Page 80 of Truck Me
I chuckle. “No hello or how are you? Just cookies?”
“Hi, Aunt Char. How are you? Can we make cookies now?”
“Come here.” I reach for her and pull her into a tight hug. “Of course we can make cookies. Pick what kind.”
I release her, and she runs to the pantry. My smile grows as I watch her disappear through the door.
Carol was the same way. She loved cookies too and always liked to help make them.
I may not have everything figured out, especially where Garret is concerned, but I feel better.
I’m finally ready to heal and do something I haven’t done in over ten years. If she’s up to it, Rayne can help me make it happen.
* * *
“Stop!” I slap at Rayne’s hand as she reaches for another cookie from the cooling rack. “You’ve already eaten, like, twenty cookies. You’re never going to eat dinner.”
She scoffs. “I’ve had three, Aunt Char. Three. That’s not very many.”
“It’s enough. That’s for sure.” I point at her with narrow eyes, but it’s all for fun. “No more until after dinner. You got me?”
“Fine.” She rolls her eyes. “Can I help with dinner too?”
“Of course. We’re making Sloppy Joes tonight. Should be an easy dinner.”
She furrows her brows. “Sloppy Joes? What’s that?”
I press my hand to my chest and look at her in mock horror. “You’ve never had a Sloppy Joe?”
She shakes her head.
“We’re changing that tonight. A Sloppy Joe is only one of my favorite comfort foods of all time. We used to eat them all the time as kids. I can’t believe Mom hasn’t made them for you.”
She wrinkles her nose as if she’s not sure she believes me. “But what is it?”
“It’s a sandwich. Grab me that package of ground beef from the fridge and I’ll show you how to make them.”
She still looks skeptical, but she gets it anyway. I get the onion chopped while she watches. “Can you also get me a red pepper from the fridge? I need to chop that up too.”
“Can I try it?”
I look over at her. “What? Chopping it up?” She nods. “Sure. Let me finish the onion and you can do the pepper.”
Her smile returns, and it warms my heart. I love that she wants to spend this time with me. Despite the distance I’ve kept between us all these years, she’s not holding it against me. She could very easily hate me for never being around, but she doesn’t. The joy she finds in spending time with me makes me far happier than words can express.
She returns with a pepper and leans against my side after she sits it on the counter. I give the onions a few more chops with the knife before I transfer them to a bowl.
“First you need to rinse off the pepper. Always wash your vegetables before you use them.”
“How come? It doesn’t look dirty.” She picks up the pepper and inspects it before she takes it to the sink.
“Just because you can’t see dirt doesn’t mean it’s not there. You don’t know where that pepper has been before it made it to our house. Wild animals could have been roaming the field this pepper was growing in or the farmer could have used pesticides to keep the vegetables safe from bugs before harvesting. So washing them first is safest.”
“Okay.” She shrugs. “Makes sense. Now what?”
She steps up to the cutting board, shifting the now washed pepper from hand to hand.
“Now you julienne it.”