Chapter 10
Was baking an art or a science?
In my case, it was neither. The many, many, many videos that I’d seen about how to create a perfect loaf of bread hadn’t seemed to make a difference in how mine turned out.
I only baked flat, hard things that didn’t have a lot of taste, even though I’d tried to use all the different techniques that I had watched so carefully.
“For Nolan, it’s all about science,” I told Cadence I said as I showed her a picture of my latest attempt.
It looked like an ugly frisbee. “He did engineering in college and then he worked for an engineering company for a while, too. That’s how he goes after baking, like he’s solving math problems or doing calculations.
Like he’s in a lab instead of a kitchen. ”
“Well, interestingly, yeast is a living organism,” she pointed out. Then her head turned sharply. “Was that a car?” She ran to the window to check but then breathed out in relief and returned to sit with me in the dark living room. “It was only our neighbor getting home,” she explained.
We were inside because September had just turned into October and it was also turning a lot colder here. There were still days of bright, golden sunshine, but not right now. A grey drizzle had started to fall this morning and the afternoon had gotten even gloomier.
But the weather didn’t matter to me. I had just passed the test that made me an official Michigan driver.
Legally! I could get pulled over and not worry—well, no, because my car still wasn’t legal, but I sure was.
It was another step, an awesome one. So I wasn’t bothered by sitting in Cadence’s dim, chilly living room.
Neither was she, except that she was afraid that her mother would arrive at their home and find me here—and that woman still hated me.
My gifts of Nolan’s bread hadn’t softened her up at all.
“Are you sure that you want me to come over?” I’d asked and Cadence had answered that she was definitely sure.
“I have the afternoon off and it’s my house, too,” she’d proclaimed but then had added, “My mom is getting a massage, mani, and pedi, so she’s going to be out for a while, anyway.
” Cadence had stood up to her, though. Usually, she brought her mom to the spa for those services and then waited in the lobby or in the car, reading.
But today? “I told her I had things to do so I would be back to pick her up later,” she had reported proudly to me.
Then she’d also said, “I hope she’s not too mad. ”
Now she checked her phone again and tried to turn up the volume (again), but it was already at the highest level. “Is Nolan at home right now?” she asked. “Maybe he’s baking.” She tried to sound casual but her interest in him was, as always, obvious.
“His cousin Ryan is over,” I answered. It was the reason that I hadn’t wanted to go right back home after passing the driving test—I didn’t want to interrupt them.
Nolan had asked for his cousin’s help to get his friend Beau out of the planning stages for his business, because that guy had to make some serious decisions since he had lost his job.
In fact, the Woodsmen football team had done away with his entire department.
His assistant had been promoted away a few months before and he was the only person left working there, and it hadn’t sounded like he had accomplished very much.
“He spends most of his time at the onsite daycare playing with his son,” Nolan had explained.
“We can go see if they’re done with the meeting,” I suggested to Cadence.
“Nolan could have made bread for them and I know he’d be happy to share.
” In fact, he’d been sharing with everyone.
All the neighbors for several blocks had received a loaf (or two, or more).
“The lady next door closes her curtains when she sees him outside. She’s trying to cut down on carbs. ”
“That was what I wanted to do with my garden,” Cadence said wistfully. “I wanted to be the neighborhood veggie lady and share the bounty with everyone. The bounty turned out to be one little tomato that never got red and when I cut it open, there was a worm inside.”
“Maybe next summer,” I suggested. “As they say in French, ‘J'espère.’ I think they say that.” Nolan was teaching me lots of good stuff.
“I can’t believe how fast you’re picking that up,” she admired.
“Language class was hell for me. Or as they say in Spanish, ‘La cuenta, por favor.’” We both jumped when her phone sounded off like a siren.
“No, that wasn’t my mother. It’s just a reminder for me to put out the garbage,” she said after she checked.
“I’ll help you.”
“That’s ok, I don’t have to do it until the day after tomorrow.
One time I did forget, so Mom is worried that it will happen again.
I set a lot of alarms to help me remember but…
” She paused and her eyebrows drew down.
“You know, that happened six years ago and I haven’t forgotten it again since. She still brings it up, though.”
