Page 66 of Bringing Home the Bacon
“I wrote a book!” She happily pats the bound papers in her hands.
“What?” I say in wonder.
"It’s a children’s book—a picture book—so it’s short. But it’s definitely a book! Oh my god, I wrote a book!”
She melts into my arms for a happy hug, pressing the papers between us.
I hold her close, still very confused. “When did you—How did you—Why didn’t you tell me?”
“For the past six weeks, I’ve been working on it during every lunch break and free period. I didn’t tell you because I wasn’t sure I could do it. I’ve always wanted to be a writer, but I never let myself. Until now.” She pulls back from the hug enough to look into my eyes. “You inspired me. I got a little nudge from Gran too.”
“How did I inspire you?” I chuckle. “I’ve never written a damn thing.”
“Maybe not, but you’ve been in constant creative mode since you decided to stay in Fork Lick. You’re so lit up launching your restaurant. You found the perfect location. You’re experimenting with dishes. You helped design the layout of the space.” She shrugs. “Seeing that fire in you made me think… well, maybe there’s a fire in me too.”
“Oh, there’s a fire in you, alright.” I dive into her neck and cover her in kisses.
“Bay-CAHN.” She giggles. “I’m at work.”
“I was wondering when you were going to call me Bay-CAHN again.” I land one more kiss, this time on her smiling lips. “Well? Let me see this thing.” I reach for the papers.
She takes a step back, holding them out of my immediate reach. “You can’t see it yet.”
My eyebrows furrow. “A moment ago, didn’t you literally say ‘Can I show you something’?”
“I did. But I think I want you to wait until it’s the real thing. I just printed these pages out on my own so I could feel them in my hands. The illustrations still need to be finalized and?—”
“There are illustrations?”
“Of course!” she says. “It’s a children’s book! I reached out to an old friend from Vassar who works as an editor now. She taught me some of the basics of self-publishing, then connected me with this great illustrator, and it all sort of clicked. I mean, I obviously still have a lot to learn, but I’m really excited about everything.”
“Amazing. What’s the story about?”
She winces. “I think…”
“…you want me to wait until it’s the real thing,” I finish her sentence for her.
“Is that okay?”
“Of course it’s okay. I love surprises. Surprise babies, surprise books… it’s all very exciting. Who knows, maybe your book will hit it big and be the answer to Bedd Fellows’ money troubles.”
“Dare to dream.” She sighs and tucks the manuscript safely in her desk drawer. “In the meantime, though, I like your idea. About the family cooking classes.”
“You do?”
“Yeah.” She smiles and grabs her purse. “I think we would make a pretty great team.”
“We already do.” I wrap an arm around her. “What do you say? Should we go check out our new digs? I don’t know about you, but I’m getting a little bit tired of sneaking around behind Gran’s back to get alone time with you. And speaking of backs, mine is killing me from six weeks on that air mattress. A brand-new king-sized bed with our name on it is being delivered to the new space as we speak.”
“Oooh, sounds delightful.” She flicks off the light switch as we exit the classroom together. “There is one more serious topic we need to discuss before we take any more big life steps together, though.”
I take a deep breath and brace myself for the worst. “What is it?”
“A few minutes ago, did you call our unborn children bacon bits?”
“I did. What do you think?”
“I’m not sure how I feel about it for our children.” She laughs. “But it would make an excellent name for a restaurant.”
