by Edie Ramer
“If there were, I’d win,” Matt said.
“Ha! If I weren’t eating the pie, we’d see who would win.” Tony turned to Rosa. “Not everyone in the village has a talent like you, Mom. Or you, Katie.”
“Or me,” Matt said.
“You live in New York and won’t even be part of this. And when are you going to get it through your inflated head that not everything is about you?”
“This is where my mom lives, so it’s definitely about me.” Matt gave his brother a male version of his mother’s stare. “Just because I’m going to school in New York doesn’t mean I don’t care about my friends in Miracle. I used to hunt and fish with Gunner. I always liked Trish. I want to help.”
“Enough squabbling.” Rosa gave both sons The Stare, her lips a dark bluish pink from a bite of pie. “We should sit down and talk about this seriously.”
“Some studies show we think better standing than sitting,” Matt said.
Tony rolled his eyes.
“Then we’ll stand.” Rosa turned to Katie. “I know a more efficient way to do this. You’re getting so many views, and it’s just getting better.” She nodded at Matt. “I’m sure it’s because you showed so many people.”
“Anything to help.”
“Hey, I showed my friends, too,” Tony said.
“Thank you, too, Tony,” Katie said. Despite the serious mission that brought her here, a small happiness hummed through her. “Both of you are wonderful.”
They looked at her as if she were their father’s special puttanesca sauce and they’d like to eat her, a slow bite at a time. She thought of Gabe and snapped her attention to Rosa, her face warm. She needed him out of her head so she could think.
“Before we go any further,” Matt said, “are you sure they’ll accept the money? I don’t know about Gunner. He’s proud.”
“Gunner’s going to be the father of six kids real soon,” Tony said. “He can’t afford to be proud.”
“Tony’s right,” Katie said. “Trish is proud, too. But neither of them is stupid. If they argue, we’ll just say they can pay it back some day.” Lifting a forkful of pie to her mouth, she looked at Rosa. “What do you mean by an efficient way to do this?”
“What we need to do to raise money,” Rosa said, “is get Gabe back to Miracle.”
Chapter Twenty-five
Katie choked on her pie. Matt pushed a napkin at her, and Tony rushed to get a glass of water.
She managed to swallow and breathe fast, in and out. Her face, neck and upper chest were hot. She was pretty sure her complexion was a lovely strawberry shade.
Tony handed her a glass of water, his eyebrows raised in a question.
Ignoring his expressive Italian face, she gulped down half the glass then turned to Rosa. This wasn’t about her. It wasn’t even about Gabe. It was about Trish.
“Why Gabe?”
“If we want a lot of money, it’s very simple. We have to go global.”
“I think you mean viral,” Matt said.
Rosa flapped her hand at him. “Viral, global, whatever. Gabe can film us talking about Trish and Gunner needing help. I’ll set up a bank account for the money. People can send us checks, and we’ll put it in the bank for them.”
“Yeah, right,” Tony said, irony heavy in his voice. “We ask for money and people will give it to us. I’m sure that will work as well as when I asked Dad for my last raise.”
“Not just us.” Rosa shot her middle son another scorching look. “The whole village. Maybe we can just tell them how much it matters and even a little about Miracle.”
Both men grimaced, and Katie squeezed Rosa’s arm. “It could work. But instead of just putting out a plea for money, maybe we should ask Gabe—or even someone else, because I don’t know why he’d do this—”
“He’ll do it,” Rosa said, in the tone of voice that said He’ll do it after I talk to him.
“We should ask him to do interviews with other people in the village. Something similar to what he did with me. They can share their story. Then at the end, after they make people care about them, they can say why it’s important to do this.”
“That’s when they ask for money,” Matt said. “I like it.”
“It could work,” Rosa said. “We’ll have to make a list of people who have a story.” She pushed her empty plate away.
“It’s going to be a short list,” Tony said.
Katie shook her head. “Everyone has a story.”
“Yeah, but we know their stories, and they’re boring.”
