◊
Jade scrolled through recipe after recipe. She didn’t cook very often and wasn’t terribly confident in her culinary abilities. She needed to find something delicious but easy to make. Nothing she’d come across so far fit the bill. She closed her laptop and called Terri.
“I did the stupidest thing,” Jade said when her friend answered.
“What did you do?”
“I called and invited Caleb here for dinner tomorrow night. And he accepted.”
“Jade, that’s awesome! It’s definitely not stupid. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, but I have to come up with something I can actually cook. You know I’m not the world’s best chef.”
“No one ever said you had to be. How about spaghetti and meatballs?” Terri suggested. “You could get frozen meatballs and store-bought sauce and put them in a slow cooker, put the spaghetti on to boil when you got home, and voila!”
“But what if he doesn’t like spaghetti?”
“Who doesn’t like spaghetti? But if you’re worried about it, call him and ask.”
“No,” Jade said. “I can’t do that—it’d be embarrassing.”
“I disagree, but if you don’t want to call him, tell me what he brought on your picnic.”
Jade told her.
“Okay, so you know he likes turkey. Make turkey.”
“I don’t have time to roast a turkey!”
“You aren’t going to roast a turkey. You’re going to put a turkey breast in the slow cooker and let it cook all day,” Terri told her. “You’re going to pick up rolls and sides from the grocery store where you buy the turkey breast, and you’re going to stop stressing.”
“That sounds great, but even though Grandma did leave me a lot of her cooking stuff when she moved to the Community Center, including her slow cooker, I don’t know the first thing about cooking a turkey breast in one.”
“I’ll email you a recipe.”
“But—”
“Stop. It.”
Jade expelled a breath. “I’m nervous.”
“I know, but you’ll be all right. You took care of the main thing—you invited the man over.”
“Right. You’re right. Now, if I can just keep from giving him food poisoning.”
“Enough with the negative thinking,” Terri said. “Go to the grocery store first thing tomorrow morning and get what you need. I’ll take care of everything here.”
“Okay. But I’ll be in as soon as I can.”
“Take your time. I’m perfectly capable of managing Nothin’ But Knit on my own for a little while.”
“I know you are. I just don’t want to take advantage of your generosity.”
“You’re not taking advantage. Hopefully, you’ll have to run the store on your own sometime while I prepare for an amazing date with some gorgeous guy.”
Jade laughed. “I hope so too.”
After ending the call, she opened her email and read the recipe Terri had sent. It didn’t seem terribly difficult. Jade felt confident she could at least get the turkey breast prepped and in the slow cooker properly. And she could pick up rolls and sides at the deli counter like Terri had suggested…and she could get the ingredients for a peanut butter chocolate poke cake for dessert. Grandma always took it to church functions, and it was a huge hit. It was called a poke cake because the baker poked holes into it and poured the icing over the top.
On to problem number two: what was she going to wear?
The next morning, Jade slept through her six-a.m. alarm. In fact, she didn’t wake up until seven, when Mocha hopped onto the bed to meow directly into her face. Upon looking at the clock, Jade immediately leapt from the bed and threw herself into a frenzy of activity. She fed the cat, readied the coffee pot, took a shower, got dressed, poured herself a cup of coffee, and answered her ringing phone.
“Calm down,” Terri’s firm voice instructed.
“I am calm.”
“You’re anything but.”
“Okay, fine. I’m freaking out. But how do you know that?” Jade asked.
“Because we’ve been friends over half our lives. Take a deep breath and hold it to the count of four.” Terri waited. “Now let that breath out slowly. And do it again.”
Jade did as she was told, willing her heart to stop racing. “Terri, what if—”
“Nope,” Terri interrupted. “We’re not what iffing today. We have a plan—one that doesn’t include second-guessing everything we do—and we’re sticking to that plan.”
“I know but—”
“Are you dressed and ready to go?”
Jade looked down at her t-shirt and jeans. “Kinda.”
“Are you on your way to the store?”
“Not yet, b—”
“Then get your butt in the car, woman.”
“Thanks,” she said, with a laugh. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”
“Take your time. This is going to be a good night. I know it.”
Jade wished she could feel as sure as Terri seemed to.
* * *
Greta came to see Millie as soon as she’d finished her walk. Millie, still a little groggy even after her second cup of coffee, was watching the morning news. She turned off the television when Greta came to sit with her in the living room.
“You’re still looking a smidge peaked,” Greta said, sitting on the sofa and peering at Millie. “Are you certain you’re not coming down with some kind of bug?”
“I’m fine, Greta. Have you found something out about Adalyn already?”
“Of course, I have. I walked with Kelsey this morning. And like I’ve already told you, Kelsey knows stuff on everybody.”
“What stuff does she know on Adalyn?”
“Adalyn and Caleb got together right after they both moved here,” Greta said. “Apparently, they were seeing each other about every day. Kelsey said Caleb put the brakes on because Adalyn got too clingy.”
“Well, by the looks of her in the Hightail It! storeroom yesterday, she’s still clingy.”
Greta nodded. “Kelsey said Adalyn fought the break up and keeps trying to win Caleb back. She told me she never got the impression Caleb was as head over heels for Adalyn as she was for him.” She tilted her head. “I got the feeling that if Kelsey didn’t have her cap set for Justin, she’d be after Caleb.”
