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“You don’t fuss when your brothers are manning the grill.”
“It’s a Kincaid trade secret, Tink. We’ve talked about this.” He shakes his head as if he’s disappointed in me, but the small smile tugging at his lips tells me otherwise.
“Yeah, yeah, just hurry up, would ya? I’m withering away over here.”
“Hush you.” He points the spatula at me, then gets to work placing the burgers on the grill.
“I’m going to go make us a couple of salads,” I tell him as I make my way inside.
“I don’t have salad,” he says, following after me.
“I know. I stopped at the store. I also grabbed buns.”
“I have buns.” He opens the cabinet where he keeps his bread and pulls out a pack of buns. He flips them over, and you can see the mold growing.
“How long ago did you buy those?” I ask him.
“Not sure.”
“Which is why I stopped.” I point to the new package of buns I left out on the counter. “I also grabbed some potato salad.”
“You know what else sounds good?” He reaches into another cabinet. He holds up a can of baked beans. “I’ll warm these in the microwave.”
“Check the expiration date,” I tease.
“One time,” he fires back. “One time, we ate expired beans.” He shakes his head, barely containing his laughter.
“I told you they smelled funny.”
“Are you ever going to let me live that down?”
“Nope. Don’t worry. One day when you finally find your other half, I’ll be sure to make sure she knows that she should be in charge of food preparation so she doesn’t eat moldy buns and expired baked beans. Or even worse, eat a hamburger on two slices of bread. That’s just a shame, Sterling, and you know it.”
“I’ll be sure to tell your future husband that you’re a bread snob.” He chuckles, and I laugh right along with him. “I’m going to go check on the burgers,” he says, stepping back outside.
I get to work making our salads while he goes outside to man the grill. The microwave beeps, so I pull out the bowl of baked beans and place them on the stove. I get everything set up for us just as Sterling comes back inside with a plate full of burgers. The smell makes my mouth water. It doesn’t take us long to make our plates and head back outside to eat on the patio.
“How was your day?” I ask, taking a huge bite of my burger. Sterling grins. Covering my mouth with my hand, I mumble, “I told you I was hungry.”
He nods. “It’s over. I made sure to put in my time off request too.”
“You’re lucky that you don’t have to wait for the approval.”
“Well, I kind of do. I need to let my boss know, but yeah, he’s cool. As long as we have the time and there aren’t a bunch of other people off at the same time, he’s good with it.”
“I really need to find a new job.”
“I’ve been telling you that for years. How much shit did she give you?”
“Not as much as I was anticipating. Dr. Jones being there helped a ton. I know she wasn’t happy that I made her sign both copies, but she’s burned me before.”
“That was a smart move on your part.”
“I’ve learned how to deal with her over the years. I wasn’t willing to take a chance of missing this trip. It sounds like so much fun.”
“Of course it’s going to be fun. You’re going with my family and me. We are the kings of fun.”
“The kings? Really?” I ask, amused.
