Sawyer (Torey Hope: The Later Years #2) (25 page)

Several minutes later, Katherine had asked as many questions as she could come up with and their conversation turned to more personal information. Decker learned that she had also recently graduated and returned to Torey Hope, her childhood home. She and her mother lived across town and her elderly grandmother lived with them. She had always planned to leave Torey Hope for college and thought she would move to the big city, but when her mom divorced and her grandmother moved in she took inventory of her life and her plans for her future and realized that Torey Hope was her heart, and she didn’t want to leave.

Decker found himself lulled by the melodic lilt of her voice and nodded in agreement with her that finding a business management job in a small town was a definite challenge. He smiled when she shared her excitement over the potentially perfect job opportunity he had presented her with.

Through their conversation, Decker felt a definite connection to this girl; she shared his vision for success, she was a hard worker, she was self-motivated, she was a people person, she knew how to get a job done. She was perfect. Damn, the first girl he’d ever felt truly drawn to was going to be his assistant manager which meant that the connection he felt to her couldn’t go anywhere. One of his hard and fast rules was that business and pleasure never mixed. Never.

“Well, Mr. Morgan, thanks for answering my questions. I feel a little bit more at ease over my spur-of-the-moment acceptance of this job. I just want to say one thing, please remember how perfect I am for the job when you meet me again tomorrow.” Katherine had a smile in her voice as she spoke. “Goodnight, Mr. Morgan.”

Meet her again? What the hell did that mean?

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Sawyer’s favorite dessert, chocolate pie. This recipe is from the author’s mother. A homemade crust is always best, even though Luke thought all pie crusts came from the store.

Crust:

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup leaf lard

5 to 7 tablespoons of ice cold water

Sift flour and salt together.  Cut in shortening with pastry blender till pieces are size of small peas. Sprinkle with 1 tablespoon of ice cold water - gently toss with fork - push to side.  Repeat until all is moistened.  Form a ball. Flatten on lightly floured surface. Roll from center to edge till 1/8 inch thick.

Put into 9 inch pie pan. Prick bottom and sides with fork.  Bake at 450- degrees for 10 to 12 minutes.  Let cool completely.

Chocolate filling:

1 cup sugar

1/3 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Two one ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate - chopped fine

2 cups milk

3 slightly beaten egg yolks

2 tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine sugar, flour and salt.  Stir in milk gradually.  Add chocolate.  Cook and stir over medium heat until bubbly.  Cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Take small amount of cooked mixture and add it to beaten egg yolks.  Stir.  Return egg yolk mixture to cooked mixture in pan.  Cook for 2 more minutes stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Add butter and vanilla. Stir.  Pour into cooled pie shell.  Cover with plastic wrap to keep film from forming while filling cools.  When cooled top with fresh whipped cream and shavings of chocolate.

Whipped cream
:

1 cup heavy whipping cream. 2 tablespoons sugar.  

Beat whipping cream until peaks form. Add sugar.