Mike reached over to pat her shoulder. “I know what it’s like to love someone and wish that things were different. I still feel that way about my wife. It’s been three years and every now and then, I wake up in the morning and turn over to hug her. And then I realize that she isn’t here anymore.”
Hannah felt the urge to hug him again, but patted his hand instead. “I’m so sorry, Mike. I guess you never quite get over something like that.”
“You’ll never forget it, but you have to put it behind you, Hannah. I have. There’s a future out there for both of us.”
“You’re right, but I’m not sure how to put it behind me.”
“I can’t be sure that my way will work for you, but I’ll tell you what works for me. I keep busy, I have my work, and I have my friends. Try keeping busy at work and enjoy your friends. Don’t dwell on it and keep actively involved in your life. You can get over this, Hannah. You’re a strong woman and I know you can.”
“Hey, guys . . .” Lonnie broke into their conversation. “What’s so serious?”
“We’re talking about Ross and how he might be coming back to Lake Eden,” Mike replied.
“What?!” Norman looked completely shocked.
Hannah turned to Mike. “If you don’t mind, you can tell them about it while I help Michelle in the kitchen.”
Mike patted her shoulder again. “Go ahead. You probably need a break. And besides, I’m getting really hungry.”
Hannah laughed and got up from the couch. She heard Mike start to tell Lonnie and Norman what Mayor Bascomb had told him, and she escaped to the kitchen.
“What did Mike want?” Michelle asked when Hannah came through the kitchen doorway.
Hannah knew she needed a few moments to compose herself before she told Michelle the news. “Let’s get dinner all ready to go and we’ll have a cup of coffee while I tell you about it. Do we have anything for a salad?”
“Yes, and it’s in the refrigerator. You had a big package of fresh baby spinach and some cooked bacon. I just whipped up a sweetened cream dressing and put it in the bottom of your salad bowl. Then I washed the spinach and put it on top of the dressing. I gave the bacon a little more time in the microwave to crisp it up, crumbled it over the top, and sprinkled on some chopped red onion. We can mix it up at the table and fill individual salad bowls.”
“Sounds wonderful. You must have been busy.”
“Not really. I still had time to make an appetizer and it’s almost ready to come out of the oven.”
Hannah was amazed. Michelle had wasted no time completing their meal. “I thought you were going to make Mike’s paté.”
“I did, but I made something else, too.”
“What?”
“French Baked Brie With Bread Knots.”
“I had Brie in my refrigerator?”
“No, Mother had it in her refrigerator and I brought one of the small wheels of Brie with me.”
Hannah began to grin. “Don’t tell me you raided Mother’s refrigerator!”
“Not exactly. Doc told me to take anything we’d need, that Georgina offered to keep the Red Velvet Lounge open for everyone in the building and the chef agreed to stay, too. Everyone will be eating down there until the storm is over. I found one of Mother’s big grocery bags and filled it with all the stuff I thought we might want, and that’s what I was carrying when I came in.”
“I lucked out with the Ultimate Strawberry Bundt Cake. I had everything I needed in the . . .” Hannah stopped speaking as she realized that her cake was no longer on the cooling rack. “Where is it? I should put it in the refrigerator.”
“It’s in there already. I knew you’d want to frost it and it had to chill first. We’ll let it sit in there until we’re through eating and then we’ll take in the coffee while we frost it.”
“Perfect!” Hannah complimented her sister. “You thought of everything, Michelle.”
“Not quite. I was so busy gathering up groceries, I forgot to bring along the pajamas that Mother said she’d let me borrow.”
“That’s okay. You can borrow a pair of mine. They’ll be too big, but they’ll do as long as you don’t wake up in the middle of the night and go out to the kitchen to make yourself a snack.”
Michelle looked puzzled. “What would be wrong with that?”
“It’ll take two hands to make a sandwich and if you don’t hold on to my pajama bottoms, they’ll fall right off on the floor!”
SPINACH SALAD WITH BACON AND SWEET CREAM DRESSING
12-ounce bag baby spinach
? pound regular sliced bacon (Don’t use thick-sliced bacon because it doesn’t crumble as well.)
? cup chopped red onion
Wash the baby spinach under cold water and remove the stems. (You can just pinch them off.)
Remove the spinach leaves to a strainer or colander to drip dry.
Fry the bacon slices until they are crispy.
Let the bacon cool on a bed of paper towels to absorb the grease. When they cook enough to handle, crumble them in a small bowl.
(Recipe for Sweet Cream Dressing follows this recipe.)
Hannah’s Note: You can use a prepared dressing if you don’t feel like making it from scratch, but it’s very simple if you want to make Michelle’s Sweet Cream Dressing. Any already prepared sweet dressing will work. Aunt Nancy says she sometimes uses honey mustard dressing, which is readily available in most grocery stores.
Pour the dressing you’ve made or chosen in the bottom of a large salad bowl.
Pat the baby spinach dry with paper towels and place it on top of the dressing in the salad bowl.
Scatter the bacon crumbles over the top of the spinach.
Scatter the chopped red onion over the bacon.
Place the salad bowl in the refrigerator. There’s no need to cover it if you plan to serve it in an hour or so. If you’ve made the salad earlier than that, cover it loosely with foil. If you cover it right away, the bacon won’t be crunchy any longer.
When it’s time to serve, simply mix the salad at the table and either leave it in the bowl so that the guests can serve themselves with salad tongs, or place each serving in salad bowls in the kitchen.
SWEET CREAM DRESSING
2 Tablespoons raspberry vinegar (or red wine vinegar)
1 Tablespoon white Karo syrup (you can substitute honey for the white Karo syrup)
1 teaspoon stone ground mustard
teaspoon salt ? teaspoon freshly ground black pepper ? cup whipping cream
Put the 2 Tablespoons of raspberry vinegar in a small bowl.
Use a whisk to whisk in 1 Tablespoon of white Karo syrup (or honey).
Whisk until the white Karo syrup has been incorporated with the vinegar.
Add 1 teaspoon of stone ground mustard and whisk it in.
Whisk in the salt and the ground black pepper.
Pour in the heavy cream and continue to whisk until your dressing is smooth and creamy.
Yield: ? cup of sweet and creamy dressing that is especially good on spinach salads.
FRENCH BAKED BRIE WITH BREAD KNOTS
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F., rack in the middle position.
2 small rounds (each approximately 4 inches in diameter) of ripe Brie (I used President soft ripened Brie)
4 teaspoons Herbs Provencal
1 roll of refrigerated unbaked French bread (I used Pillsbury in the blue foil package)
2 ounces (? stick) salted butter
Prepare two 9-inch pie pans by spraying them with Pam or another nonstick cooking spray, or covering the bottoms with a round of parchment paper cut to fit and then sprayed with nonstick baking spray.
Unwrap the Brie and use a sharp knife dipped in water to cut/peel off the top rind. (This is easier if you use a knife with a long, flat blade and keep rinsing it off in water.)
When the top rinds have been removed, sprinkle the top of each Brie with 1 teaspoon of Herbs Provencal.
Place your herbed Brie rounds in the center of the prepared pie pans, herbed side up.
Open the can of unbaked French bread and use a sharp knife to cut it into pieces that you can shape into 1-inch balls.
Roll the pieces into balls and place them on a piece of wax paper on the counter.
Place the salted butter in a shallow, microwave-safe bowl.