Kijani trailed after Taylor, feeling quite stupid and childish. She didn't say anything, simply watched him put items in the card. When he finally asked her a question, she shook her head. "No thank you. Liquid cheese is not my friend." She didn't mind the ghost pepper part, but would prefer to have her spices in an actual food, instead of... whatever the heck that dip was made of. "I..." She stopped, shaking her head slightly. It was time to adjust her language. "Would you be okay with... teaching me to cook? I don't know anything."

"Of course I would be." Taylor grabs a jar of roasted habanero peppers in a sauce. He sets it in the cart and thinks for a minute and nods his head. "I do believe we are done." He heads to checkout. "I may be a bartender but my true passion is in cooking, I can show you some things when we get back in Gladwin. This nacho cheese is made by one of the best hot condiment companies around, I think I have in mind what we can make when we get back to town." Taylor proceeds to check out and pay with a credit card. He heads out to the buggy and starts putting the groceries away except for the apples, putting the cart into the middle of the parking lines. He helps Kijani into the buggy before heading around to his side, he hops in and gets strapped in. He offers Kijani one of the apples. "Give that a try, best apples I have ever tried, like a sweeter juicier version of a honey crisp." He fires up the buggy and pulls out of the parking spot. Taking off to go back home, he drives the back roads for quite some time. He pulls out onto the main road 20 minutes after leaving the store and drives for 5 minutes before turning onto the back roads again, rolling down the road between a lake and a pond. "Check out the swans over there." Points to the pond slowing down to about 25 through the area to be able to watch for a while, picking up speed as he passes the pond. He drives a little while longer before coming up to the dirt road leading to the road he lives on. "Another 5 minutes and we will be able to get out." He drives down the dirt road for some time then notices the mud and trenches from vehicles driving through. "Ok, tack on 2 or 3 minutes." he slows way down and drives towards the middle. He crawls through at about 15 mph. Even at slow speed the buggy slides all over the places and bounces for half a mile, finally getting through he picks up the speed and drives the last stretch to his place, pulling into the driveway the yard is full of fruit trees and landscaped. "Well, this is home." He pulls up to the front of his house and shuts off the buggy. He unbuckles and hops out, stretching out. Heading around he helps Kijani out again before grabbing all the groceries and some of the gear. "I will go in and get some of the stuff ready and get the rest of the stuff later." He walks up to the front door and unlocks it heading inside. Inside the house looks like a log cabin around the living rooms bottom half but the upper half looks like a normal home. In the middle of the living room and kitchen is a fireplace with a custom wood burned mantle covered with candles and a large cow skull painted with a native american design. He heads into the kitchen and begins unloading the groceries and setting them on the counter. He grabs out some chicken from the fridge and sets it on the counter top. "So, you want to learn to cook now or just relax for a few minutes? It is almost 1:30."

Kijani helped him carry in the groceries, looking at his beautiful home in wonder. She'd seen plenty of massive houses in the Hamptons, and even had friends with places that could legitimately be called mansions. This was neither, and yet it was beautiful. There was something well-lived about it, something warm. She didn't quite know how to describe it, but it made her feel comfortable. "You have a lovely house." She started to unload the bags as well, and was looking at him to see where they should go. "I would like to relax a bit. The ride was a bit... hectic." She did look rather out of sorts, from all the bumping and the jostling. Even at a slow speed, her hair was a mess and she was a bit sweaty. "If you don't mind my asking, where's your family?"

"I am single, no family living here. My mom moved down state to be closer to the rest of the family. I decided to stay behind cuz I fell in love with the area." He grabs the chicken and removes it from the package. He pulls out chicken breast, legs, thighs and wings from the pack, setting them on a cutting board. He pulls out a pot and fills it with peanut oil before setting it on his stove top. He walks into the living room, turning on the TV, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives is on. "Go ahead and watch what you want. I am gonna cook up some chicken to get started." Taylor heads back into the kitchen and drops the thighs and legs in the oil letting them fry. After a little while he tosses in the wings, not long after that he removes all of it out before tossing in the breast. He lets the chicken drain on a rack into a sheet pan pulling out the ghost pepper nacho cheese but does nothing else for the time being. After a few more minutes he pulls the chicken breast out of the oil and shuts off the stove, letting the breast drain for a while. After a while he calls out. "Hey Kijani, you ready to learn to cook?"

Kijani settled on the couch for a few minutes, but she couldn't really focus on whaatever was on the television. Imagine, having a home all to yourself, and not having to have your family loom over you. She was inwardly envious of Tyler, who seemed free and happy. Was that a life that she could get for herself? Perhaps with time.

Before she knew it, Tyler's voice was calling her name. She snapped back to consciousness with a startle, then rubbed her eyes. "Ah... yes, I'm ready." She must have been more tired than she realized if she fell asleep in a strange house. Getting up and stretching, she went to the kitchen.

"Wow... you were busy."

"A little bit, though not too much." Taylor grabs some of the ribeye and the filet mignon, setting them on a cutting board. He grabs a very sharp knife and slices it almost paper thin. "I will leave the actual cooking to you." he says while he cuts the steak. "Should only take a minute or two to cook." Finishing the cutting he tosses the steak in a skillet with a bit of olive oil in it turning the pan over. "Just keep watch, when the edges curl toss them around in the pan." He grabs the ghost pepper cheese and tosses it in a pan with the chicken breast, he then coats the other chicken with some buffalo sauce.

