“You made it?Well, I’m glad I’ll get to try it.”
“Believe it or not, I made the soup as well,” Josie said, lowering her voice.“I’ve never cooked here before.I do the cleaning and serving, and Myrtle does the cooking.I guess I did all right if you’re hearing the soup is delicious.”
“I’ll let you know,” Katie said with a smile.“I’m excited to try it!”
Since there were no other customers, Josie got a bowl of soup and a dinner roll to have with Katie.She called back to Myrtle, who took the opportunity to eat her lunch as well.
“You do good business here,” Katie said when they were all seated.
“We do,” Myrtle said.“Better than I ever expected.”
Katie took a bite of her soup.“This is really good, Josie.You need to cook more often!”
“Well, it’s not as good as Myrtle would have done.”
Myrtle shook her head.“I don’t know that I would have put these ingredients together, but this soup is wonderful.”
Josie looked between her two friends.“Really?”
“Really!”Myrtle said.“It’s good!”
Josie took a bite herself and smiled.“It’s not bad at all!”
When she got home that night, Josie couldn’t wait to tell Jack that she’d made the soup for the bakery that day, and not only did no one get sick, people liked it.
Jack laughed when she told him.“Of course, they liked it.I keep telling you what a good cook you are.You just don’t listen to me!”
“I listen to you!I just think you’re sweet on me so you fib a little about things I don’t feel comfortable doing.”
He shook his head.“You don’t know me at all, do you?”
She shrugged.“We’re having soup tonight.I hope you don’t mind.”
“I don’t mind at all.Did you do a lot of business today?”
“We did!And I made the soup and desserts.I kept expecting someone to hate it...”She knew she was talking about how well her food went over too much, but it felt so good.It was what she needed to gain some confidence in her cooking.“Sorry I keep talking about it.I just...I never believed I could cook or bake, and suddenly, I can!”
He chuckled.“You were never as bad as you thought you were.I don’t recall spitting out what you cooked even once.”
She started to throw different ingredients into a large pot to make another soup.“I hope you’re hungry!”she said.
“I am.How long do you think it will be before we eat?”
“Less than an hour, I hope.”She moved quickly, and he watched, surprised at how comfortable she suddenly looked in the kitchen.
“Is there anyone foraging?”he asked.
“Yes, everyone but Maggie, Myrtle, and I are foraging for an hour every day.Well, I don’t think Sally is either.She has enough to do with her enormous garden.”
“I love the arctic raspberries—or nagoonberries—that are ripe now.I hope we’ll get enough for you to make me a cobbler from them.”
“Tomorrow’s Saturday.Why don’t we go and forage for some ourselves?I’m happy to make a cobbler as soon as I get my hands on the berries.”Josie was still excited that she could bake things that people would ask to have again.
“That sounds lovely.Maybe we can make a picnic of it!”
“I’d like that a lot.”
Later, after they’d eaten, he reached for her hand.“Do you enjoy working at the bakery now that it’s been open for a while?”
