After taking some time to apply a little makeup, I stepped out of the bathroom in search of Morik and Gran. The aroma of frying bacon greeted me.
It wasn’t often Gran made a big breakfast, but when she did, it was hard to miss. She went old school in the kitchen, frying the bacon and then using the grease to fry the diced potatoes with chopped onions. When those finished, she set it in the oven and used a little of the grease she’d set aside to cook the eggs, which she scrambled. Plated, the potatoes went on the bottom of the pile, topped with the eggs, shredded cheese and then crumbled bacon. My mouth watered.
Inner turmoil forgotten, I followed my nose. Instead of Gran at the stove, Morik stood scooting bacon around the pan with a fork carefully avoiding the popping grease. He’d changed clothes while I’d gotten ready, but left off the hat and glasses. Gran sat at the table a cup of coffee cradled in her hands giving him pointers.
I crossed the tile and stood near Morik’s shoulder to peek at the browning bacon in the pan. My stomach rumbled, and he looked back at me. His eyes were normal again. Well, what I thought might be normal for him... Silver with stands of brown swirling in their depths. Without a word, he handed me a piece of cooling bacon from the plate beside the stove.
“Thanks,” I said breaking a piece of bacon off to pop into my mouth.
“You’re welcome.” He smiled at me before turning his attention back to the bacon.
I sat next to Gran so I could face the stove and watch Morik.
“Did you know he’s never had bacon?” she demanded of me as if I were the one responsible for his food options. “Or meatloaf.” She turned her focus back on Morik. “What about a casserole? Ever had any type of casserole?”
I caught the quick quirk of his lips before he answered that he hadn’t. He found Gran and her questions amusing.
Gran pushed a pad of paper and pen toward me.
“Write that down Tess. We need to get him some variety.” She tapped the paper in front of me with an authoritative finger. I dutifully made note of the ingredients we’d need and kept my worry about the cost to myself. “Morik, set aside a little bit of the grease before you add those potatoes.”
I looked up in time to see Morik set aside the bowl of dice potatoes he’d been about to dump into the hot grease-filled pan. Without switching off the burner, he used a spoon to scoop out some of the grease.
“Be careful adding the potatoes,” I said as he lifted the bowl and dumped the cool wet potatoes into the grease. It popped and sizzled. A large glob of grease flew from the pan and landed on the side of his face and ear.
I didn’t think, just flew out of the chair grabbing the towel from the drying rack. He calmly put the lid on the pan as I gently turned his face toward me with the tips of my fingers.
Grimacing as I saw a shiny spot on his cheek and a little on his ear, I carefully blotted them away. Neither place turned red nor began to welt. I reached out and touched his cheek. It remained his normal warm temperature.
Puzzled, I shifted my attention to his ear and I carefully ran my finger along the outer shell. He made a pained grunting noise and I quickly pulled my hand away.
“I’m so sorry. I’ll get you some ice.”
He caught me before I could move away. I looked up worried about him. His eyes had gone black again, confusing me.
“I’m going to brush my hair,” Gran said from behind me pulling my attention from Morik.
“I’ll help you,” Aunt Danielle said moving to join Gran. I thought it odd for Aunt Danielle to offer, but didn’t comment.
Once they left the room, I looked at Morik, confused. “Did I do something wrong?”
“No,” he assured me taking the towel from my hands to set it on the counter. “You did everything right. Thank you for worrying about me, but I’m fine. The heat doesn’t bother me.”
“Oh.” I felt more than a little silly. Looking at his black eyes, I wondered what part of what I’d done had caused the change. My concern?
He studied me a long moment and then asked, “Can you crumble the bacon?”
We worked together to finish breakfast. Gran came back into the kitchen to help serve. We ate together in silence enjoying the food.
Mom and Aunt Grace had arranged for a ride to work so Gran would have the car to get the supplies she needed. She insisted that Morik drive and sat in the backseat allowing me to sit next to him in the front. The differences in attitude between my mom and Gran contrasted like night and day.
At the store, Gran tore the list in two handing us the top half so we could shop faster. Morik watched quietly while I price-shopped. He kept glancing at the pathetically small pile of food in the cart.
We met Gran at the register and checked out. Morik loaded everything into the car.