Total pages in book: 126
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 124077 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 620(@200wpm)___ 496(@250wpm)___ 414(@300wpm)
The table appeared to grow directly out of the floor.
Its thick central trunk spread upward into a broad flat surface polished naturally smooth, with faint green veins running through the pale wood. Two chairs had grown beside it, formed from looping branches covered in soft cushions of moss and small velvety leaves.
Terra ran her hand over the tabletop.
“This whole thing is alive too?” she asked.
Taurex nodded.
“Yes.”
“Does it grow larger if you have company?” she asked curiously.
Taurex nodded.
“If I have enough notice, it can accommodate up to twelve.”
Terra stared at him.
“You have an expandable dining table that expands itself?”
“Essentially.”
She put a hand on her hip.
“That is so unfair.”
“To whom?” he asked, looking confused.
“Humans. We think we're advanced because our refrigerators make ice. And here you have all this amazing biotech and living appliances. I’m jealous!”
Taurex laughed.
“You don’t have to be jealous. You can come back to the Mother Ship and use our biotech any time. What’s mine is yours.”
“Well…thank you.” Terra felt her heart flutter at his offer. “I might take you up on that.”
His golden eyes were suddenly half-lidded.
“I hope you will,” he murmured.
They sat across from each other, and once again Terra experienced the strange sensation of living furniture adapting itself to her body. The chair softened beneath her, curling gently around her hips and lower back until she was supported perfectly. It put the lumbar support chair Jackson had insisted on having before they got divorced to shame.
Taurex served the stew into deep bowls that looked like hollowed-out gourds but had a smooth pearlescent finish. The gravy was an alarming shade of midnight blue, and the chunks of meat were even darker now after simmering in the sauce, but it smelled delicious.
Terra stared into her bowl, her stomach rumbling.
“This is very blue,” she remarked.
Taurex frowned.
“Is that a problem?”
“No. It's just…not a color I usually associate with gravy.”
“What color is Earth gravy?” he asked curiously.
“Brown,” Terra told him.
He frowned.
“That sounds dull.”
Terra laughed.
“You know what? Fair.”
She tore off a piece of the warm fargas bread and dipped it into the blue gravy. Then she took a bite, and her eyes widened.
“Oh, wow…” she moaned.
Taurex watched her closely.
“Well?”
Terra took another bite and swallowed before answering.
“This is really good. I mean, maybe the best thing I’ve ever put in my mouth!”
His expression brightened with unmistakable pleasure.
“So you like it?”
“I love it.” Terra took another bite and hummed with pleasure.
The stew reminded her vaguely of beef stew, but the flavor was much richer. The blue meat was incredibly tender, falling apart beneath her fork, and the gravy had a deep savory quality that made her think of slow-cooked beef, mushrooms, roasted onions and red wine all mixed together, though none of those ingredients were actually in it. The green roots had softened into something like potatoes while the turquoise seeds added tiny bursts of sweetness.
Terra took another bite.
“I cannot believe I'm eating blue gravy and enjoying it this much,” she remarked.
He raised his eyebrows.
“The color continues to trouble you.”
“I'm getting used to it,” she said, giving him a smile as she took another big bite.
Taurex tore off a piece of bread.
“You adapt quickly,” he remarked.
“Single motherhood,” Terra said dryly. “You learn to adapt to pretty much anything.”
He looked at her thoughtfully.
“I believe you have had to adapt to too much.”
The statement was so simple and yet so unexpectedly tender that Terra paused with her spoon halfway to her mouth. She thought of her first unexpected pregnancy, then her divorce and then having to start stripping to make ends meet.
“Maybe, I have,” she said softly.
Taurex didn't push. Instead, he simply reached across the table and placed another piece of warm bread beside her bowl.
“Eat,” he rumbled. “You don’t have to deal with anything else right now.”
Terra smiled.
“Yes, Mom.”
“I am considerably larger than your mother,” he said dryly.
Terra laughed.
“Trust me, that wouldn't stop her from bossing you around.”
He nodded thoughtfully.
“I believe Lucy is formidable.”
“You have no idea,” Terra told him.
They talked throughout the meal, and Terra found herself telling Taurex stories about Cody and Lisa, including the time Lisa had decided to give herself a haircut with kindergarten safety scissors and the afternoon Cody had tried to build a homemade rocket in the backyard using a plastic bottle, baking soda and far too much confidence.
Taurex listened as though every story mattered, asking questions and laughing in all the right places, and Terra was struck again by the difference between him and Jackson.
Her ex had barely listened when she talked about the children unless there was a problem he thought she should solve. All he ever cared about was his own interests—gaming, buying a new truck, and things like that. Anything that didn’t directly involve him personally had no chance of holding his attention.
But Taurex wanted to know about her life and her kids and her mom. The realization warmed her almost as much as the food.