“Blue doing the cooking?” The woman was a fantastic cook.
“Yep.”
“Then it’s a deal.” Football, food, beer, and a good friend with whom to enjoy it all. Dante couldn’t think of a better way to spend the evening.
“So, do you enjoy life in the HR department?” Blue asked Cleo, efficiently chopping up onions and peppers.
“It’s only been a month, but I’m finding it quite rewarding. I’m learning a lot.” Cleo sat at the ancient kitchen table as she watched her brother’s fianc?e slice and dice her way through the dinner preparations. Blue was incredibly efficient at cooking. She was efficient at a lot of things, but Cleo-who was useless at cooking-particularly envied the other woman’s prowess in the kitchen. She had popped into the ramshackle, sprawling old Knight family home in Hout Bay after work, hoping to score an invitation to dinner. She’d been feeling a bit under the weather lately and hoped that some of Blue’s good home cooking would help her feel better.
She had timed it just right. Luc wasn’t home from work yet, and Blue had just started with the dinner preparation.
“Do you think you could build a career out of it?” Blue asked as she scraped the diced onions, peppers, and garlic into a pot. They immediately sizzled as they hit the hot oil at the bottom of the pot, filling the kitchen with a delicious aroma.
Cleo fiddled with the handle of the coffee mug in front of her while contemplating the hot chocolate swirling around inside.
“Maybe.” She shrugged. “I’m not sure. I was hoping . . .”
Blue glanced at her sharply when her voice trailed off.
“Cleo,” she said softly, ever perceptive, “it’s been three years.”
“I know, but every time I go to the dance studio and put on my pointe shoes, I feel like it’s still in there, like I can still dance the way I used to. I keep thinking if I stay fit and keep dancing, keep doing my pointe routines, just keep going, I’ll wake up one morning and just know that it’s back. But with this job . . . there’s not enough time to spend on my dancing. I have to devote my attention to either the job or dancing. I can’t do both.”
“You can dance in your spare time.”
“As a hobby, you mean?”
Blue hesitated, before nodding, and Cleo ignored the stab of pain in her chest as she thought about what her friend had said.
“That would mean giving up on the only real dream I’ve ever had,” she whispered.
Blue said nothing for a long time, keeping her hands busy and her eyes averted as she began meticulously peeling potatoes. “Cleo, maybe it’s time to find another dream?” Blue finally whispered, and Cleo’s heart stuttered in her chest.
“What’s for dinner?” Cleo asked, changing the subject clumsily.
“Nothing fancy, just beef stew and mashed potatoes, with bread pudding and custard for dessert.”
“Ooh, perfect for a cold, rainy day,” Cleo enthused, eyeing the buckets collecting water in the corner. The damned roof leaked like a sieve, and Luc had already set aside some money to have it fixed when the rain eventually stopped, which didn’t seem like it would be anytime soon. The old house was right on the beach and had a rustic charm that could possibly have passed for shabby chic, if things were a little less shabby and a lot more chic. Its location made it prime property, but the fact that it had been in their family for generations turned it into a burden that desperately needed fixing up. Cleo was a lot less sentimental than Luc and had urged him to sell it, since he couldn’t afford to get married with the damned thing hanging around his neck like an albatross-but her brother had a little more respect for familial obligations than Cleo did.
“Are you staying for dinner?” Blue asked, and Cleo brightened at the invitation she’d been hoping for.
“For your gorgeous beef stew and pud?”
“It’s really plain fare. If I’d known Luc was going to be asking Dante around for dinner, I would have planned something with a little more flair. He’s not exactly the type of guy you serve beef stew to. Although, he’s not at all a snob, is he? The last time he came around to dinner, he schooled your brother in proper manners and cleaned up the kitchen after we ate. He even helped me fix dessert. Seemed to enjoy it, really.”
Cleo hadn’t heard anything beyond the revelation that Dante Damaso was coming around for dinner and was immediately thankful that she hadn’t already agreed to stay for the meal.
“Well, thanks for the invitation, Blue, but-much as I’d love to-I really can’t stay. I’ve been feeling a little under the weather lately. I’m worried I’m coming down with something.”
“But you drove all this way. I thought . . .”
“I was in the area for . . . uh.” She ground to a halt as she comprehended that there really was no good reason for her to be so far out of her way. “Well, I wanted to see you. I haven’t seen much of you since getting back from Tokyo, what with the job change and all. But I underestimated how ill I was feeling. I should go home and get into bed.”
“What are your symptoms? Maybe I have something here that can help with them?” Blue was a nurse and had first met Luc eight years before, while he’d still been taking care of their ailing grandparents. Blue had been one of the junior nurses in the oncology ward, and while nothing romantic had flared between them at the time-what with Luc being so preoccupied with the stress of having two extremely ill, elderly people to take care of-he had appreciated the young nurse’s kindness and concern. Their relationship had bloomed after the elderly couple had passed away.
Luc was completely smitten with the tall, doe-eyed, caramel-skinned, brown-haired woman and had asked her to marry him a few years after they’d started dating. But he wanted her to have a fantastic wedding, so the wedding date kept getting pushed back due to financial reasons. They’d been engaged way too long, and while Blue was infinitely patient and understanding, Cleo sometimes wanted to give her brother a swift kick in the butt for being so stubborn on the matter of the house.
“Some tummy issues and just general listlessness. Cal was sick last week, and I think I probably caught this from him.”
“Okay, then stay hydrated and eat as much broth as you can manage. And get a decent night’s sleep tonight,” Blue said, stepping into her caregiving role with complete ease. Cleo smiled warmly at the woman before nodding toward the pot sizzling away behind Blue.
“Your onions are burning,” she pointed out, and laughed when Blue swore and dashed for the pot.
“Give my brother a hug from me, and tell him I’ll see him soon,” Cleo instructed as she got up from the table, eager to leave before Dante and Luc showed up. How weird was it that after years of friendship between the two men, she’d nearly run into him in their family home for the first time ever? Then again, before her accident, Cleo had hardly been a regular visitor to the house. She’d always been miserable here. She hated how strict her grandparents had been, how she and Luc were never allowed out past seven on a weeknight and nine on a weekend, even when they were in their late teens. Luc had been the ever-obedient good boy, while Cleo had been a rebel-receiving constant censure from their grandparents.
Cleo had left home as soon as she was eighteen and had moved in with a small commune of fellow dancers while attending the University of Cape Town School of Dance, earning the elderly couple’s disapproval. Every time she visited home-usually at Luc’s behest-she had always wound up arguing with her grandparents, so she regularly made excuses not to visit. Which was something she would regret for the rest of her life.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.