Page 80 of Mistaken Prejudice

“I’m hungry.” Miles shrugged from his seat on the couch.

“Well, in that case, ne t’inquiète pas, Papa will make you dinner.”

“Ne t—” I stammered after him.

“Ne t’inquiète pas,” Elliot kindly repeated himself. “It means, don’t worry.”

“Oh. Cool. Can I help?”

He waved me off with his hand. “Go sit. Watch TV! I cook.”

And cooking he did. Two hours and four courses later, I was so full I could hardly move. Elliot’s food was the best I’d ever had. Kai can’t know about it. It was so good that I would have asked him to marry me if it weren’t for Miles, Daniel, and the age gap between us.

“So, Andrei. Did Miles ask you about coming to the wedding?” Elliot asked after putting his wine glass down.

“Wedding?” I looked over at Miles, who was standing by the open fridge.

“Mhmm. What?” He turned to look at me with a spoon of peanut butter in his mouth.

“His sister Maya, Daniel’s daughter from his previous marriage. She is getting married next week, and Miles said he’ll invite you,” Elliot explained before he turned to look at his son, who was still in the same spot. “You didn’t ask him? And what are you looking for?”

“Mhmmm… Oh, nope.” He popped the spoon out of his mouth. “Forgot. And I’m looking for something to eat.”

“Something to eat?” Elliot asked, sounding surprised. “You just ate. I mean, we just had dinner.”

Miles shrugged before he shut the fridge door and came back to the table with a bowl of onion soup and a jar of peanut butter.

“I’m still hungry.”

“Oui, yes. Of course. Let me heat it up for you then,” Elliot mumbled as he got up, took the bowl to the stove, poured the soup into a small iron pot, and started to stir it.

“Is there some bread left from this morning?” Miles asked over his shoulder.

“Oui. I’ll bring some.” Elliot smiled back.

“So can you come to the wedding with me? I’m the maid of honor.” He winked, and I laughed.

“Sure, I would love to go.”

“Sweet,” he said while scratching the bottom of the jar with his spoon. “Fuck. Papa, tell Laurien to buy more peanut butter tomorrow. Oh, and some chips. I want chips.”

“Okay, mon lapin,” Elliot hummed his reply.

“Are you pregnant or something?” I asked.

Miles pulled his shoulders. “After today? I might be.”

My cheeks flushed and he laughed at my reaction just as Elliot returned to the table with a loaf of bread and warm soup.

Chapter 25

Miles

“Skip school?” Andrei asked with a mouth full of toothpaste before he spat it out and rinsed it. “Why?” he asked again after walking back into the room, already dressed in gray sweats and black T-shirt.

“What do you mean why? Why not?” Today was too good to be wasted on school. I wanted to go out, to do something. The idea of spending all those beautiful hours stuck in a class was senseless.

“Because we’re high school students?”