Parenting Paul

Chapter 18: Face The Facts

"I love Linda....." Paul whispered, with a deep sigh, as he scooted his office chair back from the desk. Paul had to acknowledge that he had moved on from Jane, but he refused. Regardless of whether or not Paul wanted to continue on with his morning or remain stuck within his current state of mind, he began to hear banging coming from the kitchen. "Shit!" He grumbled as he remembered that he was responsible for a very young child. Once Paul made it into his kitchen, he saw Heather struggling to lift a gallon carton of 2% milk. Paul watched as she struggled to pour the liquid into her bowl of cereal. Paul began to chuckle as Heather began to wobble as she tried to maintain balance with the gallon bottle. "That is almost the same size as you kiddo..." Paul teased as Heather accidentally slammed the jug on the top of the table making it fall onto the floor and explode milk all over the kitchen. "I'm sorry Mr. Paul, I'm very sorry, I'm really sorry!" Heather cried as Paul walked up to her, and picked the jug up off the floor. Heather looked up at Paul watching the milk dripping off the bottom of the jug, and also watched as he tossed the jug into the trash can.

"It's alright, how about I make some delicious omelets for us to have instead?"  Paul asked as Heather nodded happily. "Great! Now let's see what we got for fixings...." Paul began as he headed to the refrigerator and Heather followed him from behind. The two of them glanced through the refrigerator together as they tried to search for toppings for the omelet. "Here we go, there's some peppers, mushrooms, some ground hamburger, some rashers...." Paul began to list off as Heather studied him with confusion and uncertainty. "What?" He asked as she looked up at him innocently. "What are rashers?" Heather asked with puzzled curiosity. "Y'know, bacon." Paul answered as he began to rummage around the refrigerator more. "Hmmm would you like hollandaise, mayonnaise, hummus, or mustard?" He asked as Heather leaned in closer. "Mayo!" She answered excitedly as he grabbed the hollandaise and mayonnaise. "I'm gonna have mayonnaise and hollandaise on mine, could you hold these, while I grab the carton of eggs?" He asked as Heather nodded and he placed the jars into her hands.

"Ooh, we got some onions and some cheddar cheese too! Then lastly, but certainly not least some particularly green and scrumptious parsley, that oughta do it!" Paul finished with pride as he grabbed the remaining ingredients and then followed Heather to the counter. "Alright, first we can get the eggs prepared, as well as heat up the pan." He began as Heather stood on her tippy-toes trying to grab one of the eggs. "Let me help, I can smash some eggs." Heather offered sweetly as she finally grabbed one of them. "Woah, woah woah woah hold your horses......you don't smash the eggs, you gently crack them against the edge of the bowl.." Paul corrected as he took the egg away from her, and demonstrated the technique as Heather watched intensely. "Now you try..." he encouraged as he plopped another egg into her hand. Paul watched her as she tried to crack the egg carefully, but unfortunately some shells fell into the bowl. "Oops..." she whispered as she backed up and Paul chuckled at her with denial.

"Oh well, could you open up the packet of rashers?" He asked as he began to mix up the whites and yolks. "I can!" Heather agreed as she used her tiny teeth to tear the packet open, and pulled one of the strips out to give to him so he could chop it into chunks. "Now the cheese..." he ordered calmly as Heather did the same, as well as swiped one handful of  the cheese for herself. "This is gonna be definitely delectable!" Paul cheered as he tossed chopped onion into the bowl as well as some of the ground beef and finally the diced parsley. "Great, I just gotta let this sizzle for a little bit, and it should be done." Paul soon said happily as he stood by the pan and added some salt, pepper, and some other spices. Heather then watched as Paul walked away from the stove, and headed back towards his office. "While that's cooking I can try to work on some new lyrics for tomorrow...." He whispered to himself as he rummaged through notebooks and other materials. During this time, Heather was alone in the kitchen, watching the omelet tediously simmer. She then grabbed out of her pocket the photograph of Linda she had taken from Paul's photo binder and deeply sighed. "I wonder what mommy's doing now....."