Part 26 (2/2)
”Really? What?” Susan asked.
”We were thinking that as your last activity here on the ranch, we would set up a television in the living room and let you watch all your episodes. I think you will find it eye-opening and entertaining.”
”Or embarra.s.sing.” Julie sort of laughed as she said it.
”Endearing,” Kendra said. ”That's what this whole thing has been. As soon as the kids are done with their morning barn ch.o.r.es we'll get started.”
”Sounds great.” Although in truth, Susan wasn't so certain that it did. She'd come here as the woman who thought she knew everything about parenting and domestic life, and was leaving here realizing just how far she had to go. Something about watching the demise played out on television made her wonder if she wanted to watch. She thought perhaps Julie's word might have summed it up best.
Embarra.s.sing.
Julie and Susan sat in the rocking chairs, the kids gathered around them on the floor, as Kendra pointed the remote at the television monitor and pressed play. Of course, standing all around them was the camera crew, prepared to capture every expression, every sentence, in case they said or did something interesting during this viewing.
The opening scene showed Lisa Lee in her studio kitchen, gathering all the ingredients for shoo-fly pie. She was standing behind the counter, talking about the nuances involved in the recipe, and how even seasoned cooks had trouble making this one just right-at least just right for someone who knew what they were supposed to taste like.
She smiled at the camera and said, ”So we're going to have our Almost Amish family try their hand at making this. We've thrown in a few twists, just to make it a bit more interesting.” She grinned over to someone just off-camera. ”Today, for instance, we're going to show their first attempt at cooking on their new wood stove, and we're going to have Julie be the one to cook. She's not a fan of cooking or the spotlight, but let's see what happens.” The scene went to a clip of Julie sitting in the interview room that first day.
”Get a grip, Julie.” She watched her hands tremble on the screen. ”Stop being so melodramatic. It will be fine.”
The audience giggled; then the camera returned to Lisa Lee. ”We've let Susan try to coach her for the last day or so, with some rather . . . interesting results. Take a look.”
The camera went to a snippet of Julie working on her pie crust, then looking out the window when the girls called her to come outside. It then cut to a wide-angle shot of Julie and the kids working the clothes wringer and laughing, with an obviously annoyed Susan approaching from behind. ”Why aren't you working on the pie?”
Julie and Susan argued on-screen a bit before ending with Julie saying, ”It's not about pies, or even clean curtains. It's about slowing down enough to really spend time with the family. Now, get over here and start enjoying it.”
Everyone in the living room laughed at the memory of their first days there. Susan shook her head. ”I had no idea I sounded so grumpy.”
Julie reached over and squeezed her arm. ”I'm sure it was the editing.”
The scene then switched to Lisa Lee in the studio, laughing along with the rest of the studio audience at the clip they'd just seen. ”To make things even more complicated, we put a couple of different kinds of mola.s.ses in the pantry. Of course, we put the correct one behind the less favorable one. Not only that, but we had the production a.s.sistant do something we call *Greeking the labels,' which means covering up any kind of brand name. Julie went to select her ingredients about an hour ago. Let's see which one she got.”
The camera showed Julie picking out the flour and sugar, and reaching for the front bottle of mola.s.ses. The scene flipped back to Lisa Lee. ”Uh-oh. Wrong choice.” Everyone giggled. ”All right, now I'm going to get us started on making a shoo-fly pie, and we'll check back in on our Tennessee progress in a little while.”
By the time it got to the end of the episode, Julie had laughed so hard, she had tears pouring down her face. ”It's bad enough to have me cooking, but to set me up like that . . . no wonder.”
On they went to the next episode and the next. Over and over the pattern seemed to emerge of Julie noticing someone who needed help, or encouragement, or someone to talk to. As much as she knew that editing condensed everything, she began to understand for the first time that Susan maybe did have a point. She did notice things that no one else did. She noticed those things in her regular life, too, but she was often so busy she couldn't take the time to stop and cheer someone up or praise someone.
For the first time in a long time she saw that she maybe did have a gift. And for the first time, she knew what she had to do. She had to make sure she had the time to use the gift, make sure she was available to help the people right in front of her needing help.
Chapter 42.
Julie stood outside her California home and stared. It had been three months since she'd seen it last, and she found it amazing what a new appreciation she had for the place. ”It feels good to be home.”
”It's good to have you home,” Thomas said, coming up beside her.” You know what I found out when you were all gone? That a neat, organized, and quiet house isn't nearly as wonderful as I'd imagined it to be.”
Julie laughed. ”Well, one of the things I learned while I was gone was not to overextend myself so much. So I think we all know better than to think my house will ever be neat and organized to Reynolds family standards. But it's going to be filled with love. I'm going to make sure to set time aside to take care of my most important people-my family.”
”Well, good luck with that. Wait until you see the pile of phone messages you have waiting for you. And I can't begin to imagine what your email in-box is going to look like.”
”No worries. Susan had me practicing the word *no' all the way home on the plane.”
Whitney laughed. ”But she didn't take that word so well when you gave her that for an answer, did she?”
”No, she didn't.” Julie smiled at the memory.
”You told Susan no? About what?”
”She's starting a new group at church to replace Lydia's Legacy. Instead of trying to teach everyone about how to be a gourmet cook and hostess extraordinaire, it's going to be a group of women with different gifts who get together to support each other. Help each other learn how to do things better that they don't do well, but also to let women know that it's okay if you lack a gift someone else has in bucket loads.”
”What did she want you to do?”
”She wanted me to be the a.s.sistant administrator. You know, handle the enrollment, make sure that the groups have all their supplies each week, things like that.”
”Sounds like something you'd be great at.”
”Maybe. But I don't think it's where I want to be. I don't want to be running around fixing the details. I think I'm supposed to be available to talk to people during the cla.s.s, see if anyone is feeling left out, whatever. And, at my suggestion”-she looked toward Whitney and smiled-”we're going to do a special quilting project. It will be a good chance for the women to sit around and talk to each other, and we can give the quilts to charity. That is something I can get excited about.”
Thomas smiled and kissed her on the cheek.
”And by the way, I've invited Susan and Angie over for dinner tomorrow night. And I've also invited another friend, too, although I'm not certain they'll make it.”
”Someone mysterious?”
”You might say that.”
Susan leaned back on one of Julie's lounge chairs, sipping an iced tea and eating a bite of chips and salsa. The lounge was wiped clean, but she felt it could use a good scrubbing. She pushed the thought aside. That was just who her sister-in-law was-distracted, messy, and the biggest, most beautiful heart she'd ever met. The kids were screaming and splas.h.i.+ng in the pool, enjoying the best of southern California life.
Thomas looked over the top of the grill. ”Doorbell just rang.”
”Oh, Susan, will you get that for me? I need to finish mixing up my guacamole.”
”Sure.” Susan walked through the house to the front door, prepared to tell the neighborhood kids that it wasn't open swim right now. She pulled open the door. ”It's not-” She had to grip the doork.n.o.b to hold herself upright. ”What . . . what are you doing here?”
Gary smiled as he extended a bouquet of flowers. ”Uh, would you rather that I not be here?”
”No!” Susan said the words with a bit too much force. ”Please forgive my lack of manners. Come in, and please tell me how it is you came about being here right now.”
”Your sister-in-law invited me.”
”How? You've been gone.”
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