Story Chapter 3

"Liz! I'm home!" Nick's reverberated across our home. I smiled and dropped my cooking utensils. As I ran towards the hallway, I wiped my hands on the apron tied around my waist. I saw him standing at the doorway and beamed. Following our daily ritual, I ran towards him and threw myself into his embrace. Then i saw someone behind him: the all-too good-looking, all-too rugged -- Brandon.

When Nick put me down again, I peered over Nick's shoulder and smiled warmly at Brandon. I have been married for 3 months and have been "vaccinated" against him. Haven't I? I shook my head as if this would shake away the silly notion from my mind. Once again I smiled and teased, "You dare to come back after my roast turkey??" He even had the cheek to laugh in my FACE! He was roaring with laughter and Nick even accompanied him as I thought of 2 weeks ago...
It was Nick's birthday and I wanted to do something special. Even though turkey was NOT my speciality, I knew it was Nick's favourite and I was determined to prepare it. Not only that, I also had the sudden inspiration to bake a cake for him. Soon after that, I had one inspiration after another and before long, a simple birthday meal became a 5 course dinner: salad, soup, appetizer, main course and dessert.

My cooking skills are passable but a 5 course meal has beyond my ability. As a result, the kitchen became my battleground. Pots were caked with gravy, sauces were spilt all over the table top, plates were stashed and stacked over the basin, overflowing immensely. Even I barely survived the encounter. My hair had in a mess, flour powdered over my face, gravy dyed my dress and my apron had seen much much better days. Before I could cover up my mistakes and do damage control, Nick came home. Lady Fate must have been having a field day as on this very day, Nick chose to surpirise me by sneaking up on me in the kitchen. (He payed for that action very dearly much later at night.) However, as Fate would have it, Nick had invited Brandon home for dinner and as a result I had two men gwaking at the enormous mess I had and staring at my worse-for-wear appearance. At the very end, after the 2 men stopped laughing we had a very simple meal for dinner: meatloaf.

That was 2 weeks ago and now as i stood there glaring at the 2 of them, I smiled inwardy, relieved that today's meal would be a huge success in comparison. "If the 2 of you don't stop, one of you will have a cold, empty dish," I stated coldly to Brandon, then turned to Nick, my eyes glemaing with evil, and continued "and the other...will have a very cold empty sheet..." Like a charm, both men stopped laughing. Brandon then slapped Nick at the back and whispered (not very softly) sympathetically, "Well... you got yourself a nice, demure, not to mention DEADLY wife..." I couldn't help it and burst out laughing.

For dinner we had steak and mashed potatoes and seemed to be having an animated conversation, when I went into the kitchen to get some more steak for them. When i came back, the atmosphere was worlds different. Brandon was frowning and Nick was straing blankly at the table cloth. "Now what has gotten into the 2 of you?" I asked, trying desperately to liven up the atmosphere once again...but it was no use...