Recipe for Disaster

"Thank you. I appreciate your calling. Truly."

"Anytime."

As Hank walked into the building, he was sorely reminded why he was working from Asheville. Thank God for the foodbank and those two girls to distract him from his real life. He dreaded the thought of living in Pittsburgh if Cat was going to be there. Then again, even if she became a celebrity and moved to New York, it could still suck being the former Mr. Catalina Nieves.

He could just hear the guys saying, "You walked away from THAT?" Yep. Any self-respecting man would.

_______________

That afternoon, before the girls arrived at the food bank, he decided to bite the bullet and call Cat. It was 8:00 pm in Barcelona, so not too late. It would be the first time that he tried to call her in several weeks. She called him while he was in Singapore, to try to get him to change his mind and meet her in Barcelona. He didn't budge, which pissed her off royally. She used the phrase, "insolent child." He wondered what he would get today.

Her phone rang and rang, but she never picked up. He left her a voicemail, "I just wanted to see how you are doing. Call me back if you have a minute."

He wondered if she were visiting her mother who lived there in Barcelona. He had always liked Marelys Nieves. She was a sweet, though occasionally spicy lady and had been good to him. He pulled up his find-my-friends app to see if she was at her mother's nice apartment. She wasn't. She was in downtown Barcelona in the shopping district. Oh well.

The girls were happy with their drinks and thanked him again for taking them fishing. Morgan thought that one more fishing trip and they would have enough for a big fish fry. He was looking forward to that.

________________

When he woke the next morning, he had a text from Cat saying, "Sorry I missed U. Sheila and I were shopping for things we need for the show."

He suspected that she wasn't really sorry to have missed him. He sighed. This is what he suspected. He had forced her to choose, and it looks like she'd chosen.

___________

Early the following week, while working at the food bank, and thinking about his upcoming evening, he thought it was time to at least meet the girls' mother.

He asked, "How would all of you like to dine at your mother's restaurant tonight? My treat."

This surprised all of them, because they had been there many times, but had never eaten anything more than a dessert there.

Morgan said, "Hank, are you sure? I'm guessing that you can afford it, but it's kind of a posh place. I don't want to put you out."

"I appreciate your concern, but don't worry about that. Besides, I'd like for Amber and Bella's mom to see that I'm not an axe murderer."

At the mention of his meeting their mom, both Amber and Bella peeked up from their devices.

Morgan said, "Oh, don't worry about that. I don't think she's quite figured you out yet, but she knows who you are. You'd be surprised by what's available on the internet, Mr. Henry Reed, CFO, CMA, CPA, and MBA of Pittsburgh."

Hank nodded. "I hope you don't think I was trying to hide anything."

"Nope. I don't think that at all. I've appreciated your help and your company's donations around here over the years, and my family appreciates the things you've done for the girls. For the moment, your story doesn't need to be told, though I hope one day you will tell us."

"I appreciate that, and...and, I will. I'll know more in a few weeks."

Bella asked, "What do all those letters mean?"

Morgan said, "It means he's important."

Hank scoffed, "No. It only means that I went to school for a long time and passed a bunch of exams. Morgan, don't make it out to mean more than it does. All of that is related to what I do. It's not who I am. I think people often confuse what they do with who they are. I work to provide for my family. That's all."

"Well, the work you do here is appreciated by a lot of families. I hope you'll continue."

"Thanks. My company likes supporting this organization, and I like doing it, too."

____________

That evening, Hank was outside of Malta, one of Asheville's newer and finer restaurants. He had investigated it several times since meeting the girls and was anticipating an enjoyable dinner. It was in an old downtown Asheville building, but instead of redecorating rustically, it was decorated brightly with lofty ceilings, bright colors, and plenty of whites, blues, and Maltese tiles adorning portions of the walls.

As the name implies, the restaurant serves Mediterranean fare. With Malta being smack in the middle of the Med, the restaurant used that to serve offerings from each country that touched the Med, and a small portion of its menu rotated each month to feature a different country. This month's featured country was Greece.

