Page 34 of A Taste of Christmas Magic

She’d never called their momaunt, and Jessica opened her mouth as if to question Chloe’s take, but then she sighed.

“More like we did all the work, and then Mom swept in, coifed and gorgeous and sweet as pecan pie,” Jessica quipped. “But the event was successful. I wonder if Grandma Millie is really passing the torch,” Jessica speculated as she touched up her makeup in a mirror near the door. “And do we want to pick it up?”

She fake shivered and laughed. Then she looked at her phone. “Meghan and Sarah are demanding that I bring the chef to the after-party.” Jessica swung the door open wide. “And they want to know the origin of your recipes so be prepared to dish. Apparently guests were raving about your entrees when they hit mom and dad’s house.”

“I used a book I found in Grandma Maye’s outdoor mini library. It’s historical. The recipes are handwritten.”

“Dear sweet baby Jesus, I can just imagine the casseroles in that,” Jessica laughed. “But it must be more than that if you found and followed those recipes. I’d love to see the book. I collect vintage cookbooks. Are there botanical recipes in there? That would be interesting if…” she trailed off.

“If what?” Chloe pulled on her red wool coat. Jessica looked a little flustered.

“Nothing,” she said quickly. “But I would love to see it and you can entertain Sarah and Meghan with your skills. Bring the book tonight.”

“Uhhhh…” Why was she pausing? This was Jessica. “Of course you can borrow it—use it, but not tonight. I… Rustin has it now. I promised him he could look it over for inspiration for his menus.”

Jessica stopped styling her hair in the mirror.

“You gave Rustin Wildish a family heirloom?”

“We don’t know that,” she quickly defended. “Anyone could have put the book in Grandma Millie’s library. I didn’t recognize any of the handwriting.”

“Huh. Why are you hiding it?”

“I’m not. I sort of mentioned finding it a couple of weeks ago.” Hadn’t she? “I’ll get it back from Rustin, but not tonight. I promised he could use it, and he helped me a lot.”

Jessica waved her hand dismissing her debt to Rustin. “But who would give away a family treasure? An heirloom. Definitely not Grandma Millie. She has Maye and Cramer treasures in trunks and boxes in the attic. Remember? We used to spend hours up there poking around.”

Chloe mostly remembered being shooed away, but she had been much longer and more persistent than a stray dog in the rain.

“Get it back from Rustin. Someone is probably missing it. Leaving it in the mini library must have been an accident.”

Chloe thought of the faded words, the recipes, the notes, the comments, the occasional random almost poetic line or a nature haiku, and even a couple of notes that sounded like relationship advice and ways to win back men through their stomachs.

So sexist sounding.

“Maybe,” Chloe mused as Jessica slid on her coat. She felt possessive of the book now and hoped no one would come looking for it.

“In addition to the recipes, there are some side notes written in different ink, different hands, and some read like a back-and-forth conversation.”

“I want to see it. Tell Rustin you want it back.”

“He deserves time with the book.”

“Why are you so generous to Rustin?”

“He helped me with the…inspiration and execution of my entrée.”

“You mean he cooked it.”

“No, he made me do everything. He just stood in the kitchen and watched like I was some medieval apothecary apprentice.”

Jessica rolled her eyes.

“You shouldn’t be so harsh.” Chloe buttoned her coat. It wasn’t a far walk along the almost-finished riverfront walk where they would be celebrating the success of the event, but the night temperatures had plunged this week. “Rustin was judged his whole life more by who his family was than by his own actions, and that’s not fair, Jessica, and you know it.”

Jessica paled a little, and then her cheeks pinkened.

“He’s come back to Belmont. He has employed his younger brother and is training him, and Lucas worked all day on the smoker to make the pulled pork and bacon for the poppers. Rustin’s an entrepreneur. He’s employing people—becoming part of the town and sharing his gifts.”

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