The Haunting of Brynn Wilder: A Novel by Wendy Webb

Author:Wendy Webb [Webb, Wendy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2020-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

I arrived back at the house to find Gary in the side yard stoking a wood fire under a giant cast-iron cauldron. Around it stood several picnic tables and assorted Adirondack chairs. A keg of beer sat on ice, along with several bottles of wine and glasses.

“Hey!” he called out to me.

“What’s all this?” I asked him.

“Fish boil. We do it every Friday. Tonight’s the first one of the season.”

I grimaced at him, causing him to burst into laughter.

“Come on now, it’s not that bad,” he coughed out.

“What in the name of Julia Child is a fish boil?” I asked him, eyeing the cauldron darkly.

“It’s a lake tradition,” he said. “C’mon in the kitchen with me, and I’ll tell you all about it. We’re full up for the six-thirty seating, and Gus and Aaron are both out today, so I could use an extra hand or two for the prep. LuAnn said she’d help, but, really, the last thing anyone wants is that woman in the kitchen.”

Not quite understanding exactly what he was talking about, I followed him through the back door to the kitchen, chuckling at him.

Gary was tossing an apron to me when we heard a voice calling to him from inside the restaurant. Dominic.

“Hey, man, do you know—” he began as Gary popped his head out of the swinging door separating the kitchen from the back of the bar. “Oh! I was just wondering if you’ve seen Brynn.”

“She’s in here with me,” Gary informed him, wiping his hands on his apron. “Come on back. Make yourself useful.”

Dominic did what he was told and followed Gary into the kitchen, where I was tying a clean white apron around me. Gary picked another off a pile of linens and tossed it at Dominic.

“We’re washing dishes?” Dominic asked. “I’ll pay my bill, I promise.”

“Very funny, smart guy,” Gary snorted. “We’ve got a full house for the fish boil, and Gus called in sick. Called in hungover is more like it.”

I smiled at Dominic, knife in hand. His eyes twinkled at me.

“Just tell me what to do,” Dominic said.

“I made the slaw before happy hour, so that’s done. I’ll handle the fish.” Gary directed us to a giant bowl of red potatoes. “You two take these.”

“What, cut them in half?” Dominic asked. “Or in slices?”

Gary’s face was aghast. “No, no, no, no,” he chided. “Cut just the top off each one. Just a little bit!” He took the knife out of my hand and sliced the top off one of the potatoes. “Like that,” he said, tossing it into a bowl.

“Got it,” I said. “But why just the top?”

Gary squinted at me. “You’ve really never heard of a fish boil before, have you?”

Dominic and I exchanged a glance. Both of us shook our heads.

As we sliced the potatoes and Gary worked with the fish, he told us the history of the fish boil.

“It started back when this place was new,” he began. “We’ve got a little rivalry going with Door County on Lake Michigan over which area actually did it first.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.