Recipe for Disaster

There were even two local TV stations there to film a few takes during the benefit, including interviews with Morgan, the restaurant owners, and Julia for broadcast that night and the next day.

It was a successful evening.

After the night was over and the funds were raised, the girls were excited to watch their mother on camera. They had 'helped' her some in her cookbook videos which turned out very cute. Marelys was still there and was included in several videos, also.

All during this time, the girls were growing closer to Hank, who was still working from the local factory with the occasional trip back to Pittsburgh, but with the summer over, he was no longer spending a few hours each day at the food bank. He was working full days at his 'office' in the factory and helping where he could with the cookbooks in the evening.

Morgan and Bill were there with the girls many nights, and they got along well with Marelys, who loved being around the girls. She was hoping that she would soon have two new grandbabies, but that was still some time off, even with Cat signing the divorce papers a month after receiving them.

Sunday night after Thanksgiving, which was one of Julia's rare nights off, she and Hank were sitting on his outdoor couch overlooking his backyard while sipping some wine after a long evening of putting the final polishes on the gravy cookbook, when Julia asked, "Hank, can I ask you a serious question?"

He smiled at her and replied, "Always."

She liked that answer and returned his smile though she didn't know if it would keep. She asked, "I appreciate everything that you are doing for the foodbank, Aunt Morgan, Eva, Tina, and Scott. Damn, that seems like a long list. But why are you working on me the way you are? I understand the first cookbook, I do. But the videos the night of the event and the second cookbook, I don't understand.

"You aren't trying to get me to be like Catalina, are you? Because I don't have any desire to go down that path, which I think you already know. So what are you doing?"

He had hoped to get a little further along before they had this discussion, but there was no avoiding it now.

"You trust me with your girls, don't you?"

"You know I do."

"Do you believe that I only want what's best for them in everything?"

"I do, and except for the summer camps, you've been really good about getting my input on those ideas."

"Julia, I only want to support you in whatever you want, and I want Amber and Bella to be happy. The only thing I could imagine making them happier would be their spending more time with you. Everything that we've done for the last couple of months involving you has been simply to give you more options."

She gave him a confused look and said, "More options? I don't understand."

"Even if you stopped right now, we could put out the gravy cookbook, and I think it would do well. But with your work with the food bank fundraiser, and with Scott's video and the TV station video, plus the books and videos for the two cookbooks, you are about to become a little better known around here, at least amongst the community that works with food. Instead of being the number two chef at one of Asheville's finer restaurants, people are going to actually know who you are. That gives you options.

"If you want to continue to cook at Malta, then you can. I think the owners have been quite pleased with your getting them the publicity from that night. So your star there is a little brighter, which is great. But given your education, experience, and now a little visibility, there are plenty of other businesses in Western North Carolina that might want a beautiful, skilled, and composed woman such as yourself to work with them.

"You could work as a specialty food buyer for one of the big restaurant groups or hospitality companies around here. Some of the restaurants here are starting to become well known through reputation alone but could probably use a good publicist. Biltmore and other big companies around here need directors of food operations. You could always teach at the community college, and I'm sure many other positions could use your talents.

"Which means that maybe, one day, should you choose to do so, you would have a day job, while the girls are in school and would be able to spend more time with the two people who think you are the most wonderful person on the planet. I tend to agree with them in that you are rather amazing."

"So, you're doing this for them?"

"I am."

"This isn't to fill some need that you have to see me become famous like Catalina."

"What? No. Not at all. Just for the girls...and you."

She paused a moment letting that sink in. Hank was plenty busy already. She knew that once the summer was over, he had used up a lot of his vacation and was working full days for his company and plenty of evenings helping whoever he could at night with either foodbank work, cookbook work, or something for the marketing company. And yet, as all this was going on, he was thinking about her girls and by extension, her.

She remembered their conversation from several months ago when she thought about him becoming 'unmarried.'

She snuggled into him and teased. "You aren't just trying to get to me through the girls, are you?"

