Shadows of Hope

Chapter 6

Dedicated to @fatfaceheart for all of her support and amusing comments which keep me writing.

Faith's POV

The bold scent of Italian spices welcomes me home after another stressful day of juggling clients, booking appointments, and fighting with technology. How we can't keep a working fax machine is beyond me.

Slipping out of my slate gray pumps, I make my way into our tiny kitchen. Tossie, talking on her cell phone while stirring a large pot of simmering pasta sauce, greets me with a half wave. Washing up, I grab a spoon and dip into the sauce for a quick taste test.  Oregano and basil burst alive on my tongue before a scalding sensation has my eyes watering and my mouth scorched.

"Patience was never your virtue Faith." Tossie hands me a glass of ice water to help dull the pain.

Downing the precious drops of cold liquid, I can slowly feel sensation returning to my mouth. "Haw bu guh," I slur, gesturing a thumbs up.

Smiling in satisfaction, Tossie ends her conversation and reaches into the refrigerator to pull out fresh greens, cucumber, onion, bell peppers, cabbage and tomatoes. "You're on salad duty tonight."

Grabbing all of the fixings, I chop and dice until I have a beautifully decorated 'rainbow' salad. The orange and yellow of the bell peppers, the red of the tomatoes, green of the various types of lettuce, and the purple of the cabbage make the salad appetizing instead of appearing as rabbit food. Tossie may be the health nut in the family but perhaps some of her wisdom is rubbing off on me.

Ten minutes later we are seated at our pale peach dinner table, hand painted when we went through our DIY phase a year ago. Crocheted placemats are still nestled under our plates, faded at the edges from wear and tear.

Tentatively I try a bite of pasta, relieved to find that gluten-free noodles are actually fairly tasty. "This is delicious Tossie. I'm sorry I had to work late and you were stuck cooking again."

Waving away my apology with a flip of her fork, Tossie chews on a tomato from her salad, silently pondering. "I take it you forgive me for the other day?"

Sipping slowly from my glass of water, I collect my thoughts before saying something sarcastic. "Yes, you're forgiven."

Tossie heaves a huge sigh, her relief tangible. "Good, I thought you might give me the silent treatment for a week. I would have preferred siting in a cage of snakes to that."

I shudder at the image her words invoke. "Make sure I'm in Tahiti if you ever try that."

"You won't even travel two states home to Ohio. I doubt you would make it out of the country." Tossie clearly underestimates my unrealistic fear of slithering serpents.

"If snakes were involved I would." Or spiders, or bugs, or any creepy crawlers for that matter. Suddenly, the spaghetti noodles are looking strangely like worms instead of an appetizing meal. I push my plate away and replace it with my salad. 

"I can't believe you are scared of bugs. We used to catch spiders to put in Shane's shoes all the time." Her eyes take on a dreamy look as she reminisces about our past childhood antics.

I level her with a blank stare. "That was almost 20 years ago when getting muddy and playing pranks were considered cool." Tossie, being an only child, spent every day at our house during the summer. When Hope was around we used to pretend we were the three Musketeers and Shane was the dastardly villain. Being the baby of the family, Hope and Shane usually played whatever games I wished and Tossie came along for the ride.