Lemon Cake

Chapter Thirty

I love both of you. The statement waltzed through Tulip's mind like in infinite merry-go-round. She didn't know what she was supposed to do with that statement. On one hand, she was happy that he admitted to loving Sidney. She knew it was the truth, she'd known it from the way he lit up when feeling the baby kick for the first time and the delight he had while watching her stomach grow during her last two trimesters. But the notion that he loved her just wasn't sitting right with her soul. How was she to digest his admission? And could it possibly be true after what he did? If you love someone do you abandon them in their time of need?

She wanted to find the portion of her brain that those six words were stored and take a pink eraser to them. Unfortunately, she couldn't perform such a task so she went to the kitchen instead. The growls of her stomach finally grew louder than the noise in her head and she was once again happy for her big appetite. She left the two of them to do the finishing touches around the baseboard. Once she exited the room she heard them shift right back to the language that was still kicking her ass even though she had downloaded Rosetta Stone and Duolingo. Her slow progress wasn't a shock to her. She carried a steady 'C' in Spanish all throughout high school and college. She didn't have the tongue; her 'r' didn't roll and her brain didn't compute the accent sign. This is why she loved math. It was universal and consistent.

The shine of the pendant lights throughout the living room and kitchen became more vivid as the last remains of the evening sun faded and night claimed the horizon. Tulip didn't have to do too much heavy lifting for dinner tonight. Since she was tired from dragging a paint roller up and down walls she decided on sandwiches. They were easy to make, healthy, and required minimal clean-up.

The prep was done; tomatoes and cucumbers sliced, lettuce patted dry and crips, turkey breast slices poised from her to plucked, three pretzel buns, and a butter knife in the jar of chipotle mayo. She was ready to begin preparing the best sandwich Sidney was going to ever sink her teeth in. It was a big claim but Tulip watched a YouTube video and she was confident in her skills. Was she going to tell the world that she watched a how-to video to make a sandwich? Not at all.

As soon as she started spreading mayo over the buns, Jasper strolled in with a quirk to his luscious lips.

"Cool setup." He reached the island and took all the ingredients. "You trying to put Subway out of business?"

Tulip didn't have to look up to know that he was smiling at his own words. She fought the curvation her lips wanted to take and concentrated on the task at hand; spreading the meat on the bread.

He nodded when a reply didn't slip from her mouth. "Sidney's in the bath." He slid on the barstool across from her. His eyes rested on her as if she was a book he was ordered to study and he was making sure he'd ace the exam. "She's a talker. I didn't know a ten-year-old knew that many words."

Tulip said nothing, just placed two slices of tomatoes and a pair of cucumbers on the sandwich. She didn't make eye contact with him although she could pick up his frame from her peripheral. He was sitting ramrod straight with his hands in his lap being annoying when he could go sit at the dining table and swipe through his phone like a normal millennial.

"Where are the pickles?" He asked, gesturing to the vegetables in the glass dishes between them.

Tulip eyes him rigidly. "At Popeye's. You can skip there if you like."

"Nah." He shook his head. "I'm good. Cucumbers are cool. Do you want me to help? I'm good in the kitchen."

Of course, he was. She rolled her eyes to herself as she placed the top on the bun on the sandwich. "This is my kitchen. I know my way around it." She handed him the plate. "Eat this and then you can go."