Read Online Fortune Cookie (Culinary Mystery) by Josi S. Kilpack - Free Book Online
Authors: Josi S. Kilpack
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Min, seeing them had expanded Sadie’s list of reasons for being here. From past experience, Sadie knew that the moment things became about people rather than ideas or possibilities, she was hooked. She wanted to get to know Ji and his family so that future meetings would be more comfortable than this one had been; she also wanted his family to know that Sadie was nothing like her sister.
There was no sense in procrastinating any longer now that she’d crossed the threshold and gotten a glimpse of the life Wendy’s son lived. He was a family man, an artist, and a hard worker—and he needed her help. They were family, regardless of whether his wife and daughter knew she existed, and Sadie and Pete had come to help.
She looked up and met Pete’s eyes. He’d been watching her as she’d mentally talked to herself, worked things out, and lined things up. She couldn’t help but wonder if he’d seen the thoughts she hadn’t verbalized play out on her face.
“You’re ready to do this?” Pete asked.
“It’s real now,” she said, summing up the mental conclusion she’d reached. “I’m ready.”
Pete smiled and nodded, and then they fell in step beside one another as they headed toward the parking garage. Pete reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. She smiled up at him; how could she have done any of this without him? They were here. Together. To learn and discover and make a connection. It was time to get moving, and Sadie was ready.
Chapter 7
It was still too early to check into the hotel, so they went directly to Wendy’s apartment instead. On the way, Pete told Sadie several little-known facts about San Francisco, such as how the actor Benjamin Bratt had lived in Alcatraz during the Native American occupation in 1969 and that the cable cars were purchased from all over the world as different countries stopped using them. Each car had a placard explaining where it originally came from. He didn’t talk about Pat, but now and then he went quiet, and Sadie wondered if he were catching himself just in time.
After driving longer than it seemed it should have taken to cover the distance shown on the GPS map, he slowed the car and pointed out the yellow brick building on the corner. Black letters attached to the exterior read “22nd Street Condominiums.” Sadie felt a tremor run through her as she looked over the building. Wendy had lived here.
There were shops at street level and two floors of apartments above, everything compact and efficient-looking. A beautiful gothic cornice, painted bright white, wrapped around the roofline of the building, with the fire escape railings arcing over the top. The windows were long and narrow, but bayed from the otherwise flat façade, giving texture and detail.
The high-rise buildings of the financial district where their hotel was located didn’t exist here. Instead, most buildings weren’t more than three or four stories high, but built together as though all part of the same structure. There weren’t many flower gardens or sitting areas, and the continued cloud cover emphasized the urban feel of the neighborhood. Sadie’s expectations of Wendy’s lifestyle had been low, but this building was much nicer than she’d anticipated it would be. The neighborhood was cleaner and, though she wouldn’t call it upscale, it was a vast improvement over some of the more run-down areas they’d passed through to get here.
It took nearly five minutes to find a parking spot on a narrow street two blocks away, and then it was a five-minute walk to the building. Pete went into a convenience store they passed on their way and asked if they had any boxes while Sadie texted Jack to tell him she’d arrived and was heading to Wendy’s apartment. She promised him an update later and put the phone back into her purse when Pete came out with a stack of empty boxes they could use for packing Wendy’s things and a package of heavy-duty garbage sacks he’d purchased as
There was no sense in procrastinating any longer now that she’d crossed the threshold and gotten a glimpse of the life Wendy’s son lived. He was a family man, an artist, and a hard worker—and he needed her help. They were family, regardless of whether his wife and daughter knew she existed, and Sadie and Pete had come to help.
She looked up and met Pete’s eyes. He’d been watching her as she’d mentally talked to herself, worked things out, and lined things up. She couldn’t help but wonder if he’d seen the thoughts she hadn’t verbalized play out on her face.
“You’re ready to do this?” Pete asked.
“It’s real now,” she said, summing up the mental conclusion she’d reached. “I’m ready.”
Pete smiled and nodded, and then they fell in step beside one another as they headed toward the parking garage. Pete reached for her hand and gave it a squeeze. She smiled up at him; how could she have done any of this without him? They were here. Together. To learn and discover and make a connection. It was time to get moving, and Sadie was ready.
Chapter 7
It was still too early to check into the hotel, so they went directly to Wendy’s apartment instead. On the way, Pete told Sadie several little-known facts about San Francisco, such as how the actor Benjamin Bratt had lived in Alcatraz during the Native American occupation in 1969 and that the cable cars were purchased from all over the world as different countries stopped using them. Each car had a placard explaining where it originally came from. He didn’t talk about Pat, but now and then he went quiet, and Sadie wondered if he were catching himself just in time.
After driving longer than it seemed it should have taken to cover the distance shown on the GPS map, he slowed the car and pointed out the yellow brick building on the corner. Black letters attached to the exterior read “22nd Street Condominiums.” Sadie felt a tremor run through her as she looked over the building. Wendy had lived here.
There were shops at street level and two floors of apartments above, everything compact and efficient-looking. A beautiful gothic cornice, painted bright white, wrapped around the roofline of the building, with the fire escape railings arcing over the top. The windows were long and narrow, but bayed from the otherwise flat façade, giving texture and detail.
The high-rise buildings of the financial district where their hotel was located didn’t exist here. Instead, most buildings weren’t more than three or four stories high, but built together as though all part of the same structure. There weren’t many flower gardens or sitting areas, and the continued cloud cover emphasized the urban feel of the neighborhood. Sadie’s expectations of Wendy’s lifestyle had been low, but this building was much nicer than she’d anticipated it would be. The neighborhood was cleaner and, though she wouldn’t call it upscale, it was a vast improvement over some of the more run-down areas they’d passed through to get here.
It took nearly five minutes to find a parking spot on a narrow street two blocks away, and then it was a five-minute walk to the building. Pete went into a convenience store they passed on their way and asked if they had any boxes while Sadie texted Jack to tell him she’d arrived and was heading to Wendy’s apartment. She promised him an update later and put the phone back into her purse when Pete came out with a stack of empty boxes they could use for packing Wendy’s things and a package of heavy-duty garbage sacks he’d purchased as
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