Saving Scott (Kobo) (39 page)
Read Saving Scott (Kobo) Online
Authors: Terry Odell
“Done. In
custody. Now shut up and kiss me.”
So she did.
It was
mid-morning when Scott awoke, Ashley in his arms. She snuggled closer to him
for a precious moment before pulling away. “I have to bake.”
“I know,” he
said. “I’ll come with you.”
“What do you
know about baking?”
He chuckled.
“Nothing. But I can wash dishes. I’d like to be nearby.” After last night, the
thought of her out of his sight sent chills through him.
She seemed
to grasp his motive. “I’ll be fine. You don’t have to protect me.”
She’d
explained everything Lorna had told her on the drive from Cottonwood to Pine
Hills, and he’d relayed the information to Randy and Detective Kovak. He told
them to handle it. Without him. If he wasn’t a cop, he might as well take
advantage of luxuries like days off.
Scott worked
his way to a sitting position. He wrapped his arm around her. Kissed the top of
her head. “If you want the first shower, I’ll make the coffee.”
She shook
her head. “It’s going to be a long time before I want another cup of coffee.”
“You were
lucky, you know. If the truck driver had brought you all the way back here—”
His voice hitched as he thought about what could have happened. Another death
he should have prevented. He cleared his throat. “I’m—”
She twisted
enough to meet his gaze. He busied himself with smoothing the blanket. He was
creeping too close to that dreaded
emotions
territory.
“Hey, it’s over.
I’m here, I’m fine.”
Okay, so she
could read him. Was that a good thing or a bad thing? Maybe it would be easier
if she could pluck thoughts from his mind, taking away the dreaded
talking
step.
She took his
hand. “I forgot to ask you last night. How did you find me?”
Ah,
switching to a straightforward question. Smart woman. No emotions required.
Just the facts. He could handle that. “After the truck driver dropped you at
the ER, he called the station. Apparently, whatever you said to him made an
impression.”
“I’m glad.
It’s all so fuzzy, I’m not sure exactly what I told him.” She pulled the covers
away. “I need to get going. My bakery is going to open tomorrow, on schedule,
and there are things I have to do.”
“A few more
minutes won’t hurt,” he said, staying her arm.
“Fine.” She
captured his gaze with hers. “But if I’m going to be late, I want to know the
rest of what happened. At the bank.”
He tensed
beside her, then took several long, slow breaths. If he couldn’t talk to her,
he knew she’d call it quits. Would that be so bad? Maybe they could just have
sex when they needed it. Yeah, right. Ashley was definitely
not
like the
Badge Bunnies he’d been with. This was Ashley. Losing her would be like losing
a part of himself. Without her, he’d be trapped in his Dark Place forever. He
closed his eyes. He could do this. Just another report.
“It seemed
like forever,” he said.
“The article
I read said it was five hours.”
“Five hours,
five years. A lifetime. Each of the creeps insisted on having some fun beating
on a cop. I don’t remember it all.” He snorted. “I suppose there’s something to
be said for being knocked unconscious a couple of times.”
He tightened
around her and made himself keep talking. “I was totally in the dark, both
figuratively and literally. While I was in the closet, I heard gunshots. I kept
praying it wasn’t the kids. Or worse, their mom and two of the other women who’d
begged to be let go because they had kids. My only hope was that because SWAT
hadn’t made a move, the shots weren’t killing people. That they were still
gathering intel and would do their job.” He sucked air. “I think it was being
helpless that was the worst. When I was part of the group, I was a cop. Familiar
territory. In the closet, I was—I don’t know what I was, other than paralyzed
with fear.”
She stroked
his chest. “Go on.”
“In the end,
SWAT snipers took the creeps out.” He scrubbed a hand across his face. He’d
said all he could. For now. And he prayed there’d be a later. “I’d rather not
think about it anymore.” He braced himself for her rejection. Her insistence
that he peel away more of the protective armor he’d worked so hard to
construct.
“That’s
okay,” she said. “I’m glad you could talk to me.”
