Hotter than Texas (Pecan Creek) - By Tina Leonard Page 0,26
see him again.”
Sugar sighed. “You didn’t tell him where we are, did you?”
“No,” Lucy said, “but Sugar, it won’t be that hard for some of his buddies to have the cell located. Signal trace is easy, not to mention call location data not that hard to acquire or hack, not for the guys in that division.”
Sugar shrugged, annoyed but not completely whacked out about it. “If he shows up, it’ll be a very short conversation.”
Maggie sat across from her. Lucy peered out the window. “Why is Jake walking to his truck sopping wet and holding his boots?”
“I don’t know,” Sugar said, her attention caught by Maggie’s scribbles on a piece of paper lying on the island. “Perhaps he got hot and needed to cool off.”
Lucy joined them at the island. “He doesn’t look too happy. Maybe he fell in.”
“I doubt it. They don’t take uncoordinated guys in the military. My impression is that Jake’s pretty fit.” Sugar studied Maggie’s list more closely. “This looks like hieroglyphics, but actually, you’ve been trying to remember the recipe.” She looked at her mother. “Any luck?”
“That’s the other thing we want to tell you,” Maggie said with a strained glance at Lucy, who eyed her back with sympathy. “I figured out what’s wrong with the recipe. I’ve confused the part of the recipe I do remember with a completely different recipe.”
Sugar blinked. “What does that mean, exactly?”
“It means,” Lucy said, her voice dry, “that we’re completely SOL with the FOB, sister dear.”
Chapter Seven
Sugar stared at Lucy and Maggie. “But you said you were close to remembering Grandma’s recipe, Mom.”
“I know.” Maggie’s face was miserable. “It is close, it just isn’t the right recipe. I don’t know how to fix it. I can’t remember!” Maggie wailed. “It’s like my memory refuses to cooperate.”
Lucy patted Maggie’s hand. “Mom, it’s all right. You remember things fine. Ingredients in a recipe are harder. It was an old-time recipe; it probably had a thousand spices and things in it.”
“It did.” Maggie wiped her nose with a tissue Sugar handed her. “That’s what made it so wonderful.”
“Don’t worry,” Sugar said automatically. “We’ll just keep working on it.”
“That’s what I’m trying to tell you,” Maggie said, her voice quiet. “I’ve been working on this ever since we got here. It’s been weeks! I’m forgetting instead of remembering. Back in the old days, I kept recipes in my head. It used to amaze my mother. When we were in the grocery store, if she couldn’t remember something in a recipe, she’d ask me. I always knew.” Maggie looked at her daughters. “I had perfect recipe recall from at least the age of eight. My one specialty is recall.”
“It’s okay,” Sugar soothed. “Mom, you don’t just lose your specialty. It’s the move; it’s the stress. Let’s just keep playing with the ingredients and make our own knock-your-socks-off pecan recipes.”
“Yeah,” Lucy said. “Take a few days off from it, Mom. You’ve been worrying at that recipe for weeks now.”
Maggie sniffled. “It’s your dream, Sugar. I want to support you and your new business, not be the reason it never gets off the ground.”
Sugar thought about the bills she owed and the money she had left, and felt a bit closer to panic.
“Maybe you ought to be nicer to Jake, instead of pushing him into the creek just because he makes a pass at you in broad daylight,” Lucy suggested.
Sugar got up, went to clean the pan and utensils in the sink. “Every time I start thinking Jake’s a pretty nice guy, he reminds me that he’s a fink.”
“The fink with the roof over our heads,” Lucy said.
“That same fink over-advertised this place and took advantage of three women.” Sugar scrubbed at the pan with some passion. “Don’t worry. Jake can take it. He’s got backup.”
Lucy came to dry the pot and utensils Sugar placed on the clean cup towel to drip dry. “I wouldn’t expect a man like him to lack for female backup.”
Sugar shrugged. “I don’t trust him. Not entirely. Which reminds me, Maggie, Jake the Snake says you’re on for Christmas mayor.”
“He’s not a snake,” Maggie said. “He just has a strong-willed mother. It’s made him a bit ham-handed with females.”
Sugar thought about Jake daring her to play strip pool with him. “I’ll say.”
Lucy sidled up to her sister. “How does he kiss?”
“I don’t intend to find out.” The peck she didn’t confess—it would only encourage Lucy with the whole Jake-might-be-our-lifesaver routine. They didn’t need a lifesaver; they needed a working business