The Cook's Secret Ingredient

by Meg Maxwell

  The more she talked, the more Olivia became aware of her aunt’s stricken expression.

  “I want no part of this,” Sarah said through gritted teeth. She stood up and grabbed her tote bag and then rushed out the door.

  Oh, no. No, no, no.

  “Sarah, wait!” Olivia called, rushing after her. She saw her aunt hurrying toward the town green.

  Olivia stepped back inside and closed her eyes. Why hasn’t she anticipated that her aunt wouldn’t want any part of her mother’s fortune-telling or prediction? Aunt Sarah was clearly uncomfortable with all that. Especially because Miranda had “seen” something regarding the twins, or one of them, anyway, and it had driven Sarah away. Olivia should have known Sarah would react negatively to being a part of Miranda’s prediction.

  Head against the wall, she thought, very tempted to thunk her forehead against the front door. She should have handled this better. But she’d simply told the truth. She couldn’t not tell Sarah about the prediction, particularly since the one private investigator Olivia knew—and trusted with all her heart—was the son of Sarah’s predicted great love. Ugh. Why would Sarah be comfortable with that? Of course she wouldn’t be.

  What a mess. Just like it was in the beginning, when Carson had barged up to the food truck, full of preconceived notions.

  She grabbed her phone and called Sarah, thanking her lucky stars that her aunt had given Olivia her cell phone number and address while they were cooking together. She pressed in the number. Voice mail.

  “Sarah, I’m sorry I was so insensitive,” Olivia said. “I know you don’t like any of this. Please don’t leave again. Can we please just talk?”

  She put the phone away, unsure what to do. Edmund Ford came to mind—that wonderful, kind, doting grandfather. Meeting his Sarah meant everything to Edmund. What if Sarah came back and said there was no way she was meeting some man her sister thought was her great love? She had every right not to, but now Olivia felt for Edmund Ford.

  She pulled out her phone again and called Carson. She wouldn’t betray her aunt’s confidence about the twins, certainly not concerning such a personal subject, but she needed to hear his voice, get his perspective. He’d found Sarah for her. Maybe he could find her again.

  He answered immediately. “Let me try talking to her,” Carson said. “I don’t know what the big argument between the sisters was about, but I do know how I feel about the prediction and my dad. Once she hears what I have to say about the whole thing, she may agree to meet my dad just so I can be proven right and we can all get on with our lives, and you and Sarah can rebuild your relationship.”

  We can all get on with our lives... Her heart clenched as she gave Carson Sarah’s address and telephone number.

  “Would you mind watching Danny while I go to her house?” he asked.

  “Of course,” she said. “I’ll come right over.” She paused, realizing she had to tell him something, something he might not like hearing. “Carson, if Sarah will talk to you and she agrees to meet your dad, you do need to accept that it’s going to be love at first sight. My mother’s predictions were rarely wrong.”

  “I’m hardly worried about that, Olivia. Power of suggestion. People make things so. You can make yourself believe what you want. My dad might be affected by the prediction and all starry-eyed and full of hope, but clearly your aunt wants no part of it. She won’t be walking into the situation expecting to be blown away by love.”

  My aunt knows that her sister’s gift was very real, though, Olivia wanted to counter. From the time Miranda was seventeen until five years ago, Sarah had witnessed her predictions come true constantly. But Olivia knew to let it go for now. “We’ll see,” she said gently.

  “Yes, we will.”

  If he could convince Sarah to meet Edmund in the first place. Olivia wasn’t so sure about that.

  * * *

  “I can’t believe she’s gone again,” Olivia said when Carson opened the door of his house and let her in. “I just got her back.”

  He squeezed her hand, his heart going out to her. “Let me see what I can do.” He looked over at Danny, who was sitting in his playpen, squeezing his new stuffed panda that sang a silly song. “Danny, look who’s here to play with you while I go do some work.”

  Danny stood up. “Liva!”

  Carson loved watching Olivia’s expression go from worried to pure happiness at the sight of the toddler holding out his arms for her to scoop him up.