All
right, coward. Suck it up and ask her.
“Ashley—?”
“Yes?”
“You’ve
helped me. A lot. I’d like to … do you think we could … you know … try things
for a while? Together, I mean. I’m a wreck. Takes me an hour to get moving in
the morning.”
She smiled. “I’ll
have to be at work before you get up, anyway.”
Was she …? “I
have nightmares.”
“After last
night, I’ll bet I will too,” she said.
“I know it’s
only been a week.”
“Nine days,”
she said.
“I’m … I’m
going to get counseling,” he said. “I finally figured out I can’t do it on my
own. But with you … I don’t know. At the bank, I was trapped in a dark closet,
and SWAT rescued me. Then, until I met you, I was trapped inside me. This time,
you saved me. It’s kind of like now there’s an open door, and it’s light
outside.”
He’d
struggled to get the words out. But he’d done it. She turned to him and smiled,
her eyes lighting up her face. “I think it’s time to make the doughnuts.”
***
Ashley has shared some of the recipes featured in
Saving
Scott
.
Spicy Aztec
Chocolate Drops -
Makes 35-40 cookies.
Recipe courtesy of
Mark Carter
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c flour
1 1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t cinnamon
1 t finely ground coffee (or instant)
1/4 t ground black pepper
1/8 t cayenne (Note: this will give a warm aftertaste. If
you want more of a kick, increase the cayenne, up to 1/4 t)
1/2 c cocoa powder
3/4 c softened unsalted butter
1 1/4 c sugar, divided.
1 egg
1 t vanilla
Instructions:
Sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, coffee, black pepper,
cayenne & cocoa powder.
Cream the butter with 1 cup of the sugar until light. Add
the egg and vanilla and mix to combine.
Resift the dry ingredients just until mixed. Cover and
refrigerate for about 30 minutes. Longer is fine.
When ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 350. Line 2
cookie sheets with parchment paper. Put the remaining ¼ cup sugar in a shallow
bowl. Roll a piece of the dough into a ball about the size of a walnut, and
then roll in the sugar to coat. Place on the cookie sheet leaving about 1-inch
between each ball.
Bake for eight minutes. They will appear to be underbaked.
**Variation: when forming the balls of dough, make an
indentation, place a piece of chocolate inside (several chocolate chips will
work, or a good quality chocolate bar cut into pieces) and seal the dough
around it before rolling in the sugar. Bake as above.
***
Glazed Almond
Torte (with fruit)
Serves 8 to 10
Recipe courtesy of
Lelo Carter
Ingredients:
1 c blanched almonds, 5 oz
3/4 c sugar
4 eggs
2/3 c macaroon cookie crumbs (Ashley uses Amaretti cookies,
but plain macaroon cookies are fine – The crisp ones, not the chewy kind.)
1/4 c butter, softened, 1/2 stick
1 t baking powder
1 t vanilla
1/2 t almond extract
Instructions:
In food processor, process almonds and sugar until almonds
are pulverized. Add remaining ingredients and process mixture for 30 seconds.
Pour batter into a buttered 10 inch springform pan and bake at 350 for 35
minutes or until top is golden and a cake tester inserted in center comes out
clean.
Allow torte to cool in pan. Make the glaze:
Grand Marnier Glaze:
3/4 c red currant jelly
1 T. Grand Marnier Liqueur
In a pan, heat currant jelly until melted. Stir in Grand
Marnier until blended. Spread glaze over the cooled cake.
To fancy it up, you can add seasonal fruit:
Add fruit to the glaze and mix until nicely coated, then put
on top of the torte. To serve, cut into wedges. A dollop of whipped cream is a
nice addition, but not a must.
Note: If you do not own a food processor, almonds must be
ground with a nut grater. Batter must then be beaten for 4 minutes at high
speed.
***
Felicity’s Lemony
Sugar Cookies
–
makes about 3 dozen
Ingredients:
2 1/2 c flour
1 t baking powder
1 t salt
1 c sugar
3/4 c butter, softened
2 eggs
1 t lemon extract
Instructions:
Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl,
mix sugar, butter, eggs, and lemon extract until creamy. Stir in flour mixture
until well blended. Refrigerate at least 2 hours, or until dough can be handled
easily. The dough needs to be kept cold, so work in small batches, keeping the
rest in the refrigerator.
Roll 1/4 inch thick. Cut out using your favorite cookie
cutters. Bake on parchment-lined cookie sheets at 400 degrees for 6-8 minutes.
They should not be brown. Cool on racks.
If desired, melt white chocolate chips or melting chocolate,
either in a double boiler or the microwave, and dip the edges of the cookies
into the mixture
***
Chocolate Pavé
with brandied cherries
Recipe courtesy of
Mark Carter
Ingredients:
2 eggs
3 egg yolks
1/4 c (scant) granulated sugar
1 T. corn syrup
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3 oz. bittersweet chocolate
5 oz. unsalted butter, softened
1/4 c chopped brandied cherries
Instructions:
Using waxed or parchment paper, line a 5 1/2 x 3 inch
bread/loaf pan being certain that at least an 2 inches of the paper comes above
the top. This will both cover the top while the Pavé cools as well as help you
remove it from the pan for service.
Melt the chocolates together.
Either in the top of a double boiler or mixing bowl for an
electric mixer, beat the eggs, yolks, sugar and corn syrup until combined.
Place on top of the double boiler or a pot of boiling water and whip
continuously until the mixture is warm but not hot to the touch. Using an
electric mixer, whip at high speed until the mixture cools. It will increase in
volume while it mixes.
Turn the mixer to low speed and carefully pour the melted
chocolate into the bowl to incorporate. Be certain that any chocolate that may
be on the sides of the bowl or on the beater/whip is scraped off and into the
egg mixture. Continue whipping at low speed until cool but not cold.
Bit by bit, add the softened butter until thoroughly
incorporated. Be certain that no chocolate or butter remains at the bottom of
the bowl. Finally, add the chopped brandied cherries. Remove from the mixer
and, with the aid of a rubber spatula, pour the chocolate mixture into the
lined pan. Fold the excess parchment paper over the top to seal and refrigerate
until cold.
Remove from the refrigerator. Using a thin knife that has
been heated in warm water, run the blade down the two narrow ends of the pan to
loosen. Fold the paper back off of the top of the Pavé and invert the pan onto
a serving platter. If you have used a tin bread pan, the exposed ends may have
discolored. Simply cut a thin slice, again using a heated knife, to remove the
discolored part.
To serve, cut a thin slice of the Pavé and lay it on its
side on a chilled plate. The dessert can be served with a Sabayon sauce, Crème
Anglaise or a fruit coulis, a slightly sweetened puree of any appropriate
fruit—raspberry, strawberry or apricot work well.
***
Grandma Lena’s
Chocolate Cake
Recipe courtesy of
Amy Darahgy via Grandma Lena Odell
Ingredients:
2 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 3/4 c sugar
1/2 c cocoa
1/2 c hot water
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 c buttermilk
2/3 c margarine or butter, softened
2 t vanilla
3 eggs
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 13x9 pan. Add the
cocoa to the hot water and mix. In large bowl combine all ingredients. Mix
well. Pour into prepared pan and bake for 35 – 45 minutes.
Frost with your favorite buttercream frosting. If you don’t
have one, you can try this:
Chocolate
Buttercream Frosting
Ingredients:
1 c unsalted butter, softened
3-3 1/2 c powdered sugar
1/2 c cocoa powder
1/2 t salt
2 t vanilla extract or 1 t almond extract
4 T milk or heavy cream
Instructions
:
In a large bowl, cream butter the butter to soften. With
mixer off, sift 3 cups of the powdered sugar and the cocoa powder into the
bowl. Beat on low speed until the ingredients are incorporated. Increase mixer
speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and milk/cream and beat for 3
minutes. If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add a little more
sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add additional milk 1
tablespoon at a time.
***
