Chris chuckled. “Who is he anyways?”
“Glen O’Dale. He was my first boyfriend. We dated for two years, but when my parents were killed I kind of just stopped talking to him. While I was in Colorado he convinced Mama to put his letters with hers when they were sent to me. So we wrote back and forth a little, but nothing serious.”
“Sounds like it was serious to him.”
“Unfortunately.”
“Do you miss him?” immediately Chris realized he’d gone too far, he sounded like a jealous boyfriend.
“What’s it to you?” Katrina smiled up at him.
“Nothing. Just wondering that’s all.” There was a long awkward pause and Chris felt like shoving his foot in his mouth.
“I think I’ll always have a part of me that loves him because he was my first real anything, but no, I don’t.”
Chris nodded. “What’s not to love about a guy who gets free ice cream?”
Katrina laughed.
They continued walking around for a few minutes talking about ice cream flavors. Katrina showed him the bar Stumps, which was on the corner of Roseberry and Church Street. It looked like any neighborhood pub with few windows that were covered with a stained glass decoration, the door was big and red with a large knocker and sliding peep-hole. They made their way back to Mama’s via Church Street. Chris was admiring the church and bell tower as they walked by. They turned down Mama’s street: Forest road, passed the café and were back at Mama’s in no time.
“I noticed there’s a lot of apartment-type buildings here. Isn’t that unusual for a small town?”
“I suppose so. A lot of the houses are for people who either started or run their companies, or have been here for a very long time. The people who live in the apartments are usually retired, or are the small business owners.
Katrina let them in and they made their way up to the apartment. Chris remembered he had to clean up his blood but when he looked down at the steps, it was already gone. When they reached the third floor and went into the apartment, Mama wasn’t there and it was nearly six o’clock. Chris suggested that they make dinner for Mama’s return. Katrina thought that was a great idea and started digging through the refrigerator. Chris did the same in the cupboards.
Katrina found some fresh pastry, along with some steak tips and random vegetables. “Hey, can you see any beef stock in this cupboard here?” She pointed to the skinny cupboard beside the fridge.
“What are you thinking?”
“Beef pot pie.”
“Good thinking!” Chris looked in the cupboard, shifting through baking soda, baking powder, numerous spices and extracts until he found some OXO beef stock. “Here.” He showed Katrina before placing it on the counter.
“Perfect.”
Katrina grabbed a large saucepan from under the oven and placed it on the stove. She went into another cupboard and pulled out two cutting boards and two large knives. “Here, if you can chop these veggies for me into small cubes, I’ll do the steak.”
Chris grabbed the knife and cutting board and went to work on the onion while Katrina cubed the steak before throwing it in the pot. “Usually Mama would cook the meat for a couple hours to make it more tender, but we don’t have that kind of time.”
“I’m sure it will be great.” Chris smiled back at her. “It smells good already.”
After about forty-five minutes of preparation, they finally put the pie into the pre-heated oven. Katrina grabbed a couple glasses out of the cupboard and a bottle of red wine off Mama’s wine rack. Chris opened the bottle and poured Katrina’s first. “Here’s to Katrina’s amazing beef pot pie.” They both smiled and took a sip of the wine.
“What in the name of God smells so delicious in here?” Mama was rounding the corner with a paper grocery bag in her hand. She set it on the counter and went straight for the oven. “What are you makin’ chickens?”
“Beef pot pie.” Katrina said confidently.
“Oh, well, I’ll be. You didn’t have to do that.”
“It was Chris’ idea.”
Mama looked over at Chris with the softest eyes he had seen.
“It was the least I could offer for letting me stay and everything.”
“Oh Sugar.” She reached as high as she could wrap her arms around Chris’ neck, and then went to give Katrina a hug. “It’s a good thing I only made a Strawberry Apple pie this morning.” Mama went over to the grocery bag to unload the things into the refrigerator. “Where’s my wine?” she winked at Katrina who immediately got up and poured her a glass.
Chris and Katrina sat down at the table and Mama joined them after everything was put away. “Ugh busy day”, She said plopping into her chair. “How’d things with the Doctor go?” She took a big gulp from her wine.
“It went really well.” Chris exclaimed. “The Doctor seemed very cooperative. I got a bunch of information about the infection. I think it will be very useful.”
“Well good Chicken. I’m glad. What about you sweetheart?” she turned to Katrina. “I heard you ran into Glen.”
Katrina threw her hands in the air and rolled her eyes. “Good Lord.” Sometimes it amazed her just how small the town actually was. Especially knowing that it was probably one of the old biddies sitting outside knitting that told Mama. “Is nothing private in this town?”
“You haven’t been gone long enough not to know better.”
Katrina covered her face with her hands and shook her head. “Chris exchanged an interview with Ronnie for a date with me.”
“What?” Mama had a slight smile on her face.
“Yup, they’re going for ice cream. And I get to see him tomorrow.”
“Shut up.” Katrina shouted smiling.
They all laughed; Mama the hardest.
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