  She hurried over to Danny and picked him up, giving him a cuddle. “I’m so happy to see you, Danny. Want to do a puzzle?” she asked, pointing at the four-piece puzzle of a dolphin.

  “See you two later,” Carson said, kissing the top of Danny’s head. “Everything will be okay.”

  “I didn’t think you believed in that kind of thing,” she said with a bit of a sad smile.

  He narrowed his eyes at her. He wasn’t going to say that it was just something people said because he didn’t go around making platitudes about important things. He really did think this would work out okay. He’d state the facts to her aunt, who seemed levelheaded, and she’d agree to meet his dad to get it out of the way and off the table. Sarah and Edmund would feel absolutely nothing for each other, and that would be that.

  “Instinct. Gut reaction. Those have validity,” he said.

  “Thanks for doing this.” With Danny in her arms, she smiled at the little boy, who was twirling a long lock of her silky brown hair.

  His own smile faltered. He was doing this so that he could put an end to it. But at least he’d bring Olivia and Sarah back together again. That was what this was all about.

  * * *

  For the past twenty minutes, Danny had sat in Olivia’s lap on the overstuffed rocker by the window as she read him the same picture book four times, pointing at the pages and giggling. A talking monkey who liked hamburgers was very funny stuff to a toddler.

  As she closed the book, grateful that Danny didn’t ask her to read it a fifth time, she wondered what was going on with Carson and her aunt right now. Had Carson gotten ahold of Sarah? Had she refused to talk to him? Carson could be pretty persuasive. Hadn’t he gotten her to agree to come to his father’s house that first day he stormed up to the food truck?

  “Monkey?” Danny asked, scrambling off her lap and looking around his toy area in the family room. “Monkey?” he said, picking up stuffed animals and tossing them aside. “Monkey?”

  “I’ll help you look,” she said, getting up from the rocking chair.

  She missed the feel of Danny against her. She loved the way his hair smelled, like baby shampoo. She loved the little weight of him. She loved the way the expression in his big hazel-green eyes changed every other second with worry or delight as the monkey in the book gobbled up every hamburger in town and got a bellyache. She loved him.

  So what was going to happen now? What was Olivia supposed to do with all this...love? Carson didn’t seem to want it. Danny wasn’t hers to give it to. And if Carson had his way, the three Fords would be out of her life in a matter of time, once he got his father and Sarah together to prove—supposedly—that there was no spark, no connection. No great love happening.

  Her cell phone rang and Olivia grabbed it out of her pocket, keeping an eye on Danny as she kept looking for the stuffed monkey. It was Dory.

  “Guess what!” Dory practically screamed in her ear. “I did it! I got the loan. I’m going to save the bakery on my own.”

  Olivia’s heart leaped for her friend. “I’m so happy for you! Let me know when you’re free to celebrate with one of your amazing cupcakes, on me, of course.”

  “Thanks,” Dory said. “And thanks for being there and listening. I had a long talk with Beaufort about everything—and I mean everything. Do you know that his mother threatened to sue me for public humiliation and the co
st of the engagement toast gathering? Beaufort managed to calm her down.”

  Olivia could just picture Annalee Harrington with steam coming out of her ears. “His mother must be scrambling to undo all the publicity she generated.”

  “Well, it’s the strangest thing, Olivia. When I told Beaufort about the loan—of course, I didn’t use his bank, Texas Trust—he was truly happy for me. He said our whole romance might have been put on the fast track by his ambition-crazed family, but that he has real feelings for me. He asked if we could get together to talk, maybe start over from scratch and see if there is something real underneath everything—no photographers or reporters or mothers. I reminded him that I planned to work every day in my bakery, that it’s as important to me as running for mayor is for him, and he finally got it.”

  Olivia smiled. “Do you think there’s a chance for you two?”

