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Authors: Molly Harper
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envelope containing the “undisclosed” portions of the Council’s salary and benefits proposal. It was a comfort to know that while I was selling out, I was doing it in a big way and in style.
Pretending to enjoy crafting confection seemed underhanded and sneaky, but it was on the advice of Cal, who knew exactly how to make underhanded and sneaky work without being obvious.
My brother-in-law experienced a strange mix of pride and horror when I showed him the enormous Council potential employee information packet/required liability waiver. (It took up two three-ring binders.) He got as far as the celebratory hug but then immediately informed me that he would not, in fact, tell Iris about it for me. I even pulled the wounded-baby-deer face, and it had no effect. His love and support only went so far, it seemed.
Cal did, however, give me a whole raft of advice on how he would handle the “buttering up” stage of informing Iris, including participating in her holiday rituals without complaint and traveling to a specialty story in Murphy to pick up her favorite dessert blood, Sangre Select. He also gave me a precisely folded list from his shirt pocket and slid it across the table.
“What’s this?” I’d asked.
“It’s a to-do list. I may not be happy about you taking the job, but that doesn’t mean I will leave you unprepared. I would like you to study these subjects before you begin working for the Council. I have arranged for you to work with several tutors near UK’s campus.”
I skimmed the list. “Small-blade defense, Brazilian jiujitsu lessons, crossbow proficiency ?”
Cal shrugged his broad shoulders. “Given the mishaps that befell your sister during the early days of our relationship, I thought it would be better for you to build certain skill sets before your arrival in the Council office.”
“How do you even find a crossbow tutor? Troll Craigslist for retired Hunger Games participants?”
“Gigi, for my sake, please take this seriously. Working at the Council office means that you will stay local, which will make Iris happy. And I will be able to monitor your workplace safety and what Iris called the ‘general ooginess’ of your coworkers, which will make me happy. But there are so very, very many things about this situation that upset me. Humor my need to keep you safe.”
“I would like to think you two will grow out of this whole ‘treat Gigi like an incompetent child’ thing, but you never, ever will, huh?”
“Probably not, no,” he said, putting his arm around me and squeezing me to his side. “But to be fair, you should have seen this coming years ago.”
I leaned my head against his shoulder, thinking back to that night in high school when Cal scared the hell out of Ben before our date and then presented me with my very own bright pink Taser, which I’d dubbed Mr. Sparky. “Yeah, you’re right.”
So I was humoring both Iris and Cal with mock enthusiasm for homemade caramel and Brazilian martial arts. I hoped I was better at the martial arts, because so far, I was a failure as a confectioner. I had managed to melt chocolate chips in a double boiler without hurting anyone. I thought that should count for something.
Jane peered over the stove, waving her hand over the now-smoking pot. “Unfortunately, while the three of you have been standing there debating, your pot of sugary goodness has burned.”
Tess sighed, wrinkling her nose at the acrid, too-sweet smell of burned sugar. “Crap.”
“Even the best chefs get distracted, Tess,” Miranda assured her, using a hot pad to whisk the pot off the stove and drop it into the sink.
“And to be fair, you’re putting up with more distractions than usual,” Andrea added from under a surgeon’s mask as she stirred the caramels melting in yet another double boiler. After a particularly colorful incident in Tess’s restaurant involving key lime pie, Andrea was not taking any chances with the smell of the candy
Pretending to enjoy crafting confection seemed underhanded and sneaky, but it was on the advice of Cal, who knew exactly how to make underhanded and sneaky work without being obvious.
My brother-in-law experienced a strange mix of pride and horror when I showed him the enormous Council potential employee information packet/required liability waiver. (It took up two three-ring binders.) He got as far as the celebratory hug but then immediately informed me that he would not, in fact, tell Iris about it for me. I even pulled the wounded-baby-deer face, and it had no effect. His love and support only went so far, it seemed.
Cal did, however, give me a whole raft of advice on how he would handle the “buttering up” stage of informing Iris, including participating in her holiday rituals without complaint and traveling to a specialty story in Murphy to pick up her favorite dessert blood, Sangre Select. He also gave me a precisely folded list from his shirt pocket and slid it across the table.
“What’s this?” I’d asked.
“It’s a to-do list. I may not be happy about you taking the job, but that doesn’t mean I will leave you unprepared. I would like you to study these subjects before you begin working for the Council. I have arranged for you to work with several tutors near UK’s campus.”
I skimmed the list. “Small-blade defense, Brazilian jiujitsu lessons, crossbow proficiency ?”
Cal shrugged his broad shoulders. “Given the mishaps that befell your sister during the early days of our relationship, I thought it would be better for you to build certain skill sets before your arrival in the Council office.”
“How do you even find a crossbow tutor? Troll Craigslist for retired Hunger Games participants?”
“Gigi, for my sake, please take this seriously. Working at the Council office means that you will stay local, which will make Iris happy. And I will be able to monitor your workplace safety and what Iris called the ‘general ooginess’ of your coworkers, which will make me happy. But there are so very, very many things about this situation that upset me. Humor my need to keep you safe.”
“I would like to think you two will grow out of this whole ‘treat Gigi like an incompetent child’ thing, but you never, ever will, huh?”
“Probably not, no,” he said, putting his arm around me and squeezing me to his side. “But to be fair, you should have seen this coming years ago.”
I leaned my head against his shoulder, thinking back to that night in high school when Cal scared the hell out of Ben before our date and then presented me with my very own bright pink Taser, which I’d dubbed Mr. Sparky. “Yeah, you’re right.”
So I was humoring both Iris and Cal with mock enthusiasm for homemade caramel and Brazilian martial arts. I hoped I was better at the martial arts, because so far, I was a failure as a confectioner. I had managed to melt chocolate chips in a double boiler without hurting anyone. I thought that should count for something.
Jane peered over the stove, waving her hand over the now-smoking pot. “Unfortunately, while the three of you have been standing there debating, your pot of sugary goodness has burned.”
Tess sighed, wrinkling her nose at the acrid, too-sweet smell of burned sugar. “Crap.”
“Even the best chefs get distracted, Tess,” Miranda assured her, using a hot pad to whisk the pot off the stove and drop it into the sink.
“And to be fair, you’re putting up with more distractions than usual,” Andrea added from under a surgeon’s mask as she stirred the caramels melting in yet another double boiler. After a particularly colorful incident in Tess’s restaurant involving key lime pie, Andrea was not taking any chances with the smell of the candy
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