While he thought he would enjoy 'getting to her,' he refrained from saying anything stupid at that moment.

"Nope. As tempting as that sounds, and it sounds very tempting, they are not tools to be used."

She thought, "good answer." Then asked, "What if I were interested in your trying to 'get to me' in some other fashion?"

He replied, "Then I would be very interested."

Julia stood in front of Hank and held out her glass of wine. She said, "Hold this," and proceeded to hand him her glass.

Confused, Hank now had a nearly empty glass in each hand. Julia moved in to sit on his lap and with two free hands, she kissed him passionately, allowing her hands to roam from his waist to his head.

Hank didn't resist. With her in his lap and his hands occupied by the wine glasses, there wasn't much he could do except enjoy and kiss her back. After a minute of that, she eased back and said, "You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

"Oh, really?"

"MmmHmm. You know my daughters love you, don't you?"

"I've hoped so, because I love them, too."

"Ever since Bella held your hand the first time we went hiking, I was intrigued; well, scared really. I wouldn't allow myself to consider a married man, but when they were snuggling next to you during the Pixar movie all those months ago, I was terribly envious, and that sight nearly brought a tear to my eye. I think it was then that I began to allow myself to even consider what Aunt Morgan has been pointing out to me since early this summer."

This time it was Hank that initiated the kiss. While she kissed him back, he gently tossed the wine glasses into the grass so that his hands would be free. He could feel her smile as she felt one hand on her ass and the other one gently caressing her upper body. Sitting in his lap, she had no difficulty feeling his excitement.

She broke the kiss and said, "You have a free bedroom. Why don't the girls and I sleep over tonight?"

"I like the way you think. Are you going to tell them you are sleeping in my bedroom?"

"Nope. You're sleeping on the couch. At least that's what we are going to tell them...for now."

"You're comfortable with all of our other guests knowing? I'm comfortable, but they aren't little girls."

"Comfortable? Hell, OUR guests are the ones that have been encouraging me...even Eva."

He smiled at that reply. "We have a good family."

She kissed him again and said, "MmmHmm. A great one."

When they went back inside, the girls were busy with their homework, and everyone else seemed busy with something. The TV wasn't even on. When Julia told the girls that they were going to be spending the night, they seemed very pleased. When Morgan got off the phone with Julia after being told she and the girls were spending the night, she gave Bill a high-five. All of their guests tried to pretend that nothing abnormal was happening, but they, too, were glad to see Hank and Julia coming together.

Once Julia had the girls settled in bed, they asked if Hank could come in and kiss them goodnight. Julia knew she was living dangerously. She wondered if she and Hank could really build a life together. But she knew that she was going to try. Watching her girls smile as he kissed them goodnight nearly made her swoon.

A little while later when they felt it was safe to enter his bedroom, Julia said, "You lock the door, and I'll set the alarm."

It was a glorious night together, without a lot of sleeping going on. The few hours they did sleep were next to each other.

At 5:30 am, the alarm went off, and Hank went to the couch, where he was met by Eva.

He asked, "What are you doing here?"

"I was just making sure that someone, me, you, or Nana was on the couch in the morning in case the girls woke up early."

He smiled at his daughter. That was his girl.

He asked, "You don't have a problem with me and Julia being together?"

"No. Dad. I really don't. This is probably going to sound terrible, but even if I could go back in time and 'fix' Mom so that she didn't abandon us emotionally, I have to wonder how far back in time I would have to go. Five years? Eight? Ten? I don't know, but I know it's a lot. It just makes me wonder why we weren't enough. It wasn't just you that she hurt. It was all of us.

"Then when I weigh those questions against how happy I see Amber and Bella, and even Nana...I wonder. Even with a magic time machine, knowing what I know, would I make the effort. I don't think I would. I've enjoyed these last few months tremendously. I don't like how we got here, but all of us being jumbled together working on the things we've been working on...I wouldn't trade that for anything. I feel sad for you and Mom, and to some degree for Nana, but all of us here are going to be fine. I hope you and Julia work out. Everyone does."

