Pancakes & Pandemonium - Culinary Competition Mystery #6

Chapter 2

(Amy)

Alex reappeared in front of Amy's cooking station. She dropped the bowl onto the tabletop. A wave of batter swirled up over the side and launched itself toward her. It splattered onto her apron then dripped onto her shoes. "Is my mother the surprise person?" she whispered as she dabbed at the goo with a paper towel.

He nodded and smiled. "Yes! She called the house last week when you weren't home and said she wanted to come for a visit. I paid for her plane ticket so that she could surprise you."

Amy took a deep breath in through her nose. "You really should've talked to me about this," she said.

"I thought it would be a good thing. You two haven't seen each other in years. I told her she can stay in one of the guest rooms, so you'll be able to catch up easily."

The smell of burnt pancakes jolted Amy out of the conversation. She looked down. Tendrils of gray smoke were rising from the dark brown edges of the pancakes. She flipped the ruined ones off of the griddle and into a trash can as a woman with short, snow-white hair standing beside Alex intently watched the process. When the griddle was clear, Amy could feel the woman staring at her now, instead of the electric appliance.

She swallowed and focused on ladling more batter onto the sizzling hot surface, instead of fretting about the brazen eavesdropper. "You know that I have a complicated relationship with my mother," Amy said.

Amy's parents had both been irresponsible alcoholics when she was growing up. The only good thing to come from the dysfunction, in her opinion, was that she had learned to cook to keep from going hungry. After her father had passed away, her mother had relocated from Michigan to Florida. Pretty much the only way they had communicated since the cross-country move was through short, monthly phone calls. And Amy was perfectly fine with that. While she could talk for hours about anything with her friends, Carla or Sophie, the conversations with her mom were always strained and difficult.

Alex's grin disappeared. He turned to look at the woman who was still standing so close to him that her arm was almost touching his. She met his stare with a look of cold defiance. Finally, she harrumphed and strutted past him to stop in front of Teresa's station. He leaned closer to Amy and quietly said, "I know what your family was like when you were growing up. Maybe your mom has changed."

"Or maybe she hasn't."

Amy silently watched her mother as she concluded the animated conversation with Catherine then made her way through the crowd to stand in front of the griddle. "Hello, Amy," her mother said as she fiddled with the zipper fob on her fleece jacket. "You have such a nice husband."

"What a surprise. What brings you to Kellerton, Mom?"

She looked down at her feet and said to the ground, "I had nothing better to do."

"Okay," Amy said. She flicked a burnt chunk of feta off of the griddle, into the trash can, with her spatula. Her mother's comment stung as much as it confused. People went to the movies when they had nothing better to do, not fly from one side of the country to the other. Something didn't seem right. "So how long will you be staying?"

Her mother shrugged. "I don't know. I haven't really thought of that. I guess until I can't stand it anymore."

"Well, I hope you enjoy your stay. I've tried to make the guest bedroom as comfortable as possible, and there are lots of interesting things to do in town."

"The weather's too cold for me. I don't like it. I knew I shouldn't have come here." She finally raised her head and looked directly at Amy. "I'm gonna walk around some more."