Family Skeletons by Bobbie O'Keefe

they get cold.”
    He glanced at her but didn’t respond to her
crossness. He put the bowl of eggs down without taking any and picked up the
plate of potatoes. She noticed, but said nothing. He scraped the remaining
potatoes onto his plate, ate one forkful and frowned. “You put something in the
potatoes, too.”
    “Onion and garlic. It’s called seasoning. I put salt
and pepper in there, too.”
    “I like simple food,” he said apologetically. “Just
standard fare. I’ll have plain toast and bacon.”
    Had he not noticed the mushrooms and sour cream in
the stroganoff, along with the onions and garlic? Or maybe to him, that was
standard. Putting her fork down, she stared at him. “You might also want to
skip the toast. I buttered it.” Some people might consider it nice not to have
to butter their own toast.
    He sipped coffee then chose a piece of bread.
“Actually, I do prefer it dry, but I’ll eat it either way.” He looked at her as
if he thought she might explode.
    Which she did. She took his and her plates and
dumped them into the garbage. Not just the contents, the whole plates. She
threw in her cup of coffee, still half-full, and the plate of toast. The crash
of crockery made her feel guilty, but that fueled her anger instead of easing
it.
    “You said you know how to operate a toaster, so make
your own stupid breakfast!”
    Coffee sloshed out of his cup when it hit the table.
“What is the matter with you? You were okay until Ryan left. Did you have a
fight with him or what?”
    He’d hit the nail on the head, which only made her
madder. “Oh, no, you don’t. It’s not my fault you’re fussy. And I’ll clean the
bathroom today. You can wash the dishes.”
    “Sunny—”
    She stomped down the hall.
    “Sunny!”
    She threw open the front door and almost tripped
over the cat on the porch. It was so startled that instead of fleeing down the
stairs, it scampered into the corner and cut off its own escape route. As if by
magic, Sunny’s mood lightened. She knelt. “Oh, kitty, I’m sorry. Come here,
kitty.” It was trapped between her and the wall of the porch. “It’s okay. I’m
not going to hurt you. C’mon. Come to me, baby.”
    Aware of Jonathan coming to stand in the doorway
behind her, she looked up. “Be careful. Don’t scare it.”
    When his gaze lit upon the cat in the corner, his
expression also eased. “It came back.”
    “Looks only half-grown, and maybe not completely
wild yet. I’d like to tame it if I could.”
    “You could give it breakfast if someone hadn’t
thrown it in the garbage.”
    She was facing away from him. A return of
contentiousness hit her, then regret, and then her mind cleared, all in about
three seconds. She looked back up. “There’s a can of tuna in the cupboard, one
of those easy-open tab tops. Would you get it?”
    Quickly he returned with it, lid removed, and Sunny
put it on the floor and pushed it toward the kitten. The cat’s apprehension
seemed to ease as it sniffed the air. It crept to the can, hesitating only once
for another quick glance at the two people, then started licking up tuna.
    Sunny grinned. “Hey, all right.”
    “It appears you now have a pet. But what are you
going to do when you have to leave?”
    “Take it with me. I told you I’m looking for a new
place. Now I’ll have company.” She remained kneeling on the porch floor, watching
the cat. “It,” she repeated. “Don’t even know if it’s male or female.”
    “If it will let me close enough once it’s through
eating, I’ll find out for you.”
    She slanted a look up at him. “Guess doctors are
good for something.”
    His expression turned contentious and stayed that
way. “Sunny...”
    She smiled at the warning in his voice. “It was a
joke, Jonathan. Lighten up.”
    “Me? I need to lighten up?”
    With a sigh, she stood. “Okay. I’ve been in a lousy
mood and taking it out on you. It’s not your fault. I’ll try to behave.”
    “Thank you. I’d