“They’re boring to us,” Katie said, “but they’re not boring to the people who lived it.”
“How do you know they’re boring?” Matt held out his hands, reinforcing his question. “Who would’ve thought Katie’s story would be interesting? Sorry, Katie.”
Tony nodded. “It’s true. Sorry, Katie, but you live in your dead grandma’s cottage. You hardly date. It’s kind of weird to find out you’re interesting.”
“No offense taken. I’m amazed, too. It’s not as if I do anything as interesting as either of you.”
They both stared at her for a second, then Rosa laughed.
Matt grinned first. “You’re making fun of us, aren’t you?”
“You must be the smart male in your family.”
“Hey!” Tony said.
Matt snickered then gestured at Katie. “There’s a lot of truth in what she said. Maybe everyone’s interesting once you find out more about them.”
“We think we know our neighbors.” Rosa’s eyes narrowed and darkened. “Or people close to us. But many times we see what they want us to see.”
The grin dropped from Matt’s face, and Tony’s eyebrows lowered, a brooding, angry look that made Katie wonder how long he would continue to work for his dad. Unlike Matt, she couldn’t see him going on to culinary college. Or any college.
“So you agree?” she asked. One crisis at a time. And if Matt and Tony were thinking about helping Trish and Gunner, it would make their own problems seem smaller.
“If you can get this Gabe guy,” Matt said, “it’s worth a shot. He’s got the touch.”
Katie’s arms prickled. Gabe certainly did have the touch. He didn’t just seduce her into telling stories. He seduced her right into bed.
Or did she seduce him? At the time it seemed awfully, wonderfully mutual.
“Sounds good to me,” Tony said. “And at the end of the stories, we’ll put the information for the website.”
“A website?” Rosa frowned. “I wonder if there’s a way to do it for free? I could ask Derek Muench. He did the website for our...your father’s restaurant.”
“I was in the same grade with Derek,” Katie said. “I could ask him.”
“I was a paying customer.” Rosa gave her a determined look. “It’s harder to say no to me. I’ll ask him.”
“Derek will do anything to get away from his mom,” Tony said.
“Except move out of her house,” Matt replied.
“And they say women are catty,” Rosa said. “Elaine has MS. How could he leave her?”
“Hey, we’re just sayin’ it the way it is.” Tony helped himself to another piece of pie. “It’s not like she can’t get around. When I’m twenty-eight, I don’t plan on living with you.”
“I can’t tell you how grateful that makes me.”
Katie felt like she was watching a movie. They even said cutting things to each other with love and humor.
“We’ll have to see how we can set this up as a charity.” Rosa frowned. “I’ll ask my accountant if he can help. This is getting complicated.”
“I can ask my dad,” Katie said. “He knows people.”
“Would you?” Rosa’s smile held relief. “I could do it, but Sam would do it better.”
“It’s better to involve as many people in the village as possible,” Matt said. “Make it a community project. Not just yours and Katie’s.”
Rosa beamed at him. “When did you get so
smart?”
“When I moved out of my home,” Matt said. “You gotta get smart fast.” He snagged a look at Tony.
“Are you talking about me? Hey, I’m only twenty-three.”
“So? It’s not like you’re going to college or school. Why’re you still living with Mom? You made fun of Derek, but you’re not much better.”
“Don’t worry about me. I have plans.”
“Yeah? What plans?”
“The none-of-your-business kind of plans.”
Matt sneered. “That’s what I thought you’d say. Maybe this Gabe can get it out of you.”
“No one’s getting it out of me.”
“Not even your mother?” Rosa asked.
“See what you started?” Tony glared at his brother, who laughed.
No mercy in that corner, Katie thought.
Tony looked back at his mom. “Sorry, Mom. Hey, I’ve gotta help prep at work.” He put his dessert plate on the counter then headed out the back way, giving them a wave. “See ya later. Let me know how it goes.”
