Homeless

Chapter 12

Derek's POV

"You did pretty good," Danielle says, collecting the rest of the rent I owe her for landing on Park Place. I'm officially bankrupt and the game is over.

"Pretty good? You whooped me," I laugh.

"Yeah, but when I play most people, the game is over within a couple hours because they're terrible at the business portion of this game. You held out for 5 hours. That's pretty good."

"It was fun," I say. We clean up the board and It's just about dinner time.

"How would you feel if I cooked dinner?" I ask.

"You don't have to cook," she responds. "I got it."

"I know I don't have to but I want to. It's the least I can do, given everything you're doing for me."

"Can you cook?" Danielle teases.

"I used to cook a lot as a kid, thank you very much. I can actually throw down in the kitchen."

Danielle raises her eyebrows. "Alright Chef Derek. The kitchen is all yours."

She heads to the living room and turns the TV on while I get to work in the kitchen.

I look through the refrigerator and pantry to see what Danielle has. She has a little bit of everything as I should have expected.

There's salmon thawing in the refrigerator and it reminds me of my childhood. My mom used to make salmon with stuffed garlic herb butter. It was one of my favorite plates so I decide to make that. I see some arugula sitting in the fridge as well and pull it out. I'll use it to make a side salad.

The first thing I get to work on is the garlic herb butter. It doesn't take much. I grab a food processor from the pantry and throw in a stick of butter, 4 cloves of garlic, a bit of parsley, a sprig of rosemary and a pinch of thyme. It's simple but full of flavor.

Next I get started in the side salad. Arugula has a nice flavor on its own so I don't have to do too much. I add a squeeze of lemon, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper and some freshly grated Parmesan. I put that to the side then preheat the oven to 375.

I decide to do an Italian style seasoning for the salmon. I grab garlic salt, basil, thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage and marjoram. The last spice I want to add is just a bit of red pepper flakes, to give the fish a little kick but I'm not sure if Danielle likes spicy.

I look over to where she's sitting on the couch. She's curled up in a little ball with a fuzzy white blanket wrapped around her. I smile a little because she looks like a little snowball.

"Hey Danielle," I call out from the kitchen.

"Yeah?" She unwraps the ball of blanket and looks back at me.

"Are you okay with dinner being a little spicy?"

Danielle laughs. "That's not even a question. I love spice." She turns back towards the TV. She's watching a show where couples that have never met each other are getting married. It's not really my thing but it's slightly interesting.

I had a bit of red pepper flakes to the salmon fillets then slice a small hole in the middle of each one. I stuff each fillet with a generous amount of the garlic herb butter. Once they're prepped, I wash my hands then place them in a pan and stick them in the oven. I get a timer for 15 minutes.

As the fish is baking, I grab two plates from one of the cabinets and place two generous servings of salad. The other half of the baguette Danielle used yesterday is in an airtight container on the counter so I slice that and place it on a third plate with herb butter on the side.