Take Out Chef

Chapter Thirty-Eight

My grasp on the knife tightened when I heard the distinctive sound of Bryan's voice inside the house. My hand froze for a moment before I sniffed and kept chopping with more force.

"Look who's here?" Juno smiled as I looked up to find the culprit of my disgrace standing next to my evil grandmother. His gaze was intense as he stared at me, still with teary eyes and probably smelling like onion a mile away.

"Hello." I plastered a fake smile on my face, before turning away to grab the last onion. My hand grasped thin air. I didn't realize I chopped them all.

"You're already finished?" Juno peeked inside the metal bowl where she'd left five onions less than half-an-hour ago. She moved the bowl, raising an eyebrow. "My, you really know how to chop."

"It looks like a puree," Bryan noted, suppressing a smile.

Even in my house, he bosses me around.

I clasped my lips in a tight line. "You did say that Mr. Gomez doesn't like onion, so I chopped it as fine as I could."

Juno nodded. "True. Thank you, dear."

Sniffling once more, I took my knife and chopping board to the sink. I washed them as Juno started to make small talk with Bryan about dinner.

"The house looks lovely, Juno," he added after they went over the menu.

"It does, doesn't it?" A part of me felt bad for being in such a sour mood; Juno was so excited for the whole family and I wanted to do something nice for her.

I noticed how easily tired she was starting to get. Age was something that Juno had defied all this years, but lately, it was starting to take a toll on her.

After I blew my nose and washed my hands again, I turned to her. "What can I do?"

Her lips curved up. "Could you please help Bryan with the turkey? I'm afraid I asked for a complicated recipe." Of course. She wanted to play cupid again. Darn it. "I'm going to leave you two to it while I go search for your brother. He's taking forever to come down."

Leaving us alone in the kitchen was probably her plan all along. Nice, Juno.

She scurried away trying to go unnoticed and the little guilt feeling about being crabby had a moment ago, vaporized as I found myself with Bryan alone in the kitchen.

"Okay," he stepped to the sink and started to wash his hands. "The turkey isn't that complicated, it involves a lot of chopping and stuff, but I'm pretty sure you ace that part, right?" He glanced at me, a smile playing on his lips. "Let's just try not to murder the poor carrots this time."

Pursing my lips, I forced half a grin again. I hadn't noticed he'd brought a few grocery bags with him, but as I stepped around the kitchen, I saw them lying on the floor.

"We're going to make a spiced butter that we'll spread between the skin and the meat," Bryan continued, ignoring my lack of response. He took a large turkey from one of the bags and placed it over the counter. "I was thinking sage and clementine zest, maybe add a bit of nutmeg, too."

"For the butter?" I tried not to swoon at him as he pulled up the sleeves of his shirt, talking about spices, being in his element, and seeing that glint of knowledge and expertise on his eyes. My gaze followed his every movement. My lips parted and my stomach started to flutter. This was the side of Bryan that was hard not to feel attracted to.

He gazed at me. "Does that sound okay?"

I blinked at him. "Are you asking me?"

"I know for a fact that you're incredibly talented, Jessie." I frowned. I would have thought the opposite, seeing how he always make me repeat everything back in school. Ignoring me, he ripped open the turkey bag and I reached over to help him get it out.