Poppy/H.S

Chapter 46

"Pops, do you happen to know where daddy keeps his food processor?" I question the little girl after getting tired of opening almost every single drawer in his kitchen.

"I don't think he knows either," she shrugs her shoulders and continues drawing at the kitchen table.

I giggle at her honest answer, shaking my head, and I continue on looking through the drawers.

"What do you need it for anyways?" She wonders before she leaves her drawing behind and walks in my direction, standing on her tiptoes to see the ingredients I've laid out on the kitchen counter.

"I need to whizz all of this into a purée," I explain the basis of the recipe to her, and she just nods her head.

"We're having spinach?" She asks me excitedly, eyeing the bag of baby spinach that's on the countertop, "My hair's gonna get so long!"

"Mhm, daddy had some in the fridge," I reply to her question, satisfied with her reaction to what we're having for dinner, "I think he bought it for his green smoothies, but I'm going to make a chickpea, tomato and spinach curry instead."

"That sounds so much better than daddy's smoothies," she admits, making a funny face at the thought of the aforementioned drink.

Poppy and I are alone at Harry's place right now. He called me the other day and asked me if I could pick her up from kindergarten today, since he had some work to do. Work turned out to be a radio interview at one of the local stations in London, since he promised to make an appearance on the Capital Summertime ball, which is in two months, and this was their way of announcing Harry as a surprise performer.

Fortunately, I had a meeting in London today, so I was able to pick Poppy up from kindergarten on my way from the meeting. She introduced me to the friends she's made so far, making it impossible for me to resist her wish to stay a bit longer with her friends, since they still had a memory game going on. While I was waiting for them to finish up the game, I had a nice talk with Ms. Burton, the main supervisor.

Poppy and I then walked to Harry's House, whom I phoned to use the app on his phone for the security system, so that he could open the door for us. When we entered the house, I was surprised to see his credit card on the table with a note to order some takeout. I've come to notice he doesn't like to see me in the kitchen too often, since it makes him feel bad. However, I couldn't stand the thought of Poppy eating some unhealthy take out, knowing how strict Harry is about her getting some vegetables in her system. I looked through the random ingredients in his fridge, and decided to whizz them in a curry, hoping it's something she'd like.

"Can I help?" She takes me by surprise, standing on her tiptoes as she tries to eye all the ingredients I've laid out on the kitchen counter, which brings a huge smile to my face.

"Yeah, I could really use some of your help," I smile in her direction, "We need to put the onion, garlic, ginger and tomatoes in a food processor and whizz it all into a purée," I explain what I'm about to do next to her.

"Ew, onion is smelly," she scrunches her nose.

"Okay, we'll leave out the onion," I laugh at her dramatic reaction, "I'm not a big fan of it either," I admit honestly.

I chop up the garlic, ripe tomatoes and ginger before I let Poppy empty out the bowls in the food processor, "Good job," I encourage her, a proud smile on her face.

I close the lid before I press the button which makes the blades blend out the vegetables into a purée, and I can't help but chuckle at how closely Poppy is following my every move.

"Who taught you how to cook?" She wonders, and I smile at the mention of my family.

"My mum is a great cook," I reply to her question, "I always wanted to help her out in the kitchen when I was your age, so I guess I just stuck around," I giggle before I add, "I think I was an annoying kid, always snooping around and wanting to know what everyone was doing."