Truthfully, Carmen was something else when it came to cooking. I don't know where she'd learned it or how she'd kept the skill sharp through everything the world had thrown at her, but the woman had a gift. An honest-to-god gift. The kind that made you close your eyes after the first bite and just sit with it for a second. I'd eaten Rachel's cooking more times than I could count, and Rachel was good, really good but sitting there at that table with a plate of food Carmen had put together from whatever scarce ingredients they had lying around, I had to admit it, even if just to myself. Carmen was better.
Then again, she had years on Rachel. Experience had a way of showing up in unexpected places.
"You seem to like it, Ryan," Shannon said next to me, grinning. "My mom cooks amazing, right?"
"Yeah." I nodded, swallowing another bite before I'd even finished appreciating the last one. "No wonder Maribel and Summer come here every day squatting just to eat her food."
