"Hey James! Dinner!" His mother called from downstairs.
He was starving and quickly stopped drawing hearts and little J&L's, and put his notebook away. There would be plenty of time to decorate that later, but for now he was starving. He hurried downstairs and smelled the delicious food. Without realizing it, he sat down next to his mother, in the seat that Audrey always took.
"Oh James? That's Audrey's seat isn't it?" Heather, his mother asked.
Then Audrey sat down in James's usual seat next to Nick, her father, "It's fine mom, I like sitting over here by dad anyways."
Their father seemed pleased that his daughter was being so friendly, but he didn't say a word as usual.
Heather paused for a second, before continuing, "Oh ok… sure. Well tonight we're having some spicy roast chicken and noodles, and yes Audrey I know you don't like spicy foods, so I went easy on yours."
James stopped to admire how lucky he was to have a mom that cooked decent meals, and cared about preparing them just right for each of her kids. He wondered where she found the time to work as a teacher, being busy all the time, and then come home and cook a full dinner at night. She must have learned some really quick recipes at one point, was that her secret?
Without realizing it, James had just swapped all of his mother's cooking knowledge for his own. He knew exactly how to prepare all of the things she usually made, but since he wasn't dwelling on it, he didn't notice the new knowledge. At the moment it just seemed silly of him to wonder these things now, because he knew exactly what recipe she used to make a quick dinner.
"Thanks Mom, it smells great." James said as he took a bite. His eyes went wide, "Whoa! Jesus! Mom you went waay overboard on the spiciness!"
James took a huge drink of water to cool his mouth down, and his mother looked very concerned. "I didn't put any more than usual…" Heather said.
"I don't know mine's incredibly plain… Mind if I try some of James's?" Audrey asked. Without waiting for a response, Audrey stole a bite off James's plate, and she seemed to like it. "Oh I don't know what James's freaking about… this is great!"
In the end, James and Audrey traded dinners, and he found that the non-spicy plate was much more bearable to him. He thought nothing of it, but wondered if maybe mom messed up her recipe?
"You know mom, maybe tomorrow I can help you out? I've got some recipes of my own I want to try out…" James offered.
Audrey laughed, "You? Cook? James you couldn't cook to save your life!"
But their mom shook her head and smiled, "I'm sure James knows a lot more than I do I'm sure. I'm honestly not even sure how I managed to pull this meal off, luck I guess. I'd love if you helped me out James, we don't do enough Mother/Son bonding…"
Suddenly their father chimed in, "Son are you sure about this? You never expressed interest in cooking before, though I guess your mother could teach you if you want. It's a skill you're going to need to learn when you go off to college…"
James rolled his eyes, "Oh don't worry about me, daddy, if anything I'll teach her!"
Heather and Nick looked at each other strangely when James called him "daddy." He hasn't called his father that since he was a young kid, and he was definitely acting strange earlier too. They said nothing to each other, but they knew what the other was thinking.
Nick simply smiled, "Alright then Jimmy, I look forward to seeing what you can come up with tomorrow!"
He called his son "Jimmy" a name he hadn't used for his son since his son was old enough to call him "daddy". He did this on purpose hoping his son was just playing a joke on him, but James didn't laugh, he didn't even seem fazed by being called his childhood nickname. Normally he insisted people call him James…
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