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It took her a few minutes to work both pieces through the process. While she washed up, I added some olive oil to the pan and turned on the stove.
“You can get rid of these extra plates, and there’s a dish we can cook this in over there on the bottom shelf of that cupboard.”
She cleaned up the plates and located the dish. “Why did she quit?”
The question startled me for a second, coming completely out of left field. “Who?”
“Jennifer, of course.”
I sighed. “You’ve been talking to Cindy.”
“You know she tells me everything.”
“She obviously tells you too much. Wipe a little bit of olive oil on the bottom of the baking dish.”
She grabbed a paper towel and did as I asked. “What happened between you two?”
The frying pan was heating up nicely. “What makes you think there’s anything between us?”
“She’s not stupid, you know.”
I turned the gas down. “Cindy reads too many romance novels. She’s imagining things.”
Serena put her hand on her hip. “And was I imagining what I saw down by the Santa Monica Pier last weekend? You with her and that cute kid? Is he her son?”
There was no sense in denying it anymore. “Nephew.”
“You guys looked like you were enjoying yourselves.”
We certainly had been. Every weekend.
I pulled a spatula from the drawer and offered it to her. “Now you want to fry each of the pieces for two minutes on each side and then take them out.”
She put the chicken in the pan all at once and stepped back from the spatter of the oil.
“Two minutes?” she asked.
I set the timer for two minutes. “Each side.”
She flipped them when the time was up, and I reset the timer for her.
The second side finished.
“Okay, now bring the baking pan over and put the pieces in there. You can also take the frying pan off the heat.”
She moved the pan with the chicken to the island. “What’s next?”
I located my cheese grater. “Pour your marinara sauce over the chicken.”
“Like this?”
“Not too much.”
She stopped.
“Now I would sprinkle basil over the chicken pieces and then add parmesan cheese. You can grate on some provolone or mozzarella, or both—whatever you feel like.”
“I didn’t bring any other cheese.”
