The Love Goddess' Cooking School (16 page)

“Eclectic,” Holly said, smiling at Mia. She turned to Jodie, as casually dressed as Liam, in tight, low-slung jeans that Holly knew would show the teensiet bit of thong in the back, and a tight pink mohair cardigan with a pink lacy cami peeking out. She hated to think what would go on in this wonderful little house by the bay after she and Mia left.

“Yeah, eclectic,” Mia said. “She likes girl stuff, but she’s also really into the planets and science.”

“Well, isn’t that nice,” Jodie said with her too-bright smile, linking her arm with Liam’s.

Mia slipped on a thick hoodie and wrinkled up her nose. “Bye.”

“I’ll have her back no later than eight, is that all right?” Holly asked Liam as she and Mia walked to the door.

“That is just fine,” Jodie said before Liam could open his mouth. “Have fun!” she added, opening the door and practically pushing Mia and Holly out. As they headed up the path to the driveway, Holly could have sworn she heard a “Now where were we?” in Jodie’s girlie voice.

I don’t care,
she told herself.
I don’t care. I don’t like him. I shouldn’t like him.

Mia stuck her finger in her mouth and mock gagged. “I almost wanted to cancel on tonight and fake a barf attack so he’d have to cancel on
Jokie,
” she said, getting into Holly’s car. “What I don’t get is how he can stand her. She’s so fake! I
think her teeth were even bleached brighter white than the last time she was over, which was like the other day.”

Fake, but pretty. And sexy. And probably a lot of other things, like good in bed.

“Well, that’s the amazing thing about chemistry,” Holly said, starting the car. “You can’t help who you like, who you’re drawn to. That’s what’s so mysterious and amazing about the human heart.”

“Yeah, like if I were remotely attracted to Seamus, my life would be a lot easier. But lately all I can think about is Daniel.”

Holly smiled. She remembered her first crush as a twelve-year-old. The boy’s name was Ethan Walsh. Holly had liked him so much that she’d actually let her friend ask Ethan if he liked Holly back, and he’d said no, not at all, but she’s good at Spanish, and nothing had gotten Holly to smile for two weeks.

“But now I have this huge problem,” Mia said as they made a right turn onto Blue Crab Boulevard. Simon lived on the other side of the island, away from the water, in a new condo development that half the islanders had tried to prevent.

“What?” Holly asked, glancing at her.

“Well, the first part of my problem is great. But the second part is the problem. Here’s the great part.” She turned to face Holly, a big happy grin on her pretty face. “Guess who asked me to the Fall Ball today?”

“Daniel?”

“Yes!” she squealed. “After history, he asked if he could talk to me privately for a minute, and I thought he was going to ask if he could borrow my notes from yesterday, since we’re having a quiz tomorrow, and I rock at every test in history, but he
took my hand,
took my hand,
” she repeated, closing her eyes and sighing, “and led me over to this little space between the locker banks, and asked if I was going to the Fall Ball, and I said, ‘Well, I
want
to, and he said, ‘Well, would you like to go with me?’ and I said, ‘I would
so
like that,’ and he smiled this smile I will never forget for the rest of my life.”

Holly grinned. “That’s great, Mia! I’m so happy for you!”

“I can’t even believe it. Do you think it’s because I wished it into the meatballs?”

Holly laughed. “Maybe so. Wishing can work. But I’ll bet it’s because Daniel likes you.”

“Yeah, and that’s the problem,” Mia said as Holly pulled her car into the Blueberry Ledge Condominiums, double-checking the address Simon had scribbled down. “My friend Madeline said again that Daniel Dressler is
not
in our league and if I’m going to drool over weird guys who think they’re cool when they’re so not, I’ll need to find new friends.”

Good Lord. This crap never changed. “She said that?”

Mia gnawed her lower lip. “Yup. And the other Ms backed her up. And then Madeline said, ‘Everyone knows the girl code is that your friends are supposed to come before some guy.’ And that she hoped I knew that too or I wasn’t M material.”

Wow, the mini Windemere was tricky stuff. “Mia, there really isn’t a girl code, but if there
was
one, it would be about friends supporting each other. If you like a boy, and your friends don’t get it, they should still be excited for you. Especially if he asked you to an important school dance and you’re so happy about that.”

“So I don’t have to tell Daniel I can’t go with him?”

