Always: Broken Series Book Four (13 page)

Dad looked over at mom, and mom looked back with an expression that I hadn’t seen on her face in a long time. She smiled, and the smile seemed to be pretty real.

“What do you say?” dad said to mom. “Is it about time for a truce?”

Mom nodded. “I love you, Nick. You’re the love of my life. I’ve been kinda silly in feeling so much resentment towards you.” She turned to me. “Thank you for being such an awesome daughter. I could never picture my life without you in it. You’re pretty incredible and I love you so much.” There were tears in her eyes and I spread my arms open and she came over and gave me a huge hug.

“Mom, I know that you’ve always been a bit of a worrier, but you’re a pretty great mom anyhow. You need to not be so uptight about all of this. Seriously. I don’t need there to be a lot of tension between you and dad, so I’m happy that you’re apparently ready to forgive him for abandoning or whatever it is that you felt that he did.”

Mom nodded her head. “Now, Addy, let’s turn to a better topic. I’d like to make your dream of appearing on
Chopped Junior
a reality.” She turned to dad. “I was going to talk to you about that, but, obviously, I’ve been kind of a bitch and not talking to you much.”

I had to admit, I was shocked that mom said the word “bitch” around me. That wasn’t like her to cuss, but, then again, maybe there was a first time for everything. I kinda liked it, though.

Dad perked up. “So, what has to happen for Addy to get on that show?”

“I looked it up. We just need to go to the website and fill out the information for Addy. It’s pretty easy, really. I think that we should do a video to send in for her too. I think that we can get Jack to produce it. He’s pretty good about those kinds of things.” She turned to me. “What do you think? We need to get you on there before you turn 16, so we need to get a move on.”

I was in awe about how much mom changed just from my talking to her. I basically gave her permission to forgive dad, and she, just like that, became the mother that I always loved again. “Mom, I’d love that. We need to do it as soon as possible, though, because I turn 16 in 8 months, and, well, the producers might take a long time to decide.”

I smiled. “And, you know, as I said, my sob story will probably go a long way on that show. They just love a hardship tale. I lost my leg, nothing will ever be the same again, blah, blah, blah. They’ll probably put me on there for that reason alone.”

“Don’t be redic,” my dad said, using my slang. “They’ll put you on there because you’re the best damned chef-in-training on the East Coast. The fact that you lost your leg to cancer won’t even factor in. Trust.”

I smiled. It was possible that things were about to return to normal. Well, as normal as this house could be. After all, I was down a leg, and my rehab was going to be long and painful.

But a new normal would be a great thing.

A
ddison finally made
me see how stupid I was being. Again. I don’t know how she became smarter and more mature than her mother, but somehow she did.

We left Addy’s room after we talked some more about her being on
Chopped Junior.
As we headed to the bedroom, I knew that things were going to be different between Nick and me. That was obvious.

“Hey,” he said to me as he patted the bed. “Where have you been?” His smile told me everything that I needed to know.

“In Stupidville. How is my daughter smarter than me?”

Nick smiled. “She’s smarter than both of us, I’m afraid.”

I went over to him, stripping off my clothes before getting into bed. That was all the signal that I needed to give him that I was ready to make nice again.

Nick kissed me when I got into bed next to him, and, for the first time in a long time, things seemed like they were getting back to normal. “Scotty, I don’t blame you for being angry with me. How I acted was irresponsible and frankly out of character. I’m never one to run, and I never have been.”

I sighed as I put my hand on his belly, which was still made of steel, even after all these years. “You know, Nick, you don’t really have to apologize. I really understand the feeling of not being able to breathe. That feeling like your world is ending and you don’t know what to do about it. And it’s okay. You made a mistake. None of us is perfect, and Addy is right. Even if you were there with me, the decision would have been the same. If the surgeon had to amputate Addy’s leg to save her life, then that would have happened either way.”

“So, we’re good?”

“Of course.” I kissed his abdomen. “I’ve missed you, Nick. I know that I’ve been so distant that it’s been hard to reach me. I know that. After what I’ve gone through in my life, my mind just tends to be negative when there’s something that really knocks me on my rear. But I’m going to be better from now on.”

Nick lifted my face to him, and he gave me a long kiss. He put his hands on my cheeks as he kissed me softly, while our tongues interlocked. I started to feel warm and tingly, and my netherparts felt like they were on fire. “I’ve missed you too.”

