Aunt Jo took a deep drink of her lemonade, a trickle of water dripping off the bottom of the glass and landing perilously close to Moon Pie’s nose. “Your momma would have had a cow if she’d known some of her girls would up and move away.”
“Ava and Sarah are still here.”
“The rest of you aren’t.” Aunt Jo’s gaze narrowed. “Do you even keep in touch with your sisters? Enough to know what’s going on in their lives?”
“I know Ava’s new tearoom has been a huge success and that Sarah’s moved back in after their little tiff.” Which hadn’t been that little, although Ella and her other sisters had wisely stayed clear of the whole thing. “I also know that Sarah is dating the local sheriff, Blake McIntyre. It’s about time they finally admitted they liked each other.” Ella wasn’t sure what was going on with the rest of her sisters, which she didn’t want to admit. I should give them a call while I’m here. “Oh! I also heard that you’re judging the First Baptist Bake-Off this year. That surprised me. You’ve always said you haven’t seen crazy until you’ve seen First Baptist Bake-Off crazy.”
There were two churches in Dove Pond—the First Baptist Church and the First Methodist Church. Most people went to one or the other, and due to the limited citizenship of their small town, the competition between the two churches had grown into something fierce over the years. That had made the bake-off a rather contentious event. Ella shook her head. “How did they rope you into that? Besides, I didn’t think Bev Turnbull would ever give up her judge’s seat.”
“They caught her accepting a bribe. Twenty pounds of premium bacon.”
“Whoa! What a scandal.”
Aunt Jo nodded. “After an especially pointed sermon from Preacher Thompson about the evils of succumbing to enticements, she confessed all and resigned. After that, the preacher asked me to take over and I couldn’t say no.”
“Couldn’t pawn it off on someone else?”
“Who? You?” Aunt Jo pinned Ella with a stern look. “You being a celebrity chef and all might turn people’s attention away from the Bacon Bribery Scandal and focus on the actual competition.”
“If I was going to be in town, I’d do it. But you don’t need me, anyway; you’ll be a terrific judge.” Ella reached over and grabbed some beans from Aunt Jo’s paper bag and began snapping them, dropping them into the bowl as she finished. “Just look at you, saving the day, as usual. This town would be lost without you.”
Aunt Jo made a face. “It’s hard to say no to Preacher Thompson. He looks as if he might be Idris Elba and Halle Berry’s secret man-child.”
Ella raised her eyebrows. “Why haven’t I seen this guy?”
“Because you never stay long enough to visit new people, much less go to church. We could rectify that omission if you’re of a mind. Come with me this Sunday.”
That was only six days away. Hmm. If I stay an extra week, then I could legitimately miss my annual Thanksgiving visit and kill two birds with one stone.
Why not? It wasn’t as if she had anything else to do. She didn’t have much of a plan once she finished her mission here in Dove Pond. That was how she liked to do things. Overplanning took the fun out of life. Ella dropped another handful of snapped beans into Aunt Jo’s bowl. “Sunday is a date.”
Aunt Jo cut her a skeptical look. “Really?”
“Really. By the way, I brought you something.” Ella reached for her purse and pulled out a small package. She handed it to Aunt Jo.
“What’s this?” Aunt Jo undid the ribbon and opened the present. Inside the small box was a shiny cookie cutter. “This—why, this looks like my house!”
Ella nodded, pleased to see Aunt Jo’s smile. “We’re developing a line of Ella Dove kitchen utensils. I sent the company making our cookie cutters a picture of your house, and we’re going to include it in the line.”
“Well, well. That’s nice.” Aunt Jo placed the cutter back into the box and set it on the table at her elbow. “I’ve always loved this house.”
“Me too.” Ella grabbed some more beans from the brown paper bag at Aunt Jo’s feet and went back to snapping them. “I wanted to give you that present, but I had another reason for visiting. Aunt Jo, I need your advice.”
“Ask away. I like giving advice. It doesn’t cost much.”
Ella had to smile. “It’s weird, but I keep having this dream and it always leaves me feeling lost, somehow.”
“Oh?” Aunt Jo’s hands fell back into a steady rhythm as she scooped up beans, snapped them, and then dropped them into her bowl. “How often have you had this dream?”
“Dozens of times. And it’s always the same. I dream I’m here, in Dove Pond, and I’m being chased up Hill Street by a huge cupcake with strawberry frosting.”
“Does it catch you?”
“I don’t know. I always wake up before that happens. But every time I have the dream, I find strawberry frosting on me the next day when I’m wide awake.”
Aunt Jo’s hands froze in place, her eyes widening. “Ohhh, Ella. That’s not good.”
Oh no. That was not the reaction Ella’d been hoping for. “It’s just a weird dream, right?”
Aunt Jo set her bowl of beans to one side and leaned forward. “Your dream has crossed.”
An uneasy feeling clutched Ella’s stomach. “What do you mean ‘crossed’?”
“It’s moved from the dream world into reality. It expects you to do something.”
Great. Just great. “Do what?”
“The dream will tell you what. If you want your dream to go away and that frosting to stop showing up, then you have to do whatever the dream wants.”
Ella grimaced. “I was afraid of that.”
Aunt Jo’s eyebrows rose. “You know what the dream wants you to do.”
“Maybe. In the dream, I always end up in front of the Stewart house. Angela Stewart Harrington and I had a dustup a few years back. It must be that.”
Aunt Jo looked surprised. “You know Angela Harrington well enough to have had an argument with her? She’s almost as old as I am.”
“I went to high school with her grandsons, and they both played baseball, so I saw her when she’d come to town for team games. That’s why I recognized her when I ran into her a few years ago on Fifth Avenue, when I was in New York teaching for Le Cordon Bleu.”
“That’s a big city. That’s a chance meeting if there ever was one.”
“I know, right? Maybe she was homesick for Dove Pond or was just being kind, but she invited me to spend the weekend at her house in the Hamptons. We had such a great time that it became a ritual. I spent almost every weekend that summer at her house with her, her husband John, and her grandsons. Sometimes her daughter, Jules, was there too.”
Aunt Jo’s eyes narrowed. “I heard you dated Gray at some point. I think Sarah mentioned it, or maybe Ava.”
Ella shrugged. “He was at Angela’s house, which was how we started talking, but it was nothing serious. Angela’s the one I need to settle things with.”