Page 23 of Spiced!

“The oven is performing well.”

She looked at me long, clear, and with her I-know-exactly-what-is-happening-here smirk, then turned back to her work.

“The vet was kind,” I said for no reason.

She continued rolling dough without looking up.

“We go back in three weeks.”

“Three weeks isn’t so long,” she said.

As though confirming what everyone kept saying, the timer went off.

The pan sobao came out warm and with the rich smell of something made right. Doña Carmen broke off a piece—the end, always, fifty years of that rule—and ate it with her eyes closed.

“So good,” she said.

Outside, the sky was growing lighter at the edges.

Three miles away, Mofongo was still asleep with a stuffed animal under his ear.

I had a puppy named after mashed plantains and garlic, a vet’s number in my phone, and three weeks that were, apparently, not so long.

I pulled out the next tray and got back to work.

Chapter 5

Brendan

Puck stole my left shoe on Thursday evening, which I considered a reasonable metaphor for how the week was going. I found it twenty minutes later. How he got it into the space behind the washer will forever be a mystery.

Shoe retrieved, I sat on the kitchen floor, scratched his mischievous, knobby head, and decided that I was going back to Barbacks on Saturday.

It was a good bar. Peter had recommended it. The whiskey was good.

These were the reasons.

Puck realized I was lacing up the recovered shoe and began fidgeting.

“We need to talk about boundaries.”

He dook’d and skittered away.

I looked toward Gerald from the floor. He was three rooms away and therefore not visible, but I looked in his direction anyway.

“Don’t,” I said.

Gerald said nothing, because Gerald was a succulent and had already made his position clear by existing quietly on the windowsill without stealing anything from anyone, which was a pointed contrast to my furry housemate.

On Friday, Puck stole the right shoe.

I found it in the bathroom.

I didn’t ask questions.

Saturday arrived without asking whether I was ready.

That was rude.