Delicious! by Ruth Reichl

Author:Ruth Reichl [Reichl, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
ISBN: 978-0-449-01651-0
Publisher: Appetite by Random House
Published: 2014-05-05T16:00:00+00:00

WHEN I GOT to Berkeley, I was glad I’d ignored Aunt Melba’s advice. I loved having Genie there, was grateful when she forged a path for me. She told me what classes to take and what clubs to join. She took me to parties, introduced me to her friends, and occasionally fixed me up with a discarded boyfriend (although they were so disappointed to get second-best that it never worked).

In the spring of my junior year, I was sitting on Telegraph Ave., drinking iced green tea with a boy I’d been dating from my English class, when a shadow fell across our table. My date looked up, and for just a moment I saw Genie through his eyes. She was wearing a short, tight black skirt, a pale-pink T-shirt, and silver sandals, her hair curling loosely around her face. He was nice enough, and we had decent sex, but we’d fallen together mostly because we were the two nerdiest kids in the class. Now I heard him gulp and watched him put his hand up to shade his eyes.

“This is Owen,” I said.

Genie glanced at him briefly, sat down, and took a sip of my tea. “Aunt Melba called.” She took another sip. “Beverly Jackson’s getting married on June fifth, and she wants us to make her cake.”

“But we closed the bakery.”

“Aunt Melba told her. But you know Beverly. Stupid rich and always gets her way. She called me.”

“No problem,” I said. “Go to plan B.”

“Yes problem,” replied Genie. She was twirling her hair around her fingers, and I saw Owen’s eyes follow her hand. “I did.”

“What’s plan B?” he wanted to know.

Genie gave him her quicksilver smile. “When we don’t want to do a job, we demand an absurd amount of money. I mean, no kidding, crazy. An amount so huge, no sane person could possibly say yes.”

“I’m assuming that Beverly said yes?” He looked straight at her. “You obviously didn’t ask enough.”

“Thirty grand?” She gave him back his own cool look.

Owen choked on his iced tea.

“No way!” I said.

“Way.” She was still tugging at her hair. “She said she doesn’t plan to have a second wedding, and she couldn’t care less what this one costs. So I told her we’d get back to her. What do you think?”

“It’s an awful lot of money.… ” There was no way we could possibly live up to it.

“That’s what I thought.” Genie unfurled a radiant smile, and I realized she had misunderstood me. She sprang up, threw a quick “Nice meeting you” in Owen’s direction, and floated off. I stared after her in dismay.

Owen exhaled, as if he hadn’t breathed the entire time she’d been there. “That’s your sister?” He watched the rosy rectangle of her shirt recede into the distance. I shrugged; I was used to it.

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