Mustard and Love 5

Isabella finished cleaning the counters and looked around with pride. This fine kitchen with its racks and racks of spices and equipment was all hers. She had had a great first day on her new job, but now she was looking forward to pick Tony up from the babysitter and get home. She locked the kitchen behind her, waved a cheery good-bye to Phyllis, and left with a spring in her step.

Outside, the sun was low in the sky, and the shadows were long. Still looking at the horizon, she turned, and almost collided with Brett, the stranger from this morning.

Brett stepped back, surprise in his eyes. “Oh, it’s you. Seems like we keep bumping into each other.”

“I’m so sorry. I was watching the sunset.”

Brett grinned. His white teeth shone in the dusk. “Don’t worry about it. This time I’ll take the blame.”

Isabella had to laugh. “What a gentleman you are. I don’t really deserve this.”

“Isabella, a woman as gorgeous as you is never at fault.” He searched her face. “But on a more serious note, I kept wondering why your name is so familiar, and just as you bumped into me, I remembered. Aren’t you Fernando Miguel Rivera’s girlfriend?”

Isabella’s heart seemed to stand still. Just hearing his name opened the old wound in her heart. “How do you know Fernando?”

“He used to be my roommate in medical school. Fernando always talked about you. He was so in love with you.”

Some kind of love that was. A love that allows him to up and leave us, Isabella thought. A week after he disappeared, when she had come home from school, all his things were gone, too. It seemed as if he was too much of a coward to face her and tell her he wanted out. However, in spite of what everyone told her, she had held fast to the thought that something really bad must have happened to him. Even now she only half believed that he had really walked out on her and Tony.

But that was neither here nor there. She gripped her purse tighter and started walking toward the parking lot. “I’m sorry. I need to get home.”

She reached her car, Brett still by her side. “Whatever happened to Fernando? Are you two still together? Did he finish that fantastic research he was working on? I believe it had something to do with mustard.”

Isabella sighed inwardly. That had been part of the reason she had made such an effort to be hired on at the Spice Experience. Maybe Brett had known Fernando well enough to help her make sense out of his disappearance. She thought Fernando had been happy with his small family. Even now, three years later, she still wondered what had happened that made him leave her and his son.

She unlocked her Toyota. “My son is waiting. I really need to go.”

“Maybe we can meet later, just to talk?” Brett gave her such a hopeful smile that her heart grew lighter.

“Well, okay,” she said. “How about in two hours at the café across from the museum. But just for a little while, to talk about Fernando.”

“That sounds wonderful. I’ll see you then.”

Isabella slid into the driver’s seat, her mind on Fernando once more, and her heart in an uproar.

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Mustard and Love 4

(I have decided to move the story from a restaurant to a fancy spice store with an in-store chef, Isabella, and taste treats for the visitors. I will make more sense that way.)

“Would it be all right if you show me around? I’d really like to learn more about the spices and their history.”

Daphne led him through the store, reciting the stories of the many spices on display.

During a lull, Brett said, “Tell me more about your samples. I thought having a chef is a great idea.”

Daphne smiled but her eyes were cold. “We try to please our visitors, and so we don’t just offer fine spices and recipes, but also samples of the best dishes we can find. Isabella is our new chef.”

“She seems to be really good. How long has she been working here?” Brett said, trying to sound as if he weren’t interested in her, just in her cooking.

 “She just started today.”

“She sure knows how to use the spices in her dishes,” Brett said and dropped the subject.

Too bad. He had hoped to find out more about Isabella from gorgeous Daphne. He knew he should cut his visit short and concentrate on getting to Isabella, but he couldn’t help flirting with Daphne.

At the end of the tour he left, the gears in his mind whirling. He had an idea how to find what he was looking for. Getting to know Daphne better would just have to wait.

Mustard and Love 3

Brett watched Isabella disappear through the kitchen door. What a lucky coincidence this was! By a stroke of luck had run into Fernando’s old girlfriend. He wondered whether she knew what had happened to Fernando, but then shrugged off the thought. It didn’t matter. He was sure she had the secret, whether she knew it or not. All he had to do now was to find out where she hid it without arousing suspicion. Seeing the looks she had given him, that shouldn’t be too difficult. He took the last bite and swallowed. That girl really could cook!

