Page 45 of Sublimate
“My…oh, the minibar? You don’t have to worry. I asked them to empty it when I made our reservation.”
I already had it open and saw that he was telling the truth. “I was thinking that after tonight, you might be feeling the urge to crack one of those little bottles,” I explained. “It made me nervous.”
“I appreciate your concern. Would you like a water? They gave me about a hundred of those in place of the alcohol.”
I took one. “Thank you. There’s a safe in my room and I put the paperwork in there, but I don’t really think anyone will take it.”
“Probably not. And now, you can get more copies, too. For backup.”
That sounded great. “I texted Cadence and she’s so happy. She and her mom are watching a series about personal empowerment and she thinks that it’s working for her.”
“She’s empowered?”
I shrugged, because that would have been great but I doubted it. “Maybe I should watch those.”
“I was thinking about you and your videos. How many times have you seen people making bread?”
“I could check my history. The answer is probably around a trillion.”
“Why don’t you try it for real?”
“In your kitchen? In your nice ovens?” I asked. I felt doubtful about that, too.
“Sure. Let’s do it when we get back,” Nolan answered.
“Ok. I was also thinking about something for you. I think that you should have a job”
“What?” He stared at me. “You mean a job baking bread?”
“Sure, if you want! But you could do anything. I don’t mean it like your dad, like I’m disappointed in you somehow. I thinkit would make you happy to have one, so let’s make a list of possibilities,” I said. “We can discuss your future.”
Right now, that seemed to be full of baked bread and boundlessness. I was smiling as I flopped onto his bed, because it sounded wonderful.
Chapter 10
Was baking an art or a science?
In my case, it was neither. The many, many, many videos that I’d seen about how to create a perfect loaf of bread hadn’t seemed to make a difference in how mine turned out. I only baked flat, hard things that didn’t have a lot of taste, even though I’d tried to use all the different techniques that I had watched so carefully.
“For Nolan, it’s all about science,” I told Cadence I said as I showed her a picture of my latest attempt. It looked like an ugly frisbee. “He did engineering in college and then he worked for an engineering company for a while, too. That’s how he goes after baking, like he’s solving math problems or doing calculations. Like he’s in a lab instead of a kitchen.”
“Well, interestingly, yeast is a living organism,” she pointed out. Then her head turned sharply. “Was that a car?” She ran to the window to check but then breathed out in relief and returned tosit with me in the dark living room. “It was only our neighbor getting home,” she explained.
We were inside because September had just turned into October and it was also turning a lot colder here. There were still days of bright, golden sunshine, but not right now. A grey drizzle had started to fall this morning and the afternoon had gotten even gloomier.
But the weather didn’t matter to me. I had just passed the test that made me an official Michigan driver. Legally! I could get pulled over and not worry—well, no, because my car still wasn’t legal, but I sure was. It was another step, an awesome one. So I wasn’t bothered by sitting in Cadence’s dim, chilly living room. Neither was she, except that she was afraid that her mother would arrive at their home and find me here—and that woman still hated me. My gifts of Nolan’s bread hadn’t softened her up at all.
“Are you sure that you want me to come over?” I’d asked and Cadence had answered that she was definitely sure.
“I have the afternoon off and it’s my house, too,” she’d proclaimed but then had added, “My mom is getting a massage, mani, and pedi, so she’s going to be out for a while, anyway.” Cadence had stood up to her, though. Usually, she brought her mom to the spa for those services and then waited in the lobby or in the car, reading. But today? “I told her I had things to do so I would be back to pick her up later,” she had reported proudly to me. Then she’d also said, “I hope she’s not too mad.”
Now she checked her phone again and tried to turn up the volume (again), but it was already at the highest level. “Is Nolan at home right now?” she asked. “Maybe he’s baking.” She tried to sound casual but her interest in him was, as always, obvious.
“His cousin Ryan is over,” I answered. It was the reason that I hadn’t wanted to go right back home after passing the driving test—I didn’t want to interrupt them. Nolan had asked for his cousin’s help to get his friend Beau out of the planning stages for his business, because that guy had to make some serious decisions since he had lost his job. In fact, the Woodsmen football team had done away with his entire department. His assistant had been promoted away a few months before and he was the only person left working there, and it hadn’t sounded like he had accomplished very much.
“He spends most of his time at the onsite daycare playing with his son,” Nolan had explained.
“We can go see if they’re done with the meeting,” I suggested to Cadence. “Nolan could have made bread for them and I know he’d be happy to share.” In fact, he’d been sharing with everyone. All the neighbors for several blocks had received a loaf (or two, or more). “The lady next door closes her curtains when she sees him outside. She’s trying to cut down on carbs.”
