just . . .” She picked up a carrot and peeler and demonstrated. “Okay, okay. I’ve got it.” Mason came back in to see Xander with a small pile of carrot peels, scowling at the carrot he worked on stripping. And his sister at the stove sautéing garlic. Pretty homey, he thought. Maybe Xander looked out of his milieu, but altogether, pretty homey. “Mason, do you remember how to floret a cauliflower?” “Um—” “Sure you do.” She handed him a knife, set the head on a cutting board. “I don’t even like cauliflower.”
