Chapter 6
BURKE
It’s been four days since my run in with Serena Leòn at the grocery store and my anger still has not subsided. She’s so arrogant and pretentious and smug and intelligent and gorgeous and…
My thoughts begin to wander and I want to smack them out of my head. The fact that I can think of that woman as anything but infuriating grinds my gears. I have to keep reminding myself that she’s the opposition and I must keep her at a thirty foot pole length.
Aster was very annoyed with me that night when we returned home.
She thought I was too harsh on Serena, yet said nothing about the way she spoke to me.
It was a typical girl power moment instead of staying loyal to her dad and backing me up.
Apparently I’ve taught her to stand on her morals too much.
“Mmm. This is the most delicious ice cream I’ve ever tasted.” Maggie closes her eyes with a moan as she licks the spoon clean. “I never thought I’d love toasted pecan peach ice cream.”
Aster and I have worked for days trying out new recipes in between packing and moving her back home. Both have proved fruitful as both have been completed with much success.
After we decided we would do best with a dessert, we listed out all of the things we love but have yet to find in the perfect sweet treat.
When she mentioned how much she loves peaches, we drove immediately to our local peach farmer, Loves Peach Farm.
We –Austin Love and myself– agreed upon a great deal.
Ten pounds of peaches in exchange for an equal amount of pecans along with a mention of his farm in our submission.
It was a no brainer, easy yes from me. Anything we can do in lieu of hard cold cash is a win in my book.
So our prize winning submission into this year’s festival is the delicious Steele Love Toasted Pecan Peach Ice Cream, after Steele Nuts and Loves Peach Farm.
When we win the prize, half of the winnings will go back to Austin.
He doesn’t know it, but I feel like I owe it to him.
As a local farmer, I know the hardships of good and bad seasons.
It’s the least I can do to help out a fellow farmer.
“Yeah? Good enough to win first prize?” I ask her as I watch Daisy practically lick her bowl clean.
I shouldn’t say practically because she literally licks it clean. When she pulls the bowl away, a dot of ice cream rests on her little nose. I reach over and swipe it off.
“Dad…this is good enough to win you a million dollar contract with a national chain grocery store. You’re going to need to upgrade the equipment around here to start rolling out gallons upon gallons of ice cream.
” I shake my head because while I think it’s good, I don’t believe it’s enough to gain such a windfall.
I’ll be happy if I can get into a few local stores. That will be enough revenue to help during rocky seasons. And if all goes well with sales, we can expand the dessert line. I think that’s going to be our niche. Steels Nuts dessert line. Daisy even designed a new logo and I am so proud of her.
“I don’t know about that Mag, but I appreciate the compliment.
” I grab their empty bowls and spoons and set them in the sink.
“Tomorrow we’ll start making the large batch and prepare it for the festival.
The morning I'll get some dry ice and you girls can help pack it up to deliver to the judges. I hope it stays fresh for the judges. I know they’ll want to display a sample for the public to view, but I haven’t quite figured out how to do that just yet. ”
“Ooo,” Maggie squeaks while bouncing on her toes. “What if we can make a cute display? Something like a see-through mini freezer.”
Daisy scrunches her face. “How the hell are you going to do that? And in only a few days?”
Maggie runs around the kitchen island and begins digging through the cabinets. “Leave it to me. I know just what to do. Dad, we’ll need a small block of dry ice so I can test it out.” She pulls out several different serving bowls -metal, glass and ceramic– and holds them up. “Dad, can I use these?”
With a shrug I tell her, “Sure honey. Use whatever you need.”
She smiles and begins sorting through drawers.
Once she’s piled up loads of dishes and utensils, she scurries off to the workshop attached to the garage, skipping all the way.
Daisy and I look at one another with a laugh.
Maggie is a curious one and often falls into her own world when she discovers something she’s passionate about.
It’s a gift and curse sometimes, but I wouldn’t change one thing about her.
“She’s a strange bird,” Daisy chuckles.
“From one cuckoo to the next,” I tell her and she punches my arm.
She responds with, “You’re a turd. C’mon. I’ll go with you to get some dry ice.” I nod and reach for my keys that sit on a tray in the middle of the counter. “I’ll drive.”
Her hands reach out to snag my keys away, but I avoid the steal. “Nice try, Daisy. Your driving privileges are still revoked for one more week.” She sighs and pouts as she walks to the garage.
Her little traffic ticket cost me a pretty penny on my insurance and the only way I could think of to handle the situation was to take away her driving privileges.
I know she’s itching to have her car back, but I have to stay firm.
I’m a pushover when it comes to my girls, but I won’t let her stomp all over me this time.
It’s truly laughable but I’ve made it this far. I can handle one more week.
He did, in fact, not live up to his promise.