I tugged on the drawstrings of Nick’s pajama bottoms, feeling sad that he actually was wearing them. We always slept naked before this bad period of time. Before I started pulling away from Nick, we always were so passionate with each other. That was why this whole period was starting to seem like it was all a bad dream.

I brought down his pajamas and saw that he was already extremely hard. `I smiled as I gently licked his shaft while he groaned with pleasure. “Don’t stop,” he said as I made my way to his head, feeling greedier by the second.

He gently lifted my head and kissed me passionately on the lips as he rolled me onto the bed and thrust into me, over and over. “I love you,” he said, “and I always will. Always.”

W
e were
on our way to New York City to the Food Network’s headquarters, where I was going to be recording an episode of
Chopped Junior.
Mom and dad had shot a video of me cooking in the kitchen, while talking about my plans to create a Korean-Mexican fusion dish with jalapeños and Kimchi. I decided that I wouldn’t tell them my sob story right off the bat, because I wanted the producers to select me for the competition not because I was a cancer survivor who lost her leg, but because they wanted me.

I got the call three weeks later, and then rounds of interviews took place after that. Of course, the fact that I had lost a leg to cancer was obvious to the interviewers and screeners for the show, so maybe that was why I was chosen after all.

Maybe, but I really hoped not. I really hoped that I would have been chosen for the show no matter what. But the fact that I survived cancer and had lost a leg was prominently featured in the filmed package that plays before the competition begins on television. The producers really played that up, which embarrassed the hell out of me. But they also played up the fact that I had a real talent for creativity in the kitchen, which is the only thing that really matters on this show.

Mom and dad were in the front seat of the car, with me and Chloe in the back. Mom turned around and smiled. “I know you’re going to do awesome. You’re ready for this.” She shook her head while she smiled. “My little creative chef. Who would have ever thought that my daughter would be such a little talent?”

Dad laughed at that one. “Especially considering she has me for a dad. Do you remember that first time I cooked for you? That one Christmas?”

“Of course. How could I ever forget that? That was the most amazing Christmas ever, because it was our first one together. It was my first one where I had somebody to love. Who loved me back. I’ll never forget that day for the rest of my life.”

Dad put his hand on the back of mom’s neck and rubbed it. “Well, I don’t remember if I ever told you this, but before I made that dinner for you, I couldn’t cook at all. I mean, I know that I told you that I wasn’t a cook before that night, but I didn’t tell you how much I practiced cooking in the kitchen. It was just something that I never learned.” Dad laughed. “The piece de resistance was the night when I practiced making chicken breast. I put the frozen breast on the skillet and turned that sucker on high. All that happened was that the outside was black and the inside was pink. I couldn’t figure out why that was wrong.”

Mom and dad both started laughing hysterically. “Oh, Nick, I don’t think that you’ve ever told me that story. How did you learn to cook so quickly?”

“A lot of will. Plus, I called Ryan, who recommended some good books and videos on the subject. I got
The Joy of Cooking,
and read through it in a weekend. Pretty interesting book.” Then he turned around to me. “I guess the point of this story is that I’m not a natural cook the way that you are. And I still don’t feel confident enough in the kitchen to just go in there and whip something up. So, I’m kind of in awe of you.”

I had to smile at my dad saying that he was in awe of me. Truth be told, I was in awe of myself these days. My rehab got me into shape and using the prosthesis like a boss. Like a boss. At first it was weird trying to walk with that thing, and I fell a lot, which really sucked. But, once I finally got used to it, I was able to walk just as well as any of the other kids. I actually started to feel a bit normal. I was even invited back to the soccer team for the upcoming season, which completely ruled.

I still didn’t feel comfortable wearing skirts, though. I would have to wear panty hose with any skirt, and I just didn’t want to deal with that. I hated the feeling of wearing hose, but I wasn’t totally confident in the way that my leg looked without it. I knew that I would someday wear a skirt, but, for now, I wanted to stay away from that.

I felt more confident in wearing shorts, for some reason. My leg didn’t entirely look natural, but, for some reason, that didn’t bother me when I wore shorts. I got some weird looks when I went out of the house in shorts for the first time, but I didn’t let those weird looks bother me. Little kids would point and say things to their embarrassed mothers, but I just smiled to let them know that I didn’t care about that. Kids will be kids, I thought. They’re going to be curious and they’re going to blurt things out.

