Chapter 6:
A Day at the Mall
(Friday April 7th 2017, 2:50pm)
It was almost the end of another school day, and the very end of Jack's first week in Ewen High School, and as far as Jack was concerned, it had been an unqualified success. During the rest of the week, he and Carrie had spent their free time together, such as in the library, where they would read together or do homework, or would sit and eat together in the cafeteria. What Carrie noticed was that no one else pestered or bullied her, or even whispered about it, as the other students were becoming aware that Jack was becoming very protective of Carrie and they didn't want to risk his wrath by taking ill of Carrie.
Also, Freddy Holt, the unpopular photographer, and Norma Watson, the good natured and friendly, but not too popular senior class president, became welcome additions to their little group. At first Carrie was a little bit wary of the two, but once she saw Norma and Freddy had proved they weren't going to trick or make fun of her and they sincerely wanted to be friends as, like Carrie they didn't have many friends, she accepted them into the group.
Right now, the four were sitting in the near-empty cafeteria as they'd no scheduled classes in the last hour before school ended. They'd already been to their lockers and left the books they didn't need there, so that way they'd be ready to leave school once the bell rang.
Jack had brought his laptop with him, had set it up and was showing them photos of the places that he'd been to; the previous year, in August 2016, he and his family had visited Austria, and its capital city Vienna, for the first time to attend the wedding of one of Jack's older cousins, who'd had gotten married to an Austrian man.
"…and this is where the wedding was held; the Hotel Imperial, right by the centre of Vienna." Jack said, bringing up a photo of the hotel, which he'd taken outside the main entrance looking up the building. Norma, Freddy, and Carrie all gasped in amazement when they saw the size of the hotel and how it dominated the whole scene without any effort.
"Now that's a hotel!" Norma said, as she looked over the building.
"It certainly looks quite the place." Carrie said.
"It's quite the hotel. And to make things more special, the weather there was brilliant for our whole trip." Jack said. The next few photos showed Jack in his best wedding clothes (a tuxedo), and posing, in one of the elevator foyers, with his three sisters who were wearing bright gowns. This caught Carrie's attention; with her brilliant sewing skills, she thought, she could easily make similar gowns for other people.
"And here's the wedding scene." Jack said, bringing up another photo; it showed chairs arranged in rows of three on both sides of an aisle in one of the hotel's finest events rooms.
"And how many people were at this wedding?" Freddy asked.
"There were about a hundred or so people; as well as my cousin's relatives, her husband had his relatives to invite too." Jack said.
For the next few minutes, he showed them a few more photos, which included the wedding ceremony and Jack's cousin, looking splendid in her elegant wedding dress, as well as the start of the reception in the hotel with finely laid tables. He had just reached the photo which showed the inside of a menu, and the selection of food on offer in the different courses, when the bell rang, signalling the end of school for another day.
"Aww, and just at the part where I wanted to see what food you had that evening!" Norma sighed as she reached for her bag before standing up.
"Don't worry Norma, there's always next week I can show more of them to you." Jack said, as he turned off his laptop and then put it back in his laptop bag.
"But from what we saw today, it looks like you all had a good time in Vienna." Freddy said.
"We did, and don't worry Fred, I'll show the rest another time." Jack said, as he put his school bag on his back and his laptop bag over his shoulder. That done, they headed out into the corridors as all the classes emptied out.
As they walked down the corridors, Jack couldn't help noticing Norma and Freddy seemed to be looking at each other. Freddy seemed to be attracted to Norma's beauty, and in return she couldn't help complimenting how handsome he was, which made Freddy blush a bit. Turning away, Jack couldn't help but smile at what he hoped was a new couple in the making.
"So, Jack…how was your first week here in an American high school? Do you think it went well?" Norma asked, as Jack chuckled.
"Norma, I think I can safely say my first week here was an unqualified success. I hope the rest of my time here will be just as successful." Jack said.
"That's great, Jack. I'm glad everything went well for you." Norma said, as Carrie and Freddy voiced their agreements.
Exiting the school at the main doors, the four turned and headed toward the main parking lot.
"What a day it was!" Freddy said, as they entered the parking lot.
"Indeed, so what are you doing for the weekend, Fred?" Norma asked.
