A Texas Thanksgiving

“Because the spaghetti will clump together after it’s cooked if you don’t.”

“You see? How in the world will I ever learn all these little tricks?”

“It takes time. You won’t learn to cook overnight.” Although she wished he would, so her job would be done. She grabbed the bottle of oil and passed it to him. “Just a little.” After he finished, she continued and said, “It’s time to put the spaghetti into the water and turn the heat down to medium.”

Completing the task, he stood back and eyed the pots on the stove. “What’s next?”

Julia held up her finger, glanced over her shoulder and said, “Girls, do you want to come on in here, instead of lurking in the doorway, and set the table?”

“How did ya know we were here?” Paige appeared from the right side of the entrance.

“Yeah, Mommy, we were being extra quiet.” Ellie shuffled into view from the left side and positioned herself next to her friend.

“I could have super hearing, but in this case I heard two little girls giggling rather loudly a moment ago.”

“Are we gonna be able to eat the food?” Paige entered the room and clasped the back of a chair at the table.

“Do I detect doubt in my daughter? This is gonna be the best spaghetti y’all have ever had. Isn’t that right, Julia?” When she didn’t say anything right away, a stricken look descended on his face. “You’re supposed to stand behind your pupil. After all, isn’t that a reflection on your teaching ability?”

She had her doubts since she realized she should have had Evan throw out the water he had salted and just start over.

“Girls, I’m going to let you be the judges. A teacher shouldn’t. I don’t want to discourage the pupil.” Julia removed four dinner plates and glasses from the cabinet and placed them on the table.

While Paige and Ellie set the table, they kept peering back at Evan and Julia at the stove and whispering between them, which immediately caused several giggles to erupt.

Julia leaned close, lowered her voice, but not too low so the girls couldn’t hear and said to Evan, “I think my next teaching job is to show Paige and Ellie how to load the dishwasher and clean up. I don’t think six is too young to learn that.” She winked at him.

“Mommy, I’m five. I won’t be six for a couple of weeks.”

“Oh, right. You think Evan and I should do the dishes then?”

Ellie nodded, a serious expression on her face. “You’d better. I’m still too young.”

Julia couldn’t suppress her laughter any longer, its sound sprinkling the air. She spun away from her daughter in time to see the water boiling over. Quickly, she snatched the pot from the stove. A burning smell floated to her as she dumped the pasta into the strainer in the sink.

“A word to the wise, don’t let little munchkins distract you from your cooking,” Julia said as she switched off the heat on both burners. “Is the table finished?”

“Yep.” Paige pointed to the nearest place setting, her shoulders thrust back, her chin held high.

Next to the little girl, Ellie imitated her friend’s stance. “We did good.”

Other than the six pieces of silverware at each plate, Julia had to agree. “Then let’s eat. Bring your plates over to the counter and take the spaghetti you want.”

Five minutes later with dinner served, Julia took the last vacant chair next to Evan and sat. “Who would like to say grace?” she asked when she noticed Evan reaching for one of his three forks to eat.

He stopped and looked at her. “Oh, yeah. I will.” He bowed his head. “Father, please bless this food and the people at this table. If You can find the time, You might help me learn how to cook. I could sure use Your help. Amen.”

When Julia murmured amen more enthusiastically than usual, he shot her a look, similar to the one she had seen Marge give him. She tossed him a grin and a wink.

“What did you think of me riding today?” Ellie shoved her fork into the pile of spaghetti. “I’m doing it by myself. Pretty soon we can all go riding together.”

Julia paused in bringing her glass of water to her lips. “Well, honey, there’s just one thing wrong with that. I don’t know how to ride.”

“Mommy! You don’t? I thought every grown-up knew how.”

“We can take care of that. The next time I give you a lesson, I can give your mother one, too.”

Ellie clapped her hands. “That’s perfect!”

“No, it isn’t. You might like to ride those big animals, but I don’t think I want to.”

Ellie’s eyes grew round. “Why not?”

“I…” Up until June, she’d lived her whole life in Chicago, and hadn’t even once been to a farm.

“Yeah, why not? Scared to let me be the teacher?”

Evan’s dare taunted her as he knew it would. Julia bristled for a few seconds and said, “Okay, I’ll learn, and I’ll learn how to ride faster than you’ll learn to cook a simple dinner by yourself.”

“I’ll take you up on that challenge.”

“Daddy, when are you gonna give Ellie her next lesson? Next weekend?”

“I can’t. I have to set up for the school carnival Friday afternoon and evening and then work it on Saturday.”

“So do I.” Julia finally took a long drink of her cold water. Instead of staying away from the man, she found herself planning ways to be with him. Probably not a good idea, but she didn’t know how to get out of it gracefully and not disappoint her daughter.

“Then we can do it next Sunday after church.”

“Fine, and I’ll give you your second cooking lesson. We’ll make pizza.”

“Only if you give me a list of ingredients to buy.”

She inclined her head. “That’s fair. I will before I leave tonight.”

“Pizza! I love it, Daddy.” Paige finally took her first bite of the spaghetti and scrunched up her face. She quickly swallowed her food, then took several gulps of her milk.

“What’s wrong, princess?”

“Nothing.” Evan’s daughter stared down at her plate.

He slipped a forkful of his creation between his lips and surprise flashed into his eyes. When he got the spaghetti down, he coughed. “Maybe we can drive into town and get some hamburgers at Prairie Springs Café. My treat.”

Since it looked fine, Julia was curious how bad the food tasted and put a small amount into her mouth. A salty taste exploded against her tongue and she washed it down with a long drink of water. “Just how much salt did you put in the water while my back was turned? You said it wasn’t a lot.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t think it was. I like salt.” Gesturing toward his food, he grinned. “Obviously, it was more than I thought. I must have been distracted.”

A blush stained her cheeks. “Now you know why salt goes a long way.”