the refrigerator.
“There’s veggie burgers, too, for anyone who doesn’t want meat. They’re on the green dish but I’ll get that one—you won’t be able to carry it all out.”
“I think I can manage—don’t stop what you’re doing,” he said, taking the serving platter full of hamburgers and hot dogs in one hand, and the green plate in the one that already held the tongs and spatula.
“You’re sure?” Gia asked.
“Sure,” he answered, pushing her screen door open with a very, very fine rear end and taking everything outside.
Gia watched him from the window above the sink, finding that he really did seem to know his way around the grill and have it all under control.
He also seemed to be a people magnet because several of her friends and coworkers migrated to the barbecue to talk while he worked.
So it isn’t just me, Gia thought when she saw other people drawn to his easy manner, wit and charm.
And yet she was still jealous that other people got to be out there talking to him while she was in the kitchen....
* * *
Not only did Derek come to Gia’s barbecue and man the grill, he also stayed after everyone had left to help her clean up.
“You really don’t have to do this. You’ve done enough today and tonight,” she assured him, even though she was only too happy for his company and the help—in that order.
“Come on, I’ll rinse, you load the dishwasher,” he answered as they finished with the backyard and headed into the kitchen that was still a mess.
“Yard work, fixing lawnmowers, painting, barbecuing, cleaning up—so much for being born with a silver spoon in your mouth, huh?” she said as he went to the sink and began to rinse the dirty dishes, handing them to her.
“I told you, my grandmother was a farm girl and we had chores. One of the other things she stuck to was that every weeknight GiGi and all ten of us kids had to meet in the kitchen to fix dinner, then eat together, then clean up. We also changed our own sheets once a week, and made our own beds before we left for school every morning. The laundry was done for us and folded, but it was set on the end of our beds for us to put away—and I mean put away, not just toss on the floor. Or else! And as soon as we were of working age and wanted more money than our allowances provided, we got jobs—summer or weekend or after school—as long as we kept our grades up. That’s how I learned to be a grill man.”
“So you weren’t handed a Ferrari for your sixteenth birthday?” Gia said, thinking that Derek had been raised very differently from Elliot, and that while her ex hadn’t received a Ferrari when he turned sixteen, he had been gifted with a sports car.
“A Ferrari when I was sixteen? How cool would that have been!” Derek said with a laugh. “Except with a car like that I probably would have been in jail or dead by the time I was sixteen and three days.”
“You were not a good boy?” Gia asked as she accepted a platter from him.
“We all had our little scrapes,” he answered ambiguously. “But I did run with what my grandmother considered a fast crowd, and that got me into some trouble—usually the girls did anyway.”
“Uh-oh...” Gia said.
“Did I make it sound ominous? Because I’m not talking teenage pregnancy or anything. Just...you know...kid stuff....”
He didn’t seem to want to get into the details. But not only was Gia curious, she was also eager to shut down the growing attraction she was feeling toward him, and finding out he was like Elliot growing up might help.
So she said, “You had a gang of your friends pin down a girl you didn’t like in the second grade so you could beat her up? You spray-painted nasty graffiti on someone’s house and framed someone else for it and thought it was great that you got away with it while the other kid got sent to juvenile detention? You tortured some poor scrawny kid in school until the kid had a breakdown and you thought the breakdown
“There’s veggie burgers, too, for anyone who doesn’t want meat. They’re on the green dish but I’ll get that one—you won’t be able to carry it all out.”
“I think I can manage—don’t stop what you’re doing,” he said, taking the serving platter full of hamburgers and hot dogs in one hand, and the green plate in the one that already held the tongs and spatula.
“You’re sure?” Gia asked.
“Sure,” he answered, pushing her screen door open with a very, very fine rear end and taking everything outside.
Gia watched him from the window above the sink, finding that he really did seem to know his way around the grill and have it all under control.
He also seemed to be a people magnet because several of her friends and coworkers migrated to the barbecue to talk while he worked.
So it isn’t just me, Gia thought when she saw other people drawn to his easy manner, wit and charm.
And yet she was still jealous that other people got to be out there talking to him while she was in the kitchen....
* * *
Not only did Derek come to Gia’s barbecue and man the grill, he also stayed after everyone had left to help her clean up.
“You really don’t have to do this. You’ve done enough today and tonight,” she assured him, even though she was only too happy for his company and the help—in that order.
“Come on, I’ll rinse, you load the dishwasher,” he answered as they finished with the backyard and headed into the kitchen that was still a mess.
“Yard work, fixing lawnmowers, painting, barbecuing, cleaning up—so much for being born with a silver spoon in your mouth, huh?” she said as he went to the sink and began to rinse the dirty dishes, handing them to her.
“I told you, my grandmother was a farm girl and we had chores. One of the other things she stuck to was that every weeknight GiGi and all ten of us kids had to meet in the kitchen to fix dinner, then eat together, then clean up. We also changed our own sheets once a week, and made our own beds before we left for school every morning. The laundry was done for us and folded, but it was set on the end of our beds for us to put away—and I mean put away, not just toss on the floor. Or else! And as soon as we were of working age and wanted more money than our allowances provided, we got jobs—summer or weekend or after school—as long as we kept our grades up. That’s how I learned to be a grill man.”
“So you weren’t handed a Ferrari for your sixteenth birthday?” Gia said, thinking that Derek had been raised very differently from Elliot, and that while her ex hadn’t received a Ferrari when he turned sixteen, he had been gifted with a sports car.
“A Ferrari when I was sixteen? How cool would that have been!” Derek said with a laugh. “Except with a car like that I probably would have been in jail or dead by the time I was sixteen and three days.”
“You were not a good boy?” Gia asked as she accepted a platter from him.
“We all had our little scrapes,” he answered ambiguously. “But I did run with what my grandmother considered a fast crowd, and that got me into some trouble—usually the girls did anyway.”
“Uh-oh...” Gia said.
“Did I make it sound ominous? Because I’m not talking teenage pregnancy or anything. Just...you know...kid stuff....”
He didn’t seem to want to get into the details. But not only was Gia curious, she was also eager to shut down the growing attraction she was feeling toward him, and finding out he was like Elliot growing up might help.
So she said, “You had a gang of your friends pin down a girl you didn’t like in the second grade so you could beat her up? You spray-painted nasty graffiti on someone’s house and framed someone else for it and thought it was great that you got away with it while the other kid got sent to juvenile detention? You tortured some poor scrawny kid in school until the kid had a breakdown and you thought the breakdown
Similar Books
