Chapter 22
Eva beamed as she brought in the empty cake plate and brownie pan. "Everyone ate it!" she exclaimed happily.
Buffy smiled. "I told you they would. You've got the talent to be a great baker," she praised.
"I like it."
"I do too. And I like to cook."
"I don't know how," Eva admitted.
"It's not hard. It's just reading the recipe and following the directions. When you get more experience, then you can start adjusting and making things your own."
"Will you teach me?"
"If you'd like me to."
"Don't let her teach you how to make fried plantains, Eva. They suck."
Buffy turned and glared at her big brother. "Would you shut your mouth? She doesn't need to hear that language in my house."
Marco held up his hands. "Hey, I'm just letting Eva know that you can't make plantains."
"Get out! There is nothing in here for you to mooch. And I know you're not going to be around to help with the cleanup. Shoo!" Buffy waved her hands toward the door.
"Alright, alright," he said as he started out of the kitchen.
Buffy rolled her eyes and walked over to the sink. She picked up dishes and started stacking the dishwasher. She looked up at Eva. "See, even adults have trouble with their siblings."
"So it never ends?"
"Sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn't. Marco is a great big brother, Uncle, and Godfather to Julian. It's just sometimes he doesn't know how to stop embarrassing me."
Eva picked up a dish and added it to the dishwasher. "Diego does that to me all of the time."
Buffy smiled. "Maybe you'll get lucky and when you two grow up you'll have a relationship like your Dad and your Aunt Gabby have."
"I hope so."
Antonio wandered into the kitchen. "You girls okay in here?"
"We're good, Dad," Eva said. "Buffy told me she's going to teach me how to cook."
Antonio looked from Eva to Buffy. Buffy nodded. "That's great, Eva. Buffy's a very good cook."
Buffy released the breath she was holding when he didn't mention the plantains.
"I'm just giving you fair warning. I'm Puerto Rican, not Dominican. I know nothing about Dominican food except red beans and rice."
"It's all good, Babe," Antonio said as he gave Buffy a hug and a cheek kiss. "We're in America now. You can teach her what you feel comfortable cooking."
Eva dropped her eyes to the dishwasher. She felt weird watching her Dad be affectionate with another woman. She liked Buffy, but she wasn't her mother.
Antonio turned back to Eva. "You and Diego ready to go, Sweetheart?"
"I guess so." She didn't want to leave. She was hoping she would get a cooking lesson, but it looked like it wasn't going to happen.
"Next visit we can cook something," Buffy promised. "Just think of something you'd like to learn."
"Ok."
Kids dropped off at Crystal Lake, Antonio drove back to Buffy's. The picnic had broken up. As he pulled into the driveway, he noticed Marco's car was gone. He wondered if he and Buffy had had another fight. He made his way to the back door. Buffy was sitting on the back porch swing drinking iced tea. "Hey," he said as he joined her on the swing.
"Hey. You want some iced tea?"
"I'm good," he said. "I just wanted to stop back and thank you for being so good with Eva. I know it was probably hard to do."
"No, not really. She's a good kid. She just hasn't figured out if she should like me or not."
"What makes you think that?"
"Because she wants you and Laura back together."
"And you know this how?"
"Many years of being a mother."
Antonio reached his arm out and brought Buffy closer to him. "Julian home?"
"Nope. Went to play baseball with Marco."
Antonio kissed her. "Thank you for the nicest 4 months."
"Thank you as well."
"I think we have something here."
She nodded. "Been a long time since I felt like this."
"You think we can make it work?"
"I'm damn sure going to try." She reached out and touched his cheek. "You're a good man, Antonio."