Phoenix ✔️

Chapter 37: Familiar Faces

"Please tell me you know how to make something condensed milk based," Dom begs Roy, as Roy dries his hands on a dish towel. Dom himself looks like he's about to collapse with fear. 

"Dude, chill out. Lots of Indian sweets are condensed milk based. Hell, my sister is married to a Bengali dude, and they have this kick ass kheer recipe that involves a condensed milk base. I got you."

Dom relaxes a little bit. "Thank goodness. I think Lara's going to attack me if we run out of condensed milk anytime soon. Kind of odd to be craving condensed milk, right?"

"Considering what I've heard, that's pretty normal. My sister in law craved baby wipes when she was pregnant. She also tried drinking detergent mixed with chocolate milk. Thankfully my brother caught her before she had any chance of dying. Don't worry, I think you're good."

I gag a little bit at the thought of that. I know laundry detergent smells really good, but it tastes nasty and the thought of it with chocolate milk doesn't make it any more appealing. I walk into the kitchen, and say, "Chocolate milk mixed with laundry detergent?"

Roy shrugs. "I don't know. I've heard pregnant women crave weird shit a lot. My mom craved the curd like cottage cheese and Tapatio a lot when she was pregnant, which is ironic, because I hate both of them now."

"Aren't you half Indian, and according to you, they use cottage cheese a lot  in Indian cuisine?"

"I mean, I'm talking about the stuff that has the same consistency as spoiled milk. Not paneer. Paneer is everything. I could snack on it for hours on end. But yes, we do use paneer a lot."

Elena walks in, wearing old sweats and a hoodie and says, "Now I want Indian food. And I'm in no mood for cooking."

"Good. I'm in no mood to call the fire department."

Elena playfully smacks Roy on the arm, and says, "I hate you."

He snakes an arm around her and plants a kiss on her cheek. "I wuv you, Ewena." She rolls her eyes, as they cuddle each other right there. Right when they have their lovely moment, I get a call on my phone, which is all the way in the living room.

"Gimme a second," I say, as I run to the living room. I pick up my phone, and it's Emily. I answer the call, knowing it's going to be good. "Hey, Em. What's up?" I ask.

"Hey, Nicole. How's it going back there?"

"Oh, nothing much. We just found out that my to be sister in law is pregnant! So, my brother is begging my future brother in law to give him condensed milk recipes so that my sister in law doesn't go crazy." I snicker, thinking about how much Lara is going to kill Dom when she finds out that we're running out of condensed milk. I look back at Dom, with slight amazement on how he hasn't devoted a whole cupboard to condensed milk. 

"Ha, that's hilarious. I hope Dominic doesn't die."

I also think about the numerous times he may as well have died from the stress load of work. "I hope so too." I look back at the kitchen, and they're all just having fun and giggling about whatever, which just makes me laugh a little bit more. "So, what's going on over at your house? Is Ash hanging out with you?" I haven't seen Ash in a bit, so I wonder how he's doing so far.

"Oh yeah. We've gone ice skating these past couple of weekends, and I'm starting a new job next week!"

"Oh, that's always awesome! Congrats!"

"Thanks! Also, this is kind of last minute, but do you want to come over this evening? I'm cooking tonight, because Ash is beat, and I know that Ash never minds your presence around here. What do you say? I know you both have a conference call in the afternoon, so I was thinking 5:30?"