AllFreeNovel
Share Us
"Fine, if that's what you think it's best."
He had a coffee cup in his hand, and I took it covetously and gulped from it as the taste of...nothing hit me.
"Ugh, James, what the hell is this?"
He laughed strongly.
"You sound like Zach. It's my herbal tea. I drink it all the time."
"Zach?"
"My best friend since college."
It was too early, and I was too caffeine deprived to get into the discussion about all the people in his life I didn’t remember. We could go over that shit at lunch.
"And where do we keep the coffee, James?"
" The machine is right there on the kitchen counter, and the capsules are in the fridge. I think we only have some hazelnut latte and vanilla ristretto left?" he said, distracted by the baby.
Hazelnut? What the hell was he talking about? I didn’t need any Starbucks garbage.
"Yeah, no thank you. Where is my cafetera?
He turned his attention from Chelsea back to me.
"Rita, I just told you." Suddenly, concern crossed his face, and he said, "Don't you remember?"
Oh.
"Not that ugly ass coffee maker, my cafetera. My Cuban espresso maker."
James looked at the floor with his eyebrows raised and scratched the back of his neck.
"I can't say I know what that is, love."
"I can't believe this." I was simply speechless. Did we live like savages or something? I would be buying one tomorrow. Forget it, I was buying two; it was never a bad idea to have a backup cafetera.
While James tried again to convince Chelsea to eat one more time, I put a pot of water to boil and brew coffee the hard way. When I turned to watch them - finally with some black gold in my cup - I laughed when I saw Chelsea doing anything humanly possible to avoid the spoon with green goo.
"What is that anyway?"
"It's peas puree. Not one of her favorites since we switched to solid food."
"So maybe she's not used to it yet."
"No, she's been on solid food for three months already because..." He cut his sentence short, and I didn’t know why that made me edgy. "Anyway, the pediatrician insists that peas and carrots have to be a part of her diet, and this little rebel hates them both."
When he'd finished, Chelsea raised her little hands and made him drop the bowl on the floor. I couldn’t help but laugh so hard, tears gathered in my eyes.
"Oh, James, she's the best baby ever. I'll clean that, don't worry."
"I can do it, love. The mess is on me. I should know better than to try and force peas on Chelsea."
I tried not be offended by his answer. I knew he was concerned about my health, so I just sat there and watched him cleaning the floor while Chelsea was playing with a baby toy.
"James?"
"Hm?"
