Page 30 of July (New Orleans #7)

“J ill?”

“Yeah?”

“Um… When can I call Mom?”

“Oh,” Jill said and turned to Juni, who was still staring at the TV. “Maybe tomorrow,” she replied. “It’s late.”

“It’s not even dinner time,” Juni argued.

“I know. It’s late for Grandma and Grandpa, though. They… go to bed early.”

“Grandma and Grandpa go to bed at five o’clock?”

“Yup. They take a long nap after an early dinner, wake up to watch the news, and talk about current events before they go back to sleep.”

“When do they wake up? Can I call them then?”

“No, they’re very particular about having their evening schedule and going back to sleep right after. They’re old people. They do that,” Jill lied again. “Want to help me cook dinner?”

“No,” Juni replied.

Jill laughed and said, “Willa is coming over to eat with us.”

Juni’s head turned, and her eyes went wide. She looked really happy at the prospect of Willa joining them, which had Jill smiling, too, because she wanted her sister to be happy. Besides, Willa coming over making her happy was something that Jill, of all people, could understand.

“She is?”

“Yeah. Are you sure you don’t want to help me cook?”

“What are you making?”

“Chicken.”

“More chicken?”

“What’s wrong with chicken?” she asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

“We had chicken last night.”

“We’ve had pizza, like, three times this week, and I didn’t hear you complaining.”

“I did, too. I didn’t want it four times, but pizza is also good.”

“Was the chicken last night bad?”

“No, it was just chicken.” Juni shrugged a shoulder.

“Well, tonight, we can do something different with it.”

“Like what?” Juni asked, turning toward her.

“I don’t know. Add spices.”

“What spices?”

“What spices do we have in the pantry?”

“I don’t know. Mom never lets me play with the spices.”

“Well, let’s go check it out, then, and see how we can make the chicken taste better since you have such a discerning palette.”

“Huh?” Juni asked, looking confused.

“Just go find me the spices,” Jill said.

“Cool.”

Juni rushed into the kitchen, and Jill followed like she was just as excited.

Truth be told, though, she kind of was. Opening the pantry to find dozens of small spice containers, they hefted as many as they could grab and placed them haphazardly on the table.

Juni was too short to reach the rest, so Jill went back and grabbed them, letting them fall all over each other on the table.

Juni started standing them up and arranging them in a pattern that didn’t quite make sense to Jill at first, but then, she realized that Juni was grouping them by the color of their lids.

The red lids went to the right. The blue ones were on the left.

There were more white lids than any other color, so Juni had left those in the middle, shifting them close together.

The rest were placed in a group of their own.

“Which ones?” Juni asked her when she was done.

“Well, do you want spicy chicken?”

Juni shook her head.

“Okay. Then, we can’t use any of these.” Jill removed a few of the spicier containers and put them off to the side. “Do you like cinnamon on your chicken?”

“No.” Juni laughed as if that were a ridiculous idea.

“Hmm…” Jill moved the cinnamon away. “What about cardamom?”

“I don’t know what that is,” Juni replied.

“Okay. Well, smell it,” Jill suggested as she opened the lid and held it beneath Juni’s nose.

“Gross.” Juni giggled.

“So, none of that, either, huh?” Jill asked, smiling down at her sister, who was shaking her head fervently.

They’d run through about fifteen of the containers before Juni decided that she wanted grilled chicken with a dry rub mix that their mother had probably bought for barbecue or something, and she wanted to add a little garlic powder to it.

Jill was sure there was already garlic in the thing, but if that was what the kid wanted, it was what she would get.

Jill didn’t want Juni touching raw chicken since she couldn’t exactly trust her hand-washing skills to be thorough, so she did most of the work while Juni watched on and told her all about the friend she had made at the park that day as if Jill hadn’t been there watching the whole thing.

For her and Willa’s chicken, Jill went with salt and pepper and decided to use the bottled marinade she had found in the fridge when she had first gotten there.

It hadn’t even been opened and wasn’t expired, so she figured it was safe.

She put the chicken on a plate, shoved it into the refrigerator, and walked with Juni out into the backyard, where the old grill was set up.

It was just a charcoal grill that Juni’s dad had bought years ago, but they had charcoal in the garage, along with lighter fluid and an even older-looking lighter, so she thought they could have some real grilled chicken and maybe some corn, too, since they had bought corn on the cob at the store the other day.

“Pull down like this, and you want to get rid of all those little stringy things,” Jill instructed.