“Six years? She’s been mad for six years? My mom always forgave my sister right away for everything that she did. She even laughed it off when Patchouli burned down our apartment building.”
“On purpose?”
I shrugged. No one had been able to prove that. “She was old enough to know that she shouldn’t have held a lighter near a pile of greasy rags, but she had always liked to play with fire. Literally.”
Cadence frowned and started to pull on a curl. “I’m pretty old, myself. I’m a lot older than you.”
In terms of years, that was true. In terms of experience, I felt like I was a hundred.
“On my next birthday, I’ll turn twenty-nine,” she continued. “That’s almost thirty. It’s hard to believe, isn’t it? Time goes by so quickly.”
That was true. The months I had spent at Nolan’s house had been like a kind of beautiful dream that sped past. I could have imagined myself staying there forever, although I was aware that I really would have to move on.
Now that I was getting all this paperwork settled, I could do it…
but I didn’t want to think about leaving.
“Before you realize it, you’re getting old. Did you have plans?” she asked me. “Was there anything that you really wanted to do with your future?”
“For most of my life, I’ve been in survival mode,” I answered. “Like, I just had to get to the next meal, the next tank of gas, stuff like that. I never looked too far into the future because I was so scared of it.”
“Bears and a burial at a crossroads,” she noted, nodding, and I nodded back. “I had plans for myself.”
“You said that you drew your engagement ring,” I remembered.
“I guess it was all silly stuff,” Cadence agreed. “Just pipe dreams, like my idea of going through my neighborhood with a basket of tomatoes to pass out.”
“That sounds like a nice thing,” I told her. “I would have been very pleased to see you on my doorstep with your tomatoes. I really think you can grow them next summer.”
“Maybe.” She looked around the dark room and sighed.
“I wish that I could get my baby portrait business off the ground, too.” We were alone in the house, but she dropped her voice to a whisper.
“I didn’t tell my mom about that. I keep all my supplies in my room and she can’t go up there because of her weak ankles and problem toenails. ”
“Maybe Nolan’s cousin could help you, since he’s so business-smart,” I offered.
“If he’s willing to talk to Beau then you could also ask him questions.
” I wished that he could have helped me, too, but I was starting to think that there was something supernaturally wrong with my cleaning business, like a hex on it.
I had just lost yet another house and two people had told me that they didn’t want me to do their laundry anymore.
Now my spreadsheet of clients had gotten so empty that there wasn’t much point in having it.
“I do need help. Let’s go to your house,” she said, nodding. “You can drive us there! Well, actually…”
“That’s ok.” We had decided that it was a bad idea to take my illegal car to the official driving test, so we’d gone in hers. Then I had driven us here to her house but she had almost fainted from fear, even though I was now licensed. “I’d be happier if you were behind the wheel.”
Unfortunately, the only car we saw in Nolan’s driveway was the one that I recognized as Beau Gowan’s, so the smarty cousin was already gone. But Cadence was excited to hear about Beau’s new business and so was I. They looked up when we came into the dining room and Nolan smiled.
“Hello, legal driver,” he said to me. “Why didn’t you tell me that you were doing that today?”
I had texted him with the good news after the test but yeah, I had been vague about my plans when I had left the house in the morning. “I wasn’t sure that I could do it,” I said. “I didn’t want you to be disappointed.”
“Me? In you?” he asked. His one eyebrow went way, way up.
“It’s easy to fail those tests,” Beau mentioned. “I had to take mine seven times before I finally passed it.”
“You’re a very good driver now,” Cadence told him. “When you left here after visiting last summer, I was behind you for several miles. I was really impressed by how you came to a complete stop and how well you checked your mirrors.”
“Thank you,” he said solemnly. “Now that I have my son, I don’t take any chances.”
“Do you have new pictures?” she asked eagerly and took the chair next to his. Soon, they were both admiring his cameral roll.
“There are at least ten thousand new ones,” Nolan told me quietly. He stood. “I made a sourdough starter this morning. Want to see?”
He showed me the jar he’d put in the pantry and it was interesting. It looked like some kind of creature that might suck you into a bog rather than a food product, but he promised that it was going to work.