“Hi!” a bright voice interrupted him. “How do you like your dinner? Is there anything else I can get you?”

Brett glanced up and saw a pair of electric blue eyes, warm and shimmering, like velvet. This girl was even prettier than Isabella. And what a figure! Her cute costume was bursting on top, and Brett’s experienced eyes told him what he saw was all real.

She gave him a bright smile and said, “I’m Daphne. I am the manager. I want to make your experience here as pleasant as possible for you.”

You can do that, all right, Brett thought. But he better get a hold of himself. He knew the way any girl melted when he put on his charm. However, right now he needed to use his magic on Isabella. His whole future hung on that. This gorgeous creature wasn’t for him. But hold on a minute. Maybe he could have his cake and eat it, too. If he were careful, it might just work.

Mustard and Love 2

Isabella took the plate and stepped through the door. She looked around the room. It was empty, except for a table in a corner, where someone familiar was sitting.  She almost dropped the plate when she recognized who it was. 

The dusty stranger she had almost hit this morning, smiled at her with his mesmerizing green eyes. His Boston Red Sox baseball cap sat on the table and he had combed his hair.

“You again,” she said. Her free hand went to her hair, and she smoothed a curl behind her ear. What a handsome man he was. Maybe it was time to finally move on with her life, and find a real father for Tony. But in spite of the flutter of attraction she felt for the dusty stranger, she knew she wasn’t over Fernando yet, not at all.

“You work here?” the stranger said.

Isabella placed the plate in front of him. “I’m Isabella Martinque, the chef of Chez Moi. And this is one of my creations, Filet Mignon with White Wine Mustard Sauce.”

This might be the menu for the restaurant Isabella works in.

For just a second, the stranger’s smile disappeared. Was Isabella mistaken, or had she seen a calculating look in his eyes? Before she could decide, he spoke.

“It looks delicious. I’m Brett Doukas, head food chemist for Mamie’s All Foods Company.”

“If you are looking for great new ideas with spices, you are at the right place,” Isabella said and knew it sounded stilted. But she couldn’t think of anything else to say. She looked away from Brett’s bright smile, once again wishing her stubborn heart wouldn’t keep wanting Fernando. “Enjoy this sample,” she added, and decided to save her dignity by returning to the kitchen.

Daphne had been right, this guy wasn’t just important, he was probably loaded. Well, she had a great job now, and she and Tony would be just fine without a man, rich or not, in their lives.

Mustard and Love

That's just a working title, but I thought I'd post some of this cute little story here. Enjoy!

Isabella sniffed the luscious aroma that permeated the kitchen, now her kitchen, at Chez Moi and dropped a dollop of the sauce onto a clean spoon. Her first creation, Filet Mignon with White Wine Mustard Sauce, was finished. She swallowed, licked her lips, and let out her breath. The sauce, delicately tinted in pale amber, was delicious, and she knew it would complement the Filet Mignon like none other.

“Smells heavenly,” Serena Shokas shrieked.

Isabella winced. She would have to get used to Serena’s voice. The poor girl couldn’t help her timbre, after all.

“Have a taste,” she said and drizzled a drop onto a fresh spoon.

“Hmm. French Dijon, Japanese horseradish mustard, and something else, something I can’t quite put my finger onto.”

Isabella laughed. “You’re good. How do you like it?”

“It tastes as good as it smells. Perfect for our special guest who just arrived. Do you want me to serve him a sample?”

“Let me take it out myself. After all, it’s my first contribution.”

Serena helped Isabella find the sampling dishes and Isabella placed a generous sample of her delightfully spicy dish onto a plate.

“Who is the special guest?” She asked.

Daphne stepped into the kitchen, tossing her gleaming hair. She must have heard the girls talking, because she said with a sigh, “He’s so handsome. I bet he’s rich, too. I heard he’s the head chemist at some big company. Let me serve him!”