"Thanks, Baby. That helps me to hear that."

Since they were up, they went to the kitchen to make breakfast, because the girls would need to get up to go to their house to get ready for school.

Either the smells or the sounds from the kitchen began waking up the house. Marelys was the first to enter the kitchen area followed by Julia, who walked up to Hank and gave him a long hug and kiss on the neck. Though unintentional, she timed it perfectly so that Amber saw her. Amber grinned and trotted over to Hank and gave him a long hug and kiss on the cheek, then she did the same for her mom.

Julia saw Amber's smile and knew things were going to be okay. Marelys thought so, too.

After Julia and the girls left, Marelys said, "Hank, I'm going back to Spain. I don't know how long I'll be there, a few days or a few weeks, but I AM coming back. I need to check on my wayward daughter. She's been working from there, and I need to make some decisions about my place and my things. I don't approve of her behavior over the last couple of years, and especially last summer, but she is my daughter. I hope you understand."

"Mom, there's nothing to understand. You do what you need to do. I told you that you have a place here, always. So, promise me that you won't be gone too long. All of us, including your new granddaughters, will miss you."

"And I'll miss them. When Cat was little, I felt like a mother hen with one chick to look over. Now, I still feel like a mother hen, but my number has grown to include you and my new family. I'll always love my first chick, but I love all of my others just as much. You don't have grandchildren yet so I'm not sure you understand, but I need to do this."

"I think I do, some. Oh, just so you know, Mom, that first-floor guest suite that you've been staying in? It's yours. This house...is yours. Don't worry about living anywhere but here, okay? We want and need you back."

"I know and thank you. I want to be here, too. When Samuel was alive, I didn't mind the distance between our families as much. I missed all of you, but I had him. I wish I had moved closer years ago, but honestly, at the time, Catalina was so busy that I didn't want to interfere. I see that was a mistake now. I won't miss watching these grandbabies growing up. I'll be back soon, either before or right after Christmas."

____________

Marelys did return to Spain and tried to spend time with Cat, who was very busy building her new show with Lorenzo. It was going well, but she didn't have a lot of time for her mother. Marelys never warmed up to Lorenzo, but she was at least cordial to him because she knew that her daughter needed this show to do well. It needed to do well, because while the episodes of her Barcelona show proved to be EXTREMELY popular on the stations for which they were scheduled, thanks to the publicity of a topless Catalina, her old sponsors were not eager to renew her programing. Consequently, she needed her new show to succeed.

Cat was stunned to learn that her mother planned to sell her apartment. Marelys would get a good price and be able to bank enough that if she ever wanted to visit her hometown, she could just rent a nice place for weeks or months at a time. She would reserve enough money for her to be buried in Spain, next to Samuel, but she intended to live in the United States, with her family. It would take time to make the immigration paperwork happen, but it would happen eventually.

Cat asked, "Why didn't you move there sooner, while I was in Pittsburgh?"

"Your father only passed away five years ago. It took me a while to get over that. Also, in the last few years, it isn't like I would have seen much of you anyway. Would I?"

That irritated Cat, not because it wasn't true, but because it was.

Cat wouldn't let it go, though. "So, now. I'm here and you're moving there. If you stayed, at least you could spend some time with me."

"Dear, I do love you. I do. But I could stay here hoping to see you a few hours each week, or each month, while you are distracted by whatever you have going on, or I could live there and see most of my family every single day. Know this; I haven't eaten breakfast or dinner alone in months. Months! I won't go back to missing my family when I can be with them all the time."

"But I'm your family!!"

"You are part of my family, who is too busy right now to spend quality time with me. Let me know when you have less going on, and I'll come to spend as much time with you as you can give me."

"That may not happen for seven or eight months."

"Which is exactly why I'm going back to Asheville until your schedule calms down."

Marelys knew that seven or eight months could easily turn into seventeen or eighteen. She asked Cat, "Are you taking any time off for Christmas?"

"Lorenzo and I are taping a Christmas show, and we've been asked to host a Children's Hospital event on Christmas Eve."

