the lights of the city are the stars on the ground [maria]
With Vincent and Serafina already planning to be out, it doesn't take that much convincing to get Elena and Marcus to make plans of their own--actually, almost none at all. The theoretically most difficult part of things out of the way, Martel enlists his older brother's help to set up the back yard (near the garden, he decides, digging the candle stands into the grass) and sends off a text message:
kirkeby picking you up
hour and a half
if he can see your underwear
you're getting changed
The recipes he's following are relatively simple (he's not a bad cook, but understandably not an extremely ambitious one), and Serafina's already told him what he's allowed to raid for desserts. He busies himself in the kitchen and ignores pointed jokes through the gap in the door about how much wine is going into the pan rather than the cook as the last of his family clears out.