When Morgan and Bill arrived with the girls, they were all dressed for the occasion. Bill had on jeans with a sport coat. Hank was wearing a blazer over his khakis. The ladies were all wearing nice dresses, and Morgan had styled the girls' hair.

Once seated, the girls were squirming from their excitement, and it took a while for them to calm down. Bella told the waitress, "Our Momma works here." Hank expected that would bring her out soon...and it did.

It was easy to spot her as she approached. There couldn't be that many cooks, nor chefs, wearing a toque approaching their table, and he could spot some of the girls' features on her face. She wasn't a raving beauty, but she was attractive, even if she was wearing a chef's uniform which hid everything.

As she got closer Hank stood, followed by Bill, who had been poked by Morgan to stand also. Julia smiled as she approached, seeing both men standing for her.

"Hi. I'm Julia. You must be Hank. I'm pleased to meet you."

"The pleasure is mine, Julia."

"Thank you for bringing everyone. I think this is the first time they've all eaten here together."

"Happy to do it. I just wanted you to see me since I'm spending so much time around your family. This seemed like a good opportunity for that."

"I'm glad you did. I know the girls have really enjoyed this summer, and Aunt Morgan has appreciated your help at the food bank."

"Being there and around them has been good for me, too."

She paused just a second to digest that phrase. They chatted for a few minutes, and even though it was early on a Wednesday evening, the restaurant was beginning to fill, and Julia needed to get back to the kitchen. Before she left, Hank took a picture of her with her family.

Morgan said, "send that to me, please."

He did.

With his mission accomplished, Hank sat back and enjoyed his dinner. Everyone seemed to have a pleasant time, and the food was marvelous. Before they left, Julia came back out and thanked them for coming, kissed her girls, and thanked Hank for treating them. She shook his hand before they turned to leave. Hank could see the girls looking over their shoulders grinning at their mother as Morgan shepherded them out.

_______________

Chapter 2

Later that week Hank took an afternoon to take Morgan and the girls to a waterpark. Morgan stayed under an umbrella wearing her hat and shades and monitored their belongings. Hank rode all the rides with the girls, and they were thoroughly soaked early and often. The girls had an exciting time and fell asleep in the SUV on the way back to the food bank where he helped get them into Morgan's car, and she drove them home.

On the drive back, Morgan and Hank had made plans for another fishing excursion the next week and for a fish fry the following Sunday, a night when Julia wasn't planning on working.

The only text Hank received recently from Barcelona was from Marelys, Cat's mom. All it said was, "You are missed. I wish you were here."

He texted, "Miss you, too."

"It isn't just me that misses you, but she'll never admit it."

"That's why I'm not there. Love you."

She gave him a sad emoji and texted, "Love you too. Come visit me, no matter what."

He replied, "Will do. You're always welcome here with me. You can stay for as long as you want."

He chuckled when the sixty-nine-year-old woman sent him a smiley emoji and replied, "Careful, I may take you up on that."

That night he called his son Eric, who was still in college. Eric knew that Hank had been busy traveling, and he had been busy studying. They talked for a few minutes about how things were in Pittsburgh and Asheville.

Hank was about to hang up when Eric asked, "Dad, have you heard from Mom? She hasn't called me. I was wondering if you knew how her shoot in Spain was going."

"I tried to call her, but she didn't pick up. She sent me a text apologizing. I talked to Tina and Scott for a few minutes last week. They were very busy with the filming."

"She hardly has time for us anymore. Do you think we did something wrong to drive her away?"

Hank shook his head. "No. I don't. She's so focused on trying to become a food celebrity, that she's not bothered to look over her shoulder at her family recently. At least, that's what I think. I had hoped my not going with her to Spain would be a wake-up. Clearly, it wasn't."

"It surprised me and Eva. It worries us, too."

"Have you tried to call her?"

"Once. Like you. No reply except for a text."

"You may want to try again, but I wouldn't lose any sleep over it if I were you. She knows that she has a family that loves her. We cannot make her want to spend time with us."

Eric replied, "I feel the same way."

"Love you, son."

"We love you too, Dad."

Hank shook his head after he hung up the phone. Even if she didn't wind up all alone, he wondered if Cat would recognize what she gave up in the process. Would she even care?

