Wild Heart - Pete 'Maverick' Mitchell

5. Dinner for Two

Hondo left to head home while Pete was still working away on her bike into the evening. She tried to help where she could, but clearly it was in very capable hands. And her curiosity kept getting the better of her and she continued exploring. Plus, he seemed very focused and in the zone, so she didn't want to interrupt his work.

"Sorry, this is taking so long," he finally said, standing and wiping his greasy hands on a rag. "It's got me stumped."

"That's fine, thanks again for looking at it."

"I'm not sure I'm doing any good..." He looked down at his watch.  "I'm getting hungry - you want something to eat?"

"You cooking?"

"Yeah - those  delivery drivers  don't come out this far, I've tried."

She chuckled. "All right." She hadn't realized how hungry she was getting.  "What are we having, Captain?" 

"Let's see-" He disappeared through the door at the far end of the hangar.  He came back a few moments later holding a can.  "How about some soup?"

"Sounds good."

With her approval he disappeared back inside, presumably to start heating up their dinner. He came back a few minutes later. 

"I like all your photos," she said, hoping to get some more info on his side of the story.

"Thanks. Carole gave me a lot of them."

Bingo! "Brad's mom?"

"Yeah."

She unfortunately had never had the pleasure of meeting Carole Bradshaw - never met either of Brad's parents - but she just knew that woman was a goddess. And she had raised the sweetest boy. 

She wanted to ask, so badly, about Bradley and their history and their strained relationship, she was itching with questions, burning with them.  But she felt like she barely knew the guy. And this was between him and Bradley, it wasn't really her place. She was just a curious mutual friend. 

Something else broke into her thoughts then. "Do you smell that? Is something burning?"

"Aw shit-" He sprinted into the back room, returning moments later, pot in hand. "Well, this soup's off the menu..."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have distracted you."

"Naw, I shouldn't have left it unattended." He scraped the burnt soup into the trash.  "Let's try this again - maybe we should move in here." 

The back of the hangar was quaint, with a small living area off the kitchen, a desk, and further back she guessed, where the bedroom was. 

Pete poured another can of soup into the pot (after scrubbing it clean) and turned on the stove.  "Okay, second time's the charm..."

"I'm sorry, I feel guilty wasting it."

"No, don't be. Honestly, if it were just me, I'd probably eat it. But I can do better with guests. Besides, I need to go grocery shopping anyway." 

"Where would you like to sit? I can get the place sets ready."

"Sure, thanks - table I guess. This is nice, I'm usually by myself so I eat wherever."

"Honestly same. I usually eat in front of the TV or with my marking. I know that's not really good, but-" She finished off with a shrug. "A dinner with company at the table sounds like it'll do us both some good."

"It does - and with food that's not burnt." He instructed her to where cutlery and bowls were, and she gathered and set them on the small table in the corner, along with some paper towel since Pete said he didn't have any napkins.