8. Activity Number Two

8

ACTIVITY NUMBER TWO

" I t smells like baking in here," Aster said on Sunday when Raine opened the door to him in her apartment.

"I told you I was baking today," she said. "Activity number two."

He lifted an eyebrow at her. "I'm helping you bake? I thought I was getting the food."

"Please," she said, waving her hand. "You have to bake too. Gender equality and all."

She was laughing when she said it so he cracked a little grin.

"If you say so," he said. He looked around her place and noticed that it was just as neat as his. "Did you clean before I came over to impress me?"

"Did you crack a joke?" Raine asked.

He could tell she wasn't sure, but she still had a grin on her face. "I did. I think I need to do better at that."

"You're trying and that is all that counts," she said.

"Something you tell your students?"

"All the time. Please come in, sorry that you're standing there in the doorway. I've got no manners."

"I find that hard to believe," he said. "Shoes on or off?"

She had slippers on her feet. Cute little bunny faces.

"One of my kids gave me these at the end of the school year," she said. "Sophie's mother told me that Sophie had so much fun with our Easter activities that she'd made her mother buy me bunny slippers."

"I bet you get a lot of gifts like that," he said. Not that his parents ever gave gifts to his teachers, but other kids did.

"I do," she said. "I never expect it. Sometimes it's just candy and cards, flowers, or plants."

He saw a bunch of plants on a stand by the big window in the living room. Her space was pretty small. Just had a little loveseat and chair. There was a two-person table off to the side against the wall and he could see into her kitchen.

"Do you have a green thumb?" he asked.

"Average," she said. "I think. I've got lots of people I can ask advice from. Do you like flowers and plants? You're staring at them as if I'm doing something wrong."

He moved closer and stuck his hand in the dirt. "They are too dry." She got a cup of water and brought it over, but he took it out of her hand. "These need less sunlight and these more. Switch them around."

He tended to her plants and then looked up to see her grinning at him. "I guess you don't have to cook now since you just taught me about my plants and what I was doing wrong. I didn't see any in your place."

"I have some in my room to start. There is a lot of light. If you laugh at me I'm out of here," he said.

"Why would I do that? And what is there to laugh at?"

He shrugged. "I always had plants or flowering plants where I lived. Maybe it's the name, no clue, but at times it was just a sign of life when life was so hard where I was."

She moved closer and rubbed her hand on his arm. "That's a nice thought."

"You're making me feel like a wuss," he said.

"Not possible," she said. "I'm jealous that you are so knowledgeable about it. Does Zane know that?"

"He knew I always had plants, not much more. It's not like the guys in the field talked about gardening."

They were too busy trying to stay alive.

Hadn't Raine said he survived? Guess she was right.

He heard a buzzer go off. "My pies are done. I made two."

He followed her into the kitchen and watched as she pulled them out. "They look awesome."

"One is for you. I did them first because they take the most work and are the longest bake time. I'd made the dough for the crusts last night."

"I'll have to get some ice cream. Damn, I'm going to get fat if I eat this whole thing."

Her eyes ran over his body. "I don't know if it's possible for you to get fat any more than me. I can't put weight on to save my soul. And I know first world problems that every woman wishes, but I'm built like a ten-year-old boy."

His eyes ran over her body. She was in jeans today, light blue and a little baggy, but not hanging on her. More like it was the style. "I like you the way you are. Didn't anyone ever teach you to not be someone you aren't?"

"They did," she said primly. "And I tell that to my students. But that doesn't mean it's not human nature to be jealous of something that we don't have."

Been there and done that.

He moved closer to her and pulled her against his body. His mouth dropped down as she reached up and they met in the middle for a kiss like he'd wanted when he walked in the door.

One he'd dreamed of last night in bed.

When another timer went off, she jumped back and laughed. "Sorry. I'm not normally that jumpy. I forgot to turn it off from the pies."

"No problem," he said. He saw more apples on the counter and other ingredients lined up. "What are you making next?"

"You're going to peel some apples for me and then cut them up and we are making muffins. I'll make sure half the pie is wrapped up to freeze so you won't have to worry about eating it all at once. The same with the muffins if you don't think you can eat them all. I'll make a dozen and you get half."

"That works," he said. "I'll eat all the muffins. Six isn't that much. The pie, not so much, but I would have tried."

She pulled a peeler out of a drawer and handed it over. "Here you go. Get to it."

