Maria's door and ask her to sleep with you?

“No," she said.

“No way." She glared as Alex looked away.

“You did, didn't you? Fuck!" she yelled, suddenly frustrated beyond all endurance.

“Am I the only person in this entire fucking household who can't score? Mom and Dad are back together, and by the way they've been all lovey-dovey, we're going to be hip-deep in siblings in a couple of years."

“They're not-" Alex started.

“And you," she said, her voice low and terrible. "You score with the hot Latina maid you've been drooling over for the last three years. You all make me sick."

“Cheer up," her brother said. "Mom told me she invited her intern for the cookout today. Maybe he'll be some total hottie you'll fall madly in love with."

“As if," she grumped.

“With my luck, he'll be some pasty-faced twerp with a Law degree where his cock should be."

As if on cue, the doorbell rang. "Can you get that, kids?" came their mother's muffled voice from her bedroom. She and their father hadn't been seen since breakfast. "We're a little bit...busy in here," she giggled.

“Disgusting,” Sarah muttered. Heaving herself off the bed, she stomped down the stairs.

But the guest wasn't a hot intern. Instead, it proved to be Maria, smiling cheerfully and bearing gifts in the form of pasta salad and and a covered dish wrapped in a dishtowel which made Sarah's eyes water.

“What is that?" she asked curiously.

“It smells wonderful. But spicy."

“It is a Honduran chicken and rice recipe," said Maria. She followed

Sarah into the kitchen. "Now that I finally have a place of my own, I can cook how I like, without other girls complaining that my food makes their eyes sting and their noses run. I'll leave it out here, if you don't mind. It's supposed to stay warm."

“What's in it?" Sarah asked, her mind already looking for ways to incorporate the dish into other meals.

“Oh, lots of things. Chicken, rice, peppers, spices. I can give you the recipe, if you wish."

Caught up in the eternal fascination of food, Sarah forgot her frustration.

By three in the afternoon, her parents finally emerged from the bedroom and Alex came downstairs. Sarah kept an eye on her older brother. She was happy for him, of course, despite her frustrated words earlier. She had watched, puzzled, as he had dated a series of women through high school and after, none of them seemingly able to win his heart. Her lips curved in a tender smile as he and Maria held hands at the dining room table, neither of them seemingly willing to be separated from the other.

"So what do we have, Pumpkin?" said her father, coming up behind her.

“Brats and hot dogs," she said, trying to disguise the way her heart sped in his presence.

“And I'm going to start on the hamburgers.”

Suiting actions to words, she pulled a Large package of burger out of the fridge and dumped it in a ceramic mixing bowl.