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not dramatically but enough to accent her figure. She also found a
gorgeous patterned summer skirt that complemented the blouse
perfectly. The skirt was a little too long, but she knew she could
fix that. After paying for her purchases, she wandered two doors
down, to what she knew was the only shoe store in town, where
she picked up a pair of sandals. Again, they were on sale and
although ordinarily she would have felt almost frantic about
shopping, the tips had been good over the last few days and she’d
decided to splurge. Within reason, of course.
From there, she went first to the drugstore to buy a few things and
then finally rode across town to the grocery store. She took her
time, content to browse the aisles, feeling the old, troubling
memories trying and failing to reassert themselves.
When she was finished, she rode her bicycle home and started the
preparations for dinner. She was making shrimp stuffed with
crabmeat, cooked in a scampi sauce. She had to recall the recipe
from memory, but she’d made it a dozen times over the years and
was confident she hadn’t forgotten anything. As side dishes, she’d
decided on stuffed peppers and corn bread, and as an appetizer,
she wanted to make a bacon-wrapped Brie, topped with a
raspberry sauce.
It had been a long time since she’d prepared such an elaborate
meal, but she’d always loved to cut recipes from magazines, even
from a young age. Cooking was the one enthusiasm she’d been
able to share occasionally with her mom.
She spent the rest of the afternoon hurrying. She mixed the bread
and put it in the oven, then readied the ingredients for the stuffed
peppers. Those went into the refrigerator along with the baconwrapped
Brie. When the corn bread was done, she placed it on the
counter to cool and started the raspberry sauce. Not much to it—
sugar, raspberries, and water—but by the time it was ready, the
kitchen smelled heavenly. That went into the fridge as well.
Everything else could wait until later.