Page 35 of How To Tackle A Crush
Professional.
This is professional.
I knock.
A brief pause.
Then his voice from inside.
“Come in.”
And just like that I am about to find out whether yesterday meant as little to him as it should have.
Chapter 7
Jack
Ishould already beat the training ground.
Instead I am in my kitchen at twenty past seven watching a five-year-old balance on a kitchen chair whilst analysing a pancake like he’s about to submit peer-reviewed findings.
“It’s not round,” Alfie says with deep concern.
“It’s a pancake,” I reply. “Not a football.”
“It should still be round.”
“Itisround.”
“It’s a bit squashed.”
“It has dimples,” I say.
He considers that with the seriousness only small children can give completely unimportant things. Then he leans closer to the pan, watching the tiny bubbles forming on the surface of the batter.
“Why does it do that?”
“Heat,” I say, flipping it carefully. “The heat makes the batter change.”
He watches the next one go in with intense focus.
“So cooking is science?”
I smile. “That’s right.”
“Because things change?”
“Yes.”
He nods slowly, satisfied with the logic.
“So this is an experiment.”
“That depends,” I say. “If we eat the results, is it still science?”
“Yes,” he says without hesitation. “That’s the best kind.”
I laugh quietly.
