Reunion

By Annie Reed

Food connects us, each to the other. For one orphan raised by adoptive parents, an elaborate meal prepared for strangers becomes an unexpected gateway to a heritage beyond her wildest imagining.

Beth leads an ordinary if somewhat solitary life until one day she's struck with a sudden compulsion to bake enough food to feed a small army. Strange enough, since Beth never liked to cook, but stranger still are the recipe cards she finds in her mother's recipe box. Recipes not written in her mother's hand. Recipes for all the food she's compelled to cook. Recipes that will lead Beth not only to an unexpected love, but to an extraordinary discovery about the family who left her behind.

BONUS: This edition of "Reunion" includes a free copy of Annie's romantic fantasy "Rolo the Great."

"The appearance of a new Annie Reed story is a treat. Try one and you'll be hooked." -- Dave Hendrickson, author of CRACKING THE ICE.

"A friend recommended the works of Annie Reed. I was not disappointed. In fact, if her other shorts are as good as this one, I plan to read many more." -- Carol Davis Luce, author of NIGHT GAME (reviewing Annie Reed's short story CHANGELING)

Author Annie Reed is a prolific, award-winning writer whose stories have been published in numerous science fiction and fantasy anthologies.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Thunder Valley Press
• Release date: Jun 3, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476172200

Annie Reed

Award-winning author and editor Kristine Kathryn Rusch calls Annie Reed “one of the best writers I’ve come across in years.”Annie’s won recognition for her stellar writing across multiple genres. Her story “The Color of Guilt” originally published in Fiction River: Hidden in Crime, was selected as one of The Best Crime and Mystery Stories 2016. Her story “One Sun, No Waiting” was one of the first science fiction stories honored with a literary fellowship award by the Nevada Arts Foundation, and her novel PRETTY LITTLE HORSES was among the finalists in the Best First Private Eye Novel sponsored by St. Martin’s Press and the Private Eye Writers of America.A frequent contributor to the Fiction River anthologies and Pulphouse Fiction Magazine, Annie’s recent work includes the superhero origin novel FASTER, the near-future science fiction short novel IN DREAMS, and UNBROKEN FAMILIAR, a gritty urban fantasy mystery short novel. Annie’s also one of the founding members of the innovative Uncollected Anthology, a quarterly series of themed urban fantasy stories written by some of the best writers working today.Annie’s mystery novels include the Abby Maxon private investigator novels PRETTY LITTLE HORSES and PAPER BULLETS, the Jill Jordan mystery A DEATH IN CUMBERLAND, and the suspense novel SHADOW LIFE, written under the name Kris Sparks, as well as numerous other projects she can’t wait to get to. For more information about Annie, including news about upcoming bundles and publications, go to www.annie-reed.com.

Book preview

Reunion

Annie Reed

with complete bonus story

Rolo the Great

Reunion

Copyright © 2012 Annie Reed

Rolo the Great

Copyright © 2012 Annie Reed

Published by Thunder Valley Press at Smashwords

Cover and layout Copyright © 2012 Thunder Valley Press

Cover art © Shawn Hempel | Dreamstime.com

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This story is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person. If you're reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

Table of Contents

Reunion

Rolo the Great (Bonus Story)

Copyright Information

About the Author

Reunion

Beth started cooking three days before Jesse showed up.

She didn't know he was coming. She didn't even know him, for that matter, or any of the others who came. She didn't like to cook all that much to begin with, but for some reason, late one Wednesday afternoon while she was in the middle of a customer service call with an elderly man who couldn't navigate his way through her company's online banking system, Beth felt a sudden need to bake bread.

Banana bread. Pumpkin bread. Zucchini bread. Sourdough and whole wheat and cinnamon raisin. She wanted to shove her hands into a huge ball of dough and knead the stuff until it had just the right measure of elasticity while the heady aroma of yeast filled her kitchen.

And that wasn't all.

She wanted to cook a turkey. And a ham, a huge one, all bristling with pineapple chunks and maraschino cherries skewered on toothpicks. Roast beef. Brisket. Barbequed ribs slathered with homemade sauce, heavy on the brown sugar and light on the vinegar. Roast pork with applesauce.

The thought of all that food seriously derailed her train of thought. She couldn't get the old man off the phone quick enough. She was afraid he'd hear her stomach rumble through her headset. She could practically smell all that food, and it was making her mouth water.

Once the call ended, Beth took herself out of the queue of in-coming calls. She stood up and leaned over the top of the half-wall that separated her cubicle from Sherrie's.

You have any crackers left? Beth asked. Gummy bears? Pretzel sticks?

Sherrie always had food. She was the one person in Beth's eight-person department who made it her duty to look out for everyone else, even though Sherrie was the youngest of them all.

You pregnant, girl? Sherrie asked as she handed over a bag of potato chips. You don't normally get the afternoon munchies.

Very funny. Beth opened the bag of chips and inhaled the aroma of tangy vinegar. Sherrie's taste in potato chips ran toward sour and salty. Remember me? The terminally single one?

Don't have to be in a relationship to get pregnant. Sherrie stared back at her screen, squinting. Now why do these people email us with such silly questions? 'I ordered my new debit card yesterday and I didn't get it yet. Is there a hold up?' She shook her head. "I gotta waste my time