Previously:

"Emilia isn't always the most rational person in the world."

"I'm beginning to get that."

"Will you think about staying with me?"

"Okay. But I need to talk to Lia first. And I'm going over to Firo's to help Ennis cook meatballs and spaghetti. We're making enough for four, so maybe you could come, too?"

"I'd like that, but I thought it was your turn to cook for Lia?"

"And I will. I'll cook for her as soon as I get home, and she can heat it up in the oven when she's ready to eat."

"Sounds like you have everything figured out."

"You go ahead and keep an eye on Charlie. We'll handle things here."

"…..."

"Thanks, Berga, Keith."

Chapter 9: Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs

In Lia and Charlie's apartment, Luck was sitting in one of the kitchen chairs, watching Charlie cook. A wonderful aroma pervaded the kitchen.

"That smells delicious."

Charlie smiled.

"Thanks."

Luck was enjoying the coffee and slice of poundcake that she had set him up with.

"Can you make anything that tastes bad?"

Charlie laughed.

"You should've seen me when I first started out. I was always burning or overcooking everything."

"But you improved."

"I had to, out of self-preservation. Mrs. Aggie made me eat all of my failures."

Charlie grimaced at the memory.

"I suppose that was one way to motivate you."

"It certainly worked."

She turned off the gas burner and put the caponata in a dish with a cover and left it for Lia to find in the icebox. Charlie sat in the chair next to Luck's. She looked at him, happy.

Luck thought how beautiful she was, the way she seemed to glow from within, and how blue her eyes were.

Charlie thought how handsome he was with his warm eyes and that slight smile of his. She reached out and touched the side of his face with her hand. Luck placed his hand over hers, held it, and kissed her wrist. He moved closer to her and placed his free hand on the side of her face as he kissed her on the lips while still holding her hand. Charlie placed her free hand on top of his and deepened the kiss. The both sought each other with a kind of hunger. Luck left a trail of kisses from her mouth down to her neck. He heard Charlie moan and scooped her up in his arms to carry her to the couch. He lay down with her and he continued where he had left off. Charlie knew what he wanted, and she didn't want to disappoint him. She was letting Luck touch her anywhere he wanted, and he was thoroughly enjoying himself until he saw the slight tremor in her hand as she reached to undo her shirt. Luck grabbed her hand and stopped her.

"Charlie, no."

Charlie was taken aback.

"No?"

"You don't have to do anything you're not ready for. I'll wait."

"But Emilia said—"

"You don't need to compete with her. I said I'll wait."

Charlie nodded and hugged him, relieved. She really hadn't been ready for that. Tears welled up in her eyes, and she tried to blink them away, but one fell.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I'm crying."

Luck wiped the tear away, kissed her forehead, and held her while she calmed down. He was ready to run Emilia out of town now. He wouldn't forgive her for Charlie's tears.

Luck continued to hold Charlie until she was ready to leave. Then she got up and wrote a note telling Lia not to worry if she didn't come home and warned her not to answer the door for Emilia no matter how much noise she might make. When that was done, she went into the bedroom to pack an overnight bag with a change of clothes and her toiletries.

While she was doing that, Luck made a call to his brothers.

Berga answered the phone.

"What is it?"

"It's me, Luck. I've decided you were right. I want to run her out of town."

"What made you change your mind?"

"… Charlie cried."

"You want us to take care of it for you while you're at Firo's?"

"I think that would be for the best. If I do it myself, she'll accuse me of caring about her."

"Don't worry, we'll make it real clear that's never going to happen."

"Thanks."

Luck hung up and looked at Charlie, who was had just finished her own task.

"You call someone?"

"My brothers."

"Okay. Well, let's go help Ennis."

"As long as it's you who's doing the helping. I'm pretty hopeless in the kitchen. I only know how to cook one real meal. But I'm not bad at heating up canned food."

"I really am going to have to cook for you sometime."

"No arguments here."

They left the apartment together and headed for Firo's.

—∞—

Somewhere in Little Italy. Firo's apartment.

"Thank you for coming," Ennis said as she let Charlie and Luck in. "Everything's waiting in the kitchen."

"All right. Let's get started. Do you need anything before we begin?" Charlie asked Luck. "Coffee?"

"Some coffee would be nice."

"Coming right up."

"We'll have to make a fresh pot."

"That's okay, we can get that started now."

Charlie headed into the kitchen with Ennis following behind. Charlie prepared the coffee and set up it to brew.

"Right. First we'll wash the vegetables, and get everything cut up. Then we'll put together the meatballs. Then we'll boil the water for the spaghetti while we cook the meatballs and make the sauce. We can leave it on a low simmer to keep it warm while we cook the spaghetti. Normally, I'd cook a vegetable to go with it, but there's hidden veggies in the meatballs and sauce with this recipe, so there's no need."

Charlie showed Ennis how to clean the vegetables and how to carefully cut them up without injuring her fingers. Charlie let Ennis do most of the work while she supervised her and demonstrated how to do certain things and gave her explanations on why they were done that way. They gave Luck his coffee when it finished brewing.

Again, Luck sat at the kitchen table and watched. He liked watching Charlie work. She seemed to enjoyed cooking. Not to long after, the delicious smell of spaghetti and meatballs was wafting through the air.

"We're almost done. Could you set the table?" Charlie asked Luck.

"No problem."

Luck stood up and found the eating utensils, napkins, and plates and began arranging them on the table.

The front door opened, and Firo came in.

"What's that delicious smell? Is that Spaghetti and meatballs?"

"It is," Luck answered, drawing Firo's attention to himself.

"Luck? What are you doing here?"

"Charlie invited me."

"Why's Charlie inviting people to my house?"

"Ah, sorry. I didn't think you'd mind."

Charlie came out of the kitchen, smiling apologetically at him.

Ennis followed.

"I asked Miss Charlie to help me prepare something for you."

"For me?"

Firo was surprised and touched. It made him happy to know Ennis was thinking about him.

"Wow. Thanks."

"We just finished, so pull up a chair," Charlie said.

She and Ennis put the spaghetti and the sauce with the meatballs in dishes they could be served from and put them on the table. They passed the serving fork and spoon around and helped themselves.

Firo took his first bite of meatball and was not disappointed.

"This is seriously good!"

"It's Miss Charlie's recipe."

"Ennis did most of the work, though."

"Wow, you two are amazing."

"I agree."

"Aw, you're going to make us blush."

Ennis really did blush a little bit. She was happy to be praised so much by Firo, and happy that he was enjoying the meal she had worked so hard to prepare for him.

Luck looked from Ennis to Firo and smiled as he ate another forkful of spaghetti.