Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
Essie tied the apron strings at her waist and set a large pot of water on the stove, turning the burner all the way up so the water would boil faster. She added a handful of salt and gave the water a stir.
Spaghetti for dinner wasn’t anything fancy, but it was familiar and something everyone would eat without a fuss. It was the reliable kind of meal that was the sort of easy Essie needed after a long day at the pool.
Even though Essie had raised her own children, she didn’t remember her son or daughter being as rambunctious as her grandchildren.
How Liliana took care of those two and kept herself sane, Essie didn’t know, but she gave her daughter a lot of credit.
She knew Mat helped, but she also knew that he had a stressful job.
She wasn’t praying for those two nearly enough. She glanced over to see how her daughter was doing.
At the moment, Liliana had Mira settled into a bouncy seat in the living room. She was humming softly to Mira while Mattie zoomed a toy car along the back of the couch. The smell of garlic and onions warming in olive oil filled the room with a comforting aroma.
Smiling, Essie went back to work. She’d just started browning the meat for the sauce when she felt someone else come into the kitchen.
She looked up, surprised to see Sophie standing there.
Sophie was a few feet away, hands tucked into the sleeves of her sweatshirt, watching like she wasn’t sure she was allowed to be there.
“Hi,” Essie said, keeping her voice relaxed.
“It smelled like you were making spaghetti,” Sophie said. “I thought…maybe I could help. If you want.”
Essie didn’t let her excitement show. This was a huge step for Sophie. Essie simply smiled and nodded. “I’d love that. You can start by opening that jar of sauce and adding it to the empty pot on the stove.”
Sophie picked the jar up, turned it in her hands, then tried twisting the lid the wrong way.
She struggled a moment, but Essie pretended not to notice, turning back to the stove.
Essie didn’t think Sophie would like being told how to do it, and she’d figure it out eventually.
A second later, there was a sharp pop as the seal broke.
“There you go,” Essie said. “You’ve got it. I have trouble with those all the time. I usually ask your dad to help me.”
Sophie poured the jar’s contents into the pot, then set the jar down like it had personally offended her. “I don’t cook,” she said, a little defensively.
“That’s all right,” Essie said. “Neither did your dad when I met him. He’s learned how to do a few things now, though.”
Sophie let out a short bark that might have been a laugh.
Essie chose to believe that’s what it was. She showed her how to stir the meat so it cooked evenly, then asked her to take over while Essie got a few spices out of the cabinet. Sophie held the spoon stiffly, stirring too fast, then too slow, concentrating like this was a test she might fail.
“You can relax,” Essie said gently. “The meat won’t mind. All you really need to do is keep it from sticking to the bottom of the pan and make sure it’s all getting cooked.”
“Okay.” Sophie glanced at her, then eased up a little. “This smells pretty good,” she said.
“Thank you.” Essie added a pinch of sugar to the sauce to cut any bitterness in the tomatoes, gave it a stir, then wiped her hands on a towel. She held out one of the spice jars. “You want to sprinkle in the oregano?”
“I can do that.” Sophie took the jar and tipped it, overdoing it a bit. Her eyes widened. “Was that too much? It was, wasn’t it.”
Essie peered into the pot of sauce. “We’ll survive.”
That earned a real smile. Maybe the first one Essie had ever seen Sophie produce. At least the first one that had ever been aimed at Essie.
They worked side by side for a few minutes, the rhythm of it settling in. Sophie didn’t say much, but she did whatever task Essie gave her. She didn’t drift back to the guest room or check her phone once. She made the salad, chopping up the lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumber the way Essie showed her.
When Liliana set the table, Sophie stepped in to add the napkins. When Essie brought the food to the table and called everyone in, Sophie followed without hesitation and took a chair next to Mattie, who seemed captivated by her.
She waited until everyone was seated before resting her hands lightly on the edge of the table.
Liliana brought Mira over and got her settled into her highchair before taking her own seat.
“Before we eat,” Essie said, her voice soft but firm. “I want to say grace.”
Mattie, reaching for his fork, froze. Liliana bowed her head, one hand taking Mira’s little hand where she was reaching for her mother. Sophie hesitated, then followed suit, eyes dropping to the table.
Essie kept it short and simple, the way she always did. Gratitude for the food, for family, for being together. There was no point in preaching a sermon. Mattie only had so much patience, after all. When she finished, she looked up and smiled. “All right. Dig in.”
Essie kept a subtle eye on Sophia, watching as she reached for the bread and served herself pasta like she belonged there as much as anyone.
It wasn’t exactly a breakthrough. Essie knew that.
It was just dinner, but it was the most interaction Essie’d had with Sophie since Essie had married Frank.