"I actually had no idea what I was gonna do, though I was thinking I might go to that huge mall tomorrow. I haven't been there in some time." Freddy said.
"You know, I was half thinking of going there too…after all, I've got nothing else planned for this weekend." Norma said.
"Could…we met up there and spend some time there together?" Freddy asked, a little nervous.
"Yeah, how about we exchange numbers?" Norma said, with her usual peppy smile.
"Sure!" Freddy said, as he pulled out his phone.
As Norma and Freddy exchanged numbers before saying goodbye to Jack and Carrie and heading off home, Jack turned to Carrie.
"Well…would you like to go to the mall tomorrow, Carrie?" he asked.
"Of course, and it's good timing too; my momma's working all day tomorrow and won't be finished until after 6:00pm. So yeah, I'd like to go there with you, as I usually don't go to the mall very often." Carrie said.
"Great! How about I meet you in front of the building where I'm living and we'll head into the mall from there?" Jack said.
"Sounds good, but which building are you staying in?" Carrie asked. Jack pulled out his iPhone, opened the photos app and showed Carrie photos of the building he was staying at.
"It's in this one here, on the top floor." he said, pointing to the building in question.
"Oh, I know where that is; it's only about a walk of about fifteen minutes from my house!" Carrie said, now seeing exactly where the building in question was.
"Excellent! So, I'll see you at ten tomorrow morning outside this entrance here?" Jack asked, pointing to the door on one of the pictures.
"Yeah, I'll be there. I'll see you in the morning!" Carrie said, as she set off home.
"See you then, Carrie!" Jack called, as he turned and headed towards the car park to meet up with Rita at her car.
(on the way to the apartment)
"So, you and Carrie are meeting at the mall tomorrow morning?" Rita said, as they drove on down the street.
"Yes; she lives not too far from where I am and can walk there in a short time. And she seems to be more confident than she was earlier this week." Jack said, as Rita smiled.
"Oh, I've noticed; I think it's a great thing you're helping her, Jack. She seems much more confident than she was this time last week." Rita said, as she remembered what had happened in the locker room. They were quiet for a few moments before Rita spoke again.
"You haven't had any trouble from Chris Hargensen and her Ultras yet, have you?" she asked.
"No Rita, not yet, but it's inevitable it's gonna happen…at SOME point. You told me Chris was suspended this week, so I haven't seen her face to face yet." Jack said, not sounding too concerned.
"Well…just take care if or when you do; to say she can be a bit of a handful at times would be a drastic understatement. And don't EVER underestimate her." Rita said.
"Yes ma'am, but I won't worry about that just yet. After all, I'm just looking forward to spending tomorrow with Carrie." Jack said, as Rita smiled.
"Okay Jack, just have a good time and make sure you keep Carrie happy." Rita said.
"Well, Rita…if I can make someone like Carrie a much happier person than before I arrived, I think I'm doing a good job." Jack said, as Rita pulled into the parking lot outside the apartments.
"Absolutely, and that's something that'll get you far in life." Rita said, as she smiled again.
After stopping the car in front of the main entrance, Jack grabbed his bag and got out.
"Thanks Rita. I'll see you out here on Monday morning at the usual time?" Jack said, as he looked in the open passenger side window.
"Of course, Jack. Have a good time at the mall with Carrie tomorrow. See you on Monday!" Rita called, as she drove out of the parking lot and headed home.
Once back in his apartment, Jack changed into more comfortable attire, picked up a blue cardboard folder from his bedside table and went into the kitchen area. Inside the folder were photocopies of a few cake and pie recipes his mother used in her extensive bakery business, and Jack wanted to try one of his absolute favourites. Opening the folder, he flicked through the pages until he found the recipe he was looking for; an old favourite of his, self-saucing butterscotch pudding.
After checking round to be sure he had the necessary ingredients on hand, which he had, he set to work. Allowing the oven to preheat, and after brushing melted butter on the inside of a baking dish he wanted to use, he began mixing flour, brown sugar and baking powder in a large mixing bowl, and, once the dry ingredients were mixed, he then added one egg, melted butter, melted golden syrup, a few drops of vanilla essence and some milk before mixing it all together. Once it was all mixed, and using a spatula, he spooned all the mix into the baking dish and evenly spread it out over the bottom of the dish.
