A Time to Live and a Thyme for Murder! (Outer Banks Baker Mystery Series Book 3) (13 page)

The DEA wrapped up their investigation rather quickly after that night. Kyle was sentenced to fifteen years for the murder of Derek McCallie. It was a rather bittersweet outcome as Kyle’s little sister Angela emerged from her coma by early August. She had months ahead of her of rehabilitation and physical therapy, but the doctors were optimistic for a full recovery. Sadly, she would face her recovery without her brother by her side to encourage and help her.

Agent Garland successfully utilized the local thugs arrested that night to track down the suppliers. By the end of summer, the national news reported the take down of a major X15 drug ring. Jason and Melissa were watching the press conference when the agent thanked the local Kill Devil Hills police department for help in cracking the case wide open. However, both were shocked when he announced he would be leaving his post with the DEA effective immediately for personal reasons. Jason actually laughed, “Well, that makes sense!” When questioned about it he revealed that his partner, Cory, had been offered a job with the DEA in Miami. According to Jason, the man couldn’t wait to get packed up and out of the small seaside community. “Perhaps, Agent Garland doesn’t want to work with him again. Cory did follow him around like a lovesick puppy. He talked more about his dream of working for the Feds than the case. I could tell it drove the agent nuts, not to mention Chief Monroe.” Melissa admitted Cory wasn’t her favorite cop, but she felt sad for Janice. The attorney and detective had been dating for about a year. Then she wondered if perhaps Janice would move to Miami, too. She intended to ask her at the annual end-of-summer picnic at the beach scheduled for the next day.

Everyone was in town for the big summer bash. Logan’s mom and dad arrived the night before so the small cottage was bursting at the seams. There was another surprise guest – Melissa’s younger brother Jimmy who had been serving several tours in Afghanistan. Their reunion was filled with tears of joy and lots of laughter, as Jimmy was the comedian of the family. Emily’s entire family had also been in town for a week, including her brothers who were heading back to college in a couple of weeks.

As Melissa prepared the last of the gourmet burgers for cooking at the beach, she mused how the summer had progressed. Things had started off calmly despite tension from Jason’s daughter, Krissy. Melissa had firmly believed she would never get the young woman to accept her in Jason’s life, much less actually develop a solid friendship with her. It had been a pleasant, and unexpected, surprise when the turbulence of the summer brought them together.

After all the excitement died down, Melissa and Krissy continued to grow close. The seasoned baker taught Krissy how to cook real meals for herself now that she was going away to college so she wouldn’t need to order pizza every night. In turn, the young woman somehow convinced Melissa to color a thick lock of her light auburn hair a deep shade of blue. The women never revealed the true story behind the hair coloring. The two stayed up late one night playing poker and Krissy upped the ante by daring Melissa to color a strand of hair if she lost. Melissa underestimated the young woman’s card playing skills and paid the price.

Needless to say, Jason was thrilled to see the two women in his life forging a strong relationship. He broached the subject with his daughter a few nights ago as they went over her checklist for college. She would leave next week for Wilmington and he wanted to ask her opinion on something he planned for the picnic. Krissy’s large brown eyes sparkled at what her father was proposing and she readily gave her blessing.

It was a gorgeous day at the beach. Perfect for a large multi-family picnic. Logan and Tanner set up the volleyball net while the adults prepared the food. Tanner kept eyeing Krissy. Never at any point of the summer had she worn a swim suit. She always came to the beach in shorts and tank tops. The young man was hoping she’d break that streak today. He wasn’t disappointed. Both Emily and Krissy shimmied off their shorts and t-shirts revealing toned young bodies in somewhat modest bikinis. Tanner and Logan immediately stopped what they were doing to watch. As they ran out into the waves with a couple boogie boards, Jason happened to catch a glimpse of his daughter’s tattoo for the first time. He sputtered, “What the ….?” Melissa speedily assured him it was tasteful and not worth scolding the grown woman over. “What? You knew?” he asked. With a sly grin, she simply shrugged and returned to setting out the food.

The day was delightful as family and friends celebrated the end of summer and toasted to lots more summers to come. Cheryl assured Krissy she had a job every year during college breaks, but she declined the kind offer. The young woman claimed that next year she preferred to help Melissa out at the bakery, if she would have her. Surprised, Melissa readily agreed.

Uncle Jimmy had spent the day trying to recruit Tanner into the military. However, he admitted he just wanted to see the kid shave his long locks of hair. Krissy put a stop to that talk by assuring Tanner that she loved his gorgeous blonde mane. To accentuate her point, she walked right up and kissed him on the cheek. Tanner’s eyes grew wide as saucers and he blushed redder than any beach sunset. The young man would live off the memory of that chaste kiss until next summer.

As the sun began to set over the famous North Carolina sand dunes, Jason took Melissa’s arm in his and strolled away from the others. Despite the brisk wind coming off the ocean, she could instantly tell that the entire group behind them became eerily quiet as they walked towards the pier in the distance. She peeked behind to see every single person watching them. Jason was talking fast, like she knew he did when he was nervous about something. At first he talked of casual topics, like how great the picnic was this year and he enjoyed finally meeting her brother. The two already planned to compete together in the annual Red Drum fishing tournament on Hatteras Island in October. He then moved on to more serious subjects, particularly how happy he was that she and Krissy were getting along so well. However, he was a little concerned she hadn’t told him about the tattoo.

