Sherryl Woods - A Slice of Heaven

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Epilogue

Coming Next Month

T he smell of burning toast caught Dana Sues attention just before the smoke detector went off. Snatching the charred bread from the toaster, she tossed it into the sink, then grabbed a towel and waved it at the shrieking alarm to disperse the smoke. At last the overly sensitive thing fell silent.

Mom, what on earth is going on in here? Annie demanded, standing in the kitchen doorway, her nose wrinkling at the aroma of burnt toast. She was dressed for school in jeans that hung on her too-thin frame and a scoop-neck T-shirt that revealed pale skin stretched taut over protruding collarbones.

Restraining the desire to comment on the evidence that Annie had lost more weight, Dana Sue regarded her teenager with a chagrined expression. Take a guess.

You burned the toast again, Annie said, a grin spreading across her face, relieving the gauntness ever so slightly. Some chef you are. If I ratted you out about this, no one would ever come to Sullivans to eat again.

Which is why we dont serve breakfast and why youre sworn to secrecy, unless you expect to be grounded, phone-less and disconnected from your e-mail till you hit thirty, Dana Sue told her, not entirely in jest. Sullivans had been a huge success from the moment shed opened the restaurants doors. Word-of-mouth raves had spread through the entire region. Even Charlestons top restaurant-and-food critic had hailed it for its innovative Southern dishes. Dana Sue didnt need her sassy kid ruining that with word of her culinary disasters at home.

Why were you making toast, anyway? You dont eat it, Annie said, filling a glass with water and taking a tiny sip before dumping the rest down the drain.

I was fixing you breakfast, Dana Sue said, pulling a plate with a fluffy omelet from the oven, where shed kept it warm. Shed added low-fat cheese and finely shredded red and green sweet peppers, just the way Annie had always liked it. The omelet was perfect, a vision suitable for the cover of any gourmet magazine.

Annie looked at the food with a repugnant expression most people reserved for roadkill. I dont think so.

Sit, Dana Sue ordered, losing patience with the too-familiar reaction. You have to eat. Breakfast is the most important meal, especially on a school day. Think of the protein as brain power. Besides, I dragged myself out of bed to fix it for you, so youre going to eat it.

Annie, her beautiful sixteen-year-old, regarded her with one of those Mother! Not again looks, but at least she sat down at the table. Dana Sue sat across from her, holding her mug of black coffee as if it were liquid gold. After a late night at the restaurant, she needed all the caffeine she could get first thing in the morning to be alert enough to deal with Annies quick-thinking evasiveness.

How was your first day back at school? Dana Sue asked.

Annie shrugged.

Do you have any classes with Ty this year? For as long as Dana Sue could remember, Annie had harbored a crush on Tyler Townsend, whose mom was one of Dana Sues best friends and most recently a business partner at The Corner Spa, Serenitys new fitness club for women.

Mom, hes a senior. Im a junior, Annie explained with exaggerated patience. We dont have any of the same classes.

Too bad, Dana Sue said, meaning it. Ty had gone through some issues of his own since his dad had walked out on Maddie, but hed always been a good sounding board for Annie, the way a big brother or best friend would be. Not that Annie appreciated the value of that. She wanted Ty to notice her as a girl, as someone hed be interested in dating. So far, though, Ty was oblivious.

Dana Sue studied Annies sullen expression and tried again, determined to find some way to connect with the child who was slipping away too fast. Do you like your teachers?

They talk. I listen. Whats to like?

Dana Sue bit back a sigh. A few short years ago, Annie had been a little chatterbox. There hadnt been a detail of her day she hadnt wanted to share with her mom and dad. Of course, ever since Ronnie had cheated on Dana Sue and shed thrown him out two years ago, everything had changed. Annies adoration for her father had been destroyed, just as Dana Sues heart had been broken. For a long time after the divorce, silence had fallen in the Sullivan household, with neither of them wanting to talk about the one thing that really mattered.

Mom, I have to go or Ill be late. A glance at the clock had Annie bouncing up eagerly.

Dana Sue looked at the untouched plate of food. You havent eaten a bite of that.

Sorry. It looks fantastic, but Im not hungry. See you tonight. She brushed a kiss across Dana Sues cheek and took off, leaving behind the no longer perfect omelet and a whiff of perfume that Dana Sue recognized as the expensive scent shed bought for herself last Christmas and wore only on very special occasions. Since such occasions had been few and far between since the divorce, it probably didnt matter that her daughter was wasting it on high school boys.

Only after she was alone again and her coffee had turned cold did Dana Sue notice the brown sack with Annies lunch still sitting on the counter. It could have been an oversight, but she knew better. Annie had deliberately left it behind, just as shed ignored the breakfast her mother had fixed.

The memory of Annies collapse during Maddies wedding reception last year at Thanksgiving came flooding back, and with it a tide of fresh panic.

Oh, sweetie, Dana Sue murmured. Not again.

Im thinking for tonights dessert Ill make an old-fashioned bread pudding with maybe some Granny Smith apples to add a little tartness and texture, Erik Whitney said before Dana Sue had a chance to tie on her apron. What do you think?

Even as her mouth watered, her brain was calculating the carbohydrates. Off the chart, she concluded, and sighed. Her customers could indulge, but shed have to avoid the dessert like the plague.

Erik regarded her worriedly. Too much sugar?

For me, yes. For the rest of the universe, it sounds perfect.

I could do a fresh fruit cobbler instead, maybe use a sugar substitute, he suggested.

Dana Sue shook her head. Shed built Sullivans reputation by putting a new spin on old Southern favorites. Most of the time, her selections were healthier than some of the traditional butter-soaked dishes, but when it came to desserts, she knew her clientele preferred decadent. Shed hired Erik straight out of the Atlanta Culinary Institute because the schools placement officer had ranked him the best pastry chef candidate theyd seen in years.

Older than most graduates, Erik was already in his thirties. Eager to experiment and show what he could do, Erik hadnt disappointed her or her customers. He was such a huge improvement over her last sous-chef, a temperamental man who was difficult to work with, that Dana Sue counted her blessings every single day that Erik could double as a sous-chef and pastry chef. Hed quickly become more than an employee. Hed become a friend.

Moreover, there was already a high demand in South Carolina for Eriks wedding cakes. Hed raised the traditional cake to an art form that rivaled anything seen at fancy celebrity weddings. Dana Sue knew shed be lucky to keep him for another year or two at most before some big-city restaurant or catering company lured him away, but for the moment he seemed content in Serenity, happy with the latitude she gave him.