Chapter Five: BEEF SAUCE

Hanna

Over the next five hours, I did nothing but sit at Faith’s kitchen table and think. With a pen and paper, I’d found on it. I didn’t even step inside the room I’d been offered, slightly apprehensive for multitudes of reasons. So I just sat there and thought.

I gave myself at worst, at the absolute worst, three months in this house. I’d find a job as soon as possible, within the next hour if it was within the sphere of human possibility. Depending on what my first paycheck would look like and when. I’d set aside at most fifty percent and put it together until I made up to a six-month rent on a normal apartment. Then I’d divide that into two, give Faith her half and… Yeah, I had to admit that there was no way I’d successfully pay Faith back in three months. But by God, I would try.

A part of my mind was acknowledging the fact that this was rather masochistic of me. After all, I made all these plans for Big Dreams, didn’t I? And didn’t they literally go up in flames?

Nevertheless, we had to push forward. And I made a mental note to never think about Big Dreams burning down again until I had to. I was sure that time would eventually come, what with the land still being my property and all that. But not till then.

God, I couldn’t keep sitting here being scared of this house. It was just 3 pm, so I decided to get the hell up and do something. 

Cook, maybe?

Opening the fridge, I saw beautifully stocked shelves of cheese and bread and so much stuff I would’ve cried.

“This place is perfect,” I groaned, pulling out a dish of frozen tomatoes. Behind it was a plate of ground beef. God, she even had frozen beef?

I’ve always loved cooking, and I realized that if this was what I needed to do to pay this woman back, she was certainly making my job easier by stocking up her fridge like this. So many meal ideas were already pulling up in my brain when I pulled out the beef.

Setting them on the counter, I stretched – a bit too difficult, since it’s no fun being short – and opened the overhead cupboards. The first was filled with cups. Second with dishes. Why in the world were the dishes up there? I wondered. Oh well, I couldn’t be the one to arrange someone else’s house. 

The third cupboard finally contained cooking ingredients. A large gallon of sunflower oil sat at the back, and I all but jumped and hung on the edge of the cupboard, just to get it.

Damn. If I was controlling this kitchen, I’d have to rearrange some things. Faith was too damn tall for me.

Pulling out dishes and pots and a pan, I set to work cooking a rice and beef sauce recipe I’d taught myself. When I’d first moved into my new flat above Big Dreams, I’d spent an unhealthy amount of time shuffling between cooking and creating cocktail mixes. So much so that I literally had a bunch of music playlists on my phone titled “Hungover” and “Indigestion.”

Too bad I wasn’t in the mood to pretend like everything was fine. Nonetheless, I shuffled about, humming a song as I started the meal.

“Mmm, I love it when my house smells like food I didn’t cook,” Faith called from the front door, startling me so badly I nearly pushed the pot off the cooker.

That was Faith, right?

“Faith?” I called back. She clicked her tongue in reply, appearing at the kitchen door with shoes in one hand and jacket in the other. Her curly hair had been let down and looked like a breeze had been blowing through it.

I checked the time on my phone. “5 pm? Is that your normal closing time?”

She shook her head and sat at the table. “Nope. Aaron sent me home early.”

Ah, I felt certain Aaron was not the kind of boss to let his employees go off early. And 5 pm would count as early. No, he seemed like the kind of boss to demand extra hours even on a Saturday evening.

It was so unfair when the breathtakingly handsome men were the assholes.

I still recall the anger in his eyes when he saw me. For all of his calmness, I wondered what he wished he had done to me. A poor human squatting in a house he’s clearly not using? Ah, the travesty. 

“Your boss is an ass,” I commented, turning back to the sauce and turning it. Yes, the consistency was perfect.

“And your food smells amazing, if we’re stating facts.”

I laughed at that. Of course, she would have a sense of humor.

“Thank you.” I set the sauce to boil and sat at the table with her. “But seriously. What in the world was that this morning?”

She shrugged, and I saw a shudder of guilt come over her face. Before I commented on it, she said, “I’m really sorry about that. I swear, I didn’t know he was scheduling it for a renovation. We have a list of homes for renovation, and that place wasn’t listed. I was just as taken off guard as you.” She laughed rather self-deprecatingly. “He didn’t say anything about what happened this morning at work, and I get the feeling that this is a calm before the storm kind of thing. I’m slightly terrified.”

I didn’t like that this man intimidated her. I knew what his intimidation felt like, like knees becoming jelly when he stared hard at you, and I didn’t like that he did that to her.

Hell, I just didn’t like him.

“Hell will freeze over before he fires you. I won’t let that happen.”

I had no idea how I was going to save her job, and I was sure she knew that too, but I appreciated that she didn’t comment on it either.

“I’m starved. Food nearly ready?”

Reminds me… I stood up and clasped my hands together over my stomach, the perfect pose of the stewardess.

“Please go upstairs and refresh yourself. If you come down in twenty minutes, the table will be set.”

Faith’s laugh followed her all the way upstairs.