  “I honestly don’t know. I do like Beaufort an awful lot. But I’m not in love—as your mother made me focus on. All this time I thought she was saying that he wasn’t the one for me. But she was just telling me to look into my heart, to acknowledge my feelings or lack thereof. I started things with Beaufort for the same reason he started things with me—because we could each help each other out. Now, we want to see what’s there with no eye at the future. Just each other.”

  “That’s great, Dory. I’m doubly happy for you.”

  As Dory said goodbye and Olivia pocketed the phone, she realized her friend was right; her mother had never said Beaufort wasn’t “the one” for Dory. He could be. But before, Dory wasn’t listening to her heart, which had been telling her to fix her life herself and not exchange herself and that heart so that someone else could make things all better.

  Her mother was a smart cookie. Insightful. She just knew. Based on what Miranda had told Dory and her refusal to say anything else, Olivia had the feeling that Beaufort Harrington might well be the one for Dory and that Madam Miranda had put Dory on the path to questioning what she was doing. Now Dory had rescued herself—and might still get the handsome knight.

  If only I knew what would happen in my own life, she thought, again wondering if Carson was talking to Sarah that very moment.

  “Monkey!” Danny said, pointing down the hall. He took off running.

  She followed, pausing as Danny raced into his father’s bedroom. Olivia didn’t think she should be going into Carson’s room, but she couldn’t exactly let Danny run around unattended. She stood in the doorway as he looked around the large room for the stuffed monkey.

  A king-size bed was against the back wall, centered between two end tables, a short stack of books on one. As Danny climbed onto the bed, she saw that a pile of stuffed animals was wedged between the pillows. Including a yellow monkey. In the corner of the room by the windows was a little play area with a foam interlocking mat decorated with letters and numbers. Building blocks, toys, more stuffed animals. This wasn’t exactly Carson’s bachelor lair or sanctuary. He was a dad through and through.

  Danny flopped backward on the bed, holding up the yellow monkey and making him dance. Olivia sat down next to him, sinking into the plushness of the navy-and-white comforter. She couldn’t help imagining Carson coming out of the master bathroom, naked, damp, his dark hair slicked back.

  She allowed herself to push away all that was on her mind and just think of Carson kissing her.

  Until a yellow sock monkey started dancing on her thigh. “Hi, Liva! Monkey!”

  She blinked away thoughts of a naked Carson to focus on the here and now.

  “Catch?” Danny asked, scrambling off the bed so slowly that she could have caught him in two seconds. He went giggling out of the room.

  “I’m gonna get you!” she said, chasing him in slow motion.

  You’ve already caught me, she thought. And so has your dad.

  * * *

  It was a hell of a lot easier to find Sarah Mack when number one, Carson knew her address, and number two, she was sitting on the steps of her house, a small yellow bungalow that reminded him of Olivia’s. His relief at seeing her there didn’t go unnoticed by him. He wanted to make Olivia happy.

  As he approached, Sarah was looking away, a worried look in her eyes.

  “Sarah? I’m Carson Ford, Olivia’s...friend. I’m the son of the man who’s supposed to be your great love.”

  She turned toward him, squinting a bit at the setting sun. “The private investigator?”

  He nodded. “I’m sure Olivia told you that I don’t want any part in this prediction business, either. To me, it’s nonsense and make-believe and the power of suggestion. The only reason I barged into Olivia’s life was to ask her to tell my father that her mother was a scam artist.”

  “She wasn’t, though, Carson. My sister was the real deal. That’s why I estranged myself from her and her daughter. Did Olivia tell you about that?”

  He shook his head. “I only know that you and your sister had an argument and you left five years ago.”

  “My sister had the gift of knowing. She would get a feeling and simply know. When she told me, five years ago, that one of the twin boys I gave up for adoption at age sixteen was looking for me, that it was important that I contact him, I—I just couldn’t handle it. I shut down that part of myself for so long.”

  “I can understand that,” he said, sitting down beside her, keeping enough distance between them. He made sure to give her space, to not bombard her with questions, to let her talk at her own pace.

