After placing his plate in the sink he turned and leaned against the counter. “Then why bother following a recipe? It’s no different than following a road map. If you want to get to New Orleans and I gave you directions as to how to get there, but you choose to change those directions, you might end up anywhere.”
Her smile faded. “Are you saying I should have followed the recipe?”
“I think when Trudy gave it to you she expected that you would and not experiment. How do you think she’s going to feel tomorrow when she asks me how the beef strudel turned out and I tell her you changed the recipe? She’ll think you thought the original recipe wasn’t good enough for you.”
“It was good, but...”
“But what, Jade?”
“I thought I could make it better.”
Evidently. “Well, I’m going to be honest with you, Jade. You didn’t. I’m not saying some good things can’t be improved on because they can, but it often takes a lot of work and trial and error.”
“I guess I blew it tonight, huh, Dad?”
He reached out to tweak her nose. Lord, how he loved this kid. Whenever he looked at her he was amazed that this incredible child was made by him and Johanna. “No, you didn’t blow it, but can I make a suggestion?”
“Yes.”
“Follow any recipe you get the way you should. Then if you think it can and should be improved try it, but know why you’re doing it. Ask yourself what’s your goal and what you’re trying to achieve.”
He knew that look. She was thinking and that was good. “Take the beef strudel recipe for instance,” he said. “You got carried away with certain ingredients so it didn’t taste so hot. If you’re really serious about learning to cook, how about taking a cooking class? I understand there’re several good ones in New Orleans. If you’d like, I’ll see if they offer Saturday classes.”
Her smile came back and it brightened her entire face. “You would do that for me, Dad?”
He smiled at her. “Don’t you know that I would do just about anything for you, Jade?”
She nodded and then flung herself into his arms and hugged him. “Yes, I’d like that and you are the best dad ever.”
And you, he thought, are my pride and joy.
THE NEXT MORNING after breakfast, Vashti and Bryce went to Berkshire Nursing Home to visit Ms. Gertie who didn’t recognize either of them. Bryce had tried preparing Vashti, but seeing the older woman in such a state tore at her. She tried engaging in conversation with Ms. Gertie but the older woman became annoyed and told them she didn’t appreciate being interrupted while watching CNN.
According to Bryce, Ms. Gertie’s son, daughter-in-law and grandson didn’t visit her often because it bothered them when she didn’t recognize them. Vashti thought that was a poor excuse. Whether Ms. Gertie recognized them shouldn’t matter. The important thing was that she wasn’t left alone, and that they recognized her and remembered her importance in their lives.
“When you visit her tomorrow it might be a different story,” Bryce said as they left the nursing home. “She might remember you.”
“Unfortunately, I’m leaving first thing in the morning.” And what she didn’t have to tell Bryce was that she didn’t plan to come back.
Bryce gave her a look that told her exactly what she thought of that, but let it be. “We’ll stop by the folks’ place before driving out to Shelby by the Sea. Mom and Dad would love to see you.”
“Alright.” Vashti wanted to see them as well. Vashti would admit to being surprised at how friendly two of her former classmates had been when she ran into them at the nursing home, almost as if they were glad to see her. She had once considered Charlette Hansberry and Mavis Green to be her good friends, until she’d gotten pregnant and they’d become scarce. Their mothers had probably ordered them to stay away from her, but still it hurt. She’d needed more of her friends during that time, not less of them.
It turned out Charlette owned the nursing home, having taken over for her parents when they decided to retire and move to California to be close to their only son and grandkids. Charlette was divorced with a six-year-old son. Mavis was the head nurse on staff. She had married her childhood sweetheart, Hugh Green. Like a number of men in town, Hugh worked at the blueberry factory and the couple had two kids.
“I was surprised Charlette and Mavis gave me the time of day,” Vashti said, getting into Bryce’s car and buckling the seat belt.
“Why wouldn’t they?” Bryce asked glancing over at her before starting the car.
“Do I need to remind you of how things were for me here, back then?”
“No, but that was back then, Vash. Years ago. People change and ideas they might have had change, too. I’m sure they look back at that time with regret about how they treated you. If I remember correctly, it was their parents forbidding them to have a friendship with you and not them doing it on their own.”
“Your parents didn’t forbid you to hang out with me,” Vashti reminded her. Once she’d gotten pregnant, the parents of some of her friends acted like pregnancy was catching. However, she knew what they were really worried about was that since she’d been sexually active that made her a loose girl and they didn’t want their daughters around anyone they thought lacked morals.
“My parents weren’t your typical parents,” Bryce said.
“Yes, that’s true.” It had been rumored that back in the day when he’d graduated from high school here, Chester Witherspoon had fled to Canada to avoid fighting in the Vietnam war. It wasn’t that he’d been a coward; he just didn’t feel the country needed to go to war. At least he hadn’t at first. A year later he returned with a wife and baby in tow. It was then that he’d decided to do his patriotic duty and enlist, leaving Bryce’s mom and three-month-old brother in the care of his parents.
After returning home from the war, Bryce’s parents had another son before Bryce, their only daughter, was born. Although Bryce never said and Vashti never asked, if you did the math of the date the Witherspoons celebrated their anniversary and the close proximity to Bryce’s oldest brother’s age, her mother was pregnant before her parents had married. Both of Bryce’s brothers, Ryan and Duke, lived in Catalina Cove and were partners with their parents in the family-owned café.
“I honestly think Mavis and Charlette were glad to see you again,” Bryce was saying, interrupting Vashti’s thoughts. “If you give Catalina Cove a chance, I think you’d find people aren’t the same.”
Vashti chuckled. “Oh, they feel they can change but they want the town to stay the same?”
“Pretty much. I don’t have a problem with some change here but I don’t want too many developers coming in here and changing things. You recall what I told you about Allen Heart.”
Yes, she remembered. Bryce had family who’d lived in Allen Heart, South Carolina, years ago when it had just been a small town with no name recognition. A mass of developers came in and all but ran the locals out when property taxes soared. Most of the residents had been forced to sell homes and land that had been in their family for years when they couldn’t pay escalated taxes.
Vashti glanced over at Bryce. “Are you saying you don’t want the Barnes Group to buy Shelby by the Sea? Do I need to remind you how much commission you’d make with the sale?”
“No, you don’t need to remind me. I was thinking about what I would do with all that money. It would be nice but it won’t buy me happiness, Vash.”
Vashti thought about that then asked,