Chapter 11.
Mary wanted some fruit yogurt, so Leanne picked up the nest strawberries.
After all, her hands were more accustomed to surgical precision than culinary flair. Her knife skills had advanced at breakneck speed despite her struggles with cooking
temperatures and seasonings.
With meticulous care, she sliced the strawberries into uniformly thin pieces as if she were in the lab rather than her kitchen.
“Why don’t you thread them into a string and knit a strawberry sweater while at it?” Curtis joked. His voice startled Leanne behind the kitchen, where he had been leaning unnoticed. Her hand jerked, and the knife nicked her finger.
She hissed in pain, raising her finger to see a small cut.
Curtis was at her side in an instant, grabbing her hand. “You need to be more careful.”
“It’s your fault for sneaking up on me,” Leanne retorted, trying to pull her hand away.
“Stay still,” Curtis insisted, holding her hand firmly and calling for the maid to fetch the first aid kit. “Mary insisted I watch over you. Even cutting fruit can be dangerous, it seems. Maybe she’s worried the strawberries will eat you.
“What guilty conscience have you so jumpy that my presence scares you?”
The family’s medicine box was with all kinds of medicines, and Curtis rummaged through
Leanne reached for the saline solution, but Curtis was quicker and cleaned her wound with it, followed by a swab of alcohol, and then wrapped it with several turns of gauze.
“Is that good enough?” he asked confidently. “My medical skills are leagues beyond your cooking.”
For such a minor cut, his fuss was over the top.
With her finger resembling a popsicle from the thick bandaging, Leanne unwrapped it herself. “A band-aid would have been enough.”
“You don’t appreciate kindness,” Curtis commented, eyeing the neatly sliced strawberries. “Did our family go bankrupt unbeknownst to me and now we’re on a strawberry ration?” “They’re not for you. I cut them for Mary,” Leanne said, carrying the prepared yogurt away.
At dinner, Leanne sat beside Curtis, but they avoided eye contact.
taway
Recently, Maddox and Phillip also made it a point to come home early if they weren’t too busy. The dinner table wasn’t bustling, but everyone ate quietly. However, Mary’s sharp eyes noticed the tension between Leanne and Curtis.
“Why the silence? Did you two argue again?” she glare Cus. “Did you bully Anne again?”
“Look at you taking sides. I just got home, and how could I have bullied Leanne?” Curtis defended himself. “Why not ask if she’s been bullying me?”
“If she’s bullying you, you probably deserve it!” Mary managed to say before she started to gasp for breath. Worried, Leanne quickly intervened, “We haven’t been fighting. We’re
fine.”
“Really?”
“Really,” affirmed Leanne, her face a picture of sincerity.
Mary seemed a bit skeptical and demanded proof. “Then stand together, hold hands, and look into each other’s eyes for a minute.”
“There’s no need for that…” Leanne wasn’t keen on playing staring games with Curtis.
But Mary wouldn’t have it. She got up, took them by the hands, and pulled them off their chairs, pushing them together, face to face.
Leanne’s entire body stiffened. She didn’t want to get any nearer to Curtis and promptly turned her face aside. “Mary, please…”
Equally uninterested, Curtis drawled, “We’re not kids to be playing this game. How childish.”
“There, you see, heh? You did argue!” Mary exclaimed.
Jennifer couldn’t help but interject, “You should leave the young people’s business to them.”
“I see you don’t want them to be happy!” Mary accused.
Jennifer was stuck with the blame and had no way to argue back.
Holding her chest, Mary sighed dramatically. “I’m old and have lived my life. The only thing I can’t rest easy about is you two. If you don’t get on well, I won’t be at peace even after I’m gone…” Her words were punctuated by a few weak coughs.
Leanne couldn’t stand to hear such talk. “Please don’t say that.”
Mary could indeed be dramatic. Resigned, Curtis compromised, “Fine, we’re good, okay?”
Then he looked down at Leanne, who was still resistant. “You better cooperate, or she’ll
start her death scene.”
Leanne was speechless.