He peeled the apples she'd set out while she went about mixing all the ingredients and lining up baking cups in a pan.

"How small do you want these chopped?"

He'd already cut the apples into four big pieces. "Make a bunch of strips in that and then do the same on the other side."

"Little squares?" he asked.

"That's it," she said, bumping into him.

When the muffins were in the oven, she started to clean up the kitchen.

"Anything else we've got to make?"

"Apple sauce," she said. "That's easy. Do you like it?"

"I'll eat just about anything," he said.

More if he didn't have to cook it.

"Good," she said. "You can peel some more apples. I'm not fussy on how you cut them. Just make sure they are all the same size for the most part so they cook evenly."

She was peeling some apples with him and cutting them the same size as him, then she put them all in a pan with water, sugar and cinnamon and set it on the stovetop.

"That's it?" he asked. "Nothing more than that to make it?"

"That's it," she said. "It will cook about twenty minutes or so and then I'll mash it up and we are good. We still have about a dozen apples left. Do you want to take some home with you?"

"If you don't think you'll eat them all, sure," he said. "I know you don't like waste."

"You paid for the apples," she said. "You should get at least half."

She'd argued with him over that, but it was a date in his eyes. He wasn't letting her pay for anything and he knew she was getting annoyed.

He wondered if that was why she was cooking today.

"Does it bother you that I've paid for everything?" he asked.

Her head went back and forth. "Yes and no. I get it. You're a little old school and I like that. I don't need a man to take care of me, but I find it gentlemanly that you're paying for things. You're like my brothers that way. I know it's not to make you feel all macho."

"No," he said. "But you cooking for me puts us in that old fashioned role too."

He'd been with a lot of women who expected him to pay for it all and did nothing in return. He didn't care about the cooking or things like that, but he expected that they did something equally and then realized he was dating the wrong women.

"I like to cook. I think at the heart of it, I just want a family-style life. I grew up that way and there isn't anything wrong with it. I don't expect a man to provide for me. I've got friends who want equality but then expect the man to pay for it all. I said you can't have it both ways. If their spouse is paying all the bills and they aren't working and staying home, they can't complain that he might expect them to have the laundry done or food cooked. I know I sound sexist, but what are they doing all day, just sitting around watching TV? If they had kids, different story, but that isn't the case. It's just like being a kept woman. That is old fashioned. Don't preach one thing and act another. Does that make sense?"

"Complete sense," he said. "My parents both work. I have no idea how they managed their money and didn't ask. Not my business."

"That's the thing. I think everyone should contribute whether it's money or doing housework. No one person's job is more important than the others. I don't make as much as a teacher as you do. But I work a lot of hours and then come home and do more. Just because I make less doesn't mean I've got to do more work at home to even it out. That is my point. You're paying for things and not letting me, but I need to show my appreciation of that. Plus I like apple pie and muffins."

She was laughing when she said that. He understood what she was trying to explain and agreed with a lot of it.

"Your job is important, regardless of what you make at it. I told you that."

"I know. It's nice hearing it too."

She went to check on the muffins and turned them around. "But you've heard the opposite more than once and someone has obviously said it to burn you," he said. "I can see it on your face. It hurt you or is making you carry some internal scars."

If anyone knew about internal or external scars, it was him.

"Yes," she said. "I dated someone for six years. Thought we had our lives all planned out and then realized they weren't matching up."

"Six years," he said. "Damn."

She forced out a laugh. "We dated for two years in high school, then went away to college together for four years. When we were graduating, I thought we'd return here. We talked all the time. He said it was the plan."

"But when it came time to pull the trigger he dropped the gun?"

"Good analogy," she said. "So there you go."

"Did you feel as if you didn't get to enjoy college the way you wanted since you were with him? Is that why you're all about adventures and activities?"

She turned to look at him. "Maybe," she said softly.

He'd let it go because some of the sunshine went out of her eyes and he was missing it.

"Then it's my gain. Just like all this food."

"You know, Aster. You're a walking confusion. One minute you're secretive, then the next talkative. You can be gruff and now you're being sweet."

"I'm not sure I'm sweet," he said. "Or a walking confusion."

"Sure, you are. To both. But we'll agree to disagree for now. How about apple pie and ice cream for lunch?"

"Is that my reward for helping today?"

"One of them," she said, smiling and moving over to get plates.

He wanted to ask what the other rewards were but had a feeling it wasn't the answer he was hoping for.