In another mixing bowl, he mixed brown sugar and some corn flour until it formed a fine powder and then he spread it over the cake batter as evenly as he could. Then he carefully poured hot water over the top of the cake until it was just covered and then placed it in the oven for about 30 to 35 minutes.
While waiting for it to bake, he thought about what to have for dinner. Then, remembering that it was Friday night, he decided to treat himself to a takeout from a local fast-food place. He remembered there was a KFC just across the street from where he was and decided to get a takeaway from there and eat it in his apartment.
Back home, it was always a tradition in the family to have fast food for dinner on a Friday evening, and Jack decided to carry on that tradition for the time he was over here. However, with the pudding still in the oven, he decided to wait until maybe around 5:00pm or a little after before he went over to the KFC.
A little over half an hour later, Jack put on the oven gloves and took the self-saucing butterscotch pudding out from the oven. Setting it down on a cake rack, he deeply inhaled the scene; and it smelt fantastic! Leaving it aside to cool, Jack decided to have some after he had eaten dinner.
(5:50pm)
Arriving back in the apartment, Jack set his KFC takeout order down on the coffee table in front of the TV; four pieces of the Original Recipe Chicken, some popcorn chicken, a BBQ sauce dip, two portions of French fries and a side of sweetcorn. He then went to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of Pepsi from the freezer. After grabbing a knife and fork, he sat down and tucked into his Friday evening dinner with the 1958 Titanic movie A Night to Remember, which was one of his favourite Titanic movies, being shown on the TV before him.
Taking his time with the feast before him, he savoured the moist chicken really thoroughly before swallowing. He hadn't had anything from KFC in some time, and so was really taking the chance to enjoy the meal before him.
Once he finished dinner, which was around the point where Titanic hits the iceberg in A Night to Remember, he tidied up, put the empty KFC packaging into the bin, placed the cutlery in the dishwasher and condiments in their presses. With that all done, he could really get a chance to enjoy the self-saucing butterscotch pudding.
Scooping a good portion out from the large baking dish, and making sure he got plenty of the sweet butterscotch sauce on the bottom poured over, Jack warmed the portion for a brief time in the microwave. After taking it out from the microwave, he placed two scoops of bourbon vanilla ice cream on the side of the bowl and settled down to continue watching the movie. He spent the rest of the evening, just taking it easy, relaxing and, after A Night to Remember finished, watching YouTube videos and doing a bit of work on the novel he was writing on his laptop.
But soon, he looked at his watch and was surprised to see the time being 11:10pm. Deciding to call it a night for now, he turned off his laptop and, after placing his laptop in his room, turned off the lights in the kitchen and living area. Setting his alarm to go off at 8:20am, he changed into his pyjamas and went into the bathroom.
Once finished in the bathroom, which included brushing his teeth, Jack stepped back out into the bedroom and climbed under the quilt before picking up one of the books he'd brought with him, On A Sea of Glass: The Life and Loss of the RMS Titanic. For about 20 minutes or so, he laid back, head resting on his pillow, and just read through the chapter describing the last evening on Titanic before she collided with the iceberg.
Eventually though, at 11:45pm, Jack placed his book on the bedside table, slid under the quilt and, turning the bedside light off, fell into a deep sleep, lulled off by the familiar sounds of trains in the distance and police sirens rushing past nearby on their way to an emergency somewhere nearby.
(In the morning; April 8th)
Jack was up at 8:10am and, after opening the curtains and seeing it was a gorgeous and sunny morning outside, he went over to his phone, plugged it in to charge and turned off the alarm as he woke before it went off, and went into the bathroom. After shaving and having a quick shower, he stepped out a few minutes later, wrapped up in towels. After thoroughly drying off and putting on some anti-perspirant and aftershave, he dressed in some fresh clothes and went into the kitchen to prepare himself breakfast.
As it was a Saturday, he treated himself to a full Irish breakfast, which included sausages, fried bacon, black and white pudding, fried eggs and hash browns with toast and tea. Once it was all prepared, he laid the table out on the balcony and had breakfast there. As he ate out on this gorgeous clear morning, he looked over the main road going by the mall; so far it was quiet, but Jack knew that would change soon, considering it was the weekend and everyone would have plenty of time on their hands.
