(Author's POV)
Back at the house, Aurora went upstairs to shower. Phineas went to the kitchen.
He was not a man who cooked. Mrs. Potts knew this and looked faintly alarmed when he walked in and asked her to lay out the ingredients. He sent her out of the kitchen anyway.
He made the soup himself - cream of mushroom, from scratch, the way he had watched it done once and filed away without thinking about why. He didn't rush it.
When Aurora came downstairs in her robe, hair still damp, she stopped at the entrance to the dining room.
She looked at the bowl on the table. Then at him.
She sat down without saying anything.
She picked up the spoon, took one sip, and set it back down.
"While I have you," she said, her voice light, "there's something interesting you should know."
She told hi
