AllFreeNovel
Share Us
No. Not that one. The middle one.
He wipes his lips again. The way I imagine he’d wipe them after—
Ahem. “You’re good.” I dive into my pollo verde tacos. They taste familiar, like lime and tomatillo and home, but they don’t sate my craving. They don’t fill me where I’m hungry.
I finish one and lick the salsa from my fingers.
River laughs. “You make everything graceful.”
“This is graceful?” I hold up my salsa-streaked hand.
“The way you do it, yes.”
I shake my head.
He nods.
The compliment hits me somewhere deep. It’s honest. Real. How he actually sees me.
It makes me warm everywhere. Too warm.
I turn my focus to my food. Lime. Tomatillos. Soft chicken. Homemade corn tortillas. Is anything better than a homemade corn tortilla? The freshness and flavor are in a whole other league compared to the store-bought ones.
A groan falls from my lips.
His pupils dilate.
This isn’t working. I’m only thinking of sex. The two of us, naked, right here on the table.
Thankfully, he shifts the topic. “I’ve never imagined you eating tacos.”
I laugh a little. “Why wouldn’t I?”
“It’s not an artisanal jam and hazelnut butter sandwich. Or lobster mac n’ cheese.”
“Is that what we ate?”
“What did you eat?”
“Normal mac ‘n cheese,” I say.
“What do you consider normal?”
“Something less fancy than what your grandma makes,” I say.
His laugh is soft. Easy. “She loves cheese, yeah.”
“Cheddar and peas. Not, what, gouda and caramelized onions?”
“Name-brand boxes,” he says. “That’s what my mom made. Then what I made. Even when I got here.”
“What does Ida cook?”
“Basic stuff. Sandwiches, meatloaf, roasts,” he says. “But she doesn’t do it often. She works a lot, too.”
She’s like me that way, yeah. She loves what she does. She loses herself in it. “Was that lonely?”
“Sometimes.” He doesn’t take the bait. He turns the topic back to me. “Did your mom cook a lot?”