Once finished his breakfast, Jack tidied everything up, placed the dirty dishes in the dishwasher and set about getting ready to go to the mall. By 9:55am, wearing his multi-pocket jacket with his fully charged iPhone and wallet, with cardkeys, securely tucked away in the inside pockets, and his laptop bag slung over one shoulder and camera over the other, Jack left the apartment and headed downstairs to the entrance.
He stepped outside the door and saw Carrie walk up along the sidewalk.
"Hey Carrie! Over here!" he called with a wave, as Carrie picked up her pace and headed towards him.
"Hey, good morning!" she said with a smile, as she and Jack hugged each other.
"And good morning back! Did you sleep well?" Jack asked.
"Yes, I did." Carrie said, with a smile. It was a particularly good night's sleep as Margaret hadn't put her into the praying closet the previous night.
"Well, shall we head into the mall before it gets too crowded?" Jack said.
"Yeah, let's go." Carrie said, and they headed towards the mall.
Stepping in through one of the main entrance doors, they went up to the first floor and stood overlooking where they could see the ground floor and the floors above. The clear blue sky was visible through the glass ceiling stretching down the length of the building and there was plenty of activity in the now open stores, with people going up and down the escalators, having coffee at some of the visible coffee shops or walking in and out of the stores.
"Goodness me…it's been so long since I've last been here, I've forgotten just how big it is." Carrie said, as she surveyed the different levels of the biggest mall in the United States.
"Yeah, I know how you feel about size. We don't have any shopping malls as big as this in Ireland. This makes Ireland's shopping centres seem pathetically insignificant." Jack said. After a moment of taking in what was going on before them, Jack turned to Carrie.
"Well Carrie, where do you want to start first?"
"How about we just walk around here and go from floor to floor and pop into stores that catch our interest as we pass them by?" Carrie said.
"Yeah, that sounds like a fair plan to me…let's start then." Jack said, and with that they began their walk through the mall.
(An hour and a half later – 11:31am)
Jack and Carrie arrived at one of the food courts, eager to get something to eat after their walk around the first two levels of the mall. They both had a bag in one of their hands, evidence of things they'd bought while on their travels within the mall. Now feeling hungry, and their feet more than a little sore after all that walking, they decided to stop and recharge their batteries for a while before they carried on going round the mall.
They sat down at a table by one of the windows where they had a good view of the park across the street; they had ordered hot drinks, Carrie ordered a hot chocolate and Jack had Irish breakfast tea, and some pastries from one of the service vendors. After they sat down, Jack looked round; it was a lot busier than earlier, with more people going in and out of stores with bags in their hands. Some were even carrying large boxes they'd paid for out from some of the electronics and sports stores.
"Oh, my feet are killing me. I haven't done any walking like that for some time." Carrie said, as she started sipping her hot chocolate.
"My feet are feeling okay, but then I'm used to walking; I've done a lot of it every day on the treadmill back home." Jack said, as he took a bite out of a vanilla custard Danish.
"So, Jack, please tell me…what made your mother want to start a bakery business? What it something she always wanted to do?" Carrie asked.
"She always loved baking; something she got from my grandmother, who started the business back in 1965 with a bakery along Dublin's O'Connell Street. When she retired back in 2005, my mother took over the business and it really started to grow from there. My mother's a very strong-willed person, and always looking for ways she could use to her advantage to give her growing business the edge over the competition. Something my grandmother would be very proud of." Jack said, before he took a sip of his tea.
"Is your grandmother still alive?" Carrie asked. Jack paused a moment, then shook his head.
"I'm afraid not; she…died almost five years ago. Her health had deteriorated quite a bit by late April 2012 and she eventually passed away in Dublin's Mater Hospital just before the end of May that year." Jack said, with a sigh.
"I'm so sorry about that. What kind of a person was she like?" Carrie asked.
"She had a great sense of humour and was a very kind woman, like most grandmothers are, and was also a popular woman in her community." Jack said.
"And did you know any of your other grandparents?" Carrie asked.
"Yes, I did. Sadly though, they're dead too." Jack said, with a solemn tone in his voice.