The nacho cheese sauce bubbles slightly before he removes it from the heat. He dumps it all into a container and gets some bread ready for the steak sandwiches. "You like onions?" He asks as he chops up onions.

Kijani looked puzzled. "Toss them around with what? I... is there some... some thing I'm supposed to use? A spatula or something?" She watched the meat hiss in the oil, not knowing what she should do.

"I eat cooked onions. Raw onions burn my mouth." Plus, eating onion was like a cardinal sin for a young, single woman. You couldn't meet a man with reeking onion breath, could you? Then again, how could she think of meeting a man? She had no job, no friends, no... family.

A sharp hiss made her head jerk up. Another one of her tears dropped into the oily pan and hissed into steam. "I'm such a fool." She tried to breathe, tried to keep the emotion from her face. So she was alone. So what? Plenty of people in the world were alone, she needed to get over it and fast.

"Tell me about the-- the job in the bar." She needed to think. Poking at the meat again, she tried to keep her mind from the weakness.

Taylor takes back over on the cooking tossing everything around after hearing Kijani's question. "Well, little something to let you know about the bar. The owner is trying to get out from the day to day grind of owning the place, he is giving all of us a chance to own it before putting it up for the public to check it out. The senior bartender wasn't interested in buying the place, she enjoys the behind the bar work, I have seniority behind the bar so I am second in line and I am contemplating purchasing the bar. I will still be behind the bar but I will have other work to take care of as well so I will be needing a new bartender to take over."

He finishes off the food and begins building the sandwiches then wraps them up. "I can teach you basic drinks if you are interested." He begins packing up the food in a bag.

"I think we are ready to go. You wanna go check out the rides?" He puts the last of the food in a cooler as he waits on Kijani.

Kijani watched Taylor carefully as he cooked, trying to commit his movements to memory. She was silent until he started talking about teaching her drinks. "...wait, you want to give me your job? I--"

So many things she could say. She'd never had a job before- never had to work. While she did have an excellent memory, she really didn't know anything about liquor. That, and she was a total stranger in this town. Wouldn't they look at her strangely, some upper-crust city girl slumming it in the countryside? Even deeper still, if he was going to take over the bar, she'd be working for him. She did not want to fail, especially since it would... be a detriment to the only person who'd showed her true kindness in many, many years.

"I... I don't know what to say, Taylor." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Y-yes, let's... let's see the rides, and I'll think about it."

"Take your time making your decision. We have time to think about it, the owner is gonna wait until fall rolls around to decide if he fully commits to retiring. I am going to go get the gear and get changed." He walks outside grabbing some of the riding gear, leaving the helmets outside. "Take your pick of what bedroom you want to change in, we have 2 others to choose from." He goes into his bedroom to change, coming out a few minutes later in his riding gear.

Taylor grabs the food and heads to the door. He exits the house waiting on Kijani, locking the door after she makes her way outside. He heads to the garage unlocking it. Inside are 3 dirt bikes 1 is very small, almost looking it is meant for a child, the other 2 are fairly normal size, 2 quads, 2 dune buggies, an 80's chevy pickup truck and a 1986 camaro that is sitting with the rear end way up in the air with wheelie bars and massive tires. "I think you will do good with that big green dirt bike there, want you on a beginners bike. That little bike there is what you call a pit bike, it is not for a beginner not by a long shot."

He loads up the 3 bikes in the back of the truck then hooks up a trailer. He rolls the 2 quads onto the trailer and straps them down. The garage opening up with the loading of the bikes and quads. "I think we should take you for a ride in that camaro some time, you think that buggy is fast, it is nothing compared to that car." He chuckles. "But yeah, pretty much ready. Just need to..." He pushes a button by the door in the garage and the garage door opens up. He opens the passenger door for Kijani and helps her up inside, shutting the heavy steel door with a thud. He walks around and gets in the drivers side, sticking the key in the ignition, he pumps the gas a few times before turning the key, the engine turns over a few times, he pumps the gas again while it is turning over before getting it to turn over finally. "Old temperamental trucks, sometimes you have to work for it."

He pulls out of the garage, heading back towards town. They pass by the airport and rc plane club a mile and a half from his house. "That airport runs drag races twice a year, I have run this truck in the races twice, this year I will finally run that camaro. They will not know what hit them." he smiles. "Should be the most powerful street legal car in the united states. Haven't actually gotten actual numbers for the power but guessing it should be a few thousand horsepower. Hopefully break 250 miles per hour in the quarter mile."

Taylor, makes his way up into town and slows down driving through town up to the lights. The activity of the town being quite lively in the afternoon. He turns and heads out of town passing by a few stores on his way. Some time passes and they come up to a new intersection with a 4 way stop. He waits for his turn before going straight and heading down the last road to the trails where they will do their riding. On the way passing by lakes, rivers and through dense forests. Traveling 15 miles from the last intersection before finally arriving at their destination. They drive back to the entrance of the riding trail and park the truck. He unbuckles his seat belt and hops out, walking around to the other side to help Kijani if she needed it.