Page 42 of Anchored

Holt looks down at me with affection. “I like that you say that without any sarcasm.”

That makes me frown. “Of course I don’t say that with sarcasm. It’s a valid technique that helps you. Why would I make fun of you?”

Holt shrugs and keep stirring. “You’d be surprised,” he mutters.

I don’t have time to ask him what that means because Debbie takes to a microphone at the front of the room, telling everyone that we have three minutes left before we all have to exit the room and let our chili simmer. The judges will be by around four to taste test and announce the winners.

Holt and I clean up our table, cover the crockpot, and head for Grandma Gracie. We follow her and her friends to the pickleball courts where Grandma heckles Pat about her technique from the sidelines. Holt tries to explain the rules, but I’m too distracted watching his muscles flex while he plays with Grandma’s friends. Because yes, he’s lost his shirt again due to the heat this afternoon. He’s just too cute with these old ladies.

“You can’t enter the kitchen, Pat!” he exclaims.

“That’s where women are supposed to be, right?” she fires back.

Holt’s mouth drops open. “I would never say that!”

Pat cackles and calls a redo on the point. Grandma calls her a cheat and Nancy gets hit in the forehead with the pickleball because she was too busy checking out the chip in her nail polish to pay attention to the game. Eventually, Holt declares no one a winner and guides us all back to the rec center to hear the chili cook-off results. Sadly, his shirt goes back on.

There’s a commotion by table ten when we step inside. One of the judges is gulping back a glass of milk while another judge is mopping his forehead with a handkerchief. They quickly move on to table eleven. Holt leans down to whisper in my ear, “Is Grandma Gracie’s recipe super spicy?”

I nod vigorously. “Yeah. Always burned my tongue.”

Holt studies my face. “Why do I feel like you’re not telling me something?”

I look away, but he cups my face and turns me back toward him. My sigh is hefty. “I may have dumped in too much chili powder because Megan and I were having a chili standoff from across the room.”

Holt is frozen for a second, then tosses his head back and roars with laughter. Debbie shushes him with the microphone and the judges whisper their results in her ear.

“Third place goes to the Hostetlers!”

Applause fills the room. A cute old couple dressed in matching aprons take their mini gold trophy from Debbie.

“Second place goes to Nurse Megan!”

I roll my eyes while the woman prances to the front to accept her trophy. She reaches for the microphone for an acceptance speech or something, but Debbie hip-checks her out of the way. Megan turns her smug smile in our direction. I pretend not to see her.

“And now for first place in our Second Annual Chili Cook-Off…”

I hold my breath, wondering if there’s any hope we won.

“Daphne with her vegetarian chili!” Debbie booms. We all clap as Daphne takes her trophy.

I lean into Holt. “I can’t even be mad. A vegetarian option won!”

He goes to whisper back but gets cut off by Debbie. “We have one honorable mention for hottest chili. That goes to our very own Holt McGrath and Maple Thatcher!”

My jaw drops and Holt’s eyes go wide. “Of course you won hottest.” He wags his eyebrows before breaking into a silly grin. “Come on. Let’s get our trophy!”

I reach back and loop my arm through Grandma Gracie’s. “Grandma! We won! Kind of.”

She follows me slowly to the front of the room and we let her receive the trophy. After the applause dies down and Debbie instructs everyone to fill up on their favorite chili, Grandma looks up at me, confusion painted across her wrinkles.

“My chili isn’t supposed to be spicy.”

I pat her arm. “I may have improvised.”

She shakes her head, smiling at me like she did when I’d burn a whole sheet of cookies back when I was a kid. “My silly girl.” Then she leans in close and adds, “That was actually Hank’s recipe, you know.”

Her friends close in on her with congratulations and I don’t get to ask her about this mysterious Hank.

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