“Nope.”

“Oh, good! Because I like him so much!” Her shoulders slumped. “But then I won’t have any friends. Madeline and her clique are really popular. If they kick me out, I’ll be like an outcast. And then what if Daniel dumps me for being a total loser?”

“First of all, you’ll very likely find new friends. Friends without conditions. Friends that will back you up. Friends who are excited for you when you’re happy and there for you when you’re sad. And from how you’ve described Daniel, he doesn’t make decisions based on what other people think.”

Mia brightened. “And maybe there’s a chance Madeline doesn’t really mean it.”

Holly would love to know what Jodie would say to all this.
Court the popular friend and forget the downer boy
most likely. Mia could just hear her use the twisted girl code to say:
Mia, sweetie, boys come and go, but friends are forever.

“What do you think I should do?” Mia asked as Holly turned at the drive marked Condo Group B 1–12, pulling into a spot marked
GUEST PARKING
. They headed up the path to building B-6. The two-story white condos were identical, each with a little balcony and a black front door. A closed up pool dominated the grassy area in front of the building marked
ADMINISTRATION AND MANAGEMENT
, and a group of people, all of whom seemed to be holding Starbucks cups, stood in a long dog run, five or six dogs chasing happily after each other.

“I think you should do what feels right to you. And I sense that’s saying yes to Daniel.”

Mia’s face lit up. “It is. Do you want to know a secret?” She leaned closer. “I don’t even really like Madeline or her friends
all that much.”

You’re gonna be okay, Mia girl,
Holly thought as Mia rang the bell and Simon welcomed them in.

Despite the fact that Simon was a research scientist full of quirky personality, the apartment was devoid of character altogether and had just enough furniture that was required for basic comfort: a small sofa, a coffee table, and a wall unit holding the TV. Those vinyl miniblinds on the wall. No rug. The kitchen, with its fake wood cabinets, held a square table and four chairs. Simon’s bedroom was equally boring, with bed-in-a-bag green-and-white striped bedding and a beat-up dresser with a picture of him and his daughter on it. Cass looked just like her cute dad, with her doe eyes and sandy blond hair. In the photo they were cheek to cheek, happier days, Holly figured, and likely the only happy cheek-to-cheek current photograph Simon had of himself and his daughter.

And then there was Cass’s room. Just as devoid of personality, let alone girl or childhood, as the rest of the place. There was a twin bed jutting out under the window with a pink comforter and one pink pillow, upon which lay a stuffed rabbit with long floppy ears. More vinyl miniblinds on the windows. A wood dresser and matching desk and a small pink and tan round rug rounded out the rest of the furnishings. The only personal items were a wall calendar of the planets above the desk, two books about the solar system, and the entire hardback Harry Potter series. The closet door was open and Holly could see a bunch of light blue clothes. The room was perfectly okay, if a little standard and boring and unwelcoming.
Especially for a little girl whose home life had just been upended and needed to feel like going to her dad’s new apartment was just as much her home as her main one had been.

“Why didn’t you just let her pick out what she wanted from Target and be done with it?” Mia asked, grimacing as she gazed around the room from the doorway.

Simon stood just behind them. “I did, actually. This is what went in the cart. I guess she didn’t know what she wanted either.”

“Well, it helps to be here,” Holly said, “because now we have a sense of what appeals to her. She likes baby blue. And planets. And Harry Potter.”

“I know!’ Mia said. “A wizard’s room, but in space. Like, if you had magical powers and could live among the planets or something.”

Simon nodded. “That sounds great, Mia. She’d love that. The planetarium is one of her favorite places and she’s crazy about Harry Potter. But I have no idea how to do that.”

“Tamara’s an interior decorator,” Mia reminded him. “She’ll know.”

And she did. Tamara arrived, took one look around, shook her head, and started making lists, then listened to Mia’s ideas and scribbled furiously. They made a date to go shopping the next day. A half hour later the doorbell rang, and they were all surprised to see Juliet standing there.

“Wait till you see Tamara’s ideas,” Mia said, taking Juliet by the hand and leading her to Cass’s bedroom.

As they all stood in Cass’s bedroom, the larger of the two,
Holly now realized, Juliet’s gaze fell on the honey-colored stuffed rabbit on the bed, one of its long floppy fuzzy ears half ripped off.

