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"I wasn't worried about that." I stare down at my food to avoid looking at her. "But you must be angry. I read your text messages over your shoulder."
"Why did you do that?"
"Dinnae know. When I came up behind you, I saw those texts, and I was curious about who Eric might be."
She leans back in her chair and...smiles. "Eric is my son. He has a twin sister, Courtney. They're fraternal twins, not identical."
"I see. You didn't need to share that information with me. I'm an eavesdropping cacan, after all. That means I'm a wee shit."
Rebecca scans her gaze over me. "You aren't wee in any sense of the word."
"It's a colloquialism, that's all."
"Uh-huh." She studies her food, pushing it about as if she's not sure what sort of meal I've given her. "What is this? I've never seen anything like it."
"That's festy cock."
She clamps her lips between her teeth as her body quivers. Aye, the lass is struggling not to laugh at me.
I slouch back in my chair. "Go on, let out your laughter. That thing on your plate is a traditional Scottish food, an alternative to pancakes, that's made with oatmeal, water, and salt. Its shape is meant to resemble a rooster. Hence the name festy cock."
"Fiona warned me that Scots have strange customs and strange foods, but I had no idea you guys played with your food. I mean, it's shaped like a rooster."
"You don't have to eat it. I thought you might enjoy sampling some traditional dishes."
Rebecca gingerly peels a wee bit off the festy cock with her fork and sniffs it. She then makes a face that implies she thinks she might actually want to sample the Scottish pancake. After taking another sniff, she slides the bit of pancake into her mouth and begins chewing. Once she has swallowed that bite, she takes another. And another.
"Ye like it, then?" I say. "Festy cock hasn't offended your senses?"
"No, it's actually pretty good." She eyes the other items I had gathered for her. "Not sure about this big, round thing, though. It looks like an alien egg that might burst out of its shell to eat me."
"If that should happen, I will kill the beastie before it can touch you."
"That's very sweet, Thane. But you do need to explain these other foods to me, please."
I lean forward to rest my elbows on the table and point at the item in question. "Your alien egg is a clootie dumpling. That dish is a rich fruit pudding with ginger, cinnamon, and other spices. Normally, I would provide whisky to accompany your clootie dumping, but I don't recommend drinking in the workplace. I have given you clotted cream, however, and I think you'll enjoy that."
Rebecca samples the dumpling and smiles. "Tastes better than it looks. A lot better."
"Now try the mince and tatties. It's essentially a ground beef stew with carrots and celery. Tatties are potatoes that have been mashed with a bit of cream and butter."
"Now that sounds good."
"Try it, then."
She tastes the mince and tatties, then begins shoveling it into her mouth while trying to speak.
"What did you say, lass? I cannae understand the words when you've got food in your mouth."
Rebecca wipes her mouth with a napkin and gives me a sheepish wee smile. "Sorry. I don't usually devour food like a starved pig. But I didn't eat much breakfast. Too nervous about starting a new job."
"Nervous? You don't seem like the sort who would worry about that."
She shovels a large amount of clootie dumpling into her mouth and chews it while bits fall onto her napkin. Once she's done, she glances around furtively, then slants toward me to whisper, "I got fired from my last job."
No, I didn't expect to hear that confession.
Chapter Six