“Well, don’t tell Kelsey I said so, but she and Adalyn can both hit the road and go to bouncing. Caleb is Jade’s. I hope.”
* * *
When Jade got home from the grocery store, she made the rub for the turkey breast using olive oil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and paprika. She rubbed the mixture onto both sides of the turkey and then washed her hands. Following the recipe’s instructions, she cut an onion and a garlic clove in half and placed them on the bottom of the slow cooker to flavor the meat and to keep the turkey breast from poaching in its own liquid.
After putting the turkey into the slow cooker, Jade washed her hands yet again and made the chocolate cake. While the cake was baking, she placed two white taper candles in the crystal candle holders she’d found in Millie’s china cabinet the night before. She put the candles in the center of the dining room table and placed a box of matches nearby so she wouldn’t be scrambling to find something to light the candles with when the time came.
She then stepped over Mocha for the umpteenth time and went into the bedroom to second-guess her outfit again. She finally settled on an outfit she felt was sexy but that she could comfortably work in for the rest of the day—a wispy white eyelet lace dress and nude wedge sandals.
The oven timer dinged, and Jade hurried to the kitchen to take out the cake. She put the pan on a wire rack to cool and then made the peanut butter mixture to go on top. As soon as the cake was adequately cooled, she used the handle of a wooden spoon to poke holes in the sheet cake and then spread the peanut butter icing across the top. She’d finish up with the chocolate syrup and peanut butter cup candies before serving.
Jade felt so very accomplished and proud of herself. She was doing this. She was actually doing it! And she was calm!
Her calmness was actually denial. She made it almost all the way to Nothin’ But Knit before she had to pull over to the side of the road and throw up in a ditch. Fortunately, she didn’t soil her dress or her shoes. Unfortunately, she didn’t know how she was going to make it through the rest of her work day, much less her dinner date.
Mocha went straight to his bed beneath the counter when Jade opened the door to the pet carrier. Always sensitive to her moods, he knew something was off about her today.
“Excuse me, Terri.” Jade’s voice came out raspy, and she cleared her throat. “Do you have any mints?”
Terri hurried over from the yarn bins with an armload of yellow angora. She looked around to make sure there were no customers in the shop before saying, “You threw up, didn’t you?”
Jade nodded.
Terri put the yarn on the counter, grabbed her purse, and rifled around until she retrieved half a pack of breath mints. “Here. They’re peppermint, so they’ll help calm your stomach.”
“Thanks.”
“You look beautiful. This evening is going to be great.”
“Sure…yeah.” She pointed toward the yarn. “What’s that for?”
“Some woman called a few minutes ago and said she needed ten skeins of yellow angora. I hope this is the shade she wants.”
“Me too. That’s an excellent sale.”
“I know.” Terri gently took Jade by the shoulders and pushed her away from the counter. “Don’t puke on it.”
Jade huffed. “I won’t.”
Terri arched a brow.
“Fine.” Jade wandered into the knitting room to see if there was anything she needed to do in there. No. It was spotless. She decided to clean the table anyway. It couldn’t hurt, and she was desperate for a distraction.
“Hidey-ho!”
Jade smiled. Ah, the call of the purple-plumed golden oldie—the perfect distraction.
“Hey, Greta,” she said, strolling back into the main part of the store.
“Hey, yourself, darlin’. Don’t you look pretty as a picture?”
“Thank you. You look awfully nice yourself.” Greta wore navy capris, a red-and-white striped shirt, and white canvas sneakers with red laces. “What’s going on?”
“I’m here to run an idea by you gals. It’s for the celebration on Saturday.”
“Greta, it’s too late for us to add anything else,” Terri said. “The celebration is in two days.”
“Technically three. But that’s beside the point. When the flyers were posted about this bash, we never said exactly what—” Greta made air quotes. “—fun and games for the whole family we were doing. So, check out my idea.” She raised her palms. “Dance contest.”
“Dance contest?” Jade echoed.
Greta grinned. “Dance contest. Think about it, Terri. You’ve been wanting to pit the golden oldies against the VPs. What better way to do it?”
“I never said I was trying to pit anyone against anyone. You make me sound like I’m running a gladiator match.” Terri looked from Greta to Jade. “What I said was that we need to be sure to include both groups.”
“And this will do that exceptionally well,” Greta said. “We’ll play music from several decades, and the couples have to be able to dance to all of it.”
Terri opened her mouth to speak, but an elegant woman with dark brown hair shot through with flecks of silver strode through the door and up to the counter.
“Pardon me, ladies, but I called earlier about ten skeins of yellow angora?”
“Yes.” Terri picked up a skein of the yarn. “Is this the color you had in mind?”
As the woman told Terri the shade was perfect, Jade led Greta over to the bench by the window. “I think your idea is a great one. But I don’t know that many people who can dance to both hip-hop and swing music. Do you?”
“I can. And I’ll bet Justin can too.” She looked up at the ceiling. “I imagine Kelsey can. She teaches dance and the yoga, you know, so she can probably do all sorts of things.”
Jade mulled this over. Greta did have a point. A dance contest would be fun, and it could bring in people who might not come to the celebration otherwise. She just wondered how many paramedics they should have standing by.