“Nothing. I messaged her three times and called. She’s cleaned out most of the house, but I made her look in every cupboard.”
“There are some good recipes on the internet.” Maddie was sitting at the kitchen table, hunched over her laptop, typing furiously. “How about an Ina Garten one? Oh wait! Paula Deen. She’s popular. We’ll need more butter though.”
Gina wasn’t encouraged. “It seems like those are recipes anyone could use. We need something special. Something unique. I’m sure Gram wouldn’t have thrown hers out. They must be stored somewhere.”
Maddie looked up at Gina. “Wait a minute. Stored. What if they are right here in that storage area?”
“Of course! I saw some boxes in there that looked more personal.” Gina was out the door and on her way to the storage area before the last word left her lips.
* * *
“I thinkI might have found something.” Maddie watched as Gina pulled a long, narrow wooden box out of the storage container she’d been foraging through. They were sitting on Gina’s bed in the storage area, the contents of the boxes strewn about the floor.
Maddie had been starting to lose hope and was ready to suggest just going with one of the recipes from the internet, but she could sense that Gina really wanted recipes that were special. Maybe it was because it gave her a connection to Gram, or maybe it was because she really wanted to win. She wasn’t sure which, but it was welcome because she was seeing a passion in Gina that had been missing for a long time.
And something else had changed too. Jules was looking just as hard as Gina for the recipes. They weren’t bickering or giving each other the cold shoulder.
Gina opened the box. “This could be it.”
She turned the box to face them. The front half of the box had index cards lined up like an index file in a library. The back half had papers and magazine clippings stacked on top of each other. Maddie’s quick glance told her they were, indeed, recipes.
Jules picked out one of the cards. “This is for Gram’s sour cream coffee cake. I used to love that.”
Maddie’s eyes misted as she recognized Gram’s writing, and childhood memories of Gram’s delicious coffee cake bubbled up.
“We need to find the pie recipes.” Gina carefully took a stack of cards out, and they started sorting through them.
“Here’s one for that cinnamon crust Pearl mentioned at the town meeting.” Jules lay a yellowed, food-stained card aside.
“And here’s one for an apple pie with sour cream. That sounds good.” Maddie laid it next to the cinnamon crust. “I suppose they have specific types of pies you have to make for the contest.”
“And probably ingredient challenges, where you have to work with what they give you,” Jules said.
Gina took a deep breath, uncertainty darkening her expression. “Right. Maybe I’m not experienced enough for this.”
“No, no.” Maddie touched her arm. “You’ll be fine. What’s the worst thing that could happen?”
Gina laughed. “Good point. It will be a miracle if I make it past the first elimination, anyway, so I’ll probably only need to make one pie. But it still might be smart to study these recipes.”
Gina pulled the magazine clippings and other papers out of the back and started to search through them. She stopped at one that looked like an envelope. “What’s this?”
The front of the envelope had a name and address on it. Henry Barlowe.
“Wait, is that for Henry down at the bank?” Maddie reached for it.
“The welcome-wagon ladies did say he and Gram used to be friends.”
“It’s sealed.” Maddie picked at the edge of the flap, but the old glue held tight. “I guess she never gave it to him. No postmark or anything.”
“That’s odd. It seems like she meant to.” Gina riffled through the rest of the papers that had been in the box. “Maybe it got lost in the stack of paperwork, and she never got a chance.”
“Should we give it to him?” Maddie asked.
“I guess we can ask Pearl, Rose, and Leena,” Jules said. “It seems like he should have it.”
“I agree.” Maddie stood with the letter in hand. “I’ll put it in the kitchen. If we’re done here, I think I should get to bed. We need our rest for tomorrow, and Gina probably needs some time to concentrate.” She reached across the bed to hug her cousin. “Don’t stay up too late.”
Jules stood too. “We’ll help you clean this up tomorrow.” Then she did something that surprised Maddie. She hugged Gina too.
