What Happens on the Cruise

36. I've Seen

"How's Ericha this morning?" Tim asked as he dug through the fridge.

"Better. Her fever broke last night. She's still feeling pretty weak, though," Adam answered. "Sorry there's not much in the house. I haven't been able to get to the store."

"It's all right. You've got milk and cereal. We'll be fine. Oh, is that a pork loin?"

"Yeah. I think she was going to cook it tonight, but I'm not sure she's up for it."

"Can I make something with it? Would she mind?" Tim asked.

"I doubt it. I'll go ask her."

Austin wandered in, hair still damp from the shower, as Adam walked out. "What's up?"

"Looks like cereal or toast for breakfast," Tim answered, pulling the pork loin and a can of root beer from the fridge.

"'Kay," Austin said, yawning. He opened the cabinet where Ericha stored the ground coffee and filters.

"Hey, can you see if they have smoked paprika in that spice rack. I'm pretty sure I saw some last time we were here."

"Sure," Austin started going through the spice rack.

Adam reentered. "She said it's fine if you want to fix something, but she doesn't want you to feel like you have to."

"Oh, this is lazy man's cooking, believe me," Tim answered. "I'll need your big crockpot, a cutting board, knife, and an onion. You got barbeque sauce?"

"Yeah. Ericha bought a couple bottles on sale last week. You need it now?"

"No. I'll need it tonight." Tim pulled a knife from the knife block, checked the edge, and nodded.

Adam handed him the cutting board and disappeared into the pantry, returning with an onion and a bottle of barbeque sauce.

"Aha!" Austin exclaimed triumphantly and got out the smoked paprika for Tim, then returned to making coffee.

Adam pulled the crockpot down from an upper cabinet and got it plugged in as Tim made quick work of chopping the onion.

Austin poured himself some corn flakes, added a spoonful of sugar and a splash of milk and stood watching Tim work while he ate. "So is this going to be some kind of barbeque?"

"Yup. After it cooks, you shred it and add the barbeque sauce. It's really easy and really good."

"We should probably pick up some buns," Adam said as he got three mugs out of the cabinet.

"I'd usually make potato salad, too," Tim said, "but we'll have to make do with the store-bought variety tonight."

"Wait, you're adding the root beer to the pork?" Austin asked as Tim opened the can and poured it in.

"Yup. I've seen similar recipes with Coke, but I prefer root beer."

"Oh, yeah. I have an aunt who does a beef roast with Dr Pepper," Austin recalled. "It's not bad."

Tim programmed the crockpot. "All set."

There was a knock at the front door, then it opened. "Good morning!" Rob called.

"Hey, Rob! How you doing?" Austin greeted him.

"Doing great. Look who I brought!"

"Kelsey!" Austin exclaimed, practically skipping to the door to give her a hug. "If it's not Mrs. Lundquist herself!"

"We weren't expecting you today," Tim said, giving her a hug as she walked into the kitchen.

"Rob said Ericha wasn't feeling well, so I thought I'd come over so papa here can go do his filming without worrying about mama and baby," she explained, giving Adam a quick hug. "What are we making in the crockpot?"