_________________

Fishing was on the following Tuesday, and while they didn't catch as many as on the previous trip, they had a lot of fun. Once again Hank ordered food to be delivered to them. This time the girls wanted pizza. With the fish not biting as often, the girls were more interested in the pizza than the fish.

Later, Morgan and Julia came to pick up the girls. She shook Scott's hand and told him to come hungry for the fish fry that was planned for Sunday night. It was the first time he had seen Julia's hair and in normal clothes. It affirmed what he had suspected, which was that she was an attractive woman. Few people would think she was as attractive as the brunette bombshell Catalina, but her shoulder-length mahogany hair was very pretty, and her green eyes sparkled. She didn't show a lot of teeth when she smiled, but it was a lovely smile that could charm her girls when she did. It had a nice effect on Hank, too.

He asked, "Julia since it seems like you aren't working this Sunday, would you be interested in taking the girls for a short hike that morning?"

He could see her thinking through the request, and replied, "I think they would like that. Why don't you come over early and eat breakfast with us and we'll leave afterwards?"

"Sounds good."

___________

Hank talked to Eva, his daughter, during the week, and their conversation was similar to that with his son. She was busy with her job and for the last year had been enjoying the independence of earning her own way. She was planning on spending Labor Day with him, whether that was in Pittsburgh or Asheville. That pleased him considerably. He told her to plan on Asheville.

Late Saturday afternoon, he received another Skype request from Scott and Tina.

Hank answered, "Hey, how's it going. Did you start cooking on time?"

It was Scott, "We did, but it has been a struggle the entire time. Not much sleep this week. Leading up to these four weeks of shooting, every single shoot that we had planned revolved around her shopping at specific markets or cooking in this new kitchen. Everything was all planned out.

"Felicia is pushing for some shots of her shopping at several unplanned kitchen stores, fashion stores, and on the beach. We aren't even geared up for that. We don't have the right equipment. It's going to take time that we don't have to prepare. I don't even know if I can find a gimble for our cameras to create the steady walking shots they want. The queen's response to all of this was, 'figure it out and get it done.' She isn't going to like the bill for this."

Hank laughed, "Hey, I've seen your contract with her. She's required to cover your expenses. I'd just go get or order what you need and not worry about it."

"I know. It's just frustrating. If you were here, you could help talk her out of some of these things. Or worst-case scenario, you could go to the beach to help scout a place to shoot and give me a heads up on how to plan for it. That would save me the time to have to do it."

"Sorry, Scott. She's not listening to me anymore, either. She won't even answer my calls."

Tina said, "Speaking of that, there's something we need to talk about with you. We don't want to burden you, but we think you need to know."

"Uh-oh. What's going on?"

Tina continued, "Some soccer asshole has been coming by every day this week. He's from the local soccer team, so he's a big deal around here. It's probably hard for you to imagine, but that team is likely as popular as the Steelers and Penguins combined. Cat said having him on the show could help her in Barcelona.

"She and the guy are flirting. Nothing shameless, yet. Scott and I are not happy. Each of us is biting our tongue, but we're worried. I don't know if you've been following her social media posts, but it appears that she met him and half the FC Barcelona soccer team while out clubbing last weekend with Felicia and Sheila. She posted about it."

"No. I've been intentionally not watching what she's doing. The only thing I want from her is an apology and for her to come home. Since it doesn't look like either of those is happening soon, I'm focused on what is going on here."

"That's probably smart," Tina replied.

"I told her this separation would turn into a divorce in an instant if she uses it as an excuse to sample someone else."

Scott said, "We understand. Her mom's been here every day. Felicia and Sheila clearly don't like that, but they are at least smart enough to keep their mouths shut. Ha! It's funny. Cat and the soccer guy speak platonically in English when her mother is around but speak in Spanish when she's not. I guess she doesn't realize that Tina can understand them. Trust me, the conversations are much flirtier in Spanish."

"Thank God for Marelys. Though I shouldn't have to rely on my mother-in-law to save my marriage. No. I think we are just about done."

"We're sorry to bring you sad news, Hank, but we thought you should know."