"Well, you were very lucky to know and meet your grandparents…mine all died before I was born, so I never knew them." Carrie said.
"I'm sorry." Jack said.
They were both quiet for a few more moments, as they enjoyed their hot drinks and pastries before they spoke again.
"What sort of things does your mother make in her bakeries?" Carrie asked.
"Well, generally everything you'd expect to find and buy in a bakery, like cakes, pies, donuts, confectionaries and so on, even things you wouldn't usually find, such as ice cream and custard. However, the one thing her bakeries are famous for is the hot chocolate, which she serves year-round but is especially popular in winter. For instance, the hot chocolate you're drinking, is that made from that powdered chocolate stuff?" asked Jack.
"It is, I've drunken it since I was young. I don't mind the taste of it of course, but it could be of much better quality though." Carrie said.
"Yeah, that's why my mother serves the popular hot chocolate in her bakeries. It's made from solid chocolate, not chocolate powder, as well as a 50-50 mix of milk and heavy cream as well as the use of vanilla essence, cinnamon powder and even a bit of espresso powder to enhance the chocolate flavour. The result is the best, richest and thickest hot chocolate you've ever had in your life. And believe me…it's much better than the powdered stuff most people buy in places like Walmart." Jack said. Carrie looked at Jack a little surprised at the description, while trying to imagine what his mother's hot chocolate must be like.
"Well, if that's the case…can you show me how to make your mother's hot chocolate at some time?" Carrie asked.
"Of course. I've even brought a few photocopies of her different recipes over here with me so showing you sometime should be no problem at all." said Jack.
"Thanks Jack." Carrie said, with a smile.
"No problem, and it's not just hot chocolate, it's a lot of the other products in her business which brings the customers in, like cakes, pastries and so on. She always puts the best possible quality into her cakes. For example; many times, she's tried out the desserts that you can buy in fast food restaurants. After sampling them, she often thinks to herself "I can do better than this." And she has! A lot of the cakes, donuts and pastries, and even ice cream and custard, she makes are indeed much better quality than what you get in fast food places." Jack said.
"So, your mother is driven by a determination to succeed?" Carrie said, astonished by how such a woman could drive herself.
"Absolutely, she's that kind of person. But then again, it's what's made her business the big success that it's become." Jack said.
"And how many bakeries does your mother have in Ireland again?" Carrie asked.
"There's twenty; four are in Dublin, and two each in Belfast, Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford. And one each in Sligo, Derry, Tipperary, Tralee, Killarney and Ennis. The Ennis bakery is the most recent one to open, which took place last year. There's another two due to open a little later this year; one in Dundalk and the other in Athlone, with plans to open another one in Kildare Village sometime in the near future. And it certainly proves quite well that you CAN make a great living selling baked goods, contrary to what a lot of people told my grandmother and mother." Jack said.
"And which bakery is the best of them all?" Carrie asked.
"That would be the one along upper O Connell Street in the centre of Dublin, as it was the first one opened and it's also the largest. It's the crown jewel of all twenty bakeries, and even has special kitchens on the upper floors where my mother and her staff can prepare new recipes to serve in the other bakeries. I've even made a few things in those kitchens over the last few years, including brownies, apple crumble and chocolate cakes." Jack said.
"Wow." Carrie said, and she paused a moment to take another sip of her hot chocolate before she asked another question that was on her mind.
"And has your mother ever entered any baking competitions?"
"She has entered some competitions on the odd few occasions, but…actually NOT as many as you may think. Even though she's determined to have her business be successful in order to support the family, she's not really that keen on taking part in competitions. But she has won some prizes in a few competitions she's entered for some really fantastic cakes, and she was really proud of those. And also, she sets up a stall or two with some of her work colleagues each year at the Dublin Christmas market." Jack said.
"Oh, I see." Carrie said, with a smile.
A few minutes later, having finished their hot drinks and pastries, and with their feet well-rested, Jack and Carrie stood up from their table and left the food court. They took the escalator up to the next level and proceeded to walk around and passing shops while looking for the ones likely to catch their interest to go in to.
"How about we go have a look in here?" Carrie said after a short while, indicating to a large candy store, with its front windows filled near to overflowing with bright vivid colours of different confectionary and chocolates.
