I’d had to eat every four hours. Which was a real nuisance—particularly since I couldn’t eat any solids at all. Thankfully, things have settled down a bit. If I make sure to take my liquid vitamins, and have lots of protein via au jus or broth I can eat three times a day. Unless I’m stressed. Today was shaping up to be very stressful.
She pursed perfect mauve-tinted lips. “Hmm … bad morning interrogations probably call for a big cup of meat broth and some chocolate Ensure. Or … ooh! Wait. I have some phð. We could strain it to keep the noodles and other stuff out. We could use the blender, but that’s almost sacrilege.”
My smile was automatic. No, it wasn’t a traditional breakfast, but Grandma Long’s phð, a Vietnamese noodle soup, was legendary.
“Thanks! Are you sure? I don’t want to steal your lunch.”
The phone started to beep and she reached for the handset. “You won’t. You drink the broth. I’ll eat the meat and noodles. It’s all good.”
It made perfect sense and I got to the small office kitchen in record time. We have a full-sized refrigerator because everyone in the building works really weird hours and needs to have food available around the clock. The moment I opened the door, the scent of the phð erupted into my nose from beneath the plastic cover on the bowl. My fingers were tapping on the counter as the microwave heated the soup, until it occurred to me that I needed to find a secondary container and some way to strain the noodles. Three plastic forks and a tumbler later and I was ready.
I was trying to manage the forks, hot bowl, and tumbler when the bowl started to slip. Dawna was there just in time to grab the pot holder and steady the bowl before the whole mess wound up down the drain. “Got it. Go ahead.”
The third hand was just what I needed and I managed to get most of the broth from the bowl into the glass. It was worth the fuss. The beef broth and spices wowed my bland-stricken tongue. I could only hope it wouldn’t be too much for my stomach. But it would still be worth it. I nodded to my friend as she speared a forkful of noodles and twirled. “Amazing, as always. My compliments to your grandma. Did I ever thank her for the batch she made me after the attack?”
“Yep. Although I have to admit, she was horrified that you ran it through the blender. That’s why I mentioned sacrilege.”
“It was the only way I could get it down.”
“I know.” She ate another bite of noodles. Apparently she’d decided to join me for brunch. Since the phones were quiet, and Dottie was due in soon, I didn’t see any reason for her not to.
“Speaking of your granny, how goes the building situation? Has she moved in yet?”
When Vicki died, she gifted some real estate to me, Dawna, and our friend Emma. I got my house, which was actually the beach house of the estate where Vicki used to live, plus the office building. Dawna got the apartment building she lived in and was now struggling with an extended family who all expected to live there for free. She shook her head wearily. “I turned over the whole mess to my brother. I mean, I don’t really care whether people live there, but I have to at least pay the taxes and insurance on the place. I told Tal if he would manage the place and figure out reasonable rents for everyone, then he could live there for free.”
I took the last sip of broth that was free of stray noodles. “Isn’t he the one who worked for that big building management company in L.A.?”
She nodded. “That’s why I picked him. He knows people who do janitorial and repairs and such. It’s too big a job for just one person, but he delegates really well.” One last noodle got sucked through her lips and then she rinsed out the bowl in the sink. “So anyway. Enough about me. Why’s your life sucking today? What sort of interrogation could you be able to do?”
So it hadn’t gotten past her. She was just giving me time to think and eat.
She pursed perfect mauve-tinted lips. “Hmm … bad morning interrogations probably call for a big cup of meat broth and some chocolate Ensure. Or … ooh! Wait. I have some phð. We could strain it to keep the noodles and other stuff out. We could use the blender, but that’s almost sacrilege.”
My smile was automatic. No, it wasn’t a traditional breakfast, but Grandma Long’s phð, a Vietnamese noodle soup, was legendary.
“Thanks! Are you sure? I don’t want to steal your lunch.”
The phone started to beep and she reached for the handset. “You won’t. You drink the broth. I’ll eat the meat and noodles. It’s all good.”
It made perfect sense and I got to the small office kitchen in record time. We have a full-sized refrigerator because everyone in the building works really weird hours and needs to have food available around the clock. The moment I opened the door, the scent of the phð erupted into my nose from beneath the plastic cover on the bowl. My fingers were tapping on the counter as the microwave heated the soup, until it occurred to me that I needed to find a secondary container and some way to strain the noodles. Three plastic forks and a tumbler later and I was ready.
I was trying to manage the forks, hot bowl, and tumbler when the bowl started to slip. Dawna was there just in time to grab the pot holder and steady the bowl before the whole mess wound up down the drain. “Got it. Go ahead.”
The third hand was just what I needed and I managed to get most of the broth from the bowl into the glass. It was worth the fuss. The beef broth and spices wowed my bland-stricken tongue. I could only hope it wouldn’t be too much for my stomach. But it would still be worth it. I nodded to my friend as she speared a forkful of noodles and twirled. “Amazing, as always. My compliments to your grandma. Did I ever thank her for the batch she made me after the attack?”
“Yep. Although I have to admit, she was horrified that you ran it through the blender. That’s why I mentioned sacrilege.”
“It was the only way I could get it down.”
“I know.” She ate another bite of noodles. Apparently she’d decided to join me for brunch. Since the phones were quiet, and Dottie was due in soon, I didn’t see any reason for her not to.
“Speaking of your granny, how goes the building situation? Has she moved in yet?”
When Vicki died, she gifted some real estate to me, Dawna, and our friend Emma. I got my house, which was actually the beach house of the estate where Vicki used to live, plus the office building. Dawna got the apartment building she lived in and was now struggling with an extended family who all expected to live there for free. She shook her head wearily. “I turned over the whole mess to my brother. I mean, I don’t really care whether people live there, but I have to at least pay the taxes and insurance on the place. I told Tal if he would manage the place and figure out reasonable rents for everyone, then he could live there for free.”
I took the last sip of broth that was free of stray noodles. “Isn’t he the one who worked for that big building management company in L.A.?”
She nodded. “That’s why I picked him. He knows people who do janitorial and repairs and such. It’s too big a job for just one person, but he delegates really well.” One last noodle got sucked through her lips and then she rinsed out the bowl in the sink. “So anyway. Enough about me. Why’s your life sucking today? What sort of interrogation could you be able to do?”
So it hadn’t gotten past her. She was just giving me time to think and eat.
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