Welcome, Judythe! I'm so happy you’re here to dish the pie with me! The first question I always ask my guests is: Do you like desserts?
Judythe: I love dessert. In my opinion, no meal is complete without a taste of something sweet.
Monique: I’m right there with you. In fact, I’d happily pass on the meal and just eat the dessert! What is your favourite dessert?
Judythe: My favourite dessert around the holidays is Chocolate Chess Pie—sweet and chocolatey. The perfect mix.
Monique: I’ve never heard of chess pie. Would you share the recipe with us?
Judythe: It’s a special recipe handed down from my grandmother, written on a small tablet. Every year during the holidays, chess pie is on the menu around our house. And there’s never any leftovers.
Here’s my grandmother’s recipe:
In case you can’t read the handwriting:
Ingredients
Chocolate Chess Pie
½ stick (4 Tablespoons) of oleo, melted
3 ½ Tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs beaten
5 oz of evaporated milk [half a large can]
Pinch of salt
Directions
Mix sugar, cocoa, milk and blend with melted oleo. Pour into unbaked pie shell.
Monique: A nice, easy dessert. Have you ever eaten pie for breakfast?
Judythe: I don’t remember eating pie for breakfast.
Monique: What’s your favourite food?
Judythe: My favorite food—not sure I have one, except I never pass up potatoes cooked any way, especially Irish Colcannon potatoes.
Monique: Ah, you’re a potato girl. Are you married?
Judythe: I was a teenage bride.
Monique: Snap! So was I. How did you meet your husband? How long have you been together?
Judythe: The summer before I went to high school, I met my husband at the local supermarket where my mother shopped. He worked a cash register. Turned out we went to the same high school, and one day he met me at my locker wearing a yellow plaid shirt and a big smile that I can still see. To wear a yellow shirt back in our day was gutsy, and that smile melted my heart. I knew he was the one.
A short time later, he asked me out, and three children, eleven grandchildren, four great-grandchildren, and nine granddogs later, we’re still together.
He's the reason I write romance. I know love works.
Monique: Awww, what a sweet story. What do you love most about your husband?
Judythe: I love his smile. It hooked me all those years ago. My heart still melts when he smiles at me.
Monique: A true happily-ever-after romance. Where would you be more at home? The countryside, suburbia, the city, or beach?
Judythe: Being a military brat, then an Army wife, I learned to plant roots wherever I landed. Not counting military quarters, I’ve lived in sixteen different homes, including one in South Korea. Some homes were on the urban East Coast. Others in the south. We settled in a small town called Rosehill in Texas.
Every place I lived, whether for years or weeks or months, felt like home. One of my favorites was our cabin in the Rocky Mountain National Forest, sheltered far away from society with the bears, coyotes, turkeys, etc. Peaceful and quiet—it made for great writing time.
Monique: Sounds bliss, Judythe. Would you tell us about The Iron Bed?
The Iron Bed
The man walking with Nicole was not the Travis Taylor Eden remembered. Splashes of gray peeped through his thick, brown hair. His athletic body, outlined by the black polo, projected authority that the younger man she’d met on her visits to Texas with Clay hadn’t. Smoky gray eyes locked magnetically with hers.
“I’m sure you two remember one another,” Nicole said.
A slow, easy Texas smile lifted his lips as he reached out and captured her hand with a warm, firm grip. “Glad to see you again, Eden. Sorry to hear about your husband.”
“Thank you, and nice to see you again.” Long forgotten sensations shimmed up Eden’s arm at his touch.
Nicole’s voice broke her trance. “If I’d known that you’d be interested in one of these homes, I’d have brought you out sooner.”
“It’s a hard place to resist. The trees and foliage remind me of Connecticut. Max’ll love it too.”
Travis raised an eyebrow. “Max?”
“Her dog. An Old English sheepdog about the size of a small horse,” Nicole answered.
“Aren’t they mostly hair?” The sales manager asked.
“Mostly.” Eden chuckled.
Travis sent the salesman off to help another couple.
Nicole hugged Eden and flashed a thumbs-up to Travis. “Good luck. I’m heading back to the model.”
Travis guided Eden toward his office, where he pulled up the site map. After choosing a few plots, they walked around each lot. Eden selected one. They returned to his office where Travis went through the contract with her, promising priority handling for quick occupancy. She was signing the contract when Nicole reappeared.
“You found something?”
“I did. A corner lot with yard space for Max.”
Nicole looped her arm around Eden’s shoulders and squeezed. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Travis thinks he can have it ready in three or four months.”
“If the weather and deliveries cooperate,” he emphasized.
“Then we’ll all pray for clear skies and on-time deliveries. Let’s head to Sandy’s and celebrate,” Nicole said.
“Sounds great to me,” Travis answered. “I can meet you there.”
Eden hesitated. “Wait. The Larson’s party—I promised your mom.”
“I already called and told her what was going on. She’s fine with it. You know you didn’t want to go to that thing anyway. Sandy’s will be lots more fun.”
Eden ground her back teeth. She wouldn’t start an argument here in front of Travis. Later, she’d speak to Nicole about making decisions for her without checking first. “Alright. Let’s go.”
*
Sitting at the picnic tables behind the 1950s-style drive-in diner on Austin’s Town Lake, Travis served up milkshakes, hamburgers the size of dessert plates, and crispy French fries. Taking the last shake for himself, he raised it. “To Eden’s new home.”
“Hear, hear.” Nicole tapped her paper cup to his.
Smiling, Eden lifted her cup to theirs. “My new home.”
While Nicole and Eden discussed interior flooring, Travis studied Eden. Nicole had described her aura of melancholy like Pigpen’s black cloud perfectly. Relaxed as she was now, he saw a soft, feminine side. A side worth exploring. Nicole’s idea to liberate Eden Hill from her self-imposed exile might be the best project the two of them ever partnered on.
Especially since Nicole told him Eden wasn’t any more interested in a long-term relationship than he was.
“No tile. Has to be wood,” Eden said.
“Carpet?”
“Not with Max. I’d be cleaning all the time.”
“So, hire a maid,” Nicole countered.
Travis leaned in, a playful grin tugging at his lips. “Whoa, you two always argue like this?”
“Only when she won’t listen.” Nicole gave Eden a playful punch.
“You know, she uses the same tactics with me. What do you say we gang up on her? Two against one.”
Eden extended her hand. “You got a deal.”
He brushed his thumb across the back of her hand. Her skin soft to his calloused thumb.
His cell phone vibrated. Glancing at the number, he stood. “I have to take this. I’ll have a crew at your site first thing tomorrow morning.”
Eden watched his retreat, her pulse still racing from his touch. Her gaze shifted to Nicole’s amused grin. “What?”
“Nothing.” Nicole dipped a French fry in her ketchup cup. “He never remarried, you know.”
Eden took a deep breath. “I’m not interested.”
“You two would be great together.” Nicole popped the fry in her mouth.
“Never.” Eden sipped the last of her milkshake with a deliberate slurping sound.
Nicole winked. “You know what they say about ‘never’.”
