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see the smoke bellowing up the stairs like it often does when you cook breakfast foods. In a few minutes, I won’t be surprised when the fire alarm goes off.
    I stop when I’m halfway down the steps. Lucien’s in the kitchen. Cooking away. I swear he’s whistling while he works.
    That does it.
    That’s it.
    I’m in the twilight zone. I’ve… yup. Twilight. Zone.
    And my brother has come with me.
    “What in the world are you doing?” I ask as I step off the bottom step and into the kitchen. Everything smells so much better down here, if that’s even possible. Honestly, it smells like our house the last time we were there. Father fixed Lucien and me a huge breakfast. It was more than either of us could eat. Father wanted us full for our travels. The food didn’t last long. I hope today isn’t a reenactment of that.
    The kitchen table is so full of platters I don’t know how he’ll fit anything else. If I know my brother, he’ll figure out a way. He always does. Biscuits, homemade I’m assuming, tower on platters so high I fear they’ll fall. And all the sausage and bacon I think I could eat for twenty years.
    We have eggs.
    And butter.
    And jelly.
    And jam.
    And anything else I can think of.
    It’s all there.
    My brother is standing at the stove, whistling. An apron is tied around his waist. When he turns, I see that it reads, “Kiss the Cook.”
    I look down.
    He looks down.
    His cheek flashes pink. “It was all they had.”
    “Uh-huh.” I nod as I motion toward the table. “You feeding an army?”
    “Not that I know of. But if one shows up…” He jumps as his sausage pops in the pan, and the grease hits him somewhere in the back region. “Stupid… I always liked eating sausage more than cooking it.”
    “Don’t we all.” I clear my throat and decide I might as well sit down. What else is there to do at the moment? “So, you cooked all of this?”
    “Do you see anyone else here?”
    Snarky Lucien. I like him. “Jerk. I mean, why did you cook all of this?”
    “Because I’m starving. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I’ve just crawled out of my grave.” He turns and winks. That sentence sounds really, really weird.
    “Touché. Yeah, come to think of it, I’m starving too. I don’t think I can eat all of this, though.” I pick up a piece of bacon and take a bite.
    Oh.
    My.
    Land.
    It might be the best piece of bacon I’ve ever eaten in my life.
    Gracen’s mom always cooked turkey bacon, which tasted like a burned chicken. And then after we moved in together, Gracen only cooked turkey bacon because that’s what her mom poisoned her with.
    So to actually get some fresh-from-the-pig bacon is… wow. I’m in Heaven. That’s it. That what this is. This is Heaven. I’ve made it. I’ve…
    I take another bite, and my eyes roll back in my head.
    This might be better than sex.
    It’s been a long time for that too.
    Anyway…
    “Good, ain’t it?” Lucien pops a piece of sausage in his mouth and shuts his eyes. “Tastes like home.”
    “Yes, it does.” I finish my piece of bacon and grab for another. Lucien has made enough food. There is no sense in wasting it. “Where did you find it all?”
    “These people seemed to like their meat. There is a huge freezer of it out back.”
    I don’t feel bad for eating their food. I guess I’m the anti-Goldilocks. I’ll sleep in their bed too if I have to. Crashing after a big meal sounds wonderful.
    But I won’t because I have to find Gracen. The world to save and all.
    A man can’t stop his saving-the-world duties every time there is a promise of bacon.
    That would be wrong.
    And this bacon tastes oh so right.
    I pick at the platters while Lucien finishes up cooking. I don’t talk to him. I’m too busy munching away. He doesn’t talk to me. I guess he’s too busy cooking.
    Finally he gets finished and sets the newest plate of sausage and bacon on the table. We have to move some things around, but we do it. When we are