“Okay, we have pineapple chunks. We could make something similar to sweet and sour chicken but use turkey instead. Then we can cut it into small enough chunks to cook in time, and maybe use the cauliflower as rice. To make the sauce, we can use marshmallows instead of brown sugar, some of the juice from the pineapples, and I’m sure your parents have ketchup, soy sauce, and cornstarch.”
“Oh, wow,” Katie said, feeling a bit impressed and in awe. “You’re actually pretty brilliant.”
“I can’t say that is the most frequent compliment that hockey players tend to get.”
Katie picked up the box of cereal, thinking, then grabbed the marshmallows. “Rice Krispies treats!”
Connor paused a second before he grabbed the can of jellied cranberry sauce. “We can use this in the sauce for sugar instead of the marshmallows.” Then he grabbed the potato chips. “Maybe crumble some of these up with the Reese’s Puffs? It could be a sweet and salty treat.”
“I’m not sure if that will make it awful or awfully tasty. I say we find out.”
Connor pulled the final two ingredients toward them— the pumpkin pie mix and the flour tortillas— and Katie gasped. “We can make mini pumpkin pies in a muffin tin! We’ll use the tortillas as a crust, and we can whip the cream.”
“That’s perfect.” As they quickly gathered all the ingredients into their arms to haul them over to the counters, Connor said, “But we need a side. Our plan gives us one main dish and two desserts.”
“We can call the pumpkin pies a side.” When Connor shot her a look, she said, “What? Pumpkin is a vegetable, right?”
They were down to twenty-three minutes remaining, so Katie hurried to put a skillet on the stove and turned the burner on, and they quickly divided up who was going to work on what item first. Connor cut the turkey into cubes, dredging them in corn starch and putting them into the skillet as he went, while Katie cut up the peppers on a second cutting board beside him as fast as she could.
“Coming up with what to make out of random ingredients is one of the hardest parts of drawing theDinnerpaper.” She glanced at him as she worked. She had to admit that the guy was creative. “Yet you came up with something pretty great.”
“Wow. A second compliment in three minutes.” He didn’t look away from his slicing— which was good, because they were in a hurry— but said, “I guess when your parents start to have a falling out that lasts the better part of a year, then your dad leaves completely and your mom is left dealing with a myriad of struggles, you tend to get plenty of opportunities to figure out how to make things from random ingredients that resemble meals.”
Katie did actually stop slicing peppers for a full five seconds to just look at Connor. She wasn’t sure what she thought of him, exactly, but she was definitely intrigued. Plus, he had that strong jaw and the hair that curled over his ear just a bit that was rather attractive.
Stop being attracted, Katie, she reminded herself. She had a plan and was going to stick with it.
She finished cutting the peppers before Connor finished the turkey, so she started grating the cauliflower. Her parents had two ovens, but they had to share the stove with Noelle and Jack, so they only got two of the burners. Things were going to get tricky, so she got out another pan to cook and slightly toast the cauliflower.
Before long, Katie found herself cutting the tortillas into triangles and working to get them to sit right in the muffin tin right next to where Noelle was layering Greek yogurt, gummy worms, crushed pretzels, and a drizzle of cranberry sauce in nearly two dozen clear cups at one end of the long island counter. Connor was at the other end, mixing ingredients into a bowl for the sauce, taste-testing it, and then making adjustments. Jack was keeping an eye on… Katie wasn’t sure exactly what on the stove while mixing stuff in with the spaghetti.
Without glancing up, Noelle nodded her head toward Connor. “Things between you two don’t seem as tense as when he first got here.”
Katie used the back of her hand to rub her forehead and took a quick look at Connor. “I can forgive the guy who ruined the dance and my dress.”
“Mydress.”
“Yourdress. It was a very long time ago. What matters is what he’s like now.”
A bit of yogurt fell from the spoon as Noelle was scooping it, falling onto the apron covering her big belly. Noelle just looked at it, sighed, and kept going. “And what is he like now? Dateable?”
The old her would’ve said yes. The new her didn’t. “I don’t have enough info yet.”
“But you do think he’s very attractive, right?”
Katie smiled. “That, he is.” She glanced at him again as he took the sauce to the stove, gave both the cauliflower and the turkey a stir, then added the peppers to the turkey skillet. “As far as the rest goes, though, I’m withholding judgment for now. I’m sure I’ll find out what he’s really like as we’re filming.”
“Come on, Katie. He’s been great while he’s been here. You can’t tell me that you haven’t been thinking about what it would be like to date him, even if it’s only for fun and not for anything long-term.”
“Okay, I have.” Because he kind of got her heart fluttering quite a bit. She placed the final tortilla triangle in the last of the two muffin tins and grabbed the can of pumpkin pie mix and a can opener. “And I also haven’t. I decided I make decisions too quickly when it comes to men to date, and I made a goal to be more skeptical. Now, I slow down and get more information first. I don’t use my initial gut reaction anymore. That thing can’t be trusted.”
She exhaled as she opened the can of pumpkin. “Besides, even if he does end up being great, when would I ever fit in dating? Christmas is in a week. I have to film Connor at three activities. Then I have to edit all that footage and get it sent in.”
As she put dollop after dollop of pie filling in each spot in the muffin tin, moving as quickly as she could, all the things she needed to do outside of tonight moved just as quickly through her mind. “I need to finish filming our family’s video and edit it, and I have to do one for the Waldrops’ Christmas party in a few days, edit that, work at my other job because this time of year is always crazy for Emmalee, and finish last minute shopping. On top of all our regular family traditions. Plus, I don’t even really know what he’s like yet. And I’ll only see him through Christmas, anyway.”
“You’re right. It’s good to know when to admit defeat, call it quits,” Noelle said as she drizzled the last bit of cranberry sauce on her crazy creations in a flourish.
“You’ll never get me to admit defeat. Like everything, I’m in this to win it.” She was pretty sure she was talking about the dinner competition now.
