“Adrian?”
He turned around to see his dad’s tired smile.
“Look on the bright side, maybe this move will do something good.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Adrian gave his dad a half-hearted smile of his own before he nearly bolted out the door and headed towards the kitchen. He felt a smidge of guilt leaving his dad in the office alone, but someone needed to save dinner.
“Ellie! You can’t leave it on the stove!” He heard his mom yell from outside.
“I’m just charring it.” Adrian didn’t need to see his mom’s face to know that his sister’s argument fell short.
Once he got into the kitchen, Adrian immediately took notice of the mess in front of him. On one side of the island, right on the countertops, were neatly-cut vegetables which were obviously done by his mom; and right next to the stove, stood his sister who was trying to explain that the contents in the pan weren’t burnt but charred.
“It’s fine,” Ellie insisted as she tried to redeem herself.
Adrian didn’t even have to look inside of the pan to know that the food was beyond saving. Just the smell alone was enough for him.
“No, it’s really not,” he finally said.
“It is!” Ellie then used the tongs to pick up a piece of what may have been meat. “Look! It’s not that bad.”
“Yeah sure, that’s totally not burnt,” he snarked back.
“Come on, it’s really not that bad.” She took a small bite which ended up to be a piece of fried starch. “See?”
Adrian crossed his arms. “No one’s gonna wanna eat that.”
His mom shook her head. “I told her to caramelize the onions, but she put in the potatoes instead. I didn’t notice because I was too busy cutting the vegetables.”
“How did you mistake onions for potatoes?” Adrian looked at his sister with an incredulous expression.
“I don’t know.”
“Aren’t you, like, twenty-six?”
Ellie shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal. “Cooking isn’t my specialty.”
“So how do you feed Diego?” Adrian asked, concerned for his nephew’s health.
“Miguel does the cooking,” Ellie explained just in time as another person entered into the kitchen.
“I heard my name,” Miguel spoke up as he propped up their toddler on a clean counter. The man in question then took stock of the disaster-worthy scene in front of them and made a face. “They let you cook?”
“It’s not that—”
“Ellie, you burnt the potatoes.” His mom took a glance at the nearly-ruined pot. “How do you even feed my grandson?”
“I usually do the cooking, Mom,” Miguel replied and then cooed to Diego. “Isn’t that right Diego? Doesn’t Papa make the best food?”
A series of giggles came from the boy.
“So does he really cook everything?” Adrian continued his conversation with his sister.
“Almost.” Ellie sighed in slight defeat.
“So what did you burn?” Miguel asked as he sniffed the air. “I can’t even tell what it is.”
“Nothing serious—” Ellie started before their mom interrupted.
“Potatoes. Your wife burned the potatoes,” she added with a bit of indignance in her tone.
“Mom! You can’t just sell me out like that,” Ellie cried while she scrapped the potato remains from the pot and threw them into the bin.
“I just can’t believe it, how do you even feed my grandbaby?” Adrian heard his mom utter.
Miguel snickered. “If she did the cooking then we’d all be hospitalized.”
The toddler merely cooed in response.
“So.” Adrian went to the sink to wash his hands. “What needs to be done?”
His mom replied as she went back to the cutting board to chop the rest of the ingredients. “I almost have everything cut. Right now, just get the onions and carrots together. We’re making a stew so it won’t be hard. Oh, and don’t forget the peppers and the pastes.”
“Sounds good,” he replied as he grabbed all the necessary things.
“What should I do?” Ellie asked, as if she didn’t almost set the house on fire.
Their mom didn’t skip as a beat when she replied, “You’re washing the dishes.”
His sister groaned while he couldn’t help but let out a snicker.
It didn’t take too long for them to prepare everything for the pressure cooker. In fact, the thing that took the longest time was searching for the cooking device, as it was hidden deep within the depths of the garage.
As Adrian helped Ellie clear up the kitchen, the bitter taste of what could have been dinner seeped into his mind. Somewhere along the line, Adrian realized that he liked being in the kitchen a whole lot more than the office. In the kitchen, he could do anything he wanted the way he wanted. The office wasn’t like that. In that small confined space that smelled like papers and ink, there were way too many rules and regulations. No ifs, ands, or buts.
Besides, Ellie was supposed to be the next one. The next leader that everyone knows and loves while he can go do his own thing and live his own life. That was the plan until she went to study abroad. Not only did she return with an ability to speak Spanish, but she also brought along her soul mate.
Miguel wasn’t the problem, in fact he was a great guy. Cultural differences really weren’t hard to get over and language barriers were minimal. The only problem lay in the fact that Ellie announced she was moving to Mexico.
It wasn’t a light decision on her part. If he knew his sister like he thinks he does then Ellie probably had a tough time figuring out how to tell them. Plus, it wasn’t like the reason was a simple whim. It was because Miguel was already leading his own pack down south.
Which only made sense for Ellie to give up her position since she wasn’t officially inaugurated
