Page 1 of Admiring His Omega (Hobson Hills Omegas #12)

April

“ W elcome to another episode of Simply Living .” Malcolm Reed smiled at the camera attached to the top corner cabinet of his kitchen. “Today, I have two lovely assistants.”

Van smiled widely, cheeks dimpling, and hip-bumped him. “Hello. I’m Vanessa and this is my daughter Bianca. We’re keeping an eye on this terror today.”

Mal gasped dramatically, pressing his hand to his heart. “Terror? Me?”

Bianca chuckled, then smiled shyly at the main camera. The sixteen-year-old was very self-conscious, and Mal thought being part of his show might help boost her confidence. His viewers were generally good-natured and fun.

“You are a troublemaker for sure,” Van continued, rolling her eyes. “Now, what are we making?”

“Oh, right.” Mal bounced on the tips of his feet.

“So, it’s April here in Maine, and the weather conditions were perfect for one of my favorite pastimes – mushroom foraging.

By now you all know I’m a mycophile.” He wrapped an arm around Bianca’s shoulders.

“Usually foraging here in the spring is tricky, but yesterday, my youngest assistant spotted the biggest patch of morel mushrooms that I’ve ever seen. ”

Bianca flushed and the freckles on her pale cheeks stood out even more. “We, umm, we’re in central Maine and just got a really good rain. Mal told me that the soil has to be super wet and at least a little warm for mushrooms to grow. This year’s spring has been much warmer than usual.”

“She’s my precious, little budding mycophile. Best assistant ever, right?” Mal smirked.

“Hey, I cleaned the mushrooms,” Van protested.

Mal laughed. “Yeah, yeah. The easiest job.” He stuck his tongue out at her, then looked back at the camera.

“We have fresh, hand-gathered morels, so today we’re going to make a simple morel studded pasta.

It’s both vegetarian and easy to make.” He gestured around the small kitchen of his fifth wheel camper.

“RV living doesn’t mean you have to limit yourself to outdoor grilling.

We have a full kitchen here, just a little less space, so it’s just as easy to cook from scratch using fresh ingredients as it is to toss hotdogs on a grill. ”

“ Easy he says,” Van said, snorting. “Boy, you’re delusional.”

Mal shrugged. “It does take more planning, but your tummy will thank you. Fresh ingredients generally taste better and are healthier. Don’t limit yourself just because you have less space and appliances.

Plus, if you think about it, part of the joy of choosing the RV lifestyle is so you can explore and find interesting places.

Over the past five years, I’ve found so many little gems. One such place here in Hobson Hills, Maine, is a cute little store called Farm Fresh. ”

“I love it there,” Bianca said, tucking a strand of curly brown hair behind her ear. “The whole place smells like baking bread, and they sell fresh veggies and fruit.”

“It’s really a good place,” Mal agreed. “Good prices too, which is always welcome. Yesterday, I bought so many delicious ingredients. Here’s fresh butter and heavy cream – they even have a picture of the cow it came from on their packaging.” He grinned. “Her name is Pooka, by the way.”

“They do have the freshest and tastiest veggies there,” Van said, holding up a cutting board. “Here’s some freshly minced garlic and shallots that Mal bought as well.”

“The pasta we’ll use is some of the garganelli I made and froze from three episodes ago.” Mal gave Bianca an encouraging look.

She cleared her throat nervously, then listed out the other ingredients for the dish they were making while Van and Mal smiled proudly.

The show went on as they bantered back and forth, and Bianca slowly loosened up, smiling and laughing freely.

The girl and her mom had a special place in Mal’s heart. He had spent the past five summers in Hobson Hills’ RV Park, close to the small house that Van and Bianca lived in. Van quickly became a good friend, and Bianca felt like his daughter from another life.

A long-haired, grey tabby with one eye jumped onto the counter and Bianca blocked him from the stove. “No, Truffle. We’re the assistants today.”

Mal’s cat meowed loudly and gave them a dark look before hopping back to the floor.

“Yes,” Mal said, smiling sweetly. “Today’s dish doesn’t require any Truffle hair.”

“So many of your dishes do,” Van said, snickering. “Whether you like it or not.

A short time later, the episode concluded with three plates of steaming pasta.

Mal cut off the cameras and urged Van and Bianca to take the two seats at the small bench table separating the kitchen from the living area.

His RV had a simple floorplan – living area in the middle, a step up to the kitchen on the right, and a step up to a bathroom and bedroom on the left.

“You two did so well,” he said, sprawling on his small couch. Truffle instantly jumped up and settled on his lap. “Thank you for helping out today.”

