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I kiss her down-turned mouth. “They can come visit any time.”
“Good night,” she says as she steps away.
“Good night.”
In the morning,Sara and her friends take over the kitchen again. It’s a mimosa morning, apparently, and there are already two empty bottles of sparkling wine.
“Hey, it’s our designated driver!” Jade shouts when she sees me.
Sara glances over her shoulder from the stove, apologetic. “They need to be at the train station in an hour. I can stop drinking, I’ve only had one, but Jade wanted to ask you to drive us.”
“Happy to,” I say.
Tessa picks up a half-full bottle of wine and reaches across the kitchen counter to fill Sara’s glass.
“What’s for breakfast?” I ask, standing behind Sara and planting a kiss on the back of her neck, wisps of hair tickling my face. Most of her hair is up in her usual bun, high at the top of her head. The little wisps of hair are cute, though, more of them gray than in the rest of her chocolate-brown.
“Beans and toast and . . .” she spins around for dramatic effect. “Bacon.”
“Real bacon,” Jade croons.
I raise my eyebrows at the back of Sara’s head. “You’re eating bacon?”
“No, of course not,” Emma says. “She makes it for us. And maybe you.” She eyes me.
There is bacon for me, although it’s actually English-style rashers, which Jade complains about when the five of us sit down to a hearty breakfast at the kitchen table.
“Be glad it’s not lardons,” Tessa says. “That’s just chunks of bacon, which is fine, but there’s something about the bacon strip and those thin parts that get crispy.” She looks lovingly at the bacon. “I can’t find the thick-cut peppered and smoked bacon like we get back home.”
“Stop, I’m drooling,” Jade says, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand.
“We could talk about the amazing food we’ve found here in Europe,” Sara suggests.
“Evil woman,” Jade mutters.
“How about the hot chocolate in Madrid? It’s unreal,” Emma chimes in. “We had some at this cute little café near Jade’s apartment where she meets her Spanish tutor. How is Manny doing, by the way?”
Jade presses a hand to her chest. “His boyfriend proposed. They are so cute together.”
I’m a little lost in the conversation until it circles back to food again. “Sara,” Tessa says. “What about the food around here? What have you found?”
Sara’s brow wrinkles as she thinks. “I don’t think I’ve had much local food, to be honest. It’s a little hard to eat German food as a vegan.”
“That place Friday night was good, but yeah, not really German,” Tessa says. “When I think of German food, I think of meaty things. Are we off base, Chris?”
I swallow a bite of the rasher and think. “Traditional German food does have a lot of meat and cream.”
“Schnitzel,” Jade says.
“Bratwurst,” Emma chimes in.
“Spätzle is an egg noodle,” Sara says. “But I can eat sauerkraut.”
Jade wrinkles her nose. “So, you’ll just eat fermented cabbage?” She turns to me. “Prepare to be out-farted.”
Sara sticks her tongue out at Jade, and they bicker a bit about German food while an idea forms in my head.
“We need to set our next weekend,” Tessa says.
