Now Ginger’s kitchen was filled with laughter, chatter, and the sounds of Ginger and Madigan singing to music playing on an old-fashioned radio on the counter. The girls had been as intrigued by the radio as they had been by Mike’s old television set. Madigan danced as she made pie crust, taking the girls’ hands and spinning them around the room, which looked like it had been hit by a hurricane. The countertops were covered with dozens of ingredients and dishes in various stages of preparation. There was flour everywhere, and Junie and Rosie were sticky messes, but they were having the best time. They’d helped make two loaves of corn bread and two trays of sliced zucchini fries with Parmesan cheese, which were ready for the oven, and an enormous pot of homemade marinara sauce loaded with vegetables and Grandma Hilda’s famous meatballs, which was simmering on the stove. The girls had made the oddly shaped meatballs, some as small as peas, others the size of baseballs, because Junie had insisted that Tank needs big ones, to which Rosie had added, He a pig!
“Like this, Gingy?” Junie asked.
Leah loved the nickname her girls had coined for Ginger. She looked up from the pears she was cubing for Tank’s and Conroy’s favorite dessert, pear and cranberry crumble, and warmed at the sight of her girls standing on stools on either side of Ginger. They were using rolling pins on mounds of dough for buttermilk biscuits. The three of them wore bibbed aprons and chef hats that were frayed and stained. They were the same aprons and hats that Ginger had used with her own children, which made the wonderful day feel even more special.
“Yes. That’s perfect.” Ginger patted Junie’s hand.
“I perfect!” Rosie exclaimed as she pushed her rolling pin over the dough.
Ginger tapped Rosie’s nose. “Yes, you are, Rosie Posey. Maybe you and Junie will grow up to be cooks.”
Rosie beamed.
“I’m going to draw stowies on people when I get bigger,” Junie said.
Ginger put her hand over her heart with a dreamy expression. “I think that’s a lovely idea.” She got that dreamy look in her eyes a lot around the kids.
“Juju, why do you want to draw stories?” Madigan asked as she made the topping for the crumble.
“So people never forget them.” Junie rolled the dough. “I’m gonna get Wiver on me like Tank has.”
“Me too!” Rosie patted her stomach. “Wight heah.”
Ginger and Madigan looked curiously at Leah.
“He tattooed River’s name on the left side of his stomach. I didn’t know he’d done it until afterward,” Leah explained.
“I’m not surprised,” Ginger said. “All of his tattoos are meaningful.”
Leah had recently found that out. They’d spent the last few nights exploring each other’s bodies. Between steamy kisses and mind-numbing orgasms, she’d traced many of his tattoos, and he’d shared the stories behind them. They hadn’t gone all the way yet, but there was an intimacy, a closeness between them, that she’d never imagined possible. Tank was gentle when he needed to be and more aggressive when they both wanted it. He was patient, helping her discover how she liked to be touched, bringing her such intense pleasure, she was sure everyone felt the earth move just as she did. She could only imagine what it would be like when they finally made love.
“Sunshine and Whiskey” came on the radio, and Madigan squealed, pulling Leah from her thoughts. “I love this song!” She danced around the island, pulling Leah out to dance with her. “Come on, girl, swing those hips.”
Leah laughed. “I haven’t danced since I was eighteen and worked at a music store.” She used to walk to work with her earbuds in, dancing along the way.
“All the more reason to do it now.” Madigan put her hands up, swinging her hips as she danced around Leah.
The girls laughed, and Ginger said, “Come on, girls. Let’s show Mama how it’s done.”
The four of them danced and giggled, and Leah couldn’t help but join in. She was embarrassed at first, but it was so fun, she let herself go, and soon she felt the music in her veins, just as she used to.
“Go, Leah!” Madigan cheered.
They laughed and danced until they were all out of breath. Leah couldn’t remember the last time she’d had so much fun.
The girls finished preparing the biscuits and began making trail-mix cookies. Ginger was brilliant when it came to cooking with kids. She gave them each a bowl, so they could make their own batches of cookie dough without fighting.
Madigan and Leah finished getting the crumble ready to bake and began cleaning up. Madigan pulled Leah over to the sink as she washed a bowl and said, “Now that little ears are distracted, is something going on with you and Tank?”
Leah’s nerves tingled. She wondered if Starr had said something. “Why do you ask?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” she said sarcastically. “Maybe because the sparks between you two could ignite an ocean.”
Leah could hardly suppress her smile.
Madigan whispered, “This makes me so happy.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to.”
Junie and Rosie giggled and told on each other as they gobbled down chocolate chips and pretzels.
“Save some for the cookies,” Leah said as she collected more dishes.
“It’s okay, honey,” Ginger reassured her. “I learned a long time ago to let kids enjoy the prep time. Otherwise you end up with a Gunner catastrophe.”
“What’s a Gunner catastrophe?” Leah asked.
“Just one of the many times my boys nearly gave me a heart attack,” Ginger said. “The kids and I were making cookies the week before Christmas when Gunny was six. He kept eating handfuls of chocolate chips, and Tank got on him about it. The next thing we knew, Gunny was gone. We searched high and low for him. Ashley got teary, Baz put together a search plan, and Tank was just so angry with himself, he could barely see straight. I called Con, and twenty minutes later the neighborhood was full of Dark Knights searching for our boy. They found him asleep in a cabinet in the garage, clutching the empty bag of chocolate chips. From then on, I learned to buy extra everything and decided snacking was permissible when cooking.”
“You must have been terrified,” Leah said.
“I was, but Tank was even more so. After we found Gunny, Tank didn’t let him out of his sight for a month.”
“I can see him doing that. He’s so protective, even of me and the girls,” Leah said.
Ginger helped Junie and Rosie mix their ingredients. “He’s quite taken with you and your little ladies.”
Leah felt her cheeks warm. “We are of him, too.” Of all of you, really. They’d taken the girls to visit Grandpa Mike again a few days ago, and they’d had such a good time, she hoped to be able to take them to see him more often.
“If you ever need a babysitter, you know who to call,” Madigan interjected. “I’d love to spend more time with the girls.”
“Thanks, but we don’t really go out without them.”
“You should,” Ginger said softly. “I know you’ve got a lot on your plate, and I remember how being happy brought guilt and other hard feelings after we lost Ashley. But you-know-who are learning from you, and having gone through something similar, I wish I’d done things a little differently. It’s important that they see you grieve, but it’s equally important to show them it’s okay to keep living. We only have one turn at this amazing life we’re given, and we need to make the most of it.” She pushed her glasses to the bridge of her nose. “And here I go spouting off like I’m your mother. I’m sorry.”