Marelys nodded her head. Just as she suspected. She could stick around to spend a Christmas afternoon with a distracted Catalina, or she could spend a glorious week with her family in Asheville that would be on vacation the week before Christmas, and another one with all of them after Christmas. That was a fairly easy decision.

_____________

When Marelys returned, she brought several boxes of her favorite things with her. When she showed them to Hank, he knew what they needed to do. She had a small case of ornaments, and Hank brought them out for Amber and Bella to help Marelys put them on the tree. Marelys was beaming when they finished.

On Christmas day, Julia and the girls woke up and spent the morning at Morgan and Bill's, but then all of them went to Hank's for a big lunch and to open presents there.

Before they returned to Morgan's house, Hank said to Julia, "I hope that next year you and the girls are waking up here."

She replied, "I'd like that."

For the girls, it was beginning to feel like home, too.

_________________

While Cat clearly burnt her bridges with her family, she sunk the boats to her Pittsburgh area sponsors. It would have been useless to put forth the effort to rebuild those sponsor relationships and decided to go where the money was readily available, which was Lorenzo and his villa projects, effectively abandoning her Pittsburgh base. They quickly pulled together a Spain-based crew and started filming with a Spanish audience in mind.

Lorenzo, already extremely popular in Spain from his soccer (futball) career, was a hit next to Catalina, a hometown, or home-country-girl, returning home. They had good screen chemistry and their show quickly morphed from just a few episodes to a small production company that developed episodes for NBCUniversal in Spain. It did so well, that NBCUniversal wanted them to manage and appear in several different shows that would be broadcast across many of NBCUniversal's Spanish networks, in addition to their network in Spain. Telemundo in America and Central and South America were included.

They even asked Cat to do a show where she was allowed to guest cook with many chefs in Spain's Michelin-starred restaurants. While she had fun with Lorenzo, and that show made them a lot of money, cooking with those brilliant chefs was her favorite.

So not only did Cat get her show, but she got several and the money that came with it. Even splitting it with Lorenzo, she made what she would have earned from a top show in a US-based network...for a while.

Even though she and Lorenzo had great chemistry, there were not destined to be a couple. Why? He wanted a family, and at nearly fifty, Cat wasn't about to give him one. His ex-fiancé burnt down his mansion upon seeing the pictures of him and Cat. Her father happening to be the governor of the Spanish province where the arson occurred, limited any fallout.

But Lorenzo wasn't getting any younger, so he found and married a gorgeous woman that could give him what he wanted. That changed the chemistry of the shows with Cat because the sexual tension died off almost immediately since his new wife forced him to sign an extremely punitive prenup. As a result, their show kind of died off, forcing Cat to develop something new. No longer did she have the easy-to-produce shows along the Spanish coast, but she was doing more cooking-travel shows in the countries where she had quickly become popular. The contracts were still lucrative, but the extensive travel was hard.

She eventually moved to the capital of Latin America, Miami, where she was considered a celebrity, but by then she was hoping to be considered more for her talents and experience. Given her age, she had become that Mamacita. It was one thing to use her looks and figure to build her career and cachet, but trying to maintain it in Miami, amongst so many beautiful people was a challenge.

Having always had a lush body, it was harder for her to stand out amongst the young bodies in Miami. She was always worried about her weight, firmness, and age, even though she really didn't have anything to worry about.

After a couple of years of this, she had plenty of money in the bank and no shortage of men that wanted to share her bed, but she was terribly lonely, even the few times when she was in bed with someone.

Eva and Eric would fly down and spend a week each year with her. Marelys would usually try to spend two or three. With Cat's heavy travel schedule, it was the best any of them could arrange.

After moving to Miami, Cat had a lot of time to remanence alone. Marelys, during one of her visits, encouraged Cat to rewatch those first few episodes from the filming that made Hank look bad. They did it together. The combination of missing Hank, missing her family, and seeing those episodes with fresh eyes meant that by the end of the third episode that they watched, Cat had tears streaming down her face.