“Thanks Jan, you are the best. I’ll see you in the morning,” Esmeralda said as she walked out of the cafe.
Jasinda had called in an extra girl to work the bar for the night. She didn’t want to worry about running back and forth between the kitchen and the bar. Of course she would periodically because that was just who she was, but she wanted to enjoy her night with her sisters.
She made sure the ovens were on and the kitchen was clean and ready for some cooking fun. Since they were at the bar the ladies could have anything they fancied. Jasinda was big on making spiced meads, but tonight she decided to do something a little bit different.
She decided to make little strawberry margarita Jell-O shots. When she was shopping at the market, the strawberries were so perfectly plump and red, she couldn’t resist.
Using unflavored gelatin she mixed her favorite tequila and fresh squeezed lemons, limes and oranges, a little bit of water and some orange flavored liquor. She poured the mixture into the strawberries that she hollowed out earlier and refrigerated them for a few hours. They were adorable and were going to taste great.
She put them out on a long white plate she had from home at the center of the stainless work table in the center of the kitchen. She wanted to eat one, but thought it best to wait for the girls. They needed another pop of color. She grabbed a lime and made tiny little lime wedges and dipped them in sugar and stuck them in the tops of each strawberry.
She looked down at her watch and noticed that everyone would probably be arriving any minute if they weren’t already out at the bar. She cleaned up the lime and sugar mess and exited the kitchen to look for her friends.
She must have been in there longer than she realized. As soon as she walked out of the kitchen she was bombarded with shouts and hollers from a rowdy bunch of women sitting at the bar. She smiled knowing it was going to be a fun night.
Esmeralda was the last to arrive. It worked to her advantage because she had plenty of hands to help her bring everything in. All the ladies paid for their drinks at the bar and followed Esmeralda and Jasinda to the kitchen.
The girls started to “ooh” and “ah” when they saw the tray of strawberries.
“Yum, I love fresh strawberries.” Claudia ran over and grabbed one. She was young and was part of the immediate gratification generation. “Holy flip’n-tastic, Jasinda. Are you kidding me with these?”
Jasinda laughed. “They are strawberry margarita Jell-o shots. Cute right?”
“Those look divine, Jazz. Are the ovens on?” Esmeralda asked her.
“You betchya. They are set to three twenty five as directed.”
Esmeralda lined up all the ingredients for the birthday bread on the counter. She unwrapped the two sourdough bread rounds and placed them on the vacant tray. She poured the oil and cheese concoction over the top and between the slivers of bread and threw the tray in the oven.
“I made some pull-apart bread for us to all snack on while we make what I like to call Birthday Bread. I thought it was the best choice since it is Sabina’s birthday.”
“I’m so excited! I almost forgot it was even my birthday. So what’s in it?” Sabina asked.
“A little bit of everything; pumpkin, banana, zucchini, carrots, cranberries, and I brought some shredded coconut special for you Sabina.”
“I do love coconut,” Sabina said.
“Whatever is in the oven smells so good,” Belinda commented.
“Oh shoot, I need to get that out,” Esmeralda yelped.
“Let’s get eating those strawberries, I want to hear about Lilly and your spell. I can’t wait until the full moon to hear what happened.”
Esmeralda took the bread out of the oven and the garlicky smell wafted throughout the kitchen. She felt her mouth start to salivate. The cool fruity margarita would pair well with salty buttery goodness of the bread.
“Well…my spell didn’t quite work out as planned. I actually almost freaked out and called Seraphina to figure out what to do.” Esmeralda started to pull a piece of bread.
“Oh no! What happened?” Jasinda asked.
“Ok, so we enchanted the salted caramel coffee syrup and the spell was to help unite Lilly with this guy named Leo. He is a great guy around the same age as Lilly. He and his father have the accounting firm just down the street from the shop. He comes in at the exact same time every day.”
The women were sitting on the edge of their seats. Their eyes locked in on Esmeralda as she started to tell them what happened. Their hands were stuffing savory bread chunks and strawberries into their mouths.
“I really thought they would make a great fit together. I got lucky they even came in for their coffee at the same time so they actually wound up chatting while they waited for me to finish making their coffee. I thought it was so meant to be. The funny thing about the universe is that it always has a plan of its own and sometimes I swear it just laughs at us.”
“You’re killing me. Tell us what happened,” Claudia chimed in.
“Take it easy, have another jello shot. So while I was making Leo and Lilly’s drinks, my employee Jan was making a coffee for a guy named Leon. Apparently this guy Leon took Leo’s coffee. He and Lilly actually met the weekend prior. Lilly didn’t see him in the coffee shop because she went to the ladies room.
“Turns out that fate had her way making sure that they found each other. I personally would have never picked him for her, but who am I to decide such things? I have never seen her as happy. Did I mention he is the lead in a rock band, the complete opposite of Leo?” Esmeralda started to laugh and shook her head at how silly it was.
<<<<>>>>
Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I have to say thank you to my husband and my boys for all of their continued support. I also want to thank the people who have helped make this project possible. Thank you to my amazing editor, Elizabeth Anne Lance from Crushing Hearts Black Butterfly. Laura Hidalgo from Bookfabulous Designs blew me away with her creativity and perfectionism by creating an absolutely stunning cover. Thank you to Kris Atkinson, Venus Turosky and Leigha Marie Perlewitz for helping me bring it all together. I must also honor and give many thanks to my Guruji, Rev. Jagganath Carrera, for keeping me spiritually grounded and helping me think about what is beyond me.
Light and Sweet: Sacred Hearts Coven Page 12
