Blackberry Crumble

by Josi S. Kilpack

  “Sorry,” Sadie said, embarrassed. “I couldn’t resist.”

  May smiled. “No one can.”

  “And that’s another reason we need to go tonight, I need to sweet-talk that recipe away from Lois.”

  “Mom had a copy of it,” May said, nodding toward the cupboard that housed the recipe box. “You’re welcome to copy it down; Lois doesn’t guard her recipes.”

  “She is a good, kind woman,” Sadie said almost reverently, thrilled to get the recipe so easily.

  May gestured to the yogurt and Diet Coke again. “Jolene says she feels like she could eat something—that’s a good sign. The first few days after getting chemo are brutal, so I’m relieved she’s feeling well enough to eat. She could use a few pounds.”

  Sadie felt the sympathy brimming in her chest as she thought about what Richard had said, that May’s dad was the one person May thought would never leave her. Sadie wondered how sick Jolene was. How would May cope if she lost her sister so soon after losing her dad? “Is there anything I can do to help?”

  May shook her head and seemed to be working hard to keep her expression neutral. “Thanks, but we’re okay. It’s kind of nice to be taking care of someone again. I haven’t had anyone but myself around for so long that I forget what it feels like to be connected, you know?”

  “I know exactly what you mean,” Sadie said, hoping May believed her. She leaned back against the counter and crossed her arms over her stomach. “After my kids left home, I realized how much I needed to be needed. It’s hard to adjust to those changes sometimes. I’m sure Jolene appreciates you being here too. I bet she’s missed you.”

  May shrugged and frowned while pouring the Diet Coke into the glass. “I don’t know about that.” She pulled open a drawer and removed a bendable straw, which she put into the glass. “We’ve never been particularly close. I know most sisters are, but it was just never like that with us.” She pulled open another drawer and hunted for a spoon. “It’s nice to be getting along now. Better late than never, right?”

  Sadie wasn’t particularly close to her own sister, but she kept that to herself. “Relationships can be complicated,” she said, trying not to be too pushy now that May was opening up a little bit.

  May let out a breath. “Can they ever.”

  Sadie busied herself with making May’s lunch plate while May finished putting together the simple meal for her sister. “I’ll be back in a few minutes,” May said.

  “Sure,” Sadie said with a nod, refolding the cloth grocery bags as May left the room. Once she was alone, Sadie pulled down the recipe box. There were blank cards at the back of the box. Sadie removed two and then fingered through the “Breads” cards until she found “Marvelous Bran Muffins.” She pulled it out only to realize there was another recipe stuck to it—a common kitchen problem. Sadie gently pulled the secondary recipe off of the back, intending to re-file it appropriately.

  “Second-Chance Baked Potato Soup,” she read out loud, smiling at the clever title. A quick skim through the ingredients and instructions made her wish she wasn’t full and that she had half a dozen leftover baked potatoes on hand. The soup sounded delicious, and after quickly determining that should she ask, May would likely be fine with her copying down this recipe as well, she pulled another blank card out of the box. As she wrote it out, she reflected on the title again. Second chance. She thought about Richard and May—one across town in his office, the other only a few rooms away—and wondered if a second chance was really possible between the two of them. She hoped so.

  It took four minutes to copy down the recipes. Then Sadie slid the cards into her pocket and went back to work, completely pleased with how the day was going. Three new recipes in one day—fabulous! She eyed the recipe box as she worked, wondering if there were any other treasures in there.

  Sadie turned the bacon over and was putting the pan back in the oven when she heard the sound of an engine pulling into the driveway. She stuffed the grocery bags back between the wall and the fridge and stepped to the sink to peek out the window at whoever had pulled up.

  A little green truck—at least fifteen years old and probably not washed for almost that long—had pulled in behind May’s car, which meant it was someone comfortable with the house and with May, or otherwise they wouldn’t block her car. A man stepped out of the driver’s seat wearing a baseball cap and sunglasses. Was it another neighbor? Jolene’s husband coming to pick her up early?

  She was about to drop the curtain, anticipating him coming to the side door, when he surprised her by heading down the driveway toward the street. She craned her neck and watched until he turned the corner of the house, and then she hurried into the living room to peek out the side of the window closest to the driveway to see where he was going. Sadie was a little disappointed when he just headed for the mailbox.

  He approached the silver mailbox and pulled open the door, giving Sadie a chance to get a closer look at him—for all the good it did her. The hat and sunglasses covered most of his face, but she could see that he had a mustache and goatee. There was something familiar about him, but Sadie couldn’t place it and chalked it up to her wanting something about him to look familiar.

  He pulled a stack of mail out of the mailbox and began scanning it on his way to the front door. He paused at the bottom of the porch steps, taking one of the envelopes and deftly tucking it into the waistband of his khaki shorts.

  Sadie felt her heart race just a little. He was stealing mail. Didn’t he know that was a federal offense?

