Matilda's Wish by Beth Prentice

Author:Beth Prentice [Prentice, Beth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Beth Prentice

Chapter Thirteen

Noah had moved the mural to the house and had built a beautiful frame for it from some old pallets he had in one of the sheds. It was presently leaning against the outhouse and I had an amazing view of it every time I pulled back the curtains and looked out of the kitchen window.

I’d been gradually making changes around the house, replacing Matilda’s possessions with my own, but there were a few things I had trouble parting with. Even though the curtains were not my style, they fitted with the kitchen and I knew they had to stay.

I wanted to thank Noah and the McKenzie men for everything they had done for me, and I wanted to meet Randall properly. Other than the odd quick hello when I’d seen him wandering around the vegetable patch, we hadn’t had a proper chance to get to know each other. Whenever he saw me approach, he retreated into his house. Which left me obsessing about how I could help him, which then led me to the wonderful idea of inviting them to dinner.

Well, it had seemed like a good idea at the time.

Now I was sweating and my stress levels were in the danger zone. I didn’t really understand why. I’d cooked dinner many times before today, but this one seemed special. I liked the McKenzies and I wanted them to like me. And my mum had always told me that the way to a man’s heart was via his stomach. In my late teens and early twenties, I had disagreed with her conclusions, having a completely different idea on how to reach a man’s heart. It was only after having my own heartbroken on more than one occasion I quickly realized it wasn’t the man’s heart I was satisfying and that only led to disaster. So today I was giving Mum’s advice a go.

A roast was always a hit, but after my decision to go vegetarian I wondered what the men would think of the lentil roast with balsamic onion gravy I’d painstakingly made.

To be honest, it didn’t look quite like the picture Google had shown me. Nope instead of a nice meatloaf dish, mine resembled more of meatloaf disaster. It didn’t help that my loaf tin was still in my parent’s garage, nor that I’d substituted eggplant for the mushrooms, but it sure smelled good, so fingers crossed the men would like it.

Clifford had already given his woof of approval once I’d given him the scraps.

I’d cleaned the back verandah and laid the table for four, finding Matilda’s best crockery hidden in one of the kitchen cupboards. I was going to use my own crockery but the tiny blue flowers and gold trim on the plates was breath taking, and I wondered why she kept it hidden. I knew from now on, I’d be using it for every special occasion I could. It took me hours to clean her silver cutlery set, and wash the crystal glasses, but it was worth the effort.

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