Part 29 (1/2)
”I like the way the outside crunches and the inside is chewy.” Candy took another bite and then she looked over at Hannah again. ”Could you make them with other jams, like blackberry? Or strawberry, or mixed berry?”
”I don't see why not. They might not be as attractive if you used blueberry, but any other berry should be fine.”
”That's perfect, then. How about if you call them Merry Berry Cookies? It rhymes and everything, and that means it'll be easy to remember. And eating them makes you happy so that's where the 'merry' part comes in.”
”What a great idea!” Norman praised her. ”'Merry Berry Cookies' sounds perfect to me. Are you sure you don't have an advanced degree in marketing?”
Candy giggled and Hannah felt like beaming. Norman was helping to relax her, and perhaps she'd tell them more about her background and what she was doing here in Lake Eden.
”I don't have an advanced degree in anything. I haven't even finished...” Candy halted and cleared her throat. ”I haven't even declared my major yet.”
Hannah glanced quickly at Norman. They both knew what Candy had been about to say. I haven't even finished high school, I haven't even finished high school, would be a fairly safe guess. would be a fairly safe guess.
”How old are you, Candy?” Norman asked the question that was on the tip of Hannah's tongue. It would be interesting to see how many fictional years Candy would add to her young life.
”Twenty,” Candy said, without batting an eyelash, and Hannah got the impression she'd told that particular lie before. ”I'll be twenty-one next month.”
Hannah and Norman locked eyes. Even though they didn't say a word, Hannah got the feeling that Norman could read her mind and he agreed with what she was thinking. More questions would serve no purpose other than to elicit more lies from Candy. It was time to call it a night and let her think they'd believed her.
Norman gave a yawn that Hannah suspected was purely theatrical, and finished his mug of hot chocolate. ”We'd better hit the road, Hannah. Tomorrow's a workday and you have to get up early.”
”Right,” Hannah agreed, and then she turned to Candy. ”You'll be perfectly safe here if you lock the door behind us. I'll be back around five tomorrow morning to start the baking.”
”I'll help you. I like to get up early. Is there anything I can do before you come in?”
”Only if you get up before five.”
”Oh, I will. I'll be up by four-thirty.”
”Then you can put on the coffee.” Hannah motioned toward the kitchen pot. ”The grounds and filters are in the cupboard to the left of the sink.”
”Okay. It's just like the pot Dad had at the clinic, so I know how to do it. How strong do you like it?”
”As strong as it gets.”
Candy nodded quickly. ”You want me to fill the basket almost all the way to the top with grounds?”
”That'd be perfect. Thanks, Candy.” Hannah slipped into her coat and pulled on her gloves. ”I'll see you in the morning, then.”
Hannah and Norman made their exit. They stopped outside the door, and by unspoken agreement they waited until they heard Candy lock the door behind them. Then they hurried to Norman's car and climbed in, s.h.i.+vering.
”I'll get the heater going right away,” Norman promised, firing up the engine and turning the heater to high.
Hannah s.h.i.+vered as he backed up the car. She s.h.i.+vered some more as he drove out of the parking lot and down the alley. But when Norman stopped at the end of the alley, she realized that she'd stopped s.h.i.+vering. As a matter of fact, she had to slip off her gloves and unzip her parka a bit because she was too warm. Norman's heater was pouring out waves of hot air that felt positively tropical.
One glance at the winds.h.i.+eld and Hannah was even more impressed. Instead of the patches of frost that clung to the inside of her winds.h.i.+eld for the first five or six miles of winter driving, Norman's winds.h.i.+eld was already picture window clear and they'd been driving less than a block!
Just to make sure, Hannah reached out to touch one of the b.u.t.tons on the radio. It was warm instead of icy cold. ”I love it,” she breathed.
”You love what?”
”Your heater. If I knew how to hook it up, I'd steal it and put it in my truck.”
”But then I'd I'd freeze. Maybe we'd better work out a compromise that'll make both of us happy.” freeze. Maybe we'd better work out a compromise that'll make both of us happy.”
”What did you have in mind?”
”I could drive you to work every morning and back home every night. Then both of us would stay warm.”
Hannah had a feeling she knew what was coming, but she decided she'd bite anyway. ”But you live in town, and I live out of town. Would you really be willing to make two round trips a day?”
”I'd only have to make one round trip if I stayed at your condo.” Norman gave her a grin that looked positively devilish, and then he waggled his eyebrows up and down to add to the illusion.
Hannah laughed at his antics. ”Only in your dreams, Norman!” she retorted. But she had to admit that Norman's compromise did have a certain appeal that wasn't entirely due to the cold winter weather.