“Don’t say anything to anyone,” Rosa called. “Not until I talk to Gabe. If I find out Linda Wegner knows about this, I’m going to be very angry.”
“Mom! I’m not the family loudmouth.”
“You better not be talking about me,” Matt said.
“If the mouth fits...” Tony smirked, then disappeared into the back hall.
“Brat.” Matt turned to Katie and Rosa. “Before you do anything, you should consider how much you’ll pay this Gabe guy. Don’t give him a percent of what the video makes. It’s better to pay him a set amount.”
“I’ve been thinking, too.” Rosa lifted her eyebrows. “I checked his credentials before I hired him, and he volunteered at one of those world organizations that builds hospitals. He filmed the making of one someplace in Africa and was there for three years. In person he seems cool and a little distant, but maybe he’ll do this out of the goodness of his heart.” She gestured to Katie. “What do you think?”
Katie blinked at her. “You think he seems cool?”
Matt snickered. Rosa frowned and at him. “Will you be serious?”
“Then stop making me laugh.” He dropped his grin. “Mom, maybe it’s the right thing to do, but the guy lives in Chicago. You said he does wedding videos. That means he’s got rent or mortgage to pay, food to buy. That kind of stuff. A guy like that can’t afford to work for free.”
“I think you’re wrong about the pay. I think he’ll come and do it for nothing.”
Matt didn’t roll his eyes, but to Katie it looked like he wanted to. “Why?”
“Because he wants to sleep with Katie.”
Katie stepped back. Her jaw dropped. Did she just hear what she heard? She wanted to say something...anything...but her voice stuck in her throat.
Matt laughed. “So now you’re pimping Katie out?”
Rosa reached her hand out to her. “Katie, I didn’t mean to say it that way. I—”
Katie snapped around and ran out the front door. She didn’t realize until she was outside in the chilly air that she’d left her jacket behind.
Opening the driver’s door of her SUV, she remembered her keys and cell phone were in the pockets of her jacket. She groaned and headed back.
Right now she probably needed an Everything Is Going Wrong Pie, but either it would be too bitter to eat or too sugary. No inspiration for it ever came to her.
Some days she just had to settle for plain old apple.
Chapter Twenty-six
Sitting across from the hospital administrator, who turned out to be a friend of a friend of a friend of Gabe’s stepfather, Gabe kept his smile on, the one he used for the bride and the groom. And, more importantly, the bride’s parents.
“I saw your film two years ago on the hospital in Africa,” Evonne Black said. She was a fortyish, medium-sized woman, with medium looks, pale skin, and easy to care for short, brown hair. She put her knuckles over her throat. “It was so good, I had to send money, even though the hospital was already built. Very impressive.”
He thanked her, and she went on to tell him she’d pass the film he’d done the other day to the hospital’s lawyers, that he needed to get written permission from the children’s parents or guardians before filming, and there would need to be a parent with him at all times. She requested he email the consent form he’d use for the parents. She’d send that to the lawyers, too.
He nodded with every stipulation. The last didn’t make him pause. Good for them for watching out for the kids’ safety.
“Though I was impressed with your film credits,” the administrator continued, “I have to admit, the video of the pie baker in Wisconsin made me laugh. And the video with the boy made me tear up. I’d like to see this go through. You have a gift.”
“I’m mentioning the hospital,” Gabe said, standing to hold out his hand, “and can put in a plea for donations for the pediatric wing.”
She gave him her hand and put her left hand over his, her eyes bright. “I hope it works out.”
He left, his spirits up. As if he’d turned a new corner of his life, and this one was leading to the place where he should be. As if this path had been laid out for him all along, and somewhere he’d taken the wrong turn.
Striding down the hall, he had an urge to call Katie that was so strong he clenched his fingers to keep from taking his phone out of his pocket. Katie was one road; his career was another.
He fought the urge all the way out of the hospital. Taking in a breath of the chilly air coming from Lake Michigan, he finally relaxed his fingers, allowing them to uncurl.
