Simmer Down

if it wasn’t with Owen. You know, if we hadn’t been together so long. Of course I love him. But, Chloe, I don’t even like kids! I never thought I’d have kids, and now I am! What if I don’t like my own baby? Then what? This just all feels so hard right now. I don’t know what to do. This wasn’t the plan, and I’m scared.” I thought the poor girl might hyperventilate from crying so much. Her distress made me worry about her and the baby. She pulled herself together enough to tell me that after she and Owen had a huge blow-up fight, they’d spent two hours talking and crying before Owen had gone home. Owen was supposed to go to her apartment this afternoon. I hoped that by then she’d have had some rest. She was going to need it.
    After I’d told Josh everything, I asked, “Are you going to talk to Snacker?”
    Josh ran a hand through his hair. “Yeah. What an ass. He knew Adrianna had a boyfriend. For Christ’s sake, he had dinner with Owen. He’s not usually such a pig, I promise. It sounds to me like she was throwing herself at him, so it’s not entirely his fault. Who wouldn’t want Adrianna all over him?” I raised my eyebrows, and Josh quickly defended himself. “Well, not me , but you know what I mean.”
    “I know. This whole thing is crazy. As much as I love Adrianna, I can’t see her as a mother. She can barely stand to be in the same room with Walker and Lucy. I don’t know how she’s going to parent her own child.”
    Josh kissed the top of my head. “She’ll have Owen and you to help her. And me. I’ll make her homemade baby food. She and Owen will be all right. I really think so.”
    “Okay,” I said, although I was doubtful that homemade baby food would do much to ease Ade and Owen’s stress. “I guess there’s nothing I can do right this minute. So, tell me what you thought of the review.”
    “It’s okay,” Josh said with unusual modesty.
    “Give it to me.” I held out my hand and took the review from him. “I’m going to cut it out and frame it, and one day you’ll acknowledge that having Mishti Patil write anything positive about you is an amazing feat.”
    We spent the next couple of hours snuggled on the couch, reading the paper and watching football, until my stomach started rumbling.
    “Josh, I’m hungry,” I complained. “And there’s nothing to eat here. Do you want to order something in?”
    He rubbed my feet and smiled. “On my new budget? Not really. I’m sure we can find something.”
    “Seriously, there’s nothing. We finished off the kielbasa at three last night, so there’s like, potatoes and spices and weird frozen meat samples. I’m not in the mood for venison steaks right now.”
    Josh pulled me up from the couch. “Come on, we’ll find something good.”
    I followed him into the kitchen.
    After discovering four frozen pork chops and rooting through my cabinets, Josh announced that he’d come up with something. “Curry. It’s freezing cold and snowing outside, so we’re hunkering down for the day with a steaming pork curry on rice.”
    “I have curry powder?” I asked. So far as I could remember, I’d never made curry in this kitchen.
    “No, but that’s okay. I’m going to make my own version.”
    Despite my confidence in Josh’s culinary abilities, I was a little uncertain about the idea. Josh heated a deep skillet and began sauteeing chopped onions and garlic in a little olive oil. After a few minutes he started shaking cumin, coriander, nutmeg, ground ginger, cayenne, and red pepper flakes into the dish, and, within moments, my kitchen magically started smelling like curry. Soon, he added carrots, potatoes, coconut milk, butter, and chicken broth and brought the whole thing to a lovely simmer.
    “There you go, baby. Let’s let that develop some more flavor.” He put a lid on top and turned the heat down. “In a few minutes, I’ll start the rice and then sear off the pork chops.”
    “You an a genius!” I hugged him. Nothing made me happier than spending the day with both Josh and delicious food.
    “And you doubted me!” Josh teased.
    Forty-five minutes later, we were back on the couch with steaming bowls of pork curry over yellow rice balanced on our laps. One of the good things about living alone was that no one made you sit down and eat every meal at a table.
    The dish had just the right amount of saltiness, sweetness, and spicy heat but, as comforting as the curry was, I was worried about not hearing