and it was delicious until I spilled it all down my shirt. Well, your shirt.”
“I saw,” I said.
She turned slowly, the smile still there but clearly not as wide.
“Are you mad? I’m sure the stain will come out.”
“No, it’s fine,” I said. “It’s just a band shirt. You look better in it than I do anyway.”
She brightened back up, smiling wider and turning back to the stove, shaking her ass a little. I could see through the fabric, and to my surprise, she was only wearing panties underneath. It should have excited me a lot more than it did, but I found myself unable to be so excited. What if she was just gearing up for one last night before she went back to work and then… then it was over?
It wasn’t that I thought she was doing it on purpose. She probably had no idea how this was going to go. Somewhere in her mind, she probably thought everything would stay the same, even. But I knew how my relationships had ended, and this one had already exceeded the length of most of them. With her changing the routine, with her focusing back on work on a regular basis, I had a sinking suspicion that meant I was out. If it wasn’t immediate, it would be eventual.
I just wasn’t that important.
“Why don’t you go sit down? The chicken is done. I was just giving the sauce some more time to cook while I finished the noodles,” she said.
“Want me to go get Olly?” I asked.
“He’s already eaten. He’s just playing before bed.”
“Ahh,” I said. Another change to the routine. We had either eaten together, or I had made something for Olly every night I had been over.
I sat down at the dining room table. I hadn’t even taken off my shoes. I didn’t think I would. This was the beginning of the end, and I didn’t want to drag it out. It would be better if I just went home after dinner and let her figure it out on her own.
She brought the food out with a smile and sat down next to me. We ate in mostly silence, though she spoke a bit about how excited everyone was to have her back soon. I nodded along respectfully. I even complimented her on the food. She had grown a lot better in a short time. So much better that, if she was only planning on cooking for her and Olly, I didn’t think there was a whole lot left to teach her.
24
WENDY
If there was one thing that came out of the weeks I was out of commission because of the injuries, it was that I felt like I was really starting to get the hang of cooking. Well, that clearly wasn’t the only thing, but it was definitely something.
It turned out I wasn’t nearly as hopeless in the kitchen as I always assumed. I just thought that cooking was one of those things you either had or you didn’t. Like a good singing voice or the ability to draw well. Either you were born with that gift, or you got skipped and had to compensate with other things.
Fortunately, I learned that I you didn’t have to be born with a talent for cooking if you had a good teacher and a willingness to learn. Finn’s support and lessons, along with a tremendous amount of time devoted to sitting in the recliner watching food shows while hoping my knee would stop hurting, upped my skills a lot over the month and a half.
