this day, the sweet, dense bread was one of the signature brunch items at Celesta’s-by-the-Sea. Butch prepared the dough directly on the countertop with his bare hands, no bowls or spoons, just like Mamma had. Rosa appreciated Butch’s skill at cooking and his exquisite palate, but some subtle essence was missing; she could only put it down as magic. No one could capture that, though Rosa knew in some part of her heart that she would never stop trying.
She went out back to talk to her father. The yard had a long rectangular garden that had been laid out and planted by her mother before Rosa was born. Nowadays, her father tended the heirloom tomatoes, peppers, beans and herbs, happy to spend his silent hours in a place his young wife had loved.
He was seated on a wooden folding chair beneath a plum tree, smoking a pipe. A few branches lay around, casualties of the recent windstorm. He looked up when her shadow fell over him.
“Hi, Pop,” she said.
“Rosa.” He set aside the pipe, stood and held out his arms.
She smiled and hugged him, then gave him a kiss on the cheek, inhaling his familiar scent of shaving soap and pipe tobacco. When she stepped back, she made sure he was looking directly at her, and told him about the blender.
“I guess I forgot and left it on,” he said.
“The house could have burned down, Pop.”
“I’ll be careful from now on, okay?”
It was what he always said when Rosa worried about him. It didn’t help, but neither did arguing with him. She studied his face, noticing troubled shadows in his eyes, and knew it had nothing to do with the blender. “You heard about Mrs. Montgomery.”
“Yes. Of course. It was in all the papers.”
Pop had always been addicted to reading the newspapers, usually two a day. In fact, Rosa had learned to read while sitting in his lap, deciphering the funny pages.
He took her hand in his. He had wonderful hands, blunt and strong, callused from the work he did. His touch was always gentle, as though he feared she might break. “Let’s sit. Want some coffee?”
“No, thanks.” She joined him in the shade of the plum tree. He seemed…different today. Distracted and maybe diminished, somehow. “Are you all right, Pop?”
“I’m fine, fine.” He waved off her concern like batting at a fly.
This wouldn’t be the first time he’d lost a client. In the forty years since he had emigrated from Italy, he’d worked for scores of families in the area. But today he seemed to be particularly melancholy.
“She was still so young,” Rosa commented.
“Yes.” A faraway look came into his eyes. “She was a bride when I first saw her, just a girl, younger than you.”
Rosa tried to picture Alex’s mother as a young bride, but the image eluded her. She realized Mrs. Montgomery must have been just thirty the first time Rosa had seen her. It seemed inconceivable. Emily Montgomery had always been ageless in her crisp tennis whites, her silky hair looped into a ponytail. She wore almost no jewelry, which Rosa later learned was characteristic of women from the oldest and wealthiest families. Ostentation was for the nouveau riche.
Mrs. Montgomery had lived in terror for her fragile son and had regarded Rosa as a danger to his health.
“I wonder how she died,” Rosa said to her father. “Did any of the obituaries say?”
“No. There was nothing.”
She watched a ladybug lumber over a blade of grass. “Are you going to the service, or—”
“No, of course not. It is not expected. She doesn’t need the gardener. And if I sent flowers, well, they would just get lost.”
Rosa got up, pacing in agitation. She walked over to the tomato bushes, the centerpiece of the spectacular garden plot. In her mind’s eye, she could see her mother in a house dress that somehow looked pretty on her, a green-sprigged apron, bleached Keds with no socks, a straw hat to keep the sun from her eyes. Mamma never hurried in the garden, and she used all her senses while tending it. She would hold a tomato in the palm of her hand, determining its ripeness by its softness and heft. Or she would inhale the fragrance of pepperoncini or bell peppers, test a pinch of flat leaf parsley or mint between her teeth. Everything had to be at its peak before Mamma brought it to the kitchen.
Rosa bent and plucked a stalk of dockweed from the soil. She straightened, turned to find her father watching her, and she smiled. His hearing loss broke her heart, but it had also brought them closer. Of necessity, he had become incredibly attentive, watching her, reading every nuance of movement and expression with uncanny accuracy. His skill at reading lips was remarkable.
And he knew her so well, she thought, her smile wobbling. “Alex came by the restaurant last night.”
Pop’s eyebrows lowered, but he didn’t comment. He didn’t have to. Years ago, he had thought Alex a poor match for her, and his opinion probably hadn’t changed.
“He didn’t say a word about his mother,” she continued. That was when she felt a twist of pain. He’d been drinking last night because he was hurting. Surely his friends must’ve realized that. Why had they simply left him? Why didn’t he have better friends? Why did it matter to her?
“Well.” Pop slapped his thighs and stood up. “I must go to work. The Camdens are having a croquet party and they need their hedges trimmed.”
Rosa removed his flat black cap and kissed his balding head. “You come up to the restaurant tonight. Butch is fixing bluefish for the special.”
“I’m gonna get fat, I keep eating at your place all the time.”
She gave his arm a playful punch. “See you, Pop.”
“Yeah, okay.”
She stepped through the gate and turned to wave. The expression on his face startled her. “Pop, you sure you’re doing all right?”
Instead of replying to her question, he said, “You shouldn’t mess with that guy, just because he came back.”
“Who says I’m messing with him?”
“Tell me I’m wrong, Rosa.”
“Don’t worry about me, Pop. I’m a big girl now.”
“I always worry about you. Why else am I still here on this earth?”
She touched her hand to her heart and then raised it to sign I love you.
He’d learned American Sign Language after losing his hearing in the accident, but rarely used it. Signing in public still made him feel self-conscious. But they weren’t in public now, so he signed back. I love you more.
As she pulled away from the curb, she let her father’s warning play over and over in her head. You shouldn’t mess with that guy, just because he came back.
“Right, Pop,” she said, then turned onto Ocean Road, heading toward the Montgomery place.
Ciambellone
Ciambellone is a cross between a cake and a bread, with a nice texture well suited to be served at breakfast or with coffee. The smell of a baking ciambellone is said to turn a scowl into a smile.
4 cups flour
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup oil
1 teaspoon baking powder
zest from 1 lemon, finely chopped
garnish: milk, coarsely granulated sugar
Make a mound with the flour on a board, creating a well in the center. Using your