Timmy shrugged, though there was a flicker of something deeper in his eyes. "I guess it just came naturally. I've been cooking for myself since I was a kid, so it wasn't anything new."
"Since you were a kid?" Lily's tone was curious but gentle. "Why so young?"
Timmy hesitated again, the memories surfacing like waves crashing against the shore. "I grew up on my own, pretty much. To be exact, I don't have parents and was raised in an orphanage, so I had to figure things out early. Cooking was just one of those things."
Her expression softened further, and she set her fork down. "That sounds tough."
"It was," Timmy admitted, though his tone remained light. "But you get used to it. I learned how to make do with what I had. Eventually, I got pretty good at it."
Lily leaned her chin on her hand, her gaze steady on him. "Well, it sounds like all that practice paid off."
