A California Christmas (Silver Springs #7) - Brenda Novak Page 0,28
enchiladas. They’ll be out of the oven in ten minutes.”
“Smells amazing.”
“There’s homemade salsa.” She indicated a bowl on the table. “Come taste it.”
He helped himself to the chips she’d put out, too. The salsa contained just the right amount of cilantro and hot pepper, and she’d made a bowl of guacamole that was topped with crumbly, salty cotija cheese—a particular favorite of his. “Delicious. But where did you get the groceries? I can’t imagine we had ingredients like cotija and cilantro in the fridge.”
“No.” She lifted her chin proudly. “I braved going to the store.”
She obviously considered it an accomplishment, and it was. She was afraid to show her face in public, which was why he’d gone to the trouble of walking her home after they ate in the cafeteria earlier. “And? How’d it go?”
“There were a few people who stared at me, but I ignored them, grabbed what I needed and got out of there.”
“Good job. Don’t let anyone or anything hold you back.” He swallowed the food in his mouth. “It was nice of you to make dinner, by the way. I’m starving.”
“I wanted to make myself useful. I don’t want to be a burden.”
“Don’t worry about that. We have no expectations. Everyone hits a rough patch now and then.” He scooped up another bite of salsa. “Did you message Ethan?”
“I did.”
“And?”
“I said what you told me to.”
“How’d he respond?”
She checked her phone, which was sitting on the counter while she cooked. “He hasn’t, yet.”
“Hmm.”
“It’s been five hours.” She was stirring something in a saucepan on the front burner but turned to face him. “Why do you think he hasn’t messaged me back?”
“I have no clue. But don’t give in to the temptation to text him again. Not yet. Let’s wait and see what he does.”
“What if he just lets it go?”
“Then we’ll come up with a different strategy to draw him out, but we shouldn’t give up on this one too soon. He might’ve had a busy day.”
“He’s probably out spending all the money he’s making because, unlike me, he still has a job,” she grumbled sarcastically. “If he doesn’t go to the gym after work, he has his teeth bleached, gets Botox injections or goes to the tanning salon—and that’s if he’s already had a facial, a manicure and a pedicure.”
Dallas chuckled as his mother came into the house.
“Smells like heaven in here,” she said. Aiyana looked tired but she had good color in her face. Dallas knew she worked too hard, but there was no getting her to slow down, so he’d stopped trying. He hoped, once she married Cal, that Cal would be able to persuade her to take it a little easier. “Emery made dinner,” he told her. “Mexican food. And what I’ve tasted so far is incredible.”
“That’s wonderful. I’m hungry.”
“Me, too. Where’re Liam and Bentley?” he asked. “The food’s almost ready.”
“Liam’s with a friend, so he’ll miss dinner. Bentley went over to Eli’s to play with the kids. I’m sure he assumed it would take me an hour or so to get a meal together. This will be a pleasant surprise. I’ll text him to let him know we don’t have to wait tonight—thanks to Emery.”
A timer went off, and Emery donned a pair of oven mitts so she could pull out a pan of enchiladas that were bubbling in a cheesy sauce with green chilies.
“Look at that,” Dallas said.
“I’m going to run upstairs and change,” Aiyana said. “I’ll be right back.”
Dallas pulled some plates from the cupboard. “I’ll set the table.”
After starting toward the stairs, Aiyana doubled back. “By the way, thanks for helping out this afternoon. I don’t know if Eli told you, but Susan is sick again. Otherwise, I could’ve had Tobias Richardson step in. He’s usually the one who substitutes on the afterschool stuff, if we need him, but today he had to go over to the cookie store.”
“Jada couldn’t do it? Susan’s her mother.”
“No. With the baby and her social media business, Jada can no longer take that on, too,” she said. “Maya goes over when she can, of course. She loves to help her grandmother. But a fourteen-year-old can’t manage the store all by herself. And you know that Maddox is too busy here.”
“Why doesn’t Susan hire someone?”
“It’s hard to hire an employee for such a short time. Business will die down again in just a few weeks.”