Del checked on the kids who were still asleep. It would be snack time soon, and then they should make dinner. He couldn’t wait to cook with Abigail again. They’d always been in the kitchen together ever since she was little. It might not have been her passion in life, but she loved to help and enjoyed when he explained to her why something tasted good with something else.
“Why do you look weird?” Abigail asked as she joined him in the kitchen after a while.
“I just realized that I’ve technically done the whole ‘explaining to kids how to cook’ thing before.”
“Oh?” She pointed at the fridge. “Can I grab a drink?”
“Yeah, can you get the apple juice out for the kids, too? And I did it before with you when you were little. Every time we were in the same house, we cooked together.”
Abigail quite obviously thought back as she handled the drinks. “Yeah, I think I remember that. We even made something in this kitchen when great-grandma was alive, didn’t we?”
Now they both made a thoughtful face, before remembering at the same exact time. “Gingerbread men!” They exclaimed, then laughed together.
“Wazzat?” Wyatt asked sleepily from the doorway.
“Hey buddy, come here.” Del met Wyatt halfway and picked him up. Wyatt put his head on Del’s shoulder.
“Wazzat?” he repeated, his fingers fiddling with the sleeve of Del’s T-shirt.
“Gingerbread men?” Abigail asked, and Wyatt nodded.
Del knew Abigail well enough that he could tell how much trouble she was having with holding back the sorrow she felt right then.
“It’s cookies you make and decorate for Christmas. We can make those for the holidays. Abigail can show you pictures on the internet if you’d like, while I make you and Scarlett something to snack on. That okay?” Del turned them so Abigail had a moment to collect herself.
“Uh-huh,” Wyatt mumbled, then pointed at the juice on the table. “Apple?”
“Yeah, bud, I’ll put some in your mug. Do you want down?”
Maybe it was the fact that Abigail was a stranger or maybe Wyatt was just being clingy, but he shook his head and held on to Del for the time being.
Abigail poured the juice and took it to the table. Del went to input his password to wake up his laptop so Abigail could do an image search for gingerbread men.
Soon enough, Wyatt sat next to Abigail, their chairs pushed together and her arm around his shoulders, as she explained to him the finer details of gingerbread.
Del had the snacks ready and Scarlett on his hip when Harper came home from school. She calmly took off her shoes and walked into the kitchen instead of running full speed like normal.
“Hey, Harper, how was school?” Del asked and Scarlett giggled and waved at her sister.
“It was okay,” Harper replied, then carefully walked closer to hug Del and tug at Scarlett’s toes in greeting.
“This is Abigail, you’ve seen her on the video chats.”
“Hi, Harper. It’s nice to finally meet you!” Abigail said in a voice so genuine that it reached Harper’s suspicious heart and made her smile slightly.
“Yeah, you too.” She edged closer to the table and reached to ruffle Wyatt’s hair. “Hi, Wy.”
Wyatt held his mug out for her. “Apple?”
“No thank you,” she replied, smiling at him. “Thanks for asking though.”
“We looked at gingerbread men earlier,” Abigail told Harper. “We were thinking about making a whole gingerbread house for the holidays.”
“Oh, like on TV?” Harper’s eyes were wide. It became instantly obvious that she knew what Abigail was talking about and that for her, gingerbread houses were something very special.
“Yeah, wanna see what we found online?”
“Yeah!”
Del put a plate of carrot sticks, berries, and banana in front of the chair on the other side of Abigail. “You can sit here,” he told Harper, who climbed onto the chair almost clumsily, her eyes firmly on the screen. “Sit down and pay attention to your snack, too. Otherwise we’ll wait until you’ve eaten.”
She nodded quickly, stuffed some blueberries in her mouth, and grabbed a carrot stick in her other hand.
Del rolled his eyes, but nodded at Abigail when she glanced at him questioningly.
He put Scarlett in her high chair and left her to make mess with her own blueberries and banana slices, and started on dinner. Turned out his sous chef was too busy entertaining the masses, but at least Del had a quick family dinner down to a T by now, and didn’t really need help anyway.
* * * *
When Justin came home from work, the relaxed atmosphere changed a bit. It was like Justin looking for a way out even before he was fully inside the house.