"You're great friends and are appreciated. If I can ever do anything for you, just let me know."

"Well, if we quit, we may have to take you up on that for a month or so."

"You're always welcome wherever I am."

"Thanks, Hank. Take care of yourself."

"You too."

Hank pondered that conversation for a few minutes and decided to go for a run to burn some calories and frustration.

He shook his head in bewilderment, though he wouldn't allow himself to feel surprised that it came to this. Disappointed? Yes. Surprised? No.

Once out of the house and onto the road, he still remembered the conversation he had with Cat as if it had just occurred. Of course, this was probably the tenth time he would replay it in his mind. He hoped it would be his last replay, though it probably wouldn't.

_____________

Eight weeks ago.

Catalina had been spending more and more time in New York at the request of Sheila, her agent. He couldn't blame her because that was where many of the network executives worked. Cat and Sheila had been trying for months to get into their offices to try and persuade them to give Cat a show of her own. It truly seemed like she was on the verge of getting a deal with one of the main cable networks for that type of programming, but she was gone a lot.

Also, she never apologized for embarrassing him a year ago during and after their last four-week shoot in Madrid, Spain. Similar to this year, they had found an apartment that needed renovating. He and Cat worked with Sheila and Felica to have the place scoped out and prepped for renovating during the first two weeks and then for the cooking show that would be filmed in the final two weeks.

They developed sixteen episodes out of four weeks of shooting. It was their fourth time doing something like that, their first time overseas, and the first time with Sheila and Felicia. She and Hank flew in a few days early, hoping to relax and do a little sightseeing. When they checked on the apartment, it was not ready for a TV production to take place. Cat and Hank began making calls and doing what they could to ensure that by the time Scott and Tina arrived, along with the local contractors, they would be ready. When everyone showed up on the first day of shooting, there were still a lot of questions. Hank, trying to help, was often working with the contractors, alongside, Cat.

Unfortunately, Hank's Spanish was barely passable, so he had to repeat himself or the contractors would have to repeat themselves frequently. Sheila or Felicia had the episodes edited in such a way that for the first six episodes, it made Hank look like he was nearly clueless. Scott and Tina were not editing those episodes, like they did in the past, and had no idea Hank was about to be blindsided.

By the end of the sixth episode airing on TV, Hank was furious. People at Hank's work were stunned because they all knew him to be exceptionally bright. He was third in command over a $3.5 billion global company. Several of the sponsors were surprised also because they had known Cat and Hank for years.

The show looked incredibly good. The apartment and especially the kitchen turned out great. The cooking shows and visits to the local markets were colorful, entertaining, and well-received. Nobody could understand why Hank was made to be the punchline for the first several episodes.

Hank and Cat had a big blowup over it. She said, "Felicia and Sheila were just trying to add some comedy to the show." Followed by, "Everyone that knows you understands that you aren't really like that. It's reality television. Everyone knows it's scripted and that you were just acting."

He growled back at his wife, "Do you know how many phone calls I've received from family, friends, or coworkers that have asked me if you and I are getting a divorce? That is the only thing in their minds that makes sense of how I was portrayed. Other than having an affair, they struggle to think of a reason why you would hate me so much. I'm not making that up. It's what people are asking me."

"Oh, lighten up, Francis. Nobody believes that. They all know how much I love you."

"I guess they do. Your show proved that to them on the first six episodes."

That gave her pause.

She said, "I keep telling you that everyone knows that reality television isn't real. They'll forget about it in no time. The last several episodes were some of my best. They rated very highly and are attracting national attention."

Hank said, "I thought I knew you, Cat. I trusted you to protect me as I would protect you. While it may not have been intentional, it's clear that I don't rate high enough for you to defend. I swear to God if I thought you were intentionally trying to hurt me, I'd file for divorce right now.

Rather than shocked, she looked irritated at that statement.

"You've got to be kidding me. We've spent thirteen years slowly, grindingly, building this career, together, and at the first sign that someone giggles over something you did you're threatening to walk out on me? Fine, go ahead. You make a nice salary, but I make as much as you do now, so it won't be me that's losing out."