His softened gaze moved to the liquid pouring out into the glass.
“Thank you.”
“My pleasure.”
He poured a glass for himself and moved to the far end of the kitchen by the buffet. Almost as if he needed to have one foot out of the room.
Troy stepped back into the kitchen, and I felt August’s eyes on me. “If I can’t have a beer, I’m taking two of these.” He reached for a couple of cupcakes and slipped out of the room.
Grace shook her head. “Knew I should have hid those in the laundry room until after dinner…no one ever goes in the laundry room but me,” she said as she washed vegetables in a large bowl in the sink.
“That’s terrible. I’ve been doing my own laundry since I was twelve.”
“I believe it.” Grace nodded at me.
“Mom, what are you doing?” August snapped suddenly.
I looked up and found Grace massaging an eggplant up and down with her right hand, while gripping the bottom with her left. Her thumb smoothing the rounded tip every few strokes.
Oh. My. God.
I felt myself pale before my cheeks burned.
“What? Oh, I’m testing for firmness. I bought this at the grocery store two weeks ago, just making sure it’s still fresh.”
“Did you get the food network mixed up with another channel, mom?”
“No. I ran into Harper at the store that day and she taught me a little trick. Am I doing it right there, Harp?”
My face heated and I glanced at August whose expression was a mixture of perplexed humor.
“Yeah, I think that’s right Grace,” I squealed. It was all I could say. Heaven forbid I told her it wasn’t, and she’d ask me to demonstrate.
“Here you want to do the rest of these for me while I chop up the garlic?”
August moved closer until he reached the other side of the island. I rushed to rinse the remaining eggplants under water, ignoring his amused stare.
“I’ve never heard of that trick Harper, does it only work for eggplants?”
I swallowed, keeping my eyes on the bowl. “No. No. It’s…tomatoes, um, zucchini, cucum—” I dropped the last of it and shut of the water as my words got stuck in my throat. “These are done.”
“August be a doll and bring them over to me, here,” Grace called from the stove.
August took the steel bowl from me and leaned in with a grin. “Coming right up.”
I inhaled deeply and wiped at my sweaty forehead.
“Mrs. Hartman, you don’t really have to check them this way, these—these are fine. I can tell. You picked a great batch.
“You can tell the firmness just by looking at it? I just hope it doesn’t go all soft on me before I had a chance to use it, you know?”
I was pretty sure I’d stopped breathing by this point. Back teeth clenched hard enough to cause permanent gum damage. “No you’re fine. These are perfect.”
August was still chuckling softly when Troy and his father came in.
“Look at that. I hadn’t seen you break more than a tight grin in years. What’s so funny?” Robert asked.
Troy grabbed his hot tea from the counter and pulled up a stool next to me. I ignored him. The boy beside me was merely a blur compared to the man across the room now, who’s features were clear as day to me. Flexed jaw, steel eyes looking anywhere but our direction.