“I’m in awe of you too, dad,” I said.

Chloe turned to me. “So, what are you going to do if you win this thing? I mean, when you win this thing and you win all that money?”

“I’m going to treat all of you guys to the best dinner that you’ve ever had. We’ll find some restaurant where I might be working one day as the head chef. That is, if I don’t open my own restaurant.”

“You think you might?”

“Of course. Then I’ll take the rest of that prize money and put it into an account that I can use to open my own place.” My parents were very wealthy, but I didn’t want their money. I wanted to know that I could make it on my own, so I told them early on that I didn’t want handouts. Aside from them putting me through school, of course. Other than that, I was going to do it all on my own. I was determined about that.

Mom turned around in the front seat. “Are you nervous?”

“Of course. Who wouldn’t be?” Who wouldn’t be indeed?
Chopped
was definitely one of the best places to get started on a cooking career. I knew that I was going to be thrown into it, making different dishes with ingredients that I had never seen before. But I knew that, after the kind of year I had had, nothing could possibly faze me anymore. I mean, I lost a leg. I beat cancer, at least for the time-being. What was an episode of
Chopped
going to do to increase my stress after that kind of experience?

And I knew, in my heart, that I was going to actually live a long life. I knew that I would get every chance to do whatever I wanted, because I knew that the cancer wasn’t going to come back. Maybe it was wishful thinking, I don’t know. Which wasn’t to say that I was necessarily not scared about the disease coming back. I was, of course. But, anytime I had the voice in my head telling me that I still might die, I willed the voice away. I didn’t want to hear it, so I made it just go away.

“Is Olivia going to be able to make it to the taping?” I asked mom.

“She wouldn’t miss it. The studio is pretty close to her apartment, too. Within walking distance. She’s shooting a new documentary short nearby, so she’ll just pop in while she’s taking a break from that.”

Sometimes I couldn’t believe that Olivia was as successful as she was. She was just a natural filmmaker, and she was lucky about that, because she certainly didn’t really work that hard to get where she was. She was still kinda drinking a bunch, which made mom and dad pull out their hair, but I guessed that it didn’t really get that much in the way of her work. So it was all good. I guess.

At any rate, I couldn’t very well worry about all of that. I had much more things to think about. Like winning
Chopped.
Making sure that my cancer stayed beaten. Finishing high school and going to the best culinary school in the world, which was located right in New York City. I had dreams and goals and I was going to achieve them.

Even better, mom and dad were back to normal. I don’t know what happened, except that mom somehow got over her feelings that she was responsible for my losing my leg. As if she was responsible for my also getting cancer. If the doc had to amputate, he had to amputate. It would have been the same thing even if my dad were around for that decision. I think that mom finally realized that, and she forgave dad.

Whatever happened, it was amazing. Mom not only came back to the way that she was before I got sick, but she and dad were back to normal too. They were back to holding hands and slipping food on each other’s plates at restaurants. They were back to teasing each other in the kitchen, and dad was back to swatting mom’s behind with towels in a playful manner. They were back to looking all googly-eyed at each other, which used to make me want to vomit, but now seemed pretty sweet. Because it meant that I had my parents back. As much as I thought for a time that they would never be the same, I was thankfully proved wrong.

Dad pulled his car to the Food Network studios, and I took a deep breath. This could be it. This could be my moment. That moment that I would never forget as long as I lived. The moment when I would realize one of my dreams. It was crazy that I was actually going to do this.

“Break a…” Mom started to say, and then she stopped herself. She looked embarrassed, and I burst out laughing.

“Break a leg? Really mom? Really.” I crossed my arms in front of me, but I couldn’t quit laughing about it. Poor mom was still trying to censor herself, which made me pretty pissed when I didn’t find it hilarious. Right then, I found it hilarious.

She nodded her head and started to laugh as well. “I guess that saying has taken on a whole new meaning from now on.”

“You think?” I asked, still laughing.

Dad shook his head with a smile on his face. “You guys are too odd, do you know that?” He put his arm around my mom in the front seat. “Which is why I love both of you so much. And Chloe too, of course.”

Chloe rolled her eyes, which made me laugh some more.

As I made my way to the elevator, which would take me to the
Chopped Junior
studios, I crossed my fingers behind my back. I didn’t know if that would bring me the kind of luck that I would need to win the competition.

What I did know was that I was due for some good luck to come my way.

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