That’s when his phone rang. He grabbed it and looked at the caller ID. Rosa Fabrini. He stared as it rang again. It wasn’t Katie, but he still felt a shot of excitement. Not because of Katie, he told himself. This was professional. The numbers for Katie’s video were climbing. He expected to get sponsors soon. Not enough to live on with just one, but if Rosa had changed her mind and he uploaded more videos with two attractive and personable cooks, the hits would multiply and so would the money.
He could do this and the videos for the children. The more product, the more avenues, the more success.
And if he went to Miracle to film Rosa, he would get to see Katie.
He put his cell phone to his ear. “Hello, Rosa. Are you ready to step into the dark side?”
Chapter Twenty-seven
Katie woke up with her nerves tingling.
Rosa had called Gabe four days ago. He was arriving today and would stay for the weekend to film fifty people.
All the while she baked her pies, fed Happy, let her out, packed her pies in the van, and then drove off on her delivery round, her fingertips and toes tingled, the anticipation building.
It was dark when she left home and the sun was beaming when she returned and had an urge to make a pie crust. She thought it was going to be a Welcome Home Pie, but when she grabbed the strawberries and the peaches and the apples, she knew that it wasn’t.
She was making the wrong pie, but she kept making it. She didn’t tell the pie what to make, the pie told her.
Oh God, this was horrible.
***
Sitting in Mo’s Pub, Gabe felt eyes on him. It was only ten in the morning, and the place was full. On the booths and tables, Gabe saw stacks of onion rings that he guessed must be one of Mo’s specialties.
Gabe felt like the main course.
“It’s really Katie’s idea,” Rosa said.
Her words were a punch in Gabe’s belly. His mouth opened but his voice caught in his throat.
“She asked me to handle it with you,” Rosa continued, watching for his reaction. As if she knew what happened between him and Katie and didn’t trust him.
He couldn’t blame her. The last time he was in Miracle, he came, he enjoyed and he left.
That’s all she knew.
That’s all Katie knew.
“So she thought I should come?”
“That was my idea. It was her idea to raise money for Trish and Gunner. We brainstormed with my two oldest sons, and this is what we came up with.”
“Oh?” He wondered how old her sons were.
“My oldest is at the Institute of Culinary Education in New York. He’s been showing Katie’s video to all his school friends and their instructors. They’re all impressed.”
“Katie’s very impressive,” he said. Why didn’t Rosa just get a hammer and bonk him on the head with it? That would be more subtle. What should he say? That he was sorry he didn’t get on his knees and kiss Katie’s bare toes?
He stifled a groan. Kissing Katie’s bare toes sounded like an excellent idea.
The door opened, and Taz entered the restaurant. Just as when Gabe walked in, everyone turned to stare at him. Though Taz carried his boom pole and his head phones, he looked exotic with his caramel skin and his prowling walk. Like a tiger that escaped from the jungle.
Taz grinned, nodded at a booth of four young women in their late teens, early twenties. The women giggled. He spotted Gabe and strutted toward him.
“Taz is here.” Gabe glanced around. “Where are we filming?”
“Mo offered the break room, but I thought his office would be better.”
Apparently Mo had agreed. Rosa was a hard person to say no to.
“Is Katie here?” The question spilled out of him, ignoring the shut up message from his mind.
“I called her about ten minutes ago, and she’s baking a pie. Why? Do you want her to be here?”
“Just curious. Taz and I are ready to start.” Taz reached their table, and Gabe nodded at him.
Rosa gave Gabe a look, as if she saw through him, straight to his soul. He slid out of the booth. Maybe his soul had a few stains, but God owed him a few breaks.
She stood. “Everyone is counting on you. I expect you to do a great job.”
“That’s comforting,” he said, following her. Behind him, Taz laughed.
Gabe felt the curious gazes again as they headed past the bar where a man with several missing teeth beamed at him and a tall, masculine looking woman gave him the once over. Gabe grinned at them. He never liked doing cookie-cutter projects, and this was far from any cookie forms.
