#baronyofthesilverwolf

"Sure I might be able to..." the mention of the art show however makes her stop. She wrrestles down her protective urges. NOT what Katrina needs right now.

Trina scowls at the carpet.

"They cancelled it." She lies.

"Hey, at least I can get you those lacrosse tickets" Gwen pats Katrina on the shoulder, totally backing her lie

She swallows, trying to push down the lump in her throat.

"Oh?" Disappointed. "That's a bummer. I was hoping you'd show us more of your little monsters. You know how much Frankie likes 'em." He takes off his coat, hanging it, and drops his keys into a wobbly-hand-made bowl/pinch pot.

"I don't... make those anymore..."

Her cheeks feel too warm and her stomach is turning to knots.

"Then next year we'll see what you DID make. Switching things up, keeping us on our toes."

Who would have thought she'd be grateful to hear Janice??

"Dinner's on the table, everyone." Her step-mom interrupts to add.

"Hey, dinner." Escape!

"Smells great" Gwen agrees. Happy to aid in the getaway

She absently rubs at a cheek. the spiral dull. "Janice likes spices." Trina repeats from earlier.

Gwen hides her own guilt under a stoic feature. Yes, she's been told Trina's torturous treatment at the hands of an autumn person wans't her fault, but what her head tells her and what a troll soul tells her are different things

"She made this Caribbean pineapple ham thing for Christmas."

"Huh" She says

Dinner is jerk pork - tender and pulled into a juicy strings, coconut rice, black beans, a side salad... nothing too fancy, but it all smells good.

Frankie sighs, "No corn on the cob? I like this best with corn." Janice smiles and reaches over to push some of the boy's hair out of his face. "It's out of season, love. You can't get good corn in the winter, it tastes like nothing."

Places are set for Trina and her friend. "I hope this is alright, I already had the pork marinating when she texted that she was coming for dinner."

"No complaints from me, Janice" Gwen respects hospitality "I hope my coming here isn't an imposition?"

Trina's gone quiet, gaze low.

"If you are what you eat, then I've had a LOT of your Jerk dishes." Dad joshes. "No, the more the merrier!"

Janice smiles and passes dishes. She fills plates for Dad and Frankie, but lets the girls choose how much of whatever they'd like to take. "Growing up, my mother would always say, "Far pass mek ockra pwoil". A touch of Caribbean in her accent coming out that normally isn't there. "Far pass makes the Okra spoiled... or it's good to stick together. Roughly. So there is always room for friends at our table."

The food is well seasoned and tasty... though what's wrong with just a nice pork chop with roasted potatoes like Trina's mom does it?

Jab, jab, jab with her fork.

"You've been to the islands?" A bit impressed

She actually gets less than she would normally want. She can fill up at home if need be and this is clearly not fun for Thistle

She does eat some, though she mostly pushes her food around.

Stupid lump in her throat makes swallowing difficult.

"Janice grew up there. I always saw we should go visit, but-"

"I've had enough sun for a lifetime." Janice says, "My home is here now."

Frankie is shoveling down food. "Not so fast, it's not going to run away." Dad jokes.

Frankie slows down, coughs, and then spits something out. "Uck." It's a little piece of metal! Foil, rolled up into a ball - how did that get into the rice?

Janice is aghast. "Oh, you didn't swallow any of that, did you? I don't know... the foil was on de pork but I t'rew it all away I know..." Her voice getting a touch of patois in her anxiety.

A tinkle of tiny laughter, the teal never perched on the spice rack near the stove... thinking this is hilarious!

"Frankie?" She looks up and SCOWLS at the Never!

A brow and she looks at the Never if only for a moment

"He seems okay." She assures them all

Dad claps Frankie on the back a few times. "You're okay, champ." Frankie nods, "I didn't swallow it. I thought it was a hard bean!"

"I'll just get rid of this."

Janice's cheeks flame as she scoops up the rice dish and hurries into the kitchen with it.

"Yeah, you're okay."

Gwen isn't sure how the never moved the metal, if it did. Something to look into "Janice, would you like help?" An offer

And meant well, though Janice might not know that

She calls over, "No, no, it's okay. I'll just t'ro- I'll just throw this out. It's just rice. You enjoy your meal."

The teal never has finished cackling and is now making faces back at Gwen, pulling it's ears, sticking out tongue, etc. Very mature.

Trina scrunches down lower in her seat. Why does she feel guilty?

Dad clears his throat, and says, "Well, at least you caught it, otherwise you'd end up magnetic, and we'd have to stick you on the fridge."

"Daaaaaaaaaaaad." Frankie rolls his eyes, clearly fine.

"Stick'm up next to his macaroni pictures."

Snerk

Gwen enjoys her meal

The rest of the meal is perfectly contaminant free.

And for dessert - ice cream!

Frankie looks surprised. "Don't we have any leftover coconut cakes, mom?" "That's okay, Frankie. Ice cream is just as good."

It's Trina's favorite flavor! Not some weird dessert.

She bites on her lip.

"Delicious" She says. She's had better, much better, but Janice needs to hear something positive. Then the ice cream comes up "Nice"

"...I didn't think you liked Butter Pecan.." Yup, her tummy feels all kinds of weird.

"Can I show you my games after dessert?" Frankie interrupts.

Dad says, "As long as you don't play too long. Gwen and Trina need to get home, it's a school night."

"And Gwen drives like a grandma."