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Lunch had been called off in favor of dinner tonight at my house. She wanted to chat about Dad, Josh, and Cartwright, and it had turned into a long discussion.
“It’s just spaghetti and meatballs, for God’s sake.”
She raised her fork. “But you get the spices just right.”
“You can’t be in a hurry. You have to let the sauce marinate for a long time.”
I’d seen Serena’s attempts at anything with marinara sauce. They started with opening a bottle of sauce and ended with a microwave.
“Well, it’s delicious, and thank you for listening to all my whining.”
I put my wine glass down. “What else are big brothers for?”
Dad was still convinced that the Cartwright family had something to do with Josh’s accident, and Serena worried it was turning into an unhealthy obsession.
I could understand her concern, but I didn’t share it.
“I need your help,” she said.
“Name it.” She was family, and I’d do anything for family.
“I want you to teach me to cook chicken parmigiana.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
“What’s so funny?”
“Since when are you interested in cooking?” Of all my brothers and sisters, she was by far the worst cook. A tuna fish sandwich was a challenge for her.
“I need to make a special dinner.”
I lifted an eyebrow. “For a special someone?”
She grimaced. “Are you gonna help me or not?”
It seemed we both had a special someone we were hiding.
“Sure. How about Thursday? Will that be soon enough?”
“Thursday would be great.” She leaned her elbows on the table. “I have to say, you’ve been in an unusually good mood the last few weeks.”
“What can I say? Things are going well at work.” I didn’t intend to explain that there was one person in particular responsible for that.
“What’s her name?”
She often tried to catch me with a surprise question.
“Like I said—”
“Right. Things are good at work.”
Last week she’d asked about Jennifer from the gala, and I’d explained our dancing close had been a dig at Melissa. Tonight I wasn’t sure she was buying it anymore.
Serena pushed back and put her napkin on the table. “Thank you for this. I’ve got to get going.”
Sometimes I had to hold her here for a while until she was safe to drive, but tonight she’d barely touched her wine.
“Stop in anytime.”
