The Cowboy's Temptation Page 0,16

into a bowl, adding as much color as the vegetables would allow.

She worked on the main meal next and had a little more trouble with that. She decided to try stuffed chicken and burned herself on the oil when she put the first chicken cutlet into the pan. Ignoring the pain, she sautéed over six breaded chicken cutlets filled with sliced ham and cheese. The breading made the cutlets cook to a golden brown and the smell filled the kitchen with a wonderful scent.

For a side dish, she made mashed potatoes with lots of butter and sour cream, adding a little garlic to the end product.

It took her four hours, but the end product was very satisfying. She arranged the cutlets on two plates, four that she was going to take to Veronica’s house for dinner, then adding the last two to a plate for Jake along with a huge mound of mashed potatoes and a salad. She cleaned the kitchen, wrapped his dinner up in saran wrap and put it into the refrigerator in a place she was sure he’d see. Once she finished, Elissa carried all the dishes out the door, hoping to have the table set at the other house before Veronica came home.

But Veronica was pulling up to the house just as Elissa exited the house. “What are you doing over here?” Veronica asked, smiling and taking one of the bowls out of Elissa’s hands.

“I made dinner,” Elissa explained proudly. “I used Jake’s kitchen. I hope he won’t mind. Not that I don’t like yours, but Jake’s is really nice,” she said and opened Veronica’s front door to let them both inside.

“Oh, don’t worry about Jake. He won’t mind at all. He never uses the kitchen. The man seems to live on sandwiches unless I feed him over here.”

“Well, I left him a plate. I don’t know if he’ll like it but it was fun to cook again,” Elissa said with a satisfied expression as she placed the dinner on the counter in Veronica’s kitchen.

Veronica stared at her friend in confusion. “What did you do in New York when you were hungry?”

“Ate out,” Elissa replied, pulling plates out of the kitchen cabinets and placing them on the table. “Sit down and I’ll set the table,” She said.

Veronica sat and stared at her friend. “You never cooked at your house?”

Elissa opened and closed drawers, in search of utensils, shrugging her shoulders distractedly at Veronica’s question. “Well, I don’t really have a house, just a condominium. But no, I haven’t had time to cook in years. I ate out if I got hungry,” and she smiled triumphantly when she opened the drawer with knives and forks.

“What about breakfast? Don’t you eat then?”

Elissa took the plates from the counter and placed three around the table, adding knives, forks and spoons. “Nope. My stomach was usually too tense in the morning for anything other than a cup of coffee.”

“Well no wonder you’ve lost so much weight,” Veronica said, layering her hands over her protruding belly. “You just need some good, home cooking to plump you up a little.”

“I agree,” she said and smiled as Rick walked into the house.

He immediately turned to kiss his wife and Elissa felt like a third wheel. She turned her back to the couple to give them a little privacy, wishing she could leave them alone for a few minutes but the house was too small for her to find another room.

“What smells so good?” Rick asked, sniffing the air.

“Lissy made dinner!” Veronica exclaimed. “But beware, this was her first attempt in years.”

Elissa laughed. “Good warning,” she said and pulled the covers off the dishes. “I hope you like it,” she said.

Rick’s eyes widened and he sniffed appreciably. “If it tastes half as good as it smells, I’ll hug you,” he said and sat down to eat.

The three of them laughed and ate the whole meal, Rick scraping the bowl of mashed potatoes in an effort to get more. Once he was done, he sat back and patted his flat stomach, sighing deeply.

“I’ve got to say, that was delicious,” he said.

“I didn’t know you could cook like that, Lissy,” Veronica said, pulling herself off the kitchen chair to make her way to the family room where she collapsed into a reclining chair. “That was really good,” she said and took the glass of milk her husband brought to her.

“Would you like some coffee?” Rick asked.

Elissa shook her head. “No thank you. I won’t be able