Resent, Reject, Regret by Aqua Summers

Deirdre tossed an implicative glance outside the kitchen. "Believe me, I've seen the worst, and now nobody else's skill could ever faze me again.

Seriously, try to surprise me."

"Heh." Declan excitedly washed his hands and grabbed a spare knife. He made a few nicks and began to unpeel it. "How’s this?"

Deirdre's poor sight would not be able to help her tell, but she also thought this was the best opportunity to get Glenna and Declan talking again. "What do you think, Glenna?"

Quietly exasperated, Glenna turned in the direction of Declan's hand and noticed how beautiful his fingers really were. It was as if a man with good genes simply could not have anything remotely out of place in any part of their physical appearance. Glenna never fancied herself as someone who gave a dime about hands, and yet even her heart throbbed.

When she finally broke out of her trance, she realized she had been silent too long.

Declan tried to dispel the awkwardness in the air with a chuckle. "I must have done a really crappy job if my panelist can't review my handiwork."

another nick. "How about

me," Glenna suddenly declared. She set her knife and potato down and hurried

himself, "Okay.

the conversation she had overheard. What happened? What was it that made Glenna hold that big of a grudge? She obviously had a crush on Declan, so why was

asked, "I know the two of you had made up, Mr.

into tears at that time despite himself and asked, "Say, what sort of thing would make Glenna cry, you

Deirdre was shocked. "What sort of question is that? Did ... Did you make

replied, forcing himself out of his memories before finding an excuse. "I just thought she looked like the tough type who

breath. "Glenna's a tough cookie. I've never seen or heard her cry before, which means... if she did cry, then it must have been over something that really broke her

that she was having a stomachache. Not willing to expose her, Deirdre played along.

It must be that super-spicy taco from the other day. D*mnit, I should have known!" she replied as she finished slicing the

oil into a frying pan and let it

a plate of fresh, crispy potato chips was ready. Deirdre moved on to their other dishes-including Glenna's stuffed eggplants- until, finally,

been a lively chatterbox, yet today, she was uncharacteristically quiet and seemed almost too focused on her