Melissa let him keep talking as they strolled farther down the beach. Eventually, he seemed to run out of things to say and fell silent. Looking back, the large group they left behind appeared as tiny dots on the horizon. Jason stopped just before they reached the pier. This section of the beach was mostly deserted as the vast majority of vacationers had already left town and the regular night fishermen had yet to arrive.

Barely a glimmer of light still shone over the dunes as Jason turned to face his beautiful, sweet, caring girlfriend. There was a knot in her stomach that she couldn’t explain. “What is he so antsy about tonight?” she wondered. Melissa didn’t have to wait much longer as the handsome detective gathered up his courage. He began by eloquently explaining how the last three summers had been the best time of his life; how she brightened his world each and every day; and how he could no longer imagine his life without her there by his side. Dropping to one knee, Jason pulled out a tiny jewelry box. Melissa’s eyes grew wide and her whole body started to tremble as she realized what he was doing. With a shaky voice, he gazed up at his lady love to ask, “Melissa Jones Maples, I love you with all my heart and soul. Never would I have imagined I could feel like this and I don’t want this feeling to ever end. Would you do me the honor of being my wife? I promise to spend the entirety of my life making you happy and proving my love to you every single day.”

Tears brimmed in both their eyes as Jason waited for her reply. Just a few short years ago, Melissa would never have dreamed she could ever love anyone again as she loved her late husband, Kevin. Jason had never asked her to forget Kevin or the love they shared. He had simply encouraged her to find space in her heart for him as well. She surprised herself when she realized that there was more than enough room for Jason in her heart and in her life. As a single tear slipped down her cheek, she smiled at this wonderful man that had shown her how to love and how to live again. Without a word, her smile grew as she nodded “yes”.  

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Kill Devil Delicacies’ Tantalizing Thyme Bread Bowls

Ingredients:

1 ¼ Cup Water (lukewarm)

2 ½ tsps. Instant Yeast

¼ Cup Oil

3 Cups All-Purpose Flour

½ Cup Semolina Flour

2 Tbsp. Fresh Thyme (finely chopped)

½ tsp Ground Sage

¼ tsp Ground Nutmeg

1 ¼ tsp Salt

1 Tbsp. Sugar

½ Cup Dry Potato Flakes

2 Tbsps. Nonfat Dry Milk

Instructions:

Mix yeast and finely chopped fresh thyme into lukewarm water in a small bowl, then set aside.  In a large bowl or mixer combine all dry ingredients first and mix them.  Then add the wet ingredients; the oil and yeast and water mixture.  Continue to knead or mix until you have a nice smooth dough.  Then place in a container where the dough is covered but is allowed to rise for 90 minutes.

After 90 minutes, knead the dough again and separate into six balls and place them on a baking sheet that is lightly greased or lined with parchment paper or a silicon mat.  Then allow these dough balls to rise again for 60 minutes.  Once risen into nice puff balls, place them in an oven that has been preheated to 350ºF and bake for approximately 25 minutes or until they are very golden brown.  Then remove them from the oven and allow them to cool, still no the baking sheet.  Our goal is to have a nice crusty exterior to hold the soup well!

When ready to serve, cut 1/3 of the bread bowl off the top and pull out the bread on the inside of the bowl.  Add your favorite soup and enjoy!

Jalapeno Cheddar Bread

Ingredients:

4 Cups Flour

2 ¼ Cups Water

2 tsp Salt

¼ tsp Dry Active Yeast

2 Jalapeno Peppers seeded and finely diced

(or ¼ Cup Canned Jalapenos finely diced)

1 Cup Sharp Cheddar Cheese – grated

Cornmeal - Sprinkled in the Dutch oven – not mixed in dry the ingredients

Instructions:

Mix flour, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl.  In another bowl add the water and jalapenos and let sit for at least 5 minutes to allow the jalapeno flavor to distribute throughout the water.  Then add the water mixture to the dry ingredients.  Stir until ingredients are well mixed.  Dough may seem extra moist, which is perfectly normal.  Then cover the bowl and allow to sit at room temperature for 12-18 hours.

Preheat the oven to 500ºF with a cast iron Dutch oven or Le Creuset style enameled pot in the oven preheating as well.   Have 1 Cup of grated Sharp Cheddar Cheese ready.  Once the oven and Dutch oven has been preheated, pull the Dutch oven out of the oven and remove the lid.  Then sprinkle some cornmeal in the bottom of the Dutch oven.  On a lightly floured surface pour out the dough, quickly kneed in the grated cheese and form into a ball.  Then place the dough inside of the Dutch oven.  Replace the Dutch oven lid and place the Dutch oven in the oven.  Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the lid and continue to bake for 8-15 minutes, depending on how brown you want the crust to be.

Note:  If you don’t have 12-18 hours to allow the dough to rest, you may increase the amount of yeast to 1 tsp and only wait 6 hours before baking the dough.  However, the longer you wait, the more sourdough-like the bread will be.

The trick to this bread is allowing it to rest for the 12-18 hours and its high moisture content, which turns to steam while being baked with the lid on the Dutch oven.  Once we remove the Dutch oven lid, then we begin to bake the outside for a nice crispy crust!

This bread is always a winner!  Occasionally, you’ll find that one person who doesn’t touch jalapenos, but most times everyone leaves raving about how good this bread is!