Cooking for the Family 3
The kids were swimming and Jensen was going over the tests he said he couldn’t put off any longer. Jared was still going through different products that he might want to endorse. The sun was nice and Jensen turned to him and said, “Do you want some tea?”
“Is it sweetened?” asked Jared.
“Of course it is: this is the south. I hate those health nuts who say sugar is bad for you. It’s only bad if you’re fat or a diabetic who doesn’t take care of himself. All things in moderation.”
“Then I would love a glass.” He watched the kids as Jensen went into the kitchen. They were playing keep it up with a beach ball and the dogs were trying to help but not really being useful. Jensen came back and handed him the glass of sweet tea. Jared took a sip and sighed, “There is nothing on a hot day like sweet tea.” He rested his hand on Jensen’s thigh and said, “Thank you for introducing me to your brother and letting me hang out during family time. I love being here.”
“I love having you here.” Jensen leaned in and kissed him slowly. There was a comical noise of a throat being cleared. Breaking apart Jared saw Mary standing, wrapped in a towel, with her mouth gaping.
“Momma said Jared’s your boyfriend. But, like, I thought like a friend who is a boy. But is he like Aunt Macky’s boyfriend?”
“Yes.”
“Does Jared live here like Aunt Macky’s boyfriend lives with her?”
“No, but Jared sleeps over a lot.”
She nodded, “Okay. I’m done with the pool. Will you help me with my hair?”
“Of course, go get me your things.” She ran into the house and Jensen said, “I like kids, they ask some questions, you answer them truthfully and they move on with life. So much easier than adults.”
They lapsed into silence and she came back outside in a tank top and shorts holding a hairbrush, extra hair elastics, and a bottle that said “No More Tangles”. She stepped between his legs, handed him the brush and spray, and turned her back to him.
“Pigtails?” asked Jensen.
“Yes, but I want them to go back, not out to the side. I don’t want Pippi Longstocking.”
“Got it, Princess.” Jensen sprayed her hair liberally before gently tugging the wet elastic out, he sprayed it again, and then started to work the brush through her hair gently. He brushed it out, parted it down the middle, and braided it quickly and cleanly. “There you go; you can thank your Aunt Mack for the fast work: she made me braid her hair all the time when she was little.”
“Thank you, Uncle Jen.”
“Very welcome, princess.”
She went and sat on the edge of the pool. Mark moved to splash her but Jamie grabbed his cousin’s arm and said, “No, don’t she got dressed.”
Jensen sighed, “He worries me sometimes.”
“Because he’s nice to girls?”
“It’s just not normal for a boy his age to be that nice to girls. I was never that nice.” Jared laughed and went back to his papers. The boys decided they wanted ice pops and got out of the pool, wrapped themselves in towels and ran towards them, “No running, boys. You might slip.”
They came at a more sedate pace and Jamie said, “Daddy, can we please have ice pops?”
“Of course, but get plates. We don’t want sugar dripping everywhere.” Jared watched as the kids dripped into the kitchen and came back a few minutes later with plates and ice pops. They sat on the edge of the pool whispering about something. Jensen read but Jared watched them. “Jared, no one’s going to slip in and drown.”
“Aren’t you supposed to watch them?”
“They’re on the edge of the shallow end. Nothing is going to happen. You need to relax.” Ten minutes later Jamie announced that they were going to go to his tree house. It was down at the far end of the yard. And it was a real tree house, not free standing but built into the side of a tree up in the branches. Jared craned his head to watch them and Jensen laughed.
“They could fall out of the tree.”
“You never had a broken arm growing up, did you?” Jared shook his head. “Bad sunburn?” Jared shook his head. “Jesus, you were coddled.”
“Why is that a bad thing?”
“Childhood is about falling off your bike, being an idiot, injuring yourself while having fun. Being cast for six weeks is a rite of passage. They have to be allowed to be kids. The tree house is nine feet up over soft ground, a broken bone is the worst that can happen. It’s not like there’re rusty nails under it.”
“But you’re so protective of him,” said Jared.
“Well that’s sort of the point. Unlike most kids he can’t put whatever he likes in his mouth. I have to watch him; I have to make those decisions for him. That’s hard. When he gets older he’s going to resent it, it’s oppressive. But what I can go is give him is the freedom to get boo-boos. Parents nowadays childproof everything to a degree that is just plain paranoid. I’m not saying get rid of childproof lids but people need to lighten up. My parents never babied us. And Josh doesn’t watch his kids every minute. Besides if they decide to do something really dangerous, like climb onto the roof, I have an early warning system.”
“You have sensors on the roof?” asked Jared.