"Certainly, this looks like an interesting place. Come on." Jack said, and into the candy store they went, and their nostrils were filled with the scent of chocolate and flavoured sugar.
Going along the different aisles, they were in awe at the huge selection of candies and chocolates on offer, many of which were wrapped in brightly coloured paper, and there even large wicker hampers filled to the brim with candy and chocolate.
"Do you think you'll buy any of these hampers while you're here?" Carrie asked.
"I don't know; they all seem a bit big for my liking, and there's the difficulty of flying it home. But…I'll give it some thought." Jack said.
"Okay, but what about these?" Carrie asked. Jack turned and saw a long shelf filled with many different varieties of Hershey bars, including some quite sizeable ones.
"Now this is more like it! These would be perfect to take home, as they'll easily fit in a suitcase. Even the largest bars shouldn't be too much of a problem." Jack said, surveying the Hershey bars neatly arranged before him, some of which were about five pounds or so in weight and cost up to $75 per five-pound bar.
"How 'bout one of these?" Carrie suggested, taking one of the one pound Hershey milk chocolate bars.
"Now that's something I could easily take home…or even a few more. Yet there's plenty of weight to it." Jack said, picking up two of the bars and checking them out. The bars were cookies and cream as well as plain milk chocolate, two of his favourite Hershey bar flavours. As he checked out the other one-pound chocolate bars on the different shelves, a thought suddenly came into Jack's mind.
"Hey Carrie, how about I show you my mother's hot chocolate recipe today?" he said. Carrie looked at him for a moment.
"Really? At your apartment?" Carrie asked.
"Sure, and we can use chocolate from one of these bars for it." Jack said, as he picked up three large bars of milk chocolate.
"Thanks. Shall we go to your apartment once we finish here later?" Carrie said.
"Sure, but shall we continue looking around the different shops here first before we go back?" Jack said, as he and Carrie went into another aisle.
"Okay." Carrie said. And after looking through the different shelves for anything they wanted before they went to the checkout.
Coming out of the candy store a few minutes later, they turned and headed towards another of the bookshops Jack wanted to have a look in. Then, among the small groups of people milling about, they suddenly noticed two familiar faces in the distance and coming closer to them. It was Freddy and Norma.
"Hey there, you two!" Norma said, as the four came close to each other.
"And hello back…are you two enjoying yourselves?" asked Jack.
"Yeah, we are; we've just been going round the mall, looking for something to keep us interested for the day. We were just at one of the food courts, where we had a bite to eat, and now we're looking for one of the bowling alleys." Freddy said.
"Oh, we saw one of them somewhere back that way." Carrie said, turning round and pointing back the way she and Jack had come from.
"Thanks; Norma and I talked about going bowling sometime and we wanted to know where the bowling alleys are in this mall." Freddy said.
"So, what did you guys purchase while you were here?" Norma asked, noticing the bags Jack and Carrie were holding.
"Well, I bought a poetry book…I'd been looking for this one for quite some time." Carrie said, pulling out a book of poetry, with a dark green cover, from her bag.
"I also bought a book I'd been wanting for a while." Jack said, opening his black laptop bag and taking out the book, a hardback; The Locomotives of Sir Nigel Gresley, by O. S. Nock.
"Now that looks quite interesting." Norma said.
"It does certainly look it. I've been looking for this book for some time, to add to my collection of railway books, and now I'm very glad I have it. I looked for it in many of the bookshops back in Dublin, but none of them had it available." Jack said.
"What's your plan for the rest of the day?" Freddy asked.
"Well, Carrie and I will hang around here for a few more hours and then we'll head over to my apartment." Jack said.
"Sounds good, we're gonna stay around here for a few hours and then we'll head over to the park while the weather's still nice out. Or if the weather turns bad, we'll head into the library down on the ground floor." Norma said.
"Fair enough. Well, we don't want to delay you any longer so we'll let you go on your way." said Jack.
"Okay, we'll see you both in class on Monday morning." Norma said, showing off her usual peppy smile.
"Right-o, see you then." Jack said, and after giving their goodbyes, he and Carrie went on their way as Norma and Freddy went along towards one of the mall's bowling alleys.
