‘I have to finish this soup class and then we can go,’ she said, standing up and rocking Juniper so she laughed, delighted with her mother’s tricks.
‘Yes, Peggy said she had made something for Junie, and Petey wanted to show me the agreement for the sale of the business.’
Petey had sold the fudge business to a small confectionary brand and he and Peggy were planning on travelling to Scotland to celebrate soon.
Now that they were living together, Christa had teased them about a wedding but Peggy had refused.
‘I’ve been married once – that was enough for me.’
‘Not for me, it seems,’ Christa had joked.
She and Marc had married at Pudding Hall early in the summer after they met, a small event with only Peggy, Petey, Adam, Paul, Selene, Bill and the twins in attendance.
They had a lunch in the garden and then they napped and lolled about the house, and it was perfect for everyone. Christa wore a blush pink sundress with pink roses in her hair and Marc wore jeans and a white shirt and in every photo they were laughing and kissing and holding the boys close.
Christa saw Zane waving at her from the office.
‘Okay, let me finish up here,’ she said and handed Juniper back to Marc, who started to blow raspberries on her protruding baby tummy.
‘What’s up?’ she asked Zane.
‘I have the council mothers’ group in the phone. They want to know if they can discuss a cooking for babies series?’
Christa clapped her hands. ‘Oh yes please, I’ve been thinking about this.’
She walked back to the kitchen where her teens were starting to blend their soups.
‘How does it taste?’ she asked and the young cooks nodded and some said it tasted great.
‘Now you all have your large containers. This will keep it warm until you get home, and then you can serve it to your family for dinner. Won’t your parents be happy they don’t have to cook for a change?’
The kids laughed and some looked embarrassed.
‘I have bags of rolls for you all, left over from lunch, and some butter portions. For dessert there’s chocolate brownies. Healthy ones,’ she said as the young cooks moaned, used to Christa’s continual discussions about nutrition and the importance of supporting their mental and physical health. ‘They have zucchini in them, but don’t tell your younger brothers and sisters or they won’t eat them – but I know you’re all not immature like that.’
She saw a few looks exchanged but she knew the brownies would all be gone in every house. They were so good to eat and so easy to make.
‘Next week we’re making shepherd’s pie,’ she said and she heard some groans.
‘But not your usual shepherd’s pie,’ she said. ‘This is a shepherd’s pie devised by a Michelin-hatted chef.’
One of the teen boys frowned. ‘You wear a car tyre as a hat?’
Christa laughed. Served her right for showing off, she thought. Those things didn’t matter to these kids and nor should they; it was all smoke and mirrors, as Simon had proven.
After losing his role to Selene, and losing Avian, he had a new restaurant – bankrolled by his parents again – but this time, with no Christa, the reviews weren’t as complimentary as he was used to. It was all over the tabloids that Simon had gone to a reviewer’s house and had relieved himself in the man’s shoes by his back door.
Except the man had caught him on camera and the footage was released to the papers.
‘The second time a camera undid him,’ Marc had said to Christa as she was reading the story on her iPad while she fed Juniper.
‘I don’t understand where he would get the idea to do that to someone’s shoes,’ she had said to Marc. The twins had laughed hysterically at this but she paid them no attention. Poo jokes were still very popular with them both but for some reason this story, in particular, seemed to amuse them for days on end.
As the teens were leaving with the soup and extra goods, Christa called out, ‘Jackson?’
The young man walked away from the group to join her.
‘You know, I need some help around here, and I think you show real promise in the kitchen,’ she said to him.