Claudia spoke up from the counter, where she was ordering the different mustards. “Isabella wants to take the food out herself, and I think she should, this being her first time.”

Isabella took the plate and stepped through the door. She looked around the room. It was empty, except for a table in a corner, where someone familiar was sitting.  She almost dropped the plate when she recognized who it was.

Hot Pepper, Second Part

Sounds of running water and dishes being collected reach my ears from the kitchen. I still need to pee. There is no getting around it, I have to get up. 

I heave myself into a sitting position, feeling like an eighty-year-old. When I stand, I feel another, but smaller, gush. I make it to the bathroom. The pad in my panties sports a bright red stain. At least it isn’t drenched. When I get up from the toilet, the liquid in the bowl is pink, not yellow. I change the pad and return to the sofa.

Sylvia comes from the kitchen, wiping her hands on a red and white checkered kitchen towel.

“I told you to stay put,” she says in her best strict nurse voice. “What are you doing, walking around?”

“I had to go bathroom,” I say. “Sitting on Marit’s potty would just be too humiliating.” I try to smile at my joke, but it didn’t feel right. 

Sylvia doesn’t smile. “I don’t know what to tell you,” she said. “Have you called the doctor?”

“I was thinking about it. But he’d just repeat what he said the last three times. Stay in bed and let nature take its course. I don’t want to let nature take its course. This child is alive and has a personality and I want it!”

Sylvia sits in the easy chair by the sofa. “I don’t know what help it will be,” she says, “But I read somewhere if you drink a quarter teaspoon of Cayenne pepper in water every time you want a drink, it helps your body constrict the blood vessels. The article said it could stop unexpected bleeding.”

“Cayenne pepper?” My mouth puckers at the thought. “I guess I can see how it might do that. Maybe I should try it. Anything is better than this helpless waiting for my child to die.”

“Do you have any?”

“I do. It’s in the cupboard over the stove.”

“Do you want to give it a try?”

“I really do.”

“I’ll get you a glass with pure water, too, so you can rinse the heat from your mouth.”

Sylvia disappears into the kitchen and I hear her dig in the cupboard. “I found it,” she yells.

A moment later she returns with two glasses, one with plain water, the other one half full, with pink flecks swirling in it.

I sit up. 

“Drink it quickly,” she says and gives it to me.

“Duh,” I answer and down the hot stuff with great gulps.

Instantly my mouth burns. “Water, Water,” I gasp and drink most of the water in the other glass. 

I lie down again. At least this time, when I had sat up I felt no blood gush. Maybe that was a good sign already. 

Sylvia makes another cayenne concoction, sets it on the table with more fresh water, and puts a sandwich, covered with plastic wrap, next to it.

“That’s your lunch. I’m gonna take Marit with me,” she declares. “You stay put. When Gary comes home, have him come and get her. That way I can make sure you’re not exerting yourself.”

“Thanks so much. You’re such a good friend.”

“You’d do the same for me,” Sylvia says. She grabs Mike under one arm and collects Marit, who is trying to climb the TV. “Let’s go to my house. I have many places for you to climb,” she says.

“Mamma, mamma,” Marit calls, but there is no heart in it. She doesn’t even turn to look at me. I think she is looking forward to a new climbing experience. 

The door clicks shut. I relax. Maybe Marit will be a famous mountain climber one day, I think. And who knows what a great contribution to humankind my new baby will make?

I doze off.

When Gary returns that night, he takes over and insists I stay on the sofa. By the time I go to bed, the bleeding is diminished to spotting. The next few days I keep spotting, and faithfully take the hot, unpleasant medicine in hopes it will keep me from losing this child I so want. By the end of the week the bleeding stops. I quit drinking cayenne pepper two weeks later.

I have no idea if it was the cayenne, or if God had mercy on me. Whatever the reason, little Liesel is born four months later, in perfect health. Besides a very sweet disposition, she also has a talent. She is a smooth talker and won several awards in forensics in high school.

 That's Liesel today!

But I don’t believe the pepper caused that.