Shelby and Brad alternated coming in for the weekends, and Shawn and I got to have three amazing weekends exploring New York together, and one fabulous weekend at home for his parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary party. I also got to really explore all of the culinary delights of the city, visiting markets and restaurants all over, and getting lots of inspiration for new dishes. Which couldn’t have come at a better time. Because one of the people I met in the greenroom at the show on a taping day was Kelly Morgan. Cookbook editor for Penguin Random House. Apparently one of the prizes for this season was going to be a cookbook deal, and she would be the editor, so she wanted to spend some quality time on set watching and getting a sense of the kids. Ian told her about me in one of his interviews and mentioned that I was working on my own cookbook. She asked me about it and instead of just pooh-poohing it, I actually looked her in the eye and told her what I’ve been working on. She asked to see it, so I had Shawn bring a bunch of stuff with him the following weekend and gave her a look. She fell in love with it, and now she is personally helping me create the proposal, because she wants to see if she can buy it. She said she wants to be my Judith Jones. She’s warned me that the odds are still against me, but that the odds were against Julia too, and look how that turned out. She loves my sketches, and some of the little anecdotes I’ve put in around the recipes, and she loves the title. She even introduced me to a literary agent who said that he would represent me in the deal once she and I get the proposal together.
The front door opens, and Simca goes scampering toward it. “Hello, my little love, how’s my girl?” I can hear Shawn receiving his daily dose of furry affection.
“Hey, honey, I’m in the kitchen looking at the plans.”
Shawn comes into the kitchen, Simca at his heels, and kisses me hello. “How’s the nursery look?”
When we decided to move in together, we also decided to throw away my birth control pills. We aren’t actively trying as much as we are actively not trying to avoid it. We both know that my age is a factor, but we wanted to just give nature a try. So I’m not taking my temperature or tracking my ovulation cycle, we’re just living our lives without attempting to prevent it for a few months. If it happens, great; if not, we’ll check into our options. We had a long talk about it, and we both agreed that we’d like to try to have one of our own, and that then, if we felt like we wanted more, we would explore both adoption and fostering. I know Shawn feels like there are so many kids who would benefit from a happy and loving home, and we both know that family is what you make it.
“Looks good. They made all the changes we asked for. I think it is pretty great.”
He flips through the pages. “Looks fantastic. Just in time.”
“Why is that?”
“I got an offer on the condo today.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Full-price cash offer. And they’re willing to do a quick close.”
Since we are mostly using Shawn’s profits from his condo sale, along with some of my savings, to cover the cost of the renovation, we knew that we couldn’t pull the trigger on construction till we had his place sold. “That is amazing!”
“Cross your fingers, we might be able to close end of the month.”
“Well, that is something to celebrate! We’ll have to bring bubbles tonight.”
We are having dinner at my mom’s with Claire and Glenn. The two of them have had the most adorable, gentle courtship. Somewhat formal in the beginning, and taking things very slow. But then, right before I left for New York, a switch flipped, and all of a sudden they were just giddy as teenagers. I mentioned it to Marcy, who immediately told me that they had probably finally consummated the deal, which at once made total sense and completely squicked me out.
“Whaddaya gonna do? Love is awesome.”
Marcy has been casually seeing Resident Mike since Shawn hooked them up at our dinner party. Between their schedules I don’t think either of them has time or energy to focus on something serious. I doubt they even see each other more than once a week, but I also don’t know that either of them are seeing anyone else. They’re super cute together—he’s a very handsome guy, but maybe only three or four inches taller than Marcy, like the perfect miniature couple. There is a hilarious picture of the four of us from that party, and it always makes me giggle.
“You hear anything from Lawrence?” Shawn asks, digging in the fridge and coming up with half a piece of schnitzel from our dinner last night and taking a bite.
“Yeah, he got to Palm Springs safe and sound and promises to send pics of the renovation. He’ll be back in time for the Halloween party.”
“He’d better be. It is our anniversary, after all.”
“I made him promise.”
Shawn tosses the last bite of schnitzel to Simca, who catches it deftly and snarfs it in one bite. Then he looks over at me.
“What time do we have to be at your mom’s?” he asks, a gleam in his eye.
“Seven thirty.”
He walks over to me and pulls me into his arms. “Well, you’re already barefoot, and you’re in the kitchen . . .” He nuzzles into my neck. “I’m not saying, I’m just saying.”
I laugh, and we head upstairs to maybe work on that third thing.
? ? ?
Delicious, as always, my dear.” Glenn pats his mouth with his napkin and smiles at my mom. “I know where you got your cooking gene, Eloise.”
She beams at him. “Thank you, kind sir.”
The two of them are so cute it’s almost disgusting. Claire rolls her eyes. “Good Lord, it’s like you think you invented sex.”
“Claire!” my mom says, faking shock.
“Seriously, old people, we’re eating over here.” I shake my head.
“Fine, different topic. What do you hear from the girls these days?” my mom asks.
“Shawn and I are having brunch with Teresa and her gaggle on Sunday. She’s doing great. She learned so much with her financial class that now she’s doing a class of her own at the church, mostly for the widows and divorcées. And she and Marcy and I are having a girls’ night on Thursday.”
“That’s nice. Any news from Lynne?” Claire asks.
“She’s delighted to be back in L.A., of course.” Gabriel, true to form, decided he didn’t love spending so much time coming back and forth to Chicago, so he decided to become an investor in Angelique’s business, if she would move at least part of her operation to California. She agreed, and now Lynne is back in L.A. full-time, living with Gabriel and only coming back to Chicago for meetings now and again. She and Teresa and I do group e-mails and texts, and we have dinner when she comes to town. It’s about all she can manage, really, and I’m okay with that. She’s in my life, but not in a way that makes things difficult for anyone. I don’t know that anything really changed much for her, reconnecting with us last year. Not really. But I’m not sad. She is who she is, and at the end of the day, I agree with Claire, there is value in having her in my life. We won’t ever be as close as we were in high school, and we won’t ever be as close as Teresa and I have become, but she’s still my friend, and ultimately, I’m glad.
“Well, that sounds like just the thing for her, really. She was never fully happy here. I’m glad she’s where she is most comfortable,” Claire says.
“Me too,” I say, leaving out the part where it’s also the most comfortable for the rest of us.
My mom comes out of the kitchen with a tall coconut cake.
“Wow! Mom, that looks amazing.”
“Is that coconut cake?” Shawn asks.
“Yep.” My mom grins. “It’s Cheryl’s recipe. She mentioned to me when we had lunch last week that it’s one of your favorites.”
Glenn and Darren have started golfing together once a week, and when they do, my mom and Cheryl have been hanging out, sometimes with Claire. Two weeks ago Shawn and I popped over while walking Simca on a Sunday afternoon and found the five of them on the sunporch indulging in some of Claire’s glaucoma pot, stoned to the gills and eating pizza. I swear, raising senior citizens is hard.
“Oh, Lord,” Shawn says. “You spoil me rotten.”
“Well, you spoil my Eloise, so that seems only right.”
My mom cuts huge slices of cake for all of us, and Shawn brings out the bottle of champagne we brought over to celebrate his condo offer and the new house plans. We toast to family and home and the future, and the sheer joy of having sweetness on the tongue and bubbles in the nose, and so much extraordinary love and possibility around us.