Even at the pool today, Sophie had kept to herself.
She’d either sat in the cabana on her phone or slept in the sun on one of the loungers, earbuds in like a sign she wasn’t interested in being spoken to.
Essie could only pray this was the start of something new.
The clink of forks filled the space, along with Mattie’s immediate commentary on the food.
“Grandma,” he announced. “I love spaghettis. This is my favorite meal in the whole world.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Essie said, barely suppressing a smile. Yesterday, his favorite had been mac and cheese.
Liliana laughed and reached for her water, then went to work chopping up some spaghetti in a small bowl for Mira.
Once that was done, Liliana twirled a bit of pasta onto her fork.
She ate it, then glanced at Sophie. “My mom mentioned you’ve got your own channel,” she said. “On TikTok. She said you’re popular.”
Essie kept her eyes on her plate, curious, but trying not to be obvious about it. She knew very well that Liliana knew exactly what Sophie was up to on TikTok. Liliana was the one who’d alerted Essie to Sophie’s little rants.
Although, her latest posts were much simpler these days. Like the shoes she was wearing that day or what kind of coffee she’d ordered from Starbucks. She’d even done one about the book she was reading, which had come as a surprise to Essie, who’d never imagined the young woman read for pleasure.
Unless that had just been done for the camera, to seem intellectual. Nothing would surprise Essie in that regard.
Sophie’s shoulders tightened, then eased. “Yeah. I’m trying to be super consistent. That’s really what builds followers. But it’s been hard lately.”
“I imagine it’s a lot of work,” Liliana said. “People act like it’s just turning on a camera, but I’m sure it’s more than that.”
“It so is,” Sophie said, suddenly more engaged. “It’s filming and editing and figuring out what to say. And then deciding how you should say it. What angles look best. If the light was right.” She pushed a strand of spaghetti around her plate. “Sometimes it feels like shouting into the void.”
Essie noticed Sophie hadn’t eaten much yet. Essie didn’t comment. Maybe Sophie didn’t have an appetite, but after a day at the pool, playing with the kids, Essie was starving.
Liliana nodded. “I’ve seen how rough the comments can be. Even when people think they’re being helpful.”
“They’re so often not,” Sophie said quietly. “Most of the time they’re just commenting to get a reaction.”
Mattie dropped his fork on the floor. “Uh-oh.” He stared down at the lost utensil.
Before Essie or Liliana could move, Sophie reached down and picked it up. She slid her chair back just enough to get up and took the utensil into the kitchen. She rinsed the fork at the sink, then returned and set it beside his plate.
“Here,” she said, already cutting the spaghetti into smaller pieces as she stood next to him. “It’s easier like this.”
Mattie watched her with open admiration. “You’re good at that.”
Sophie paused, then gave a small shrug. “It’s not hard. I’ve done it for my niece and nephew.”
She nudged the plate back toward him and waited until he’d managed a bite before sitting again. Essie noticed she ate a few bites herself after that, like helping had unlocked something in her.
Liliana spoke to her son. “Mattie, what do you say?”
Mattie had sauce on his face as he smiled at Sophie. “Thanks, Aunt Sophie.”
Sophie blinked, slightly wide-eyed. “You’re, uh, welcome.”
Liliana let the moment pass, then said, “Do you have any idea what you want to do next? I mean, longer term.”
Sophie looked up, startled, then shook her head. “No. Not really.”
Essie thought that answer rang true. Sophie definitely seemed adrift at the moment. The breakup with Ryan and his awful betrayal couldn’t be helping.
“I used to think I did,” Sophie said. “And then everything kind of…fell apart.” She stared at the table. “Now I’m just trying to get through the day without making things worse.”
Essie took a bite of her salad. The paperwork, the lawyers, the strain of Sophie and Frank’s relationship…it all sat there in her mind, unsaid and unresolved. None of it erased the fact that Sophie sounded lost.
At some point, Sophie would have to figure out that moving forward would mean dealing with those things.
“That’s still something,” Liliana said gently. “Getting through the day, I mean. Sometimes you have to take that as a win.”
Sophie nodded. “Yeah.”
Essie watched as Sophie took another bite and seemed to close down a bit. But then Mattie asked her about her favorite dinosaur and Sophie rested her hand briefly on the back of his chair as she did her best to answer him.
It wasn’t affection, exactly, but she wasn’t ignoring him. That was kind of remarkable.
The tension hadn’t vanished. There were plenty of hard parts still waiting to be dealt with.
But Sophie was here. She was present and more engaged than Essie had ever seen her. Essie took great hope in that.
It was most definitely a step forward. And for right now, Essie told herself, that felt like an answer to her prayers.