The Ride

Chapter Nineteen

Elena

Once everyone was seated, dinner was served. Three courses were brought out, chosen by the lady of the evening herself, that used her own recipes. To add extra detail, each course was presented with a notecard describing its origin in Em's food journey.

Everyone at our table wanted to carry on conversations as they ate, but not me. I had tuned them out and focused on satisfying my appetite.

"Damn babe," Gelo said, looking at the empty plate in front of me that had remnants of what was creamy Cajun chicken, sautéed spinach and mushrooms and creamed cornbread with jalapeño butter.

"What? It was amazing," I wiped the corners of mouth with a napkin, careful not to disrupt my lipstick, "don't make fun of me."

"I'm not," he rubbed his hand over my belly, "I know you're eating for three. You want some of mine?"

"I thought you'd never ask," I grinned, stabbing my fork into his piece of cornbread I had been eyeing and bringing it over to my plate.

"All this spicy food ain't gonna give your heartburn again?" he inquired, as I covered the bread in the jalapeño butter.

I had been on a hot food kick lately: Hot Cheetos, pickles, a spicy chicken sandwich from Chick Fil A or pouring hot sauce on plain chips. Gelo was concerned after I had two rough nights with heartburn, but it was a craving I couldn't resist.

"Nope. I took a Tums beforehand. The babies might be up and kicking all night, but nothin' mama can't handle," I shrugged, "whatever's for dessert is probably gonna have them bouncing off the walls too."

In addition to the exquisite menu, Em's guest were treated to an exclusive viewing of the first episode of her show. Everyone turned their attention to the huge projector hanging on the wall at the front of the room once desert was brought out.

She pulled you in from the moment her smile appeared in the opening sequence. Being that her books and cooking journey was centered around family and culture, she made sure to have those aspects as focal points.

Throughout the opening segment accompanied with melodic, folk music were clips of Max and I with Em laughing and throwing flour at each other in the kitchen, pictures of Em helping mom in the kitchen when she was a little girl that transitioned to a clip of them in the present- only this time mom was her sous chef. Dad, our grandparents and grandmothers also made cameos.

I was curious as to where Aubrey was, but then remembered that he voiced several times that he wanted this to be Em's own thing without him taking any shine away from her. However, upon her request and desire to be as authentic as possible, he had filmed a couple episodes with her as a guest that would be shown later in the season.

Twenty three minutes later everyone stood up with applause and cheers. It was beautifully put together and her charisma shined through. She had a natural talent beyond prepping and presenting dishes. Her steps were easy to follow and her ability to tell the story behind what she was making brought me back to vivid memories of our childhood. I let a few tears get away from me as I hugged and kissed her cheek. Hopefully this venture in her career would continue to open doors for her.

While I was beyond happy for my baby sister, I hadn't forgot my observations that I pointed out to Owen not long ago. At the end of the day, the protective big sister side of me would always keep an eye on her. The entire night I had noticed that Em had barely touched her food. I didn't want to jump to conclusions, but I knew something was off about that. She took little bites here and there but was basically pushing food around with her fork and drinking water.

I had been in the medical field long enough to know that postpartum depression came in many forms and each time I was around Em, I was picking up on different ones. Hell, I even felt some side effects of it myself when I lost my first child.