At one point, when Carrie and Jack were passing one of the electronics stores at the eastern side of the mall, they didn't know they were being watched by Chris Hargensen, Tina Blake and the Watson twins, Nikki and Lizzy, from inside the store, all four of whom were wondering what the two were doing, particularly as Carrie rarely went to the mall. As Chris watched Carrie and Jack disappear into the crowd, evil thoughts were flowing through her head on getting revenge on Carrie for getting her banned form the prom.
Smiling an evil smile, she turned back to her three friends in their little group and they carried on browsing through the aisles in the electronics store.
(2:55pm)
Jack and Carrie arrived back in Jack's apartment and went towards the kitchen space. They were tired after walking round the mall and eager to rest their feet. They had eaten lunch, French fries, burgers, and vanilla milkshakes, at one of the fourth-floor food courts at about 12:45pm before going on to look at more of the shops. At one of the model shops, Jack bought three model kits: two British Centurion Mk III tanks and an American M26 Pershing tank, all at 1/56 scale. Now eager to rest for a while, they left the mall and went back across the street to Jack's apartment.
Carrie was impressed by the size of the apartment and how spacious it was. Putting her bags with her purchases down behind the sofa, she turned and watched as Jack started getting things ready to make them his mother's hot chocolate.
"This is quite a nice place." Carrie said as she stepped up to the kitchen island where Jack was placing all the ingredients. After placing a pot on the stove, he turned to the island.
"Well, let's get down to this, shall we?" he said. Mixing equal amounts of milk and heavy cream in the saucepan, and gently heated it up until it was simmering, Jack then added in a little brown sugar and mixed in half of one of the one-pound milk chocolate Hershey bars, which he chopped into smaller pieces so they would melt quicker. Turning off the heat and starting to whisk, he added in a small amount of vanilla essence, a pinch of salt and espresso powder and then thoroughly whisked everything together. All the time, Carrie was standing by Jack's side and observing while he explained everything.
She watched as the steaming liquid got thicker as Jack whisked the mixture together. After a minute or two of watching everything come together, and taking in the rich chocolatey smell, Jack turned off the heat and then looked at Carrie.
"Yeah, I reckon it's done now. Time to serve up." He said, and taking two mugs from one of the cabinets, he carefully ladled the hot, rich and thick chocolate into the two mugs. Then, taking a can of whipped cream from the fridge, he sprayed some cream into the two mugs before taking a grater and the other half of the Hershey bar and grated some chocolate over the top of the whipped cream.
"And there we are." Jack said, carefully handing one of the mugs to Carrie. She took it, slowly brought it up to her lips and sipped. She then looked back at Jack, a big smile spreading slowly across her face with a little hint of a chocolate moustache under nose.
"That's really nice! It's much, much nicer than the hot chocolate I had earlier on today." Carrie said, as she took another sip.
"I'm glad you like it, Carrie." Jack said, as he took a sip from his own mug. They went and sat down out on the balcony, enjoying the warm spring weather. In the last few days, the weather had improved quite a bit since Jack arrived and the air had slowly warmed, giving the pleasant feel of a normal American spring day.
"So, what are you gonna do with those model kits you bought?" Carrie asked, as she sipped her hot chocolate.
"I'll build them when I return to Ireland. If I were to build them now, returning them home without damaging them would be difficult at best. And besides, I'd rather not stink up the apartment with the smell of modelling glue. I don't think many people on this floor would like that." Jack said. Carrie just smiled and nodded; then she carried on with her hot chocolate.
They sat in silence for a few more minutes, watching and listening to the world go by as they finished their hot chocolate. Going back inside after a while, they placed their mugs into the dishwasher when Jack remembered something.
"Carrie, last night I made one of the things my mother sells in her bakeries. And I think you might like to try some of it." Jack said, as he went to the oven and opened the door. Carrie stood at the kitchen island as Jack came over and placed before her, the pudding he had made the previous night.
"Oh, this looks a nice cake…but what is it?" Carrie asked, as she looked over the dish.
"This is a butterscotch self-saucing pudding, basically a pudding that makes its own sauce when it bakes. It's one of the popular cakes my mother sells and it's particularly popular in the wintertime, as it's usually served hot." Jack said.
"And are there other flavours besides butterscotch?"
