Chapter 29
As Gina and Kim were making a large batch of pesto sauce in the huge mixer, Gina looked up and saw her mom walk past Peggy’s girls and up to them. “You gals are playing in the big league, and look at you two, fast at work like you’ve been doing this for years. Is that Angie’s pesto I smell?”
Gina hugged her mom. “Sure is, it’s selling off the shelves. We can hardly keep up with it. This is going to be a huge revenue producer.”
“Who would have guessed? Say, how did the potato salad turn out? I haven’t seen you since then.” Connie pulled up a stool and sat across from the gals.
“Big hit, Connie,” Kim said. “They almost licked the bowl, but we’re not doing any more First Communions.
All those kids running around, parents enjoying their afternoon cocktails and asking for recipes—PASS.
Dead people and mourners are way more manageable.
We’ll leave that to another catering company, or we could have Thad and Daisy take those over.
I bet those kids would get a kick out of those two and they could make the Triscuit bites and a few other items. They couldn’t go stoned, though.
” Kim laughed as she added a huge container of pre-minced garlic into the mixing bowl.
“Glad the Jewel potato salad did the job,” Connie said. “Say, I’ve been trying to get ahold of Angie, but no luck. Have you seen her?”
“She came over and taught us how to make the pesto in large batches, and now we’re flying solo.
She’s real busy at work, said she and Lorna have some big meeting in a couple days.
Said she needs to stay focused.” Gina added mass quantities of blanched basil leaves and quarts of olive oil to the mixer.
“Travel business is going crazy.”
“Can’t help you, Mom, but I’m glad business has picked up.
We have back-to-back events for the next two weeks at several funeral parlors, mostly Rago’s.
He’s our VIP. We’ll be closing in on our first month of business and looks like we may even make a small profit.
Uncle Ben invested so we may even get a small salary. ”
“That’s unheard of, but good for you.”
All of a sudden a woman yelled from across the large kitchen. “Whatever the hell you’re making over there smells amazing. What is it?”
Gina looked at her mom’s face; her eyebrows were raised and she stared at Gina. “Who is that lady? She looks a little scary.”
“That’s Peggy Miggs. She rents most of the space here, lunch orders for the schools.” Before Gina could finish explaining, Peggy marched up to Connie and looked her square in the face. “You look familiar. Did you date my son, Mikey?”
“If it’s Mikey Biggs from Mount Carmel, yes, I did. He took me to prom senior year. How is he?”
“I told him to stay out of your pants. We didn’t need his career interrupted by some loose woman getting knocked up and making him marry her.”
“Well, that explains why he never called me again. We only went to prom as friends, Mrs. Miggs. He was such a sweet guy. How is he?”
“He is a full-fledged cop and married to an okay girl.” Peggy walked over and looked over Kim’s shoulder. “Damn, that smells good.” Kim was blending everything together.
Peggy took a spoon, dipped into the mixer, and took a taste. “Now that’s good. I’ll take a couple of bottles at cost and serve it to my workers with pasta after they’re done working today.”
“You got it, Peggy. I’ll bring some over as soon as we’re done with this batch,” Kim said.
Peggy left without another word and Connie looked over at Gina. “She’s still rough around the edges. I guess it gets worse with age.”
“I heard that!” Peggy yelled from across the room.
Connie stood up. “I better leave before she gets one of those women to come over here and beat me up. Can you girls come over for dinner one of these nights? Be nice to catch up. How about Sunday dinner, maybe Angie can come too?”
Gina pulled out her phone and checked her calendar. “Yeah, Sunday will work. I think Angie’s project should be done and she doesn’t work on Sundays.”
“I’ll leave her a voicemail; it’s a date. Love you both. See you Sunday.” Connie left and Gina and Kim decided to take a break and review all the events and menus.
“Rago wants us to change things up, keep the pesto bites but add some new items,” Gina said. “I thought maybe we could make mini-Jell-O molds, kinda like Jell-O shooters without the booze. Thad said he could get a great deal on those tiny cups at the dollar store.”
“You know, I’ve watched people when a Jell-O mold comes to a party and they scarf it down. It’s comfort food in a weird way. I love the idea,” Kim said.
Gina opened Scratch to the pages she had tagged to show Kim. “We could do zucchini bread bites and dump cake bites in small muffin tins. They’re super simple.”
“Those are good sweet treats and probably cheaper than the almond cookies to make,” Kim said.