She had sat Juni far away from the grill she was about to light and had her shucking the corn, putting the remnants into the plastic bag the corn had come in.

“Just leave these,” she said of the outer leaves. “When we put them on the grill, we’ll wrap them in foil.”

“Okay,” Juni replied.

Jill had always liked how their mother had prepared corn for them during the summer.

She’d soak the cobs in sugar water for hours, usually overnight, and before putting them on the grill, she’d remove the inner leaves and the thin strings that Jill didn’t know the name of, leaving only the outer leaves for a little bit of protection from the grill.

Before putting them on the heat, she would rub butter on the corn directly, cover it back with the leaves, and wrap it in foil.

They’d had a different grill back then. It had been bigger and had an upper section where the corn could be placed without going directly on the heat, but this one would have to do for tonight.

Jill also hadn’t soaked them in advance, so there was a good chance they wouldn’t turn out the same, but she could always prepare better next time.

She lit the charcoal and made sure the fire took before she closed the lid to let it heat up.

Walking back over to Juni, she helped her with the last piece of corn, and they went back inside to finish preparing them to cook.

Jill got Juni set up at the table, working on organizing the spices again so that they could be put back on the shelf in the pantry, and just as she had added the chicken and corn to the grill, the doorbell rang.

“Juni, can you get that?”

“Yeah,” her sister replied and jumped out of her seat.

“Check through the window to make sure it’s Willa first.”

“Okay.”

Jill put all the spices back and closed the pantry door just in time to see Willa walk into the kitchen.

“Hey,” she greeted her, smiling wide at her because she couldn’t not.

“Hi,” Willa replied.

“I’m glad you were able to join us,” she said.

“Me too,” Juni added. “I made chicken.”

“ You made chicken?” Willa asked.

“Yes. It has a dry rub – that’s what Jill called it – with garlic in it, but I added more garlic because I liked the smell of it. No cinnamon.”

Willa’s eyes went wide in fear and lifted to Jill’s. Jill just laughed, loving that adorable expression.

“Juni picked out her own spices for her chicken tonight. I used a marinade for ours.”

“Oh,” Willa said. Then, she mouthed silently, “Thank God.”

Jill laughed just as silently and said, “I’m about to put everything on the grill.”

“Grill?”

“It’s out back. I’ve never used it, but it’s charcoal, so it should be pretty easy, right?”

“I imagine so,” Willa said.

“Can I watch?” Juni asked.

“From a safe distance,” Jill replied. “Want to come out with us?”

“Why don’t I meet you two out there?” Willa said. “I… have some… things in my car I need to… lock up so that no one takes them.”

Jill understood her meaning and nodded.

“Juni, let’s go.”

Jill loved that Willa had brought that overnight bag. She also thought it was really cute that Willa was trying to make sure that Juni had no idea she’d slept here a couple of nights and would be doing the same tonight as well.

While Jill and Juni got the food cooking outside, Willa was probably trying to be stealthy getting her bag into the guest room without Juni noticing, which had Jill shaking her head and smiling, picturing Willa tip-toeing like a cartoon cat burglar, making her way down the hall and into the guest room.

“Do we flip them yet?” Juni asked.

“We just put them on,” Jill said with a laugh.

“But they’ll burn.”

“Not yet, they won’t. We’ll flip them in a few minutes. I’ll put the lid on, and we can sit down. Do you want to eat out here tonight?”

“Can we?”

“Sure,” Jill replied. “But you have to set the table. Can you handle that?”

Juni nodded and headed inside. At the same time, Willa walked through the back door. Jill nodded to the side of the yard, and Willa followed, looking confused.

“Hi,” Jill said and kissed Willa softly on the lips out of sight of Juni, who was in the kitchen.

“Hi back,” Willa replied and pulled her in for another kiss, which was a little longer this time. “Smells good.”

“Thank you. I showered after the park.”

Willa laughed and said, “Not what I meant.”

Jill took her hand, entwining their fingers, and asked, “How was your day?”

“Boring. Not anymore, though.”

“No?”

“No,” Willa said, shaking her head. “My bag is in the guest room.”

“That’s the best sentence I’ve heard all day.”

“I thought you liked me borrowing your clothes.”

“I do, but I also want you to be comfortable here; have your own stuff here.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Jill said.

“Are you comfortable here? You still have your suitcase open, and nothing is put away.”

“My uniform for work is hanging up.”

“But that’s about it,” Willa noted. “Have you thought about unpacking?”

“What’s the point if she’s selling the house?” Jill asked.