Cash and Everett come down one after the other, and I brace myself for there to at least be some awkwardness. Maybe for them to tiptoe around me to avoid setting me off or to ask me to give them a heads up if I’m going to have another episode.
Instead Everett gives me his usual nod and morning grunt, and Cash flashes that grin. They make coffee and breakfast, and it could be any other morning since I came to stay with them.
Cora shows up a bit later, bleary-eyed and clutching her new stuffed animal. She makes a beeline for me, hugging me around the shins, and I pet her hair and try to reassure her.
No one mentions what happened yesterday and there aren’t any more probing questions. They don’t ask for follow ups about what I told them last night or anything. Instead, Cash turns to Cora as she sits down, waiting for breakfast.
“Ready to learn some more, little star?”
Everett and Lincoln pay attention, watching as Cash goes through the signs he’s picked up online. He says each word as he signs them, going slow so Cora can see the way he moves his hands.
Ever since that first morning, where I explained to them how Cora communicates, they’ve been doing this with her. All three of them picking up signs from the internet, double checking on their phones as they go through each one so Cora will understand. She’s picked up a small vocabulary of new words, ranging from colors or animals and requests for food. They even came up with a special sign for Bessie, the cow that Cora is obsessed with and always wants to talk about. It’s become something of a morning routine, and judging from the way Cora takes to it and focuses on what they’re showing her, she enjoys it as much as they seem to.
She signs back each word Cash shows her, her little fingers clumsy at first, but gaining confidence with repetition. Whenshe does it perfectly the fourth time through, Cash grins at her accomplishment.
“You’re so clever,” he says warmly.
Cora’s whole face lights up, the sound that escapes her—not quite a laugh, but very close—hits me hard.
“What do you want for breakfast?” Lincoln asks, tipping his head at her.
Cora thinks about it and then does the sign for ‘waffles’.
“Waffles…” Lincoln makes a show of considering it seriously. “Yeah, we can do that. Will you come help me?”
She scrambles off her chair to run over to the stove. All three of the Alphas jump in to help put breakfast together. Cash drags a chair over so Cora can reach the counter, and Lincoln guides her through measuring ingredients for the waffle batter.
I can tell what they’re doing, keeping Cora busy so she doesn’t have time to worry about me, and it makes me feel warmer than I would have expected. I’ve never needed help with Cora before, but lately I’ve been wondering if that’s just because I’ve never had help with Cora before.
Everett leans against the counter at one point, cup of coffee in hand, and gives me a little smirk. “Lincoln’s taking charge now, but he didn’t used to be this good in the kitchen.”
“Everett,” Lincoln says. “Shut up.”
Cash laughs. “I remember those days.”
“No, you don’t.”
Lincoln doesn’t turn away from the counter where he’s greasing the plates of the waffle iron with sizzling butter.
Cash’s eyes are dancing with amusement. “Oh, I definitely do. Not every day that you walk into your house and find smoke billowing out of it.”
“What happened?” I ask.
Lincoln sighs, like he knows he’s not getting out of this without the story being told. “I tried to make soup,” he explains.
“Soup!” Cash crows. “He tried to make soup and ended up with something burned on the bottom of a pot that was never the same again.”
“We had to throw that pot out,” Everett replies. “Luckily, it was winter, and cold as fuck outside, so we just tossed it into the snow and let it sit there.”
“Until summer,” Lincoln adds.
“We might have forgotten about it,” Cash says in a low whisper, like it’s a secret. “It wasn’t really recognizable with the burnt shit and the rust.”
“How did you burn soup?” I want to know.
“The recipe didn’t say how long to simmer it for. It just said ‘let simmer’, so that’s what I did. And then… I got distracted.”
Cash laughs and even Everett chuckles at that. “Broke so many fire codes I should have arrested him,” Everett says.