Gina continued, “Since Thad and Daisy want in on the action and need to make some dough, I thought we could have them assemble small sandwiches on those Hawaiian buns, slice of cheese and turkey, condiments on the side. Oh, and I forgot to tell you, there’s a new Italian bakery that makes fresh breadsticks daily.
I talked to the baker and he’s so excited and said he’ll give us a big discount.
We could get that beer cheddar cheese spread that folks love and they could dip the breadsticks in that, or even a chocolate dip would be good. ”
“I love where you’re going with this, Gina. A friend of mine who is a no fuss, no muss cook sent me this list of other options we can review. They look easy and a little more on the expensive side if money is no object.”
Kim and Gina worked side by side the rest of the afternoon, testing the small muffins, which turned out perfectly.
Kim cut one of the zucchini bites in half and said, “Open your mouth.” She placed the bite in Gina’s mouth, and as she pulled her finger away, Gina felt her face flush hot, hoping it didn’t show.
“These are so yummy, moist, and just sweet enough,” Gina said, and looked into Kim’s dark brown eyes.
Gina had felt something more than friendship toward Kim for a while but dismissed it, thinking it was just because they were spending so much time together.
But this was more than that, if she was being honest with herself.
This was a revelation: I think I have a crush on my best friend.
As Gina held Kim’s gaze, Kim asked, “Why do you have a shit-eating grin on your face? It’s not every day I see you smile like that. What is it?”
Gina covered her face with her hands and peeked at Kim through a crack in her fingers. “Busted.”
“Spill, girl. We’re partners—you have to tell me,” Kim said.
Gina motioned for Kim to follow her outside the building. She didn’t want Peggy hearing anything.
Gina stood near the door, looking around to see if anyone was walking by.
There was no one. “I don’t know how to say this, but …
” Gina felt her cheeks flush. “I think I have a crush on you, like, a girlfriend crush. I’ve had feelings like this before, but kinda thought it was just admiration for other girls.
But I’m getting the feeling that something more is going on for me than just admiration.
Is that weird? You know, just to be figuring this out? ”
Kim broke out into a huge smile that accentuated her cute dimples.
“Everybody comes to understand themselves and their attractions in a different way. I’ve been attracted to you for a long time, but I didn’t want to make you feel uncomfortable and ruin our business relationship. I’m so happy right now.”
“I am too. I just had to tell you. I’m nervous, but I can’t stuff these feelings down any longer. They’re real. So, where do we go from here?” Gina asked.
“I think we take it slow and for sure not be demonstrative here. Peggy would have a field day with that. Let’s finish our work, and we can talk about it when we leave,” Kim said, her eyes sparkling.
“Okay, then for now I’ll just do this.” Gina pulled Kim in for a hug and kissed her sweetly on the cheek, feeling her knees weaken. Kim kissed Gina’s cheek in return, and they squeezed hands before pulling their entwined fingers apart and walking back inside.
Kim started cleaning up and Gina grabbed two bottles of Angie’s pesto, walked across the room, and handed them to Peggy. “Here you go, Peggy, on the house. And if you have any good ideas for small easy to make and not too expensive finger foods, we’re all ears.”
“Let me think on it; I bet I could come up with a few ideas. Working in school cafeterias most of my life I knew a million ways to cut costs and feed those brats. You girls gonna be in tomorrow?”
“Bright and early,” Gina said.
“Good, I’ll see you then. Hey, thanks for the pesto.”
Gina and Kim headed out around seven. As Gina started driving, she could feel Kim’s gaze on her. “You’re staring at me. What?”
“I’m really happy that you said something. I think we should grab sandwiches and go sit by the lake and talk about how we want things to move forward,” Kim said.
“Sounds like a good idea. Wow, I need to talk about my feelings. Who knew?” Gina said.
They picked up sandwiches from Portillo’s, along with a nice bottle of red wine, and headed for the lake. Gina pulled the wine opener out of her glove compartment and found a bench away from the other folks. Kim opened the wine and poured some into two paper cups.
Gina looked at Kim for a long time, smiling, and finally said, “I have a good feeling about us. I can’t tell you how glad I am that I found the courage to say something.” She held her cup up and they toasted. When Kim leaned in and gave Gina a kiss, Gina felt her heart begin to race.
When they finally pulled apart, Gina said, “I guess I always thought I’d have a boyfriend, but I was never attracted to one, and even when I kissed my prom date, I felt nauseous. I could kiss you forever.”