Wuthering Kites by Clover Tate

Author:Clover Tate
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Published: 2018-09-03T16:00:00+00:00

chapter eighteen

When I returned to the kitchen, Matt was at the back door, hands in his pockets.

“Come in,” Rosa said. “You’ll join us for dinner, won’t you?” She glanced at Claire, as if asking permission.

“We’d love you to,” Claire said, seeming a bit surprised at Matt’s appearance.

“I was out for a walk and wanted to check on you, Rosa,” he said. “You don’t have to feed me.”

Rosa was already setting an extra crockery plate on the table. She pulled a worn linen napkin from a drawer. “Nonsense. We have plenty of food. It’s not a fancy meal, just a little something here in the kitchen. Do you know Emmy?”

Matt stepped in and shook my hand. “We’ve met. Nice to see you again, Emmy.”

The meal might not be fancy, but I knew plenty of people who would have chucked their reservations at a favorite bistro for a seat at this table. The round wooden table in front of the woodstove was nicked from years of use and topped with soft cotton place mats. I imagined decades of bread kneaded on it, Jack and Claire as kids with a box of crayons, many a farm morning’s coffee poured into fat mugs. Come hungry, the table seemed to say. Come for comfort. You won’t be disappointed.

“Nothing fancy,” Rosa repeated, jarring me out of my thoughts. “Just a salad, some pork roast, and some of your uncle’s green beans I canned this summer.”

“And a pie,” Claire said. “Right? Is that for us?” She nodded toward a lattice-topped dish on the counter.

“Of course it is. Peaches, also canned this summer.” Rosa untied her apron and joined us at the table. The lamp on the side table was soft but deepened the already marked lines on Rosa’s face. No wonder. She’d had a lot to worry about, not the least being how she’d make it now that Uncle Gus was gone.

Matt watched her, too. “Rosa, you’re magnificent. Thank you for this.”

“It’s nothing. I’m just glad to have you kids here.”

“I know it’s an uncertain time,” Claire said.

I listened. It wasn’t my place to talk. I couldn’t help but feel for Rosa as she faced the quiet days ahead.

“Like I said, I’ll be just fine,” Rosa said. “I have a little bit set aside, and your uncle was kind enough to leave me something in his will.”

“Do you want to work?” Matt asked. “Or maybe you’re ready to retire.” Matt’s wide face and nose might not have earned him a living as a model, but when he relaxed and smiled, it was hard not to look at him.

“Don’t you talk that way to me, young man,” Rosa said with new energy. “I might not be a teenager anymore, but I’m not dead yet.”

Quiet fell over the table at her choice of words.

“Well, I’d always be happy to have you come work for me,” Matt said. “There’s a caretaker’s apartment in the new tasting room. You could live there.”

Rosa reached past Claire and patted Matt’s hand. “That’s sweet, honey.

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