“Damn, Jaasiel! What did you cook?”
“Butternut squash ravioli with rosemary browned butter, wilted spinach salad with warm apple cider and bacon dressing. A beef tenderloin with herb butter, chive mashed potatoes and garden vegetables,” he answers.
“What the hell sparked this? I mean you always cook but not usually like this.”
“When I found out my sister was here, I knew I had to let my culinary skills loose”.
I know Savannah is blushing. He is the third brother to call her their sister. She may not know it but she’s locked in. “Come on baby, let’s eat. Jaasiel is an amazing cook.”
I start walking towards the breakfast nook to the table, but she pulls me over to the kitchen booth.
“Can we sit here?”
“Of course,” I reply.
She scoots in and has to sit on her legs to sit higher.
“Need a booster seat?” Aryon asks her.
“Need an ass whooping?” She returns, and we all laugh.
Jaasiel brings the food over and Joseph says grace as we all hold hands. After grace is said I take Savvy’s plate and begin to fix her food. Joseph brings her drink, and we all dig in.After a few bites’ Savvy stares at me hard like she’s got an attitude.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“You mean to tell me you have been taking me out to eat and your brother cooks like this? I ought to stab you with my fork.”
Joseph almost chokes on his food. “I’m sorry baby, but I can’t make Jaasiel cook.”
“Fine.”
“I’ll cook for you anytime you want, sis.”
She breaks into a huge smile and leans over the table and kisses his cheek. “Thank you.”
That’s at least three of my brothers I’m going to have to kill.Dinner is a lively event when we are all together and Savannah fits right in giving as good as she’s getting. Every time I am around her, I am more at peace with my feelings. Jaasiel serves death by chocolate cake. She eats her piece of cake and mine. As if I care. She can have the whole cake. Dinner and dessert gone, we sit around running our mouths about everything, our new projects, current projects, the weather and Jabarri’s new car.
Savannah is cuddled up in my side listening to us talk and adding to the conversation. I look at the time and it’s getting late and although I don’t want her to leave, I don’t want her to think I am trying to hold her hostage. However, Jabarri gets up, goes into the family room and turns on a movie. When the title comes on, she sits up.
“Ooooh, I love this movie!”
She scoots out of the booth and goes over to watch the movie with him. My other brothers and I begin to clear the table and clean the kitchen up. As we clean up my brothers let me know how much they like Savvy and Atlas basically tells me I better hurry up and marry Savannah because he might have to take her.I damn near trip when he says that because Atlas doesn’t take to anyone and especially not this fast.
Make that four brothers dead. Kitchen clean, I walk over to the chair she’s sitting in and sit next to her. It's basically a chair and a half...super-sized. I recline the chair and wrap my arm around her. She lays her head on my shoulder and throws her leg over mine. Aryon throws me a blanket and I cover us and watch the movie with my hatima yangu.