“Are you all right?” Holly whispered.

“Not really,” Juliet said, “but I’m trying.” Holly slipped her arm around her shoulder and led her to the kitchen, where Simon had set out glasses and a pitcher of iced tea. “I don’t even know if I’m a mother anymore,” Juliet said. “Isn’t that weird? I mean, I know I’m not because there’s no … child, but there was one.”

Holly gently squeezed Juliet’s hand. “You’re always be a mother, Juliet. Just like you’ll always be your father’s daughter.”

Juliet looked like she might burst into tears, but she nodded, and Holly was relieved to have said the right thing. She wondered what the situation was between Juliet and her husband, but she’d wait until Juliet brought that up.

Simon offered everyone his famous nachos, so they all sat around the coffee table in the living room, enjoying the tortilla chips piled high with spicy shredded chicken and cheese and beans. Tamara told them about her date the night before with a man named Rick, who’d accepted three cell phone calls at the table. In an hour she was meeting a boat mechanic named Fred. Mia told everyone about her wish coming true about Daniel and the Fall Ball. And Juliet said the Maine air, being back on Blue Crab Island, had done something—even though it was just a little something—for her spirit that she thought was gone forever, as her husband had said it would.

“Is he staying with you at the Blue Crab Cove?” Tamara asked.

Juliet shook her head. “Things between us are kind of strained.”

Everyone was silent for a moment. Holly was relived to hear the husband was still in the picture, that there was someone waiting for Juliet, strained or not.

And then it was time to get Mia home to finish her homework. Tamara, Simon, and Mia arranged a time for Tamara and Simon to pick her up at her house tomorrow and meet her dad, and then they all said their good-byes.

“If I get home and Fakie is still there, I’m going to scream,” Mia said as she got in Holly’s car and fastened her seat belt.

For her own sake, Holly almost hoped Jodie would still be there, so Holly could let go of her crush that came and went with the tide.

When Holly pulled up in the Gellers’ driveway, the beagles yapping at the car door, the shiny white Prius with its
JODIE
plates was gone. Liam came out at the sound of the car pulling up.

“Stay for a cup of coffee?” he asked, slinging an arm around Mia’s shoulder.

Say no.

She wanted to say yes. Just to sit on the same sofa with Liam Geller and smell his soap (Ivory, Holly would bet on it) and look at his face. But the man had a girlfriend. And a daughter Holly was getting a little too close to. And Holly had
a lot of work ahead of her if she was ever going to succeed at something. “Thanks, but I’d better get back. I have a big tryout for a catering job in four days and I need to work on my saffron risotto.”

Good for you,
she told herself.

“God, I love risotto,” he said. “I once had saffron risotto in Italy, actually, the summer I bummed around Europe after graduating from college, and though I’ve ordered it a few times in restaurants, it’s never been that good again.”

“You should be her tester, Dad!” Mia said.

He smiled at Holly. “A risotto tester? Sign me up.”

“You could stop by tomorrow after work,” Holly said, wanting to punch herself in the arm. What was she doing? Trying to create trouble for herself?

“I absolutely will,” he said. “Sixish?”

“Oh, wait, Dad, I forgot to tell you, the other students in Holly’s class invited me to go room shopping for Simon’s eight-year-old daughter because her room is so boring, and I came up with this great idea for a wizard meets space concept, and Simon, that’s the girl’s dad, loved the idea, and Tamara’s an interior decorator, so can I go? They said they’d come get me at six, six fifteen.”

“Can you vouch for them?” he asked Holly.

She nodded. “They’ll just head out to the mall for an hour and have her back by seven, seven thirty. Same as tonight.”

“I’d like to be here to meet them when they pick you up,” he said. “So I’ll stop by afterward,” he added to Holly.

“Great,” Holly said. “See you then. Have fun tomorrow, Mia.”

“You too,” she said without the slightest bit of a wink.

Oh, boy.

Ten

She couldn’t keep fiddling with the risotto; the more she added pinches of this or that—a bit more Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, or salt—the more slightly off it tasted (
what
was she doing wrong?), and if she kept it on low heat another minute, it would start to scorch, despite still being a bit too watery. At first it was too thick, and she added a bit more broth, but then it was too sticky. The bells jangled just when Holly scooped the yellow mush into a big serving bowl.