I realized I didn’t have many ingredients for juice, so I got in my rental car and headed to the grocery store to stock up on ginger and celery and tons of other veggies and fruit.
Of course, I ran into Esme doing a grocery run, and stopped to talk to her for a minute.
“I’ve thought about brewing my own kombucha, but haven’t tried it yet,” she said when I told her why my cart was full of so many green things.
“You should try it. Make kombucha shots a thing,” I said, and she laughed.
Her dad, Butch, came over to hug his daughter and started talking both our ears off and shared his favorite juice recipe. The man was as kind as could be but, holy shit, could that man talk. I didn’t mind this time because he did know what he was talking about.
Esme gave me a rueful look as Butch started telling me the pros and cons of different brands of juicers.
Somehow, she was able to rescue me, and Butch had to go help another customer.
“He just doesn’t have any sort of moderation when it comes to chatting,” Esme said. “He’s always been like that.”
“It’s fine, he’s lovely,” I said.
She went on her way and I tried to avoid talking to anyone else as I got in line to check out.
I dragged all the veggies back to the farmhouse and Amanda was home as I brought them in.
“Did you buy a farmers’ market?” she asked with a laugh.
“No, but Julia asked me to make her some juice, so I had to run out and grab some things.”
“I would have gotten what you needed, honey, all you had to do was ask.”
“No, it’s fine,” I said, waving her off. “You’ve already been so generous.” Far more than any other host I’d ever stayed with. I was absolutely spoiled staying here.
“Well, I can at least help you with prep,” she said, getting out some knives and a cutting board.
“We should wait to prep because it’s always best to drink it fresh. But I am going to make her some juice shots with ginger and other things, so I need some help with that,” I said. Amanda helped me peel ginger, turmeric, lemons, and oranges. We fed them through the juicer, and I added a little bit of black pepper to the little bottles I’d found at the grocery store that were perfect shot size.
I put on the tops and shook up the juice.
“Can I try one now?” Amanda asked.
“Let’s go for it. Bottoms up.” We both tapped the bottles on the counter before tipping them back and taking them in one go.
“Wow, that is powerful,” Amanda, said, coughing. It was true, the ginger, turmeric, and pepper were potent on the back of your throat.
“I’m pretty sure that will cure anything,” she said, chasing the shot with some water.
“Not all the juice I make is like that,” I said as I put the jars in the fridge after I labeled them with some tape and the date they’d been made.
We’d made enough for anyone in the house who wanted one.
Julia and Ellie were the first to come home and then Hollis came back from working at the café to find me and Amanda cleaning up the disaster from the juicing adventure.
“Whoa, what happened here?” Ellie asked.
“We made juice shots,” I said as Amanda dumped the peels into the bucket to take out to the compost pile.
“Oh, can I have one?” Julia asked.
“Yeah, there’s plenty in the fridge,” I said. Julia grabbed one and looked at it suspiciously before downing it in one go and cringing the whole time.
She coughed until Hollis drew her a glass of water.
“Holy shit, that was intense,” she said.
“Yeah, they pack a kick,” I said.
“A kick in the teeth,” Julia said with a laugh.
Dinner was less dramatic, and Sasha came over to watch movies in the barn with Julia and Hollis and Ellie.
Lucky the kitten was so excited to have so many people to try and pounce on. I loved coming over and playing with the kitten. Pets weren’t something that really worked with my lifestyle, so whenever I got to hang with animals, it was a good day.
“Do I get a juice?” Sasha asked when Julia told her about my juice shots.
“If you want one. I made plenty,” I said. I ran over to the farmhouse and grabbed two shots for Sasha so she could have one for Jax too.
“Just be careful, it’s intense,” Julia told her.
“I think I can handle it,” Sasha said, putting the little bottles in her bag.
“Popcorn?” Hollis asked, holding her hand out for the popcorn bowl. Since so many of us had different tastes when it came to popcorn, we had several bowls.
“The one with a lot of butter,” Hollis said, and I handed her the yellow bowl.
“You just really love butter, babe,” Julia said, wiping Hollis’s face with a napkin.
“At least you don’t have it in your pants,” Sasha said.
Hollis made a frustrated sound and we all laughed.
“When? When are you going to let that go?”
“Mmmm, never,” Julia said, kissing Hollis’s buttery face.
“What’s Jax up to tonight?” Julia asked Sasha.
“She’s out with Casey,” Sasha said, rolling her eyes. “I’m really trying to get along with her, but she just makes it so hard.”
“Why?” I asked. I wasn’t familiar with Casey.
“Oh, she’s this friend of Jax’s and she just rubs me the wrong way. I’m sure she’s nice, but I just can’t get over my first impression of her.” Sasha made a face. “Jax assures me she’s a good friend, but I’m still trying to believe that. It’s a work in progress.”
“You don’t have to like all of Jax’s friends,” Hollis said.
“Oh, I know, but it would be easier if we did get along since we both love Jax. Although, I do take priority.” Sasha was smug about that. “It’s not a big deal. Maybe we’ll find some common ground someday.”
The topic turned to friends and significant others and personality conflicts, and the movies were mostly forgotten.
I checked out of a lot of the conversation because I was thinking about Piper. I was going to see her tomorrow for class and things had changed between us since Sunday. She’d asked for hands-on assisting so now I was going to have to get my act together and be professional while also touching her. My stomach twisted a little when I thought about it. Bottom line: I was a professional. I could separate my feelings from my job.
I hoped.
I had a hard time sleeping that night and woke up in a dark mood that morning. It had everything to do with my private class. Today would be the test to see if I could handle this. I’d made a decision late last night: If this was too much for me, I was going to tell Piper that I couldn’t work with her anymore, and I would refund her. My heart sank at the loss of the money, but there was no way to justify not refunding her fully if I couldn’t keep up my end of the bargain.
“You okay?” Julia asked at breakfast, touching my hair.
“Yeah, just didn’t sleep that well,” I said as Amanda handed me my morning matcha.
“Would you like me to make you a juice?” Amanda asked. “I have a bunch of veggies in my fridge.” She smiled at me, and I couldn’t help but smile back.