  He continued up the steps and, thrown off her game, Sadie headed for the kitchen instead of the front door. She checked the bacon, and not a minute too soon. It was nearly done. She grabbed the hot pads just as she heard the front door open. The mail thief had let himself inside the house!

  “May?” he called, causing Sadie to jump as she crossed to the oven, unsure of what to do as she heard him approaching. Mere moments before he appeared, she decided to use her “What do you mean I’m not supposed to be here?” façade. Ignorance was such a blessed disguise sometimes.

  The oven door hinge squeaked as she pulled it open. She used the hot pad to lift the pan and turned to find the man standing on the threshold of the kitchen, staring at her. He’d taken off his sunglasses, and without them, Sadie realized why he looked so familiar. She’d seen him before and felt her heartbeat increasing as she flashed back to Keith Kelly’s dinner guests from last night. Richard and Keith had met with two unidentified men—one of whom had been wearing a green polo shirt and seemed the least comfortable at the table.

  He gave her a tentative smile, and she could only hope he hadn’t seen her at the restaurant or that her expression now hadn’t betrayed her surprise. “Hi, you must be May’s friend, Cindy.”

  “Sadie,” she corrected him, taking her time to place the hot pan on a trivet she’d already put on the counter.

  “Sadie, right, sorry.” He put the stack of mail down on the counter. Well, most of the mail; there was still the matter of an envelope tucked in his shorts.

  “Happens all the time,” Sadie assured him, trying to stay calm. She wiped her hands on the dish towel hanging from the oven door handle and put out her hand. “And you are?”

  “Hugh Sanderson,” he said with a nod, giving her hand a quick shake. “May’s brother.”

  Marvelous Bran Muffins

  3 1⁄2 cups All-Bran® cereal

  1 cup boiling water

  1⁄2 cup butter

  1 cup white sugar

  1⁄2 cup brown sugar

  2 eggs

  2 cups buttermilk

  2 1⁄2 cups flour

  2 1⁄2 teaspoons baking soda

  2 teaspoons cinnamon

  1⁄2 teaspoons salt

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin cups. Soak 1 cup of All-Bran cereal in 1 cup boiling water and stir until evenly blended. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar. Beat eggs in one at a time, then add buttermilk and soaked bran. Mix. Add flour, ba
king soda, cinnamon, and salt. Blend just until batter is moist. Fold in remaining All-Bran cereal. (If desired, mix in up to 2 cups of suggested additions.*)

  Spoon batter into muffin cups, filling each to the top. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until cake tester comes out clean. Makes 2 dozen.

  *Suggested Additions

  Mix-and-match up to 2 cups of any of the following ingredients:

  1 1⁄2 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen)

  1 cup chocolate chips—any type

  1⁄2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

  1 cup Craisins®, raisins, or dried cherries

  1 cup chopped dates

  1 cup chopped fresh cranberries

  1 1⁄2 cups chopped apples

  1⁄2 cup coconut

  1 cup pineapple tidbits, drained

  Chapter 29

  Sadie felt her eyebrows go up slowly and her smile become a little plastic as she put the pieces together and tried to look unsurprised. When she spoke, she stuttered. “O-oh,” she said as though firing bullets. “I-it’s wonderful to meet you.” He probably thought she was touched in the head.

  Desperate for a moment to compose herself, she turned back to the oven and took a deep breath while she turned it off. There were probably several perfectly reasonable reasons May’s brother was having dinner with Keith Kelly last night. The problem was that Sadie couldn’t think of a single one.

  “Are you making Dad’s ice cream?”

  Food. Thank goodness. That was a topic she could always talk about.

  Sadie schooled her thoughts and her expression and turned to face him. “Yes,” she said. “May didn’t dare show up at the picnic without bacon ice cream, so I’m trying my hand at it. It’s unlike anything I’ve ever made before.”

  Hugh’s smile was polite, but he stared at the bacon with an almost nostalgic expression. She wondered if her making his father’s signature dessert made him uncomfortable, but wasn’t sure how to ask about it.

  “Hey, Hugh.”

  May came out of the hallway and entered the kitchen. She set the half-full yogurt container on the counter and put the spoon in the sink. So much for Jolene’s appetite. Sadie watched for the siblings to embrace or something, but they kept their greeting rather cool. There was no way to know if it was because they had already had several days to become reacquainted or because they simply weren’t close. Sadie sensed it was the latter.

  “Hey, how’s Jolene?”

  May shrugged. “She ate about a tablespoon of yogurt.” She flicked her eyes up to meet Hugh. “It’s hard to say that’s progress.”

  “Try organic unsweetened applesauce next time,” Hugh suggested. “The chemicals in those store-bought yogurts aren’t good for her, and her body is probably rebelling against them.”

  Ah, Hugh was a health nut.

  The room was silent; May caught sight of the bacon and forced a smile. “Candied bacon,” she said, seemingly eager to change the subject. “It’s been a long time.”

  Hugh’s tight expression caught Sadie’s eye. “Not long enough, if you ask me.”