MERRY BERRY COOKIES.
Don't preheat the oven yet-this cookie dough has to chill before baking.
1 cups melted b.u.t.ter (3 sticks, pound) (3 sticks, pound)2 cups white (granulated) (granulated) sugar sugar cup melted raspberry, blackberry, strawberry, or any berry jam (I used Knott's seedless raspberry) (I used Knott's seedless raspberry)2 beaten eggs teaspoon baking soda1 teaspoon salt4 cups flour (pack it down in the cup-don't sift it) (pack it down in the cup-don't sift it)1/3 cup white (granulated) (granulated) sugar for later sugar for later1/3 cup berry jam for laterMelt the b.u.t.ter in a large microwave-safe bowl. Add the white sugar and mix it in thoroughly. Let the bowl sit on the counter while you do the next step.Melt the jam in the microwave or in a saucepan over low heat. Once it's the consistency of syrup, mix it in with the b.u.t.ter and sugar.Add the eggs, baking soda, and salt, stirring after each addition.Add the flour and mix thoroughly. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours. (Overnight's even better.) (Overnight's even better.)When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.Roll the chilled dough into small walnut-sized b.a.l.l.s with your hands. Put 1/3 cup white sugar in a small bowl and roll the b.a.l.l.s in it. Place them on a greased standard-sized cookie sheet, 12 cookies to a sheet. Flatten the dough b.a.l.l.s with a greased spatula. Make a small indentation with your thumb or index finger in the center of each cookie. Fill the indentation with a small bit of jam (about 1/8 teaspoon.) (about 1/8 teaspoon.)Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees F. Let them cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet, and then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.These cookies freeze well. Roll them up in foil, put them in a freezer bag, and be sneaky about how you label them or the kids will find them and eat them frozen.Yield: 8 to 10 dozen, depending on cookie size.
Chapter Four.
Perhaps a more imaginative person could have seen mythical figures in the irregular swatches of plaster on her bedroom ceiling, but Hannah wasn't in the mood. She also wasn't keen on counting sheep, reciting her times tables all the way through the dreaded sevens, or mentally cataloguing her cookie recipes. Her never-fail sleep aid, reading the statutes of the Winnetka County Health Board, hadn't even made her eyelids heavy, and there was no way she was going to take any over-the-counter remedies when she had to get up in less than five hours.
Hannah switched on the light, causing her bedmate to blink and then stare at her with startled yellow eyes. She'd been tired when Norman had left, so tired that she'd barely been able to get ready for bed and climb under the covers. The pillow had been perfectly supportive, cradling her head just so, and the quilt had formed a warm and comforting coc.o.o.n. Moishe had purred softly beside her, actually letting her cuddle him close for ten seconds or so before he'd padded down to sleep on her feet, and the rhythmic whoosh of warm air from the heat vents had been positively soporific. Unfortunately, it had all gone downhill from there.
She'd started thinking about Candy and how frantic her family must be, and that had made her eyes open wide and her mind kick into high gear. She had to figure out where Candy came from, discover why she'd run away, and try to get her to go back home where she belonged.
There was no way she could sleep with a problem this weighty on her mind. Hannah put on her slippers and shrugged into her robe, knotting the sash around her waist. She always thought best when she was cooking, and since she was wide awake anyway, she might as well look for Ibby's toffee recipe and make it tonight. She could take some to work tomorrow morning so Norman could taste it.
”Coming?” Hannah asked, turning to look at her feline roommate. But Moishe had commandeered her pillow the moment she'd left it and he was stretched out on top like a sphinx, his front paws aligned in front of him, his head held perfectly erect, and his expression regal.
”Guess not,” Hannah said, answering her own question as she walked out of the room.
To Hannah's sleep-deprived eyes, the kitchen appeared glaringly bright with its white walls and appliances. She had the urge to fetch her sungla.s.ses as she got out her box of recipes marked ”TO TRY” in big red letters. She lifted the lid, frowned at the pieces of multicolored and mismatched paper that were stuffed haphazardly into the interior, and set it down on the kitchen table with a clunk. Then she put on the coffee, s.n.a.t.c.hed the carafe aside, and stuck her mug directly under the stream of fresh coffee dripping through the grounds. When her mug was full, she completed her juggling act by removing her mug and replacing the carafe.
Going through recipes without reading them was like eating a cream puff before it was filled. Even though Hannah did her best to page quickly through them, she found herself pulling out several she wanted to try immediately, some she needed to make for Christmas, and even more she intended to try within the next few months.
Her mug was empty by the time she finished sorting all the papers in the box, and Hannah got up to refill it. She hadn't found Ibby's toffee recipe, but she was sure she had it.