Chapter 25

Sam had gotten up that morning wondering what she could make for dinner that would impress AJ. She was a pretty good cook but she really wanted to show off her talents. Then it came to her and she relaxed with only the decision of whether to make rice or pasta to go with the grilled bacon wrapped honey BBQ shrimp and steamed green beans she had decided to make. She hoped AJ would like it.

She let AJ in when he arrived and he took a deep breath and said, "Whatever you are making smells fantastic!"

"Thank you, I hope you'll like it. Come in, everything will be ready very soon."

"May I put these things in your refrigerator?" he asked indicating the bags he was carrying.

"Oh course, go ahead, I just need to finish putting the food on the table."

AJ joined her and looked over the food, "This looks wonderful Samantha."

"Please serve yourself and I hope that you enjoy it," Sam offered and was very pleased at the amount of food he took. He was either very hungry or thought the shrimp and beans would taste as good as they smelled and looked.

"I've never had shrimp like this before. It's fantastic! I hope that you will show me how to make it one day."

"You cook?" she asked in surprise.

"Yes, when I got married neither one of us cooked. So one of us had to learn because on my Navy pay we couldn't afford to eat out for every meal. My wife informed me that as a Mayor's daughter she'd always had cooks and had no intention of ever learning to cook, so I had to."

"Forgive me, but she sounds like she was a very selfish woman."

"She was, but since she'd gotten pregnant right after we married, I felt I should do that for her. I met and married her in Italy and took her out of her home country when we moved to the US. She hated how long I would be gone on missions. I couldn't even tell her where I was going on my SEAL missions. When our daughter was two and I was on deployment she took Francesca and went back to Italy. I came home to find them gone. She filed for divorce and remarried when Francesca was seven and changed her last name without my permission. I lost contact with my daughter for years, until three years ago she contacted me and we started building a relationship. It's so nice having her back in my life."

"I'm really glad the two of you reconnected. You must have really missed her during the years you were apart. How often do you get to see each other?"

"Not as often as we like but we talk on the phone once or twice a week and email a lot. So we do have a lot of contact," he sounded just a bit sad as he talked about his daughter.

"I'm sorry my questions bothered you AJ," she said covering his hand with hers.

"You didn't, please don't worry about that. I love talking about her and we have a lot more contact than we did for all those years apart so it's good. So are you ready for the desert that I brought? I will need a few minutes to make the whipped cream."

"Yes I'm very ready. What did you make?"

"A berry cobbler," he answered simply as he headed for the kitchen. Sam followed him to show him where anything he might need was.

She watched as he expertly whipped up the cream and pointed out the few things he needed and then finally the plates he wanted to serve it up with. The color in the cobbler was beautiful and she just couldn't wait to try it.

Her first bite made her know that she would promise him anything to get the recipe. "AJ I have never tasted a better cobbler in all my life! I can tell you used strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries, but it seems like there is another flavor in there that I can't place. Will you tell me what it is?"

He smiled at her and said, "Well I did put a bit of sugar in there to help bring out the juices…"

To be continued…