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Her mother frowned as if that didn’t occur to her. “I guess you’re right. Have a seat. Dad will be home in a few minutes. He was running late.”
“Anything I can help you with for dinner?”
“No,” her mother said. “I’ve got it covered. I have stuffed pork chops and mashed potatoes. I know you like them.”
“I do,” she said. Her mother was a good cook and there were things she just didn’t make herself, this meal being one of them. But she’d bet Jonah would appreciate a big meal like this. “How do you stuff them?”
“What?” her mother asked.
“I asked how do you stuff and cook them? I might want to try them.”
“Oh,” her mother said. “You never asked questions like that before. That would be your sisters wanting to know so they could put a nice dinner on the table for their husbands.”
Urgh. That was the last thing she wanted to be compared to. More so because she was actually thinking of Jonah.
“Maybe I want to learn to cook more than the normal things I’ve been doing,” she said.
“Hmm,” her mother said. “It’s about time you thought that way. The single life will get to you after a while. Maybe if you put your mind toward it, then you’ll work on finding someone.”
She wanted to grind her teeth and say she had someone, but she was waiting for her father to show up so she could say it all at once. Might as well get the double beating over the head.
“The pork chops, Mom?”
“It’s easy. There are a lot of different ways to do it,” her mother said. “I’ve tried them all but found this is the easiest. I buy a bone-in pork chop, then I put a slice in it to the bone and cut a line so that I can put the stuffing in. I cooked bread stuffing because your father likes that and put some mushrooms and garlic in it, but you can add what you like, then I just take a spoon and stuff it in there as much as I can while it’s hot and it helps add heat to the meat inside. I brown the pork chops on both sides in a skillet, a few minutes on each side is enough, and then pop them in the oven at three-fifty for twenty-five to thirty minutes.”
“Sounds easy enough,” she said.
“Do you need me to explain how to make mashed potatoes too?” her mother asked. She thought her mother might be joking, but she was dead serious.
“I know how to make mashed potatoes, Mom,” she said. “You buy one of those boxes and add boiling water to it.”
Her mother’s appalled face said it all and she started to laugh. “I hope that is one of your jokes.”
“Of course it is.” Not that she’d never used those boxes before, but she’d never serve it to anyone else either. “I’ve made mashed potatoes before. I can make most things, but I’ve never tried stuffed pork chops. I do like yours and you’re making them so I thought I’d ask.”
Her mother clucked her tongue. “Joking like that isn’t always good when it comes to finding someone too.”
“Finding a man or a woman?” she asked. “I think I want both in my life who can take a joke.”
“You’ve always been your own person,” her mother said.
“That’s right. I have been. Nothing wrong with it,” she said, putting her chin up. She wished there was wine in the house, but knew that wasn’t the case.
Her father came in a few minutes later in his suit and tie. No one wore suits and ties to work anymore. What a generation gap here.
Sure, her father was a CPA and a partner at a firm and that was one of the institutions that still dressed up, but most times they were more laid back than the full suit. She’d seen it herself with auditors that came into Fierce. They might have a tie, but not a jacket.
Ryder and Drake were flashy dressers, but still not a full suit. Even Grant and Garrett rarely wore a suit unless they were going to a client meeting for the first time.
“Dinner smells good,” her father said and moved over to kiss her mother. She did remember that. The greeting they gave each other when they came home, or when they left in the morning too.
“Thank you. I know Megan loves them too and figured since she was coming it would be a nice treat.”
“Just like having Megan over for dinner. What’s going on in your life that you came during the week?” her father asked.
“Megan pointed out she called to come to visit, I’m the one who offered tonight. We don’t want her to get too defensive,” her mother said.
She thought her mother was sticking up for her, but then realized it was more like mentioning that she tended to get defensive about things. Go figure when this night was already starting out so wonderfully.
