“What’s that smell, Mommy?It’s making me hungry.”I smiled at Arne’s enthusiasm.
“Shh.”Mia spoke in a low voice, then raised it to say, “Hello?”
I stepped into the kitchen doorway so they could see me.I was smiling; it was just so damn good to see them again.I didn’t know how to express it though, so I merely said, “Hi.”
I heard Arne’s excited “Mr.Justin!”but kept my eyes on Mia’s face.Her eyes went wide when she saw me, and her mouth lifted in the beginning of a smile before the shutters came down.
I’d have preferred her to run into my arms, but that was too much to expect.She didn’t know why I was here, and she’d been through a rough time—I could take it slow.But her first unguarded response had been happy, so I was going to build on that.
She twisted her hands together.“Uh, what are you doing here?Should we leave?”
I shook my head.
Her eyes narrowed.“Jess told you.”
I nodded.
“Why are you— Don’t you have hockey camp?”
“We can talk after we eat.”I nodded at Arne, who was listening to us with interest.
She huffed and nodded.
I turned my full attention to the boy.“Hey.Do you like lasagna?”
He nodded vigorously.“Yeah.What is lasanna?”
Mia was over her shock.“You don’t have to feed us.I have food.”
I looked at her and shrugged.“I had time.”
“Mommy, I’ve never had lasanna and it smells really good.”
Her shoulders sagged as she decided not to fight it.“If you’re sure.”
“I am.Arne needs to know what lasagna is.”
Mia was wearing wrinkled scrubs, shadows under her eyes.I wanted to fix that, and I hoped part of it was from missing me, not just her family shit.But one step at a time.I ushered them into the kitchen, where I had the table set for three.While they found their seats, I pulled the lasagna out of the oven and stuck the garlic bread in.I gave the salad a toss and brought it to the table.
“It’ll be a minute for the lasagna and garlic bread.We can start with salad.”
Mia still looked confused, but she put a portion of salad on Arne’s plate and then some for herself, before passing it to me.
“I like garlic bread,” Arne informed me, looking skeptically at the Caesar salad.
“You need to eat vegetables,” Mia responded.
I took a bite of salad to provide a good example.
Arne stabbed some lettuce and peered suspiciously before sticking it his mouth.He chewed slowly, looking unimpressed.I held back a smile.The stove dinged so I got up to get the garlic bread out.I put it in a basket, one Grandma always used for bread, and set it on the table before portioning the lasagna and putting it on plates.
“I can’t eat all that,” Mia protested when I gave her a plate.
I shrugged, because I thought she was too thin.She could use some indulging.
“I can!”Arne proclaimed, pushing the salad aside to get to the good stuff.
“It’s hot,” Mia warned.