“Nah, Mary’s a tattletale.” Jared laughed but Jensen was serious. “Tattletales are a parent’s best friend. They keep an eye on things so you can let things run their course.” He put aside his last test. He kissed Jared, just lightly, before standing. He went down to the pool and picked up the three plates. “I’m going to start on dinner. They’ll crash early.”
“I thought they snuck out after bedtime,” said Jared following him into the kitchen. It was cool inside from the air conditioning.
“At Josh’s they do. Not here.”
“They afraid of Uncle Jensen?”
Jensen laughed, “No. At Josh’s they have four different video game systems, a huge TV and a three-in-one foosball/Ping-Pong/pool table. We don’t have any video games it’s all physical. We have the pool, the tree house and the rarest thing in Texas,” he moved and opened a door that Jared had assumed was a closet. Jared saw stairs going down, “a basement,” finished Jensen.
“I’ve never seen one of those in Texas.”
Jensen shrugged, “Old house.”
“So what’s down there?”
“My wedding present to Tricia: a big trampoline.” He shut the door and went to the fridge, getting things out.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. She wanted one really badly. I’m sure they’ll end up down there after dinner. Then we’ll say it’s bedtime, they’ll whine for a few minutes that they aren’t tired and then they’ll pass out.”
“So what are you making?”
“Tacos.”
“I love tacos.”
“Everyone does. The kids love picking their toppings.”
“Me too,” Jared smiled. “I’ll chop?”
“Yeah, we make our own salsa; there are too many mystery ingredients in the packaged ones.” He pulled out clearly homemade tortillas from the freezer.
“Did you always cook?” asked Jared.
“Hell no. I never cooked. Neither did Tricia.” He started to cook the ground beef. He added seasonings from a plastic container that had a label written in Jensen’s neat handwriting that said “Taco” on the side. “We took a six week cooking class after we got married, that was our present from my parents. We sort of thought it was a joke but we got pretty good, acceptably good, passable. But we still mostly got take away and premade stuff. And then Jamie got his allergies and there was nowhere where we could order from and really trust, especially not at first when they were developing really fast. Premade food was dangerous too, they mention milk and nuts on the labels but he’s allergic to so many things you have to be an expert to vet them and we weren’t. So we cooked everything and a lot of it was trial and error but we got used to it, good at it. When your son can’t eat pretty much anything processed you get good fast. You learn how to cook with vegan cheese.”
“Wow, I assumed you liked it ‘cause you’re so good at it.”
“I like it now, it’s an act of love and protection and it makes me feel close to him but it was never something I used to do or enjoy.” He stirred the meat as it cooked and added a little water. Jared started to chop things up and they fell into a nice rhythm. He made a salsa, chopped up lettuce and started in on the onions when Jensen said, “Not too many onions. Marky and Mary don’t like onions.”
“Weird.”
“Much more normal than Jamie who will try and enjoy just about anything.”
“I was a Jamie, I tried everything. Meg and Jeff were really picky eaters but me, I liked everything.”
Jensen laughed, “How am I not surprised?”
“You spend a lot of time laughing at me.”
“You’re funny,” responded Jensen.
Jared bumped him with his hip, “You’re laughing with me, right?” Jensen laughed again. “I’m glad I get to sleep here. I had a terrible night last night.”
“Miss me?”
“Nightmare.”
“I thought you just said that to make Jamie feel better.”
“No, barely got any sleep.”
“Well we’ll cuddle up close and I’ll keep them at bay.”
“Sounds fun.”
Jensen smiled at him and started making plates, “Scream for the kids?”
Jared opened the sliding doors, “Gentlemen and lady, dinner’s ready.” The dogs came in and Jared fed them with the new homemade kibble and the kids came rushing in after him.
“Wash your hands,” said Jensen not looking up from what he was doing. He brought the plates to the table as Jared carried over the cheese, salsa, onions and lettuce.
Jensen ate his with a knife and fork which made Jared laugh and Jensen said, “I’m sorry that I like to eat like an adult.”
“I’m so glad I’m not old,” said Jared folding up a taco for a bite. Jensen rolled his eyes and the kids laughed.
The Marky and Mary filled Jensen in on their lives and he listened attentively. For someone who was always calling himself a dick, and someone who was so cold to strangers, he was incredibly good with kids. That mattered to Jared. He liked to play down just how many bad relationships he’d been in. He liked that Jensen saw Jared as his first healthy relationship. He liked that Jensen treated him like Jared was the one with experience. But really in high school Jared had felt ashamed of being gay and hadn’t dated anyone. He had sex with a couple of the older boys but he could face what he was doing. And then in senior year of high school he convinced himself he could be straight, slept with Sandy, proposed and hated himself.
