Page 87 of The Burning
“That’s as romantic as Instagram can get.” He shrugged and got back to work without another word, leaving me holding his phone.
I was beyond tempted to look through it, from the photos to the texts, but I stopped myself. Not today. I typed in the passcode and wasn’t surprised that he barely had any apps, no texts, no little red notification dots anywhere. I opened his Instagram and began to type my name. It was already in the search bar. My heart did a little squeeze and I looked across the yard to him. Ugh, I loved him. Plain and simple, it was these tiny moments that made me love him more and more. I followed myself and couldn’t help but click on the DM icon. It was empty. Did he delete his messages? Or was he the only person to never get a direct message on Instagram?Okay, enough snooping, Karina. I hit the side bar on his phone, putting it to sleep, and left it on the porch.
“I’m going inside!” I called to him.
He nodded, lifting a bucket out of the bed of the truck, and smiled at me.
I went inside and decided to make him breakfast in lieu of taking an everything shower. I wanted to do something for him, even small a small gesture, since he was going to be spending his time working on my porch. I checked my fridge to see what I had. There was a can of biscuits in the back, and I knew I had sausage in the freezer. Checking the expiration date on the can, I tried to remember the last time I made gravy and biscuits. Growing up, I had them at least twice a month; my mom had the best recipe. I’d learned it from her, and I’d only used it twice, both times for Elodie. I grabbed the roll of sausage from the freezer and turned on the hot water in the sink. It wasn’t the best way to defrost meat, but whatever. I gathered the other ingredients—flour, milk, pepper—turned the oven to preheat, and played music on my phone, allowing myself to get lost in the game of house Kael and I were playing.
About thirty minutes later, I nearly jumped out of my skin when Kael came up behind me as I was stirring the sausage gravy. I was singing along to Taylor Swift, totally in my own world. He laughed, his breath warm against my neck.
“I smelled the sausage and had to come see what you were up to,” he said, lips against my skin. I shivered as he pulled the neckline of my hoodie down a little to kiss my neck.
“I made gravy and biscuits and was going to come get you in, like, two minutes. Just need to add more pepper,” I said, grabbing the pepper shaker, shaking it heavy-handed until a pile was on top of my gravy. My mouth was watering.
“Yum, thank you. What happened to your bagel shower?” Kael’s arms squeezed my torso gently.
I laughed. “It’s an everything shower.”
“Right.” I could feel him smiling against my cheek from behind me.
“I decided to be domestic and feed you instead.” I playfully pushed my hips back against his solid body.
I turned the stove off and told him to sit down at the table as I brought plates and water, and pulled the hot biscuits off the sheet pan and onto another plate. Kael kept licking his lips and smacking his gums, a sign that the smell had him starving, too. I made his plate and hoped for the best. His eyes went wide when he took the first bite.
“Holy shit, this is so good,” he said, his mouth full of a big bite.
I smiled, totally satisfied and proud of myself.
“Thank you. It’s a secret family recipe,” I whispered, cupping my hand next to my mouth.
“I won’t tell anyone, as long as you don’t tell my ma that these are the best biscuits and gravy I’ve ever had.” He dove his fork into the rest of a biscuit. I was glad I’d made the whole roll.
My mind went to my mom as I took a bite. The taste was so distinctively her that it made my chest ache a little. It was comforting and painful at the same time. I needed to climb out of this spiral before it went too far.
“Speaking of your mom . . . tell me how excited she was?” I raised a brow, pivoting the conversation to Kael.
“My ma is too long of a story,” he said. “She’s happy about my discharge, but her health has taken a turn.”
Concern shot through me. It wasn’t like I knew a ton about his mom, but I did know how important she was to him. “Do you want to talk about it?” I asked, touching his face gently.
He shook his head. “Not today. Not on your birthday. Please.”
I nodded once, agreeing to his wishes even though I was worried. I chewed my food slowly. “And Mendoza?”
Kael looked over at me. “Mendoza’s having a shitty week, actually.”
“Why? What happened?”
“Julien has some sort of problem with his eyes. More than needing glasses. They’re talking surgery, potential blindness. Gloria is a mess.” He looked at me, then winked to lighten things up. “I’m really bringing down the mood on your birthday.”
My heart broke for them. Gloria must be in so much pain. I wondered if it would be weird to reach out to her, but decided that since Kael was telling me in confidence, it wouldn’t be a good idea.
Kael’s hands ran over his shaved head. He had a fresh haircut; I could tell by the way his hair was buzzed into a perfectly straight line around his neck and forehead.
“Is there anything they can do?” I asked, knowing it wasn’t likely.
“Not really. Just depend on the healthcare system to figure it out. And Mendoza isn’t great at depending on anyone.”
