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Gabriel leaped down and landed with a thud, immediately running to her.
“You can’t climb on the counters, baby.” She stroked his hair, her tone gentle when she spoke.
“I was helping.”
“I know, but you scared me. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“We’re making French toast,” Gabriel said as if that explained everything.
“Have you done your reading assignment?”
I put my hands behind my back and cringed.
“We practiced soccer all afternoon. It was the best.”
I couldn’t have said it better myself. We’d had a lot of fun. So much that time had slipped away from us. Which was why dinner wasn’t on the table.
Another unimpressed look landed on me. “I’m going to change clothes, and then we’ll see about dinner.”
As soon as Holly was gone, I swept into action. “What else do we need?”
Gabriel blinked at me. “Uh, I forgot what else.”
I grabbed the tablet on the island, turned on “My Girl” by The Temptations, and did a quick search for recipes. It didn’t look too complicated.
“When are we gonna research puppies again?”
I turned on the stove burner and tossed butter in the pan. “Whenever you like.”
Once the butter melted, I added the toast to the hot skillet.
“Hey, we need syrup,” Gabriel said, rushing toward another cabinet. He retrieved it, and I took the bottle, using it as a microphone. I leaned close to him so we could both sing along.
We finished our performance, and he pointed at the black toast in the pan and wrinkled his nose. “That’s burned.”Damn.
“Is something on fire?” Holly hurried over, waving her hand in front of her face.
“Dinner,” I said flatly. Instead of trying to cook, I should’ve just used what Muriella already had prepared.
Holly turned off the burner and peered in the skillet. “It’s not that bad.” She grabbed a couple of plates. “Nothing powdered sugar and syrup can’t fix.”
I stared at her in disbelief. Gabriel pulled silverware from the drawer and set the table. Holly served our ruined dinner as if it were a five-star meal.
When we sat down, she cut off a bite of the blackened toast. As she chewed, she tried not to make a face. “I think it needs more syrup.”
Gabriel giggled and doused his bite in the thick liquid. “Yummy.”
Hesitantly, I dug into my own meal. I chewed twice and swallowed. It was the worst thing I’d ever eaten. “Powdered sugar. Please.” It wouldn’t help, but if they were kind enough to eat it, I wasn’t going to make a scene.
As I looked across the table at Holly, I wondered how she’d done it on her own all this time. She was undoubtedly strong and willful, but caring for another person was difficult. In the course of one afternoon, I’d forgotten Gabriel’s homework and made an inedible meal. Yet somehow, I’d been delusional enough to think I was cut out to be a father.
She touched my arm as Gabriel cleared the dishes. “It takes lots and lots of practice.” Her lips met my ear. “Like other things.”
I shoved my hands in my pockets so I didn’t do something inappropriate in front of Gabriel. “Other things?”
“Mmm hmm.”
Just like that, she made me forget about the mistakes I’d made. I slid an arm around her waist. “You tempt me.”
