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On the other side of the kitchen, a cutting board was built into the surface of the granite. A wine storage refrigerator sat next to the double-wide Sub-zero. Double-stacked convection ovens were in the wall to left of the old farmhouse style sink, which was made of stone. And from there, three big windows looked out over the deck and a view of the prairie. Farther on the other side, in the opposite direction of the ovens, was another double-sided stone fireplace, similar to the one in the master bedroom. This faced the family room on the opposite side.
If Ben had been given the chance to redesign his house, he’d design it similar to hers.
He pulled out a chicken and decided to make a twist on coq au vin. His mother came up with the recipe that used Balsamic vinegar in place of wine. He found a cold storage bin, similar to an in-kitchen root cellar where Liv kept potatoes, carrots and onions.
“Go.” Ben gently pushed her out of the kitchen. “It’ll be at least an hour before dinner’s ready. Talk to Renie as long as you want.”
“Hey, Mama. Whatcha’ doin?”
“Well…I have a lot to tell you.”
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Ben’s here.”
She heard her daughter’s phone drop, followed by a lot of hooting and hollering.
“You better not be joking,” Renie said when she picked up the phone.
“Not joking.”
“When? Why? For how long?”
“He got here on Monday—”
“Which is why I haven’t been able to reach you. Okay, keep talking.”
“He’s staying through the weekend.”
The phone dropped again, followed by more loud celebratory noises.
“For goodness sake, Renie,” she said when her daughter came back. “It isn’t that big of a deal.”
“No, Mom, it’s a huge deal. Do you have any idea how happy this makes me?”
“Nowhere near as happy it makes me.”
“I’ll refrain from dancing around my room again until we’ve finished our phone call, but, Mom, this is great. I’m so happy for you, I really mean that.”
“We didn’t get married. This may be just…a fling.”
“If it’s a fling, and it makes you happy, I’m all for it. This is so cool.”
“It is. But listen, I called to talk to you about more than that.”
“Okay, I’m all ears.”
“I was wondering if you want to take a trip with me this summer?”
“Of course I would, I love to travel with you. Where should we go?”
“How about Europe? Two or three weeks in Tuscany, and take side trips from there. Then France for a couple weeks, and end up in England for the same amount of time. Unless you want to try to fit Spain or Germany in too.”
“That’s a big trip.”
“It is, but I figured once you graduate we won’t have the opportunity to take a trip like this. You’ll either start working, or go to graduate school. Either way, you wouldn’t be able take a couple of months off to travel.”
“I love it. It sounds wonderful.”
