Chapter 4
Levi
“Good morning!” I kept my voice purposefully light and cheerful because I never knew what kind of atmosphere I would walk in from one morning to the next. The tension between Lacey and GG was sometimes thick enough to cut through with a knife and I didn’t want to get in the middle of it. “I brought some leftovers from last night if anyone is interested.”
GG just gave a curmudgeonly grunt without pulling his gaze away from the day’s paper, his ritual each day was to read every word to check for errors. Specifically, Lacey’s errors or those she might have missed.
“What was for dinner last night?” The question came from her office located on the back wall of the CCDJ building.
When I first got here I thought she stayed in there to show who was boss but the longer I stayed the more I realized that she did it to keep her distance from her father. I set down my coat and notes and took the leftovers to Lacey in her office. “Are you a picky eater Lacey?”
She looked up and her lips curled into a playful smile I’d never seen before. “I can be. What’s in the bag, Levi?”
Her eyes sparkled with mirth and I laughed. “I can’t believe you just Seven’ed me.”
“Believe it, mister, and show me the goods.” Lacey motioned for me to sit and looked inside the cloth bag I handed her.
“What’s going on? You seem different today.” The lines of stress that usually lined her eyes had been smoothed out but she sat a little taller and there was less tension in the set of her shoulders.
She shrugged and opened the first container and took a deep inhale. “That smells incredible. Did you make these?”
“That depends, tell me what’s going on with you today.”
She sat back and smiled at me. “I’ve decided to stop fighting against the tide and just go with it. What are these?”
“They’re called shumai, steamed dumplings.” Before I could give a list of ingredients, Lacey had popped open the dipping sauce and popped one in her mouth. “Shrimp and pork with scallions and ginger and garlic.”
“Delicious. My goodness these are so tasty. You really made these with your own hands?”
I nodded. “Does that mean you’ve decided to leave CCDJ?”
“Not right away, but probably eventually. Let’s just say I have more options now and that’s always a good thing.” Her eyes widened and she looked up at me. “Fried rice? With fresh vegetables?”
I nodded. “Yep. I like to expand Mickey’s horizons through food and he loves it. I tell him about my time in a particular place while we cook and it’s like he’s there too.”
“Wow.” Lacey sat back and looked at me as if she were seeing me for the first time. “You got a four year old to eat this stuff? That’s impressive.”
“Thanks,” I laughed and shook my head. “All these compliments in one day might explode my ego if you’re not careful.”
Her laughter was melodic and feminine. “I’ve seen your resume, your ego was already quite healthy I’m sure.” She reached for another dumpling with her fingers and dunked it several times into the sauce. “Besides, maybe I’m being nice for a reason.”
“I wonder what that reason could be.”
“These are really good,” she said around a bite of rice. “I’m horrible at using these,” she said and stabbed the rice with the chopsticks rather inelegantly. “Stevie, that’s my daughter, is always on me about the lack of eating options in Carson Creek and my rather boring cooking choices. You think you could show me how to make something like this?”
Her words shocked me mute. “Really?”
Lacey nodded. “I know you look at this small town single mom and you probably think, wow her life and tastebuds are incredibly exotic, but that, sadly, is not the case.”
I laughed at her self-deprecating words. “Way to kill the dream, Lacey.”
“Right? How disappointing.” She rolled her eyes playfully. “Yes, I would seriously like for you to teach me how to make something like this or this exact thing.”
“Yes. I’ll do it.”
She froze and then blinked as if surprised at my easy acquiescence. “You will? I mean, you will! That’s great! Just whip up a list of ingredients that I’ll need and I’ll do all the shopping. Your place or mine?”
Her eagerness surprised me but it shouldn’t have, Lacey was nothing if not determined when she set her mind to something. “Definitely your place because dishes are the worst part of cooking.”
“Oh, okay. I can handle that. I have a thirteen year old dishwasher,” she joked.
“I think it would be better if we did the shopping together to make sure we get everything. When it comes to cooking certain cuisines the substitutes aren’t always intuitive.” I hoped I didn’t offend her but she was new to this type of cooking and I knew there was already one man in her life who second-guessed her every decision.