Room for You
Chapter 145

Chapter 145

“Get in. We're going to the grocery store.” As Elliot placed Jared at thebackseat, it suddenly occurred to him that he would need to get a childsafety seat installed so that it would be easier for him to pick Jared upin the future.

After the three of them returned to the car, they went to a nearbycommercial area where they had plenty of time to stop since it was stillrather early.

While they were inside the grocery store, Jared sat on the cart that waspushed around by Elliot while Anastasia was in charge of selectingingredients for that evening's dinner. Feeling somewhat gluttonoustonight, she picked up some pork, shrimp, and a few kinds ofvegetables.

“My! What a beautiful family!” someone suddenly commented asAnastasia was choosing vegetables. When she turned her head, she sawtwo young women standing nearby and staring at them.

The moment Anastasia turned to look at them, they scuttled away inembarrassment as they had been caught in the act.

When Anastasia glanced back at Elliot and her son, she understood whythose two young women had misunderstood. They looked very muchlike a family of three on a shopping trip indeed!

She quickly finished grabbing the vegetables and said to the manpushing the cart behind her, “Let's go. I'm done.”

Of course Elliot's eyes had caught everything as well and it made thecorners of his mouth lift. To him, it was a happy feeling.

After they finished shopping, he drove all the way to the entrance ofher neighborhood and parked. As soon as she gathered the bags ofingredients she had bought, he took them from her while saying, “I cancarry them.”

“They're not heavy. It's fine.” Anastasia didn’t want him to lend a hand.However, he stubbornly snatched them from her; his action promptedher to glance speechlessly at her son, who was also happy to have Elliothold his hand.

Now that she was somewhat embarrassed, she strode off quickly tomaintain her distance from them so that the neighbors wouldn't thinkthey were a family.

“Mommy, wait for us!” Jared shouted behind her.

Anastasia could only wait for them in a disconcerted manner.

When they finally arrived home, she let out a sigh of relief and took thebags from Elliot before heading into the kitchen. Some foods, like thepork, required a little more time to cook and she would need toprepare it beforehand.

“Entertain our guest, Jared,” she instructed her son as she left thekitchen to grab something.

A somewhat befuddled Jared nodded and looked up at Elliot. To him,Elliot was not a guest but

something of a family member.

Elliot stroked Jared's hair with a grin. “I can entertain myself.”Meanwhile, Anastasia began to busy herself in the kitchen. Since shehad spent so many years cooking for her son, she had completelymastered her way around the kitchen. Moreover, to cater to her son'staste, she had even spent many years looking up recipes and studyingthe concept of heat distribution. That meant she was quite adept athome cooking.

Since the pork was for herself, she added more spice and seasonings;for her son, she made do with some vegetables on top of the steamedegg custard with shrimp. Both dishes would be enough for him.

As she entered and exited the kitchen on occasion, she would see Elliotwatching television with her son at one point and playing with Jared inhis room at another. It was turning out not to be an entirely bad thingto have Elliot in her home. At the very least, he could keep her soncompany.

Sometimes, what Anastasia feared most was that she and her son hadlacked a man’s influence in their lives.

Now that Elliot was there to accompany Jared, she found that it was agood thing.

Dinner was finally served and she knocked on her son's door afteruntying her apron. “Time for dinner.”

It didn't take long for Jared to come sprinting out and exclaim uponseeing the food on the table, “It's all of my favorite dishes!”

At this point, Elliot also took a seat. Jared had loved egg custard somuch that he was digging into it with great gusto, which left Elliotunable to resist the adorable sight of the little boy eating so earnestly.Now, he had also discovered that Anastasia was excellent at cooking.The pork that she prepared was just soft enough; it was fatty but notgreasy and although it was a tad bit too spicy for him, it wasn't as if hecouldn't take one bite after another.

It was incredibly appetizing. Although Anastasia had prepared somerice to go with the pork, she didn't eat much as she was afraid ofgaining weight. Instead, she slowly and patiently chewed beforeswallowing her share. On the other hand, although Elliot was equallyelegant, he kept heading into the kitchen for more servings of rice.