Page 10 of Seasoned
Clive studied her for a minute. “Scrambled or over easy.”
“Get here at eight on Saturday and I’ll have breakfast waiting for you both. Bring your appetites. Toast okay?”
“Eggs and toast are okay with me.”
“Me too,” Margie piped up with enthusiasm.
“And orange juice for you, right?” she asked his granddaughter.
Margie nodded.
“Okay. You two have a good evening.”
She shut the door and Clive and Margie started the walk back to the house.
“Grandpa, your voice sounded funny when you were talking to Miss Joseph.”
“Did it?”
“Yes.”
“You notice everything, don’t you?”
“Yes, I do. Mommy said I should be a detective.”
Chuckling, Clive said, “I think your mommy’s right.”
At the front door, he paused before entering, casting a quick glance at Renee’s place.
He was looking forward to Saturday.
5
“Ican’t believe I’m doing this.” Renee stood at the counter in her best friend Adelaide’s kitchen, folding chocolate chips into cookie dough.
Instead of going to the bakery, she’d had the idea of preparing a homemade batch and asked Adelaide for help.
Adelaide had dark gold skin and hazel eyes. She was taller than Renee and today wore her long brown hair secured into a bun using hairpins. Six months post-divorce from her husband of twenty-five years, she now had a lot more time on her hands and gladly agreed to help. In addition to being the Mama Bear of their friendship trio, she was also the best cook, whipping up the tastiest dishes with seemingly little to no effort. So far she’d done all of the work on the cookies until Renee, feeling guilty, offered to fold in the chips.
“I can’t believe it, either,” Jackie said from her perch on a stool at the counter. She sipped lemonade.
She was the tallest of the trio, a full-figured woman, and wearing her short natural today instead of one of her many wigs. She was always talking about financial security and ways to make more money, focused behavior which had served her well as the owner of lingerie and sleepwear stores for plus-size women.
“I’m not as bad as you,” Renee said pointedly.
No one expected Jackie to help because, though she could cook, she didn’t like to and had a housekeeper who took care of her grocery-shopping and cooking needs.
Renee stopped stirring. “All done, I think.”
Adelaide peeped into the bowl. “Looks good. We’ll use this scoop so the cookies will be uniform sizes, and we’ll place them onto the SILPAT.” She held up a small ice cream scoop.
“You are so fancy,” Renee teased.
“I can’t wait until she starts catering. She’s going to make so much money,” Jackie said.
“I’m not sure I’m doing that yet. It’s just a thought for now,” Adelaide said.
“You should,” Renee said firmly.
