“I know, and it’s okay. We’re here for you, never forget that. Now go and get some old clothes on so you can cook for Gail while I take your father out to the garden. The kitchen is all yours.”
“Love you, Mama.” Lena kissed the weathered cheek and looked for her son.
Kyle was nowhere in sight. She checked his room and didn’t find him. Lena walked outside and approached her parents. “Where’s Kyle?”
Her father looked up. “Over at Adam’s checking out the new herd that arrived the other day. Don’t worry about him, he’s welcome over there anytime he wants to go and they get on fine.”
“Okay, well if you’re sure that’s okay then, I’ll get on with Gail’s baking.” She cast a glance over the fence at the neighboring farm hoping to catch a glimpse of her son.
“Don’t worry about him, Lena. The boy is in good hands.” Her father dropped a handful of weeds into the wicker basket he carried around the garden with him and then winked at her with his usual reassuring smile.
“What am I making for dinner tonight, Mama?”
Sofia brushed her hands on her ever-present apron and stood up. “We have some of those wild mushrooms you picked yesterday. Ravioli maybe, sounds good. Adam seems to like pasta.”
Lena smiled. A good workout with the pasta machine would be nice. That was a plus then. “Fine.” She turned back to the house and walked up the path back into the kitchen, thinking while she skipped over the cracks in the concrete. The small game she played reminded her of the times she played with Gail in the back yard after school while the fragrance of her mother’s cooking seeped out of the proverbially open kitchen window. She hadn’t cooked here for ages and for a second, the urge niggled down her spine. When her and Kyle came for the weekend it was her mother who cooked, giving her a rest to sit back and relax after the long hours she put in at the restaurant. The tingles of excitement started to creep under her skin as she opened cupboards and took out familiar utensils she’d grown up learning to cook with.
Soon Lena was into the swing of things and the morning passed her by in a burst of creative energy. The cakes and pastries came automatically as she got her rhythm back and lost herself in the cooking. Little almond cakes cooled on the rack while more cooked in the large oven, the bitter sweetness filling the kitchen. Her mother was right. It soothed her broken heart and gave her hope for the future that she and Kyle would be okay. They were survivors and had the experience to know what worked for them and what didn’t. Although this time she’d promised herself she would be there for her son. He needed the stability and it was on her to give it to him.
Plans of parent teacher interviews and helping out with school lunches raced through her mind as she kneaded the dough for the evening’s pasta before leaving it to rest under a damp cloth. Lena grated dark chocolate for the mud cake for Gail’s shop and on impulse she doubled the recipe so they could have one for dinner tonight. If Adam was kind enough to give her boy some male bonding time, the least she could do was to feed him well. Determined not to make an impression on him, she was mindful of the happy relationship he seemed to have with her parents.
Kyle came in just after mid-day and went straight to the fridge, standing with the door open as he looked inside.
“It’s not going to come out and bite you. Reach in, take something out, and shut the door.” I should know, I tried that enough growing up and it never worked for me. Lena watched him from her position at the stove where she was stirring her wild mushroom sauce for the ravioli.
“I don’t know what I want.” He looked again and then over at her, raising his head and sniffing the air. “What’s that cooking? Can I have some?” He slammed the fridge door and headed over to the pot, then took the spoon from her hand and lifted it to his mouth, tasting the sauce. “Perfect, just needs to reduce a bit more and you have a winner.” He high fived her and gave her back the spoon.
“It’s for dinner tonight. Adam is coming over so I’m making ravioli with wild mushroom sauce. These are the mushrooms we picked yesterday from his place. Makes sense we should share them. What do you think?” Lena turned off the gas and put a lid on the pot. She wiped her hands on the apron she had tied around her waist.
“Yeah, why not.”
“How about a bowl of eggplant and beef. There’s some of that left from last night.”
“Nah, I’ll have a sandwich thanks. Meat with mustard and cheese.” He turned back to the fridge and took out a platter of cold meat, putting it on the table before he hunted down the cheese and butter.
Lena passed the bread from the pantry and sat down with him. “So, what have you been doing over at Adam’s?” She picked at the cold meat while Kyle made himself a sandwich.
He slathered on the butter and cheese and cut a thick slice of meat. “He showed me the bloodlines he’s trying to develop today. The new stock are still in a paddock away from the others for another couple of weeks because of quarantine and then he can start breeding.” Kyle sat down and grabbed the sandwich in both hands, taking a huge bite. He chewed while thinking and Lena watched her beautiful child processing his morning. “You should come over