“No problem,” Van said, mumbling around a mouth of food.

Bianca snickered. “What Mom means to say is ‘thank you for the free dinner.’ This is so much better than anything we make at home.”

“I swear it’s on par with Rueban’s cooking at the pub.” Van took another bite, a look of bliss covering her face.

“Is that really possible?” he asked, serious. Hobson Hills had a local pub called The Irish Rose. The place was known for its delicious food and the fresh draft beer it served, brewed by a local man.

“You only barely compare,” Van answered him, shrugging. “You don’t cook with meat very often, so that detracts from your score.”

“I cook with fish a lot.”

“Only when you catch it.”

He wrinkled his nose. “Meat in stores tastes funny. Buying fresh or catching it yourself is so much better.”

Van shook her head. “That’s called picky eating.”

“It’s just simple living.”

“Simple living, my ass. If you were living simply, you’d just eat a can of ravioli instead of making your own pasta once a month.”

“That’s just wrong.” Mal fake gagged. “Can pasta? You monster.”

“Snob.”

Bianca giggled. “You are so bougie, Mal. I mean look at your RV. It’s huge and nicer than the apartment we first lived in. Right, Mom?”

Van nodded. “His bathroom may be bigger than that apartment’s kitchen.”

“Now, who’s being dramatic?” he asked, glaring at his friend.

Bianca’s phone pinged and she grabbed it, looking at the screen excitedly. “Oh, I have to go.”

“Be careful, sweetheart,” Van said, reaching up to kiss Bianca’s cheek. “Do you have gas money?”

“I’m just going to Paula’s, Mom.” She hugged Mal. “Sorry to leave so quickly. Thank you for the delicious food.”

“No problem. Have fun.” He held his plate high as Truffle tried to stick his face into the pasta.

“Be home by ten and text me.” Van took the last bite of her pasta. “This is so good, damn it.”

“Okay.” Bianca grinned and practically bounced to the door. “Have a good shift at the hospital, Mom. I’ll see you when you get home.”

Mal waited until Bianca closed the door behind her. “Who is Paula?” he asked Van. “What happened to Jennifer? I thought they were best friends.”

“Jenn and her family moved out of state late last year. Paula is a friend she met at work.”

“Okay, what’s wrong with Paula?” Mal shook his head. “You look like you just sucked on a lemon.”

“It’s not Paula. She seems nice enough. The problem is that something’s going on with Bia.” Van looked tired.

“What makes you think that?”

“Well, her grades are slipping. You know how hard she has to work to keep decent grades. Lately, though, she does the bare minimum for school. I thought it was work at first, but she’s been working at the grocery store part-time for over a year and hasn’t had a problem with it until recently.”

“Can’t you just make her quit the job? I can help out if she needs some extra money.”

Van gave him a hard look. “We don’t take charity. Plus, she seems to really like the job. I don’t know why. Eugene Scott owns the place, and the man is a grade A bastard. But it is what it is.”

“There’s one of those in every town,” he said, scowling. “Maybe she can get a job at one of the other shops.”

“Easier said than done.” She sipped her water for a moment.

“The job isn’t really the problem. It’s just…

she keeps things from me now. Bia used to tell me everything, even if I didn’t want to know.

Since she started hanging out with Paula, things are different. At least, that’s what I tell myself.”

“It can’t be that bad,” he said. “She has a good head on her shoulders. One teenage girl’s influence isn’t going to change her.”

“I found condoms and underwear under her mattress,” Van said bluntly. “I don’t mean cotton briefs either, but lace thongs and shit like that. I didn’t even know she knew where to buy that stuff, but I guess you can get anything online.”

“No,” he said, drawing the word out as he gasped. “No, no, no. Our angel isn’t ready for sex. Teenage boys are irresponsible assholes. I know. I was one.” He stood up. “I’m going to bring her back home right now. This Paula clearly isn’t good for Bianca.”

Van tossed a rolled up napkin at him. “Sit down. If we try forcing her to do anything, she’ll be even more reckless.

I know. I was a teenage girl too. We’ve talked about safe sex and what makes a good partner, but I don’t know how much she’s really listened.

I thought my parents didn’t know anything when I was her age. ”

“What do we do?” he asked, pacing the floor.

Bianca was sweet, but so insecure. It wouldn’t be hard for someone to take advantage of her.

“Once, I stole my older sister’s car keys before she went on a date with a guy that I thought was a vampire.

It worked and kept her home, so should I steal Bianca’s Vespa? ”