QUESTIONS

ROWAN

Knock! Knock!

“Come in,” I call out quietly, my head bowed over my desk, still preoccupied with the reports and maps before me.

“Hi, mummy!” Jhenelle’s voice calls out, bringing me out of my thoughts. “We brought lunch!”

We?

I lift my head to see her as well as Louis walking with trays.

What is going on here?

“Why are you two together?” I ask.

“Louis said he wanted to make you lunch and asked me to help. He wanted to make your favorite meal,”she answers as she waddles up to my desk to place her tiny tray. “Can we eat together?”

“i-”

“We made Pasta Amatriciana,” he says, the r’s rolling of his tongue in a smooth timbre. “I hope you don't mind.”

He places the tray and removes the napkin over it to replace a wide set of plates with the steaming dish.

The hot red sauce catches my attention first as it clings to each strand with bits of crispy guanciale bits peeking out. In the steam that rises from it I can smell the aroma of garlic and onion mixed with the cheese that is artfully