Cora patted Zeke’s shoulder. “Hello, darling,” Cora greeted Jill.
“And don’t forget these.” The man with them sat down two cups of coffee, two glasses of orange juice, and two glasses of water.
Jill smiled at them all even as she was inwardly gritting her teeth. She was meeting his family. She’d met his twin brother and a few of his friends. Now she was meeting not just his grandmother but his grandfather and a woman who was clearly as close to the family as his grandparents.
She understood how relationships like Zeke and Cora’s worked. Her own grandmother’s best friend had been a pseudo-grandmother to Jill as well. Which was exactly how life in Bliss was more complicated than in Omaha. She didn’t just have her family—which was large and extended, though nothing like the Landrys seemed to be—but she also had all the people who were important to all of the generations of her family.
Truly, her grandmother’s last birthday party had been on par with the town’s annual Founder’s Day celebration. The whole town had turned out, and they’d had to have it at the park to accommodate the crowd. And the party had gone on all day long.
Jill hadn’t gotten a lick of work done until ten o’clock that night and she’d been up until two. And extremely crabby the next day. Which her mother and grandmother had both pointed out.
“It’s nice to meet you all,” she said sweetly.
“Very nice to meet you. We’ve been excited for you to show up. So interesting to have penguins coming to town,” Ellie said.
“It’s wonderful that Griffin and Tori were willing and able to help me relocate them here,” Jill said. “Giving them a very safe and secure and quiet place to breed is imperative to the success of the program.”
Jill said it mostly to gauge the reaction. Did people here understand conservation and propagation programs? Did they understand that this was not going to be just another exhibit in their petting zoo?
“Tori and Griffin are wonderful,” Ellie said, her affection and pride evident in even those simple words.
“Charlie already ordered the most adorable stuffed penguins for the gift shop,” Cora said. “Everyone’s very excited.”
Right. It was just that “everyone” and “excited” were two words that were the opposite of what she was hoping for.
“You didn’t bring her eggs Benedict?” Zeke asked, checking out the plates of food that had been set down in front of them.
Jill focused, taking inventory. Zeke’s plate had eggs Benedict and hash browns on it. But hers looked like a bowl of oatmeal.
Oatmeal wasn’t really the cold, fruity cereal she most loved, but it was an okay substitute.
“You ever had grits?” Ellie asked.
Jill looked up at her. “Heard of them, but never had them.”
“It’s like cream of wheat but it’s made with cornmeal. Most of us down here like them savory with seasonings and cheese and hot sauce. But you can also eat them sweet. Some people will tell you that’s blasphemy, but I was thinking maybe that would be something you’d like to try,” Ellie said.
She looked up at her, surprised. “Did Zeke tell you I like cereal?”
Ellie looked at her grandson, then back to Jill. “No. Zeke hasn’t told me anything about you at all.”
Her tone definitely indicated that she thought Zeke knew some things about Jill, however.
“So what made you think I might like this?” Jill asked.
Ellie put a hand on her hip. “You know all about penguins. I know all about food. You handle those pretty black and white birds and I’ll handle the feeding people around here.”
Okay, well fair enough. She certainly was no great connoisseur when it came to Louisiana breakfast food.
Jill studied the bowl of grits. She had to admit that the idea of having someone else cooking for her was appealing. She’d done lots of food delivery when she was in Omaha. It saved time. While someone else was preparing her food and bringing it to her, she could work. And it was definitely better than buying her own food that would go bad or would make portions far too big for a single person to eat alone.
She hadn’t had anyone cooking for her since she’d moved away from Bliss though.
Ellie shoved the sugar bowl, a bowl of butter, and a shaker of brown powder toward Jill from the other end of the table.
“Doctor them up with the butter and sugar. You can add cinnamon too. I like them that way.”
Leo shuddered. “Sweet grits. That’s a travesty.”
Ellie shushed him. “Leave her be.”
“If you like sweets in the morning, you need to try the biscuits and strawberry rhubarb jam. Or cinnamon rolls. Or her cornbread.”
Jill looked at Ellie. “You make all of that?”
Ellie laughed. “No, Cora does. But he’s right. Anything you want, honey.”
“You must have a huge menu.”
“The menu is basic,” Ellie said, waving her hand. “We make a couple things each night. They work as the special. That’s what most people eat. And that, of course, varies each night. But if people come and want something special and we’ve got the ingredients for it, we make it.”
Cora nodded. “You just let me know what you like, honey.”
Jill swallowed. She wasn’t planning on coming back. Cold cereal at home was so much easier. But damn, she hadn’t had a cinnamon roll in forever. And she really liked eggs Benedict, as a matter of fact.
“Thank you. That’s so nice. I’ll keep that in mind.”
Ellie, Leo, and Cora hovered for just a moment, and Zeke finally said, “The penguins don’t get here for a few days. She’s not going to just pull one out of her pocket.”
Ellie swatted him on the shoulder, but the three of them moved off and back to work.
“They’re really that excited about the penguins?”
Zeke cut into his breakfast, but gave her a look that clearly said, seriously? “Fuck yeah. penguins are awesome. And to have them right here in Autre…who would’ve thought?”
Dammit, these people were so nice. And they were excited about her penguins. She really wanted to give the penguins a quiet, peaceful place to lay their eggs and hatch a whole bunch of new babies. A bunch of loud, enthusiastic Cajuns clustering around watching would not be conducive.
What if the penguins wouldn’t breed? What if they didn’t lay viable eggs? What if the eggs wouldn’t hatch? What if the hatchlings didn’t survive?
“You’re overthinking.” Zeke pulled her bowl of grits closer to him, reached for the sugar, butter, and cinnamon and started adding them to her bowl.
“Hey,” she protested.
“You don’t know what you’re doing. Let me show you how this should be.”
You don’t know what you’re doing.
He wasn’t talking about the penguins. She knew that. Everyone here thought she was a penguin expert. She was, of course. At least relative to anyone else here. But she was definitely feeling a little unsure.
Zeke pushed the bowl back to her and handed her a spoon. “Taste it.”
She wasn’t really that hungry suddenly. “I’m okay.”
“Stop being a diva. Taste the grits.”
She looked at him with surprise. A diva? She hadn’t been called a diva before. “I’m just not hungry.”