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

feeling well. Excuse me," Glenna suddenly declared. She set her knife and potato down

remark to himself, "Okay.

heart sink. She could not stop thinking about the conversation she had overheard. What happened? What was it that

the two of you had made up, Mr.

huh?" Declan remembered how Glenna had burst into tears at that time despite himself and asked,

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

course I didn't!" Declan quickly replied, forcing himself out of his memories before finding an excuse. "I just thought she looked like the

seen or heard her cry before, which means... if she did cry, then it must have

slices were almost done. She explained that she was having a stomachache. Not willing to expose her, Deirdre played along. "Had something

that super-spicy taco from the other day. D*mnit,

into a frying pan and let

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

lively chatterbox, yet today, she was uncharacteristically quiet and seemed