  “I’m not interested in the prediction my sister made to your father, Carson. I don’t want any part of that. It’s taken me this long—five years—to finally accept what my sister told me about the twins. I’m ready to start the process to find them. I wasn’t ready then.”

  “If you’re ready, I can help you,” he said. “It would be my pleasure.”

  She glanced at him, suspicion in her eyes. “Because you want me to meet your dad, right?”

  “I would help you regardless, Sarah. But yes, I do want you to meet my father only to put an end to this fortune nonsense. You say your sister had a gift, Olivia says she had a gift. There are supposedly hundreds, thousands of people who believed she had a gift. Well, I don’t believe in any of that mumbo jumbo. I believe in reality and facts and, yeah, I rely heavily on my instincts, but that’s not seeing into the future. That’s about trusting yourself.”

  “Carson, I’m not sure it’s a good idea that I meet your father. I’m sorry, but I would prefer not to.”

  He got it, he really did. He wished he didn’t have to push it; the woman had enough on her mind. For one, she’d just reunited with her niece. Now she’d be undertaking something that would be very emotional for her, push all kinds of buttons: finding the twins she gave up for adoption decades ago. But his father was counting on him. If Carson could just get the love prediction off the table, everyone could focus on their lives again.

  “I just need five minutes of your time, Sarah. That’s it. Five minutes for you and my dad to take one look each other and feel absolutely nothing. Yeah, he’ll be disappointed since he’s put so much stock in this green-eyed hairstylist named Sarah being his second great love, but when he sees it’s meaningless, that he feels nothing, he’ll be free to pursue love with someone he chooses, someone he falls for naturally.”

  Yes, he thought. That was really the point here. He wanted his dad to be happy and find love—his second great love. He truly did. And Edmund would find it once he realized there was nothing between him and Sarah Mack.

  “Carson, I really don’t want to be put in the position of having to disappoint your father. That seems unfair. So why not just leave it alone? I’ve got so much on my mind about the possibility of meeting the twins that love and romance are the last things I want.”

  It finally dawned on Carson that Sarah was saying that she knew his father wou
ld fall instantly in love. Because Madam Miranda had said they were destined for each other.

  Oh, come on. Was everyone crazy but him?

  “My father meets a lot of women in the course of a day,” Carson said. “He will meet you and feel the way he does about the vice president of sales or the barista at the coffee shop or the children’s librarian who helps him pick books for my son. Please, Sarah. It’s all he can think about lately—the mystery woman he’s meant to be with. Just let him see it’s not meant to be and that will be that.”

  “It’s not meant to be—for me,” she said. “I guess I can help on that end, since I have no intention of getting involved with any man right now.”

  Finally. “So you’ll meet him? Perhaps you can come for dinner tomorrow night at my house? Neutral turf. Six thirty?”

  “And you’ll help me find the twins?” she asked.

  He nodded and they both stood up.

  “Carson, the family gift seems to have skipped me. But my sister did have the ability to see beyond. That is just the truth. Not mumbo jumbo or nonsense. The truth.”

  He stared at her. “Right. So when you meet my father, there’ll be fireworks exploding overhead and parades marching and instant love?”

  Sarah raised an eyebrow. “I’m just saying that since my sister predicted that I’m the one for your dad, he will very likely feel those fireworks and hear that parade when he meets me.”

  He won’t, Carson thought. Not a single boom or clang of the cymbals. And come on, she’s so sure my dad will fall for her, but she doesn’t seem worried one bit about resisting him. “So it doesn’t work both ways? You can be the one for him, but he may not be the one for you?”

  “Oh, it works both ways,” she said. “But that doesn’t mean I have to give in to it. I’m a very strong-willed person, Carson. Clearly. And as I’ve said, I’m not interested in love. I just want to reconnect with the twins I gave up, have some peace by knowing that they’re all right, and then I’ll move on. I’d like to keep up my relationship with Olivia, though. I feel terrible that I estranged myself from her. And I should have been there for her these past two months since she lost her mother.”