The Sinner's Saint

DOMESTIC

It's 4pm when we finally drag ourselves back and I swear my legs are two seconds from giving up on me. After shopping, we had to drive all the way out to some godforsaken location to drop stuff off, then stay to help because apparently we can't just leave like normal people. Having manners is genuinely so inconvenient sometimes.

We raced each other through the parking lot like idiots before heading back. I won, obviously, so I got the keys. I personally feel like I sped the whole way home but Seb said I was driving like somebody's grandma. GPS said we got there ahead of schedule though so somebody's lying and it's not me.

By the time we get back, I'm ready to melt into the floor, except I barely make it three steps into the kitchen before something slices through the air right past my head. Fast and Close enough that I hear the whoosh before it hits the framed picture on the wall with a sharp thunk. I just stand there, eyes closed, one hand over my mouth, one on my hip, holding in the absolute crashout threatening to escape my body.

From beside me I hear a string of whispers. "Shit." "Run." "Wtf." "Oh fuck." Then silence.

When I'm reasonably sure no child is about to catch these hands, I turn around slow, like I have all the time in the world and look at the culprit. The same dumb fuck from earlier. I'm about to open my mouth when Lev goes:
"Andrea, vieni fuori un secondo."     Andrea see me outside for a second

Do I know exactly what that means? No. Did I figure out immediately that it wasn't good from the way everyone else physically winced and Nicola's throat moved when he swallowed? Absolutely. Everyone say goodbye to Nicola. He will be missed.

"Okay, " I clap my hands together like none of that just happened "...what's for dinner?" Voices come back at me from every direction immediately.

"Burgers." "Fries." "Steak." "Salad." They're all looking at me like I'm some food genie about to make their wishes come true. I sigh, grab my apron, and get to it. Burgers, salad, and fries are easy. Steak? That's a whole different thing. And the answer is no cause tf i look like?
Im a nanny not a chef.

"Can we help," Bianca asks already drifting closer with some of her cousins.

"Sure" I hand out knives, peelers, and cutting boards like party favours, and step back to watch something. One of them grabs a carrot and somehow manages to hold it like a weapon instead of food. Another one is peeling a potato like they've never used a peeler or held a potato before. I step back in before someone loses a finger. I genuinely underestimated how tragically lost they are in a kitchen.

Within ten minutes, more cousins flood in, some helping, some pretending to "help," some just here for the vibes. Those who know something start teaching the others, which is genuinely cute to watch. I keep my focus on making sure the protein for the burgers doesn't end up murdered.

⚬⚬⚬
Three hours later of slaving away, the kitchen looks like a warzone, but the food is done. We have more food than we even planned for, because people kept wandering in like stray cats and adding "one more thing."

My mistake was letting them taste-test. Never again in my life. I had to hide the rest just to make sure there'd be enough left for actual dinner, since apparently what I made before I left earlier counted as "linner" or "dunch" in their words.

"When can we eat?" Theodore groans, practically drooling at the mountain of food covering the table..
They moved everything outside since inside was way too packed. The whole yard is full, every generation of the family, all the kids and their friends, random people I genuinely cannot account for, soldiers who got voluntold to stay back. It's like a carnival out here. Loud and crowded and chaotic.
But it's nice.

I catch Sebastian and Nikolai across the yard and wave. Lev's not with them surprisingly and concerningly since Nicola never came back. Nikolai walks straight over and pulls me into a hug that gets me slightly off the ground and I laugh. I missed his annoying ass too I guess.