“She might come around. Sometimes it takes time for kids to decide to actively like veggies and veggie-like foods. It’s actually one of the funny little side stories my Dad and I have in our book series.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah. One of our main characters has the most ridiculous aversion to vegetables, to the point where he tries to create an electronic tool to detect even trace amounts of vegetables in his food.”
“A budding engineer degree, used for very serious purposes?”
“It’s a YA…I mean, young adult series, and yeah, he’s our technological smartie pants. But he’s not particularly bright when it comes to socializing.”
“I can understand that,” Ethan laughed. “Introverted?”
“Very. But you know how it goes. There’s a friend who drags him out of his comfort zone and there’s agirl.”
“Yes of course it’s always a girl. Is she going to help cure him of his rampant Veggie Aversion?”
“Absolutely, she’s on a sly mission.” Adrienne laughed, thinking of this soup, and how her character could make it for him, minus the obvious carrot chunks. “You know…the cauliflower in this soup hides as a thickener with the smaller pieces. One might think it’s just cream and corn starch.”
“He doesn’t hate corn starch for having the word corn in it?” Ethan joked.
“Well, you know, that’s a good point. I’ll have to work through that one. But anyway, this might just be her breakthrough with him. I’ll have to noodle it.”
“I’d be thrilled to have my soup featured in your story.”
“I’ll have to get the name of your chef, for the acknowledgments.”
“Ah.” Ethan dabbed at the side of his mouth. “His name is Finster, but he didn’t make the soup. That’s, ah…that is to say,Imade the soup.”
Adrienne paused, spoon halfway to her mouth. “Youmade this glorious soup?”
Ethan smiled shyly. “Don’t get too excited. It’s about the only thing I can make. And like I said, Ava doesn’t even like it. Hence, Finster and his amazing cooking, and homemade bread.”
“Wow.” Adrienne flushed. “Well…thank you. I wasn’t expecting an Ethan Original for dinner.”
“I wasn’t sure if you’d like it. Some people don’t like homemade.”
Adrienne gestured around her. “I’m at a sweet family run inn. Ilovehomemade. In fact…” She told him about Herman, and where he was at in her story, homemade ornaments andall, and Ethan was immediately enraptured at her storytelling, asking her questions that had her alternately answering, and making notes in her phone for ideas that she could move forward with.
When she paused for some more soup, Ethan confirmed, “I take it my suggestion has helped you?”
Adrienne let out a happy sigh. “Definitely. I mean…I still haven’t moved forward with my actual story yet, but this soup and our conversations tonight have made me more inspired than I’ve been in a long time. And you know…it’s really helped me work through my grief too. Silly ol’ Herman, who knew.”
Ethan smiled. “I am happy for you that you have this outlet. Not everyone has a creative way to get things out. I’ve often wished I was a painter or artist of some kind, and been able to go and brood in my studio or something.”
“Hey, you never know, sometimes these things come to people later in life.”
“Maybe. Who knows.”
Adrienne looked around the room. “Creativity doesn’t only manifest in the arts you mentioned though. You created all this,” she gestured around them. “Give yourself some credit.”
Ethan pondered. “I didn’t think of that. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. And thankyoufor giving me the gift of allowing me to write whatever I want right now. It’s been a blessing. I mean…I have about 20,000 words of complete nonsense that I can’t imagine ever publishing, since it doesn’t fit in the context of our charactersat all, but it’s been cathartic.”
“You don’t see a future for yourself as a writer where you can expand into something else? Not saying you should leave behind the series you’ve worked so hard on, