Thanks to those who have been takeing time to give reviews and for the follows.
OK, so our friends are back in Seattle for the holidays. There's a little bit of drama coming up in a chapter or two.
Chapter 10
Soon they were on their way back to Bushwell in Mrs. Benson's car. They were greeted in the lobby by Lewbert, who was still weird as ever about people tracking up his floor. He knew better than to shout at either Sam or Marissa, because they would both shout back and Sam was likely to harm him physically. He simply grumbled about the mess and grabbed his mop, cleaning the floor behind the Bensons as they made their way to the elevator.
After they entered the apartment and put their luggage away in Freddie's old bedroom, Marissa suggested it was time for dinner. Soon she and Sam were in the kitchen together, even though Sam wasn't into all the bland health food Mrs. Benson seemed to always want to prepare, she tried to use her skills to make their dinner as tasty as possible.
"So Sam, Freddie tells me you've been working a lot of extra time at the restaurant and that you gave up the babysitting business." Marissa asked while the two cooked.
"Yeah, I hated to walk away from it, but Cat really needed to devote more time to college and I was offered the position at Ramone's, so we both figured the time was right. Hey, do you have any garlic?"
"And that's not the best part. Tell her what they asked you on Tuesday." Freddie added from the doorway as Marissa searched for a head of garlic.
"I was getting there, Fredward!" Sam snapped at him, taking the garlic Marissa was handing her.
"My bosses offered me a junior partnership." Sam proudly told her mother in law. "It's only ten percent, but just them offering it to me is like the second best thing that's ever happened to me."
"What's the first?" Freddie asked with a frown, feeling very dejected all of a sudden.
"Marrying you, goofball." She smugly told him. "Marissa, have any cilantro?"
"Oh, Saman, er Sam that's terrific, they must really think a lot of you and your skills to offer that to you. Sorry, no cilantro. But I do have basil." Marissa told her, handing her the small jar.
"OK, that'll work. How about oregano?" Sam asked, stirring a small amount of the basil into the sauce she was making. "I was really overwhelmed when they made the offer. I almost thought they were going to let me go."
"And her one boss, he called in a favor and got us the plane tickets, first class and all." Freddie told his mother.
Soon, Sam's pasta sauce was complete but she kept adding a bit of this and a bit of that clear up until Marissa was done rolling up all the tofu 'meat' balls. Though she almost considered it sacrilegious to pour her sauce over the mound of pseudo-meat Marissa had concocted, she did so with a smile just to please the older woman. The meatballs and sauce went into the oven to finish cooking, while Marissa put water on to boil for the whole wheat, organic pasta she had sitting on the counter.
To Freddie's surprise, the two Mrs. Bensons worked well together and before long the three of them sat down to their dinner. He couldn't believe something out of his mom's kitchen was actually edible. "Wow, this is really good." He said, sounding surprised.
"I hope you didn't think we were going to poison you, Fredlumps." His wife told him.
"I agree, this is exceptional, Sam." Marissa remarked. "I used to make these meatballs all the time for Freddie when he was a kid and they never turned out this flavorful."
The use of the word meatballs caused Sam to roll her eyes almost back into her head. 'tofu isn't meat and it never will be' she thought to herself. "Eh, it's nothing much, I just added some herbs to make the sauce a bit more rich. And with certain herbs, we can actually cut out some of the salt, which makes it a little healthier." Sam added just to see Marissa's reaction.
"If this is the way you prepare food at the restaurant, I can see why they offered you a partnership, you are a great cook." Marissa praised. "You'll have to write down the recipe so I can make this sauce again, I've never had anything like it."
After their dinner, Freddie and Sam helped clean up the kitchen while Marissa told them all about her plans for Christmas dinner. They borrowed her car and went to visit Pam and Melanie for a couple of hours before it got too late. They could hardly believe what they saw upon pulling into the driveway. The shrubbery was trimmed and the dead bushes replaced with new ones. The carport was cleaned off and the peeling window trim had been painted.
They rang the bell and waited for only a few seconds before Pam answered the door. "Sammy. Freddie. Come on in. I was wondering when you'd get here."
They went in and were shocked at the condition of the house. There was a new sofa and matching recliner. The old cigarette burned coffee table had been repainted and a flat screen TV hung on the wall opposite the couch. In the corner of the living room, next to the TV, was a modest sized Christmas tree, decorated tastefully. Sam had never seen a Christmas tree in her home before and just about passed out at the site. Most surprising to her, the place no longer smelled of cigarette smoke and a dirty cat box.
"Mom, the place looks great!" Sam exclaimed. "You must have worked for months on this."
Mel walked in from the kitchen in her scrubs. "About time you two got here. I have to leave for work in fifteen minutes and I didn't want to miss you." Mel hugged both of them and invited them to sit down.
"Melly tells me we're invited to Marissa's for Christmas dinner." Pam told them.
"Yeah, she says she would like to have everyone together." Freddie explained.
"As long as I get to do most of the cooking." Sam said. "I hate to think what those tofu balls she made earlier today would have tasted like without a decent sauce."
"It's not good, I can tell you that from experience." Freddie said with a shiver
"So you say you're doing the cooking? We're in, right Melly?" Pam said. "I can't wait for some turkey and stuffing."
"Sounds good to me." Mel replied.
"I've got some news before you have to go, Mel" Sam told them.
"Are you pregnant?" Pam blurted out.
"Um, no." Sam said flatly, giving her a stern look. "It's about work. You know how I told you I was filling in for my boss's niece while she was on maternity leave. Well, they offered me a ten percent partnership."
"Holy crap, Sam. You mean you're going to own ten percent of a restaurant?" Mel exclaimed.
"Yep, she's signing the paperwork as soon as we get back." Freddie told them. "I'm just so proud of her, they say everyone has their calling and I know this has got to be hers."
"That's great, Sammy." Pam exclaimed. "I'm glad you didn't say you were pregnant, I'm too young to be a grandmother."
"Mom, you're 46, Mel said as she rolled her eyes."
"I'm 38!" Pam argued.
"Mom you were 24 when Mel and I were born, we're 22, so that means you're 46." Sam explained.
"Huh, so that's why I feel so old some days."
Everyone got a chuckle out of Pam's statement before Mel had to leave for work.
"Do you guys want to wait around for a little while, I have an AA meeting in half an hour." Pam said.
"Do you want us to drive you?" Freddie asked
"Sure, I could call Emma and tell her to just meet me there. She usually picks me up, I guess she's worried that I might miss the meeting if she doesn't come for me."
Freddie and Sam took Pam to her meeting and afterward the three of them stopped for coffee on the way home.
"How was the meeting?" Sam asked her mother.
"As good as any of them." Pam replied. "You know, I should be getting my six month chip soon."
"Keep up the good work." Freddie told her.
"Yeah, Mom. We know you can do it." Sam smiled at her mother. For the first time in her life, Sam was actually proud of her mother. "Let's get you home, I need to get some rest, I'm planning on being in the kitchen all day tomorrow so we have a decent Christmas dinner, not some kind of tofu blended, gluten free, flavorless excuse for a meal."
"Mom means well, Sam. She's just obsessed with health food that's all." Freddie said.
"Well, I'm obsessed with flavor and texture." Sam retorted. "I've got a plan to make a tasty dinner that's not too unhealthy, but we've got to hit the market first thing in the morning."
And we know Sam wouldn't let Marissa get away with some tofu wrapped, flavorless holiday dinner.