5.4: Just Can't Put It Down
The kitchen timer went off again, and Broadway growled under his breath as he reluctantly inserted a bookmark where he'd been reading, and tucked the book under his arm while he tended to the casserole baking in the oven.
Usually, he loved cooking; loved creating and recreating dishes for others to eat, almost as much as he loved eating! But not tonight, or last night either for that matter. Right now, he wanted to read!
Last night, after seeing how Broadway's gaze had kept wandering over to where the galley proofs of Sweet Lies were stacked, Martha had laughed and told him to go ahead and take one for reading. One of the two complimentary copies was destined for her partner Richard's personal library, but the others was hers, and she chose to give it to him, as a souvenir of his vacation. She would simply ask the publisher for another copy, or wait until the book was given its official cover and released to the public next spring.
Broadway hadn't hesitated more than an instant or two before grabbing the book and scurrying off to a stool in the corner of the kitchen, to perch there and begin reading. He used to think that if he was ever given the opportunity to get a regular paying job, he'd want to be either a chef for a fancy restaurant, or a private detective. But now he decided to add a third possible occupation to his list: book reviewer. Those guys were so lucky, to get these galley proofs of books weeks or even months before they were released to the public, just so they could write reviews for the newspapers and for publishers to use on the back covers! Forget about getting paid for this; Broadway would happily pay to do it!
But a professional reviewer would probably need to read a lot faster than Broadway could, even if he'd sped up a lot since he'd first started learning, nearly two years ago. It had taken him most of last night to read through about two-thirds of the book, and he'd only stopped once or twice to eat what Martha had fixed for him (first the oyster stew he'd liked so much from A Dish to Die For, and the second time a tiramisu dessert that was featured in Sweet Lies.)
He'd stopped reading a little while before dawn came, just so he could find Brooklyn after his rookery brother got back from the date with Marie, and tell Brooklyn about Martha's career as a writer. Brooklyn had been almost as surprised as Broadway had been, and promised that he would seriously reconsider his previous evaluation of Martha; he'd obviously been too hasty to nearly dismiss her as potential mate material.
Just like Angela and Lexington, Broadway had promised to do his best to not influence Brooklyn's choice of a mate, one way or another. (Well, technically, being so enthusiastic about Martha's writing might count as influence, but Broadway had justified that as just being excited about any gargoyle having a career that had previously been done only by humans.) But privately, Broadway was really hoping now that Brooklyn would choose Martha. That would be just great—no, wonderful!—if she came to Manhattan to live with them. She and Broadway could help each other out in the kitchen, experimenting with new dishes… and maybe Broadway could help her with her writing a little, if she decided to move her characters Herbert and Irmina to Manhattan too…
But in the meantime, tonight Broadway was running the kitchen mostly solo. He'd had some help before all the humans had gone to bed, and after 4 a.m., a guy named Jeff was supposed to wake up and help him with the day's baking. But it was mostly just himself, trying to cook and read at the same time, without either burning anything or getting food stains on his book. So far, he was doing okay; the casseroles were turning out fine, and he'd gotten through two more chapters of Sweet Lies. He might even be able to finish the book before dawn!
Just then, a bright orange gargoyle named Joseph came through the kitchen door, appreciatively sniffing the air. "Mmm, smells good! Hey, Broadway, great news! Your rookery brother Lexington just agreed to become mates with our Rebecca! We got a call from the safe house in town a few minutes ago; they stopped in long enough to give everyone the good news before going to Tujage's Restaurant. We have two human clan member who work the final shift there, and after hours they're going to host a little engagement dinner for the lovebirds!"
"That's great!" Broadway said with a wraparound grin. "Hey, do you guys have human-type mating ceremonies down here? I'd love to try making and decorating a wedding cake!"
Joseph assured him that they did indeed model their mating ceremonies after typical human Catholic weddings, and that wedding cakes were part of their tradition. Broadway made a note to look through some of Martha's many cookbooks, to see if they had recipes for wedding cakes… just as soon as he finished reading Sweet Lies!
To be continued…