"There are; there's lemon, chocolate, caramel and sticky toffee to name but a few. And they're quite nice served warm with vanilla ice cream." Jack said.
"Can we have some of this now?" Carrie asked.
"Certainly." Jack said. He took two bowls from one of the presses and spooned two decent portions of the pudding into them. Then he put them into the microwave for 40 seconds each. As the second bowl was warming up, he took a full tub of Haagen-Dazs vanilla ice cream from the freezer. With the two portions of pudding nicely warmed up and the sauce running, Jack gave himself and Carrie a decent portion of vanilla ice cream on top. And then he handed one bowl, with a spoon, to Carrie.
Carrie took in her first bite and savoured it as Jack watched with some trepidation. Then she looked at him with a growing smile on her face.
"This is delicious! I don't think I've ever tasted something like this before! And the ice cream goes really well with it too!" Carrie said, taking in another mouthful of the pudding.
"I'm really glad you like it, Carrie. When this appears in my mother's bakeries, whether it's butterscotch or any other flavour for that matter, it usually sells out pretty fast." Jack said, tucking into his portion.
For the rest of the afternoon, until just after 4:45pm, Jack and Carrie relaxed and he showed her round his apartment. During their exploration, they came upon an older model exercise bike in the closet of one of the other two bedrooms, and Jack decided to put it to good use this evening and for each following evening.
At one point when Jack was showing Carrie around the master bedroom, she noticed how large his en-suite bathroom was and the large closet just beside it was. She mentioned to Jack how lucky he was to have his own bathroom this size, knowing how her room at home didn't have a bathroom attached to it.
"This apartment seems a bit big for one person to stay in for only two months, doesn't it?" Carrie said at one point.
"I know, and my parents would've wanted me to have something smaller. But…when we were making the arrangements for me to come over here, this apartment was all that was available. So, I had to take it, and I'm very pleased I have it. Plenty of space for me to relax in and plenty of storage space too." Jack said.
"Yeah, I suppose there's that." Carrie said, as she felt herself smile.
But soon, a little after 4:45pm, Carrie decided that she'd better get herself back home soon as her mother was due to finish work at around 6:00pm. Jack understood and asked if he could walk her home. Carrie agreed, and they left the apartment and headed down the street towards Carrie's house.
"So, Carrie, did you enjoy our day today?" asked Jack.
"I did, Jack. And thanks for giving me a good time today. I haven't had a good time like today in a long while. And thanks for serving me your mother's hot chocolate. You must make it for me more often while you're here." Carrie said, giving a broad smile.
"I'm very pleased to have given you a good time today, Carrie. And I'm really pleased that you liked my mother's hot chocolate, and her self-saucing pudding recipe. After Ms Desjardin told me what happened to you, I made it my personal mission to help you and make you more comfortable in any way I could." Jack said.
"Thank you for doing that for me. No one's ever done something like that for me before." Carrie said, with a smile.
"I'll always be happy to make you happy and to help you whenever you need it." Jack said, as Carrie smiled at him and they carried on walking.
A little over 15 minutes since they left Jack's apartment, they arrived in front of Carrie's old home along Carlin Street. The weather was still bright, warm and clear, with the sun just starting to set off to the west in the cloudless sky.
"Here we are. And with plenty of time to spare before momma gets home." Carrie said. Jack smiled; he wanted to ask Carrie about her mother, but decided not to press the issue for now.
"And only about fifteen minutes from where I'm staying…just like you said." Jack said, looking at his watch. Carrie smiled, and then she looked back along the street towards the older part of Chamberlain.
"Well…I better get inside and wait for my mama to get home. I'll see you in class on Monday morning?" Carrie said.
"Of course, and don't worry Carrie…I'll always be there for you." Jack said, with a smile. But then before he could do anything else, Carrie rushed forward, threw her arms round Jack's shoulders and hugged him tightly. Though Jack was surprised by this, he gratefully returned the hug, wrapping his strong arms gently round Carrie's waist. They both held the hug for what seemed like ages, but was in fact only for a minute or so before they let go of each other. "Well, I better get inside now." Carrie said, and she turned and went inside her house. After he watched her go inside, before she turned and waved at him, Jack turned and walked back along the street to his apartment.