He’d gone to college where he’d been really lonely. Milo had seemed so awesome and had made Jared realize that there was no way he was straight. He took cooking classes and made some superficial friends. Then he’d been in hospital for over two weeks and been so depressed that if it hadn’t been for Chad, Jared would have gone home. Especially as he’d been persona non grata at NYU right up until then and then people had stared at him. They whispered about him and going to class was hell. He’d been so grateful to the CIA for letting him transfer away from all of it. And then Chad had set him up with Mike and that had been ridiculous. But then he’d had two friends. Then Chad had made his rules about who Jared could date but it hadn’t helped. He somehow had a way of dating assholes. Maybe it was him, his vanity made him seem untouchable and maybe they didn’t realize how badly they hurt him. Maybe they thought he was using them too because he was fun and silly, maybe they thought he wasn’t serious about them.
He’d only had one good relationship: Misha. Sophomore and junior year had been good, really good. He was sexy, kind, an awesome cook and had a great sense of humor. They’d gotten an apartment where they cooked naked a lot and had dinner parties. Misha had been friendly and sweet and had loved him without any pretense, with no conditions. He didn’t stop loving him when Jared gained a little weight, had been great with his dogs, had been really open about being with him and had shared his passions. Jared had been thrilled when Misha got the scholarship to study under amazing chefs in France. Misha had said, “Long distance?”
Jared had shook his head, “No, that’s not fair. You’re going to the most romantic food location possible. You’ll fall in love with some French boy and you’ll go to the awesome markets together and make each other awesome picnics. And you’ll speak French and drink coffee in French bistros. It’s not fair to ask you to miss that. You deserve to have that without you either felling guilty about dumping me or cheating. So let’s be together now, let’s be happy and when I drop you off at the airport I’ll kiss you like there’s no tomorrow and we’ll be over. Be my friend: write me emails all about the food, and classes, and the country but not the boy. When you come home, if you want to, you look me up.” The program was supposed to last twelve months. Mike moved in with him and Jared dated a parade of douchebags. Misha wrote him emails every week he even sent Jared pictures and eleven months in he called him.
“Are you home?” asked Jared. “You should be in France for another month.”
“I’m still in France.”
“Are you okay? Are you at a hospital or something? Do you need help?”
Misha had laughed gently, “Jay, I’m fine. I wanted to call you to tell you that I’m not coming home.” He’d sounded sad then, “I love it here and I know you said no strings but I wanted to let you know: I love you but I’m staying here.”
Jared had laughed, “Oh, Meesh, that’s fantastic! I’m so pleased for you. Keep writing to me? I love the stories and the pictures.”
“Come visit me? You’re graduating in a month. Spend the summer with me?”
Jared lined up his job for when he came home and went to France, he stayed with Misha for three months, in his bed eating delicious things and still being madly in love with him. They cooked, and went to outdoors markets and it was epic. And then he’d come home and dated a guy who hit him once, then a guy who borrowed money, and then a guy who didn’t like to talk to Jared outside of bed and on and on. Now he was with a man who was nice to his dogs, a great cook, sexy as hell, fun and smart.
Jensen was good with kids and that mattered because anyone could be good with peers, it was expected. But being good with kids while still being authoritative meant being sensitive, honest, clever and a diplomat. Jensen had a safe feeling about him that Jared loved because it had been a really long time since he felt happy, loved and safe.
“Jared?” Jensen was looking at him, waiting for an answer.
“Sorry, wandered. What?” The kids laughed at him.
“You ate five tacos without checking in.” Jared looked down at his plate which was empty. Jensen smiled, “You had seconds and everything. Where were you?”
“France.”
“Would you like some coffee now that you’re back?” asked Jensen with a gentle smile.
“That would be awesome.” Jared sprung up and picked up the plates smiling at the kids. He started to load the dishwasher as Jensen got the second round of ice pops out for the kids.
Jensen stood next to him as he set up the coffee machine, “So what was it really?” he asked softly.
“How great you are, and how happy I was in college and visiting a friend in France.”
“Oh, Misha, right.” Jared was surprised. “You are a rambler during private grownup time, it freaked me out at first but I like it now.” Jensen smiled at him, “He sounds really nice.”
“You’re nicer. I wouldn’t let you go to France. I’d follow you not just for a vacation.”
Jensen laughed, “Good to know.” Jared leaned over and kissed his cheek. Jared got out the soymilk and Jensen started pouring the coffee. “Kids, when you finish your ice pops you can play on the trampoline for a half hour but then it’s PJs and bed.”
Continues is Jared's POV