  May sighed. “Let’s not go there right now,” she said under her breath, pulling open the cupboard beneath the sink and throwing away the unfinished yogurt. “We’re making the ice cream one final time in Dad’s memory.”

  “If you ask me, going there when he was still alive might have made all the difference.”

  Sadie looked between the two of them, but was hesitant to insert herself. May, however, caught her eye and took pity on her position of ignorance in all this. “My father had heart issues,” she reminded her.

  “And ate things like bacon ice cream,” Hugh added.

  “Once a year,” May countered.

  “And pasteurized eggs for breakfast every morning, and homogenized milk three times a day that came from cows fed all kinds of antibiotics and chemicals,” Hugh continued, getting more worked up by the minute. “He knew better. Making this in his place is morbid, if you ask me.”

  “Well, I didn’t ask, did I?” May said in a tired voice. She put one hand on her hip and raised the other to massage the newly formed lines on her forehead. Hugh didn’t seem to bring out the best in his little sister. “Lois wants you to come to the picnic too, so consider the invitation officially extended.”

  “I have some things to finish up at the shop,” Hugh said in a neutral tone. Maybe he’d realized how he was coming across. “I’ll come by if I can.”

  “I’ll tell her,” May said. She picked up the plate Sadie had fixed for her and lifted the tone of her voice in what Sadie assumed was a desire to get along with her brother. “Did you want to look in on Jolene? Is that why you stopped by?”

  Hugh paused for a moment, then nodded, heading down the hallway.

  Sadie watched him go but wondered if he really wanted to check on his sister, or if he’d stopped by specifically to steal the mail. As soon as he turned the corner, May gave Sadie an embarrassed smile. “Hugh’s a vegan and only eats organic,” she explained, getting herself a fork and sitting down on the same barstool Sadie had when she’d had her lunch. “And he thinks everyone else should too. He’s convinced that the hormones in traditionally processed meat and dairy cause cancer, and it made him crazy that Dad didn’t buy into it.”

  “Sounds like you don’t buy into it either,” Sadie suggested.

  “Everything and nothing causes cancer,” May said, using her fork to spear a blackberry, a strawberry, a spinach leaf, and a candied walnut to make a perfect bite. “You’re either going to get it or you’re not, and other than avoiding the obvious—like smoking and asbestos and radiation—there’s not much you can do to prevent it if you’re in the crosshairs.” She took a bite and chewed quickly.

  “You have a pretty strong opinion of that,” Sadie said, leaning against the counter.

  May focused on putting together her next bite. “My mother did all kinds of weird things to keep from getting cancer, and then to keep from dying from it—coffee enemas, liquid diets, homeopathic stuff. Nothing worked for her, or her sisters, or . . . anyone else I’ve ever known.”

  Sadie watched her, waiting for her to confide more information; this was the first she’d heard about May’s mother’s cancer from May herself.

  May took another bite and smiled up at Sadie. “This is really good,” she said. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome,” Sadie said and refrained from giving the woman a hug. She looked as though she could use one, but an uninvited hug didn’t seem appropriate. Sadie was trying to decide whether to tell May about the stolen mail when Hugh returned.

  “I’m back to the shop,” he said, tapping the pile of mail he hadn’t put into his shorts. “I brought this in.” He looked between the two of them and might have smiled for a split second, it was hard to tell. He pulled his keys from his pocket, and Sadie couldn’t help but notice the bright blue-and-red poker chip with a hole drilled through it that served as the key ring. He jiggled the keys in his hand as he turned toward the door. “I’ll catch you later.”

  “Nice meeting you,” Sadie said on the heels of May’s “Bye.” Hugh said good-bye and left through the front door, pulling it closed behind him with a snap.

  “Hugh seems quite a bit older than you,” Sadie finally said, hoping to keep May talking about her brother without touching on anything too sensitive.

  “Five years,” May said. “Jolene is two years older than he is.”

  “Quite a gap,” Sadie said. “Is that one of the reasons why you aren’t close?”

  “One of them,” May said simply. She took the last bite of her salad and swallowed. “You wanted the ice cream freezer, right?”

  Sadie nodded, willing to let May off the conversation hook. They went out to the garage and eventually found the ice cream freezer, a 1970s model with a bucket made to look like a wooden barrel. Sadie thought of the hand-crank unit her parents had years and years ago. It was hard to imagine the determination it took to make ice cream back then, and she was grateful
Jim’s ice cream freezer had a motor.

  In the kitchen, Sadie washed all the parts and laid them out on a dishtowel to dry while May ate her muffin and went through the stack of mail with her free hand, sorting it into piles.

  “What’s the criteria?” Sadie asked, nodding at the three stacks of mail.

  May held half of the muffin aloft. “One for bills, one for junk, and one for everything else. Dad’s attorney is taking care of the bills for us, so that’s one thing I don’t have to worry about.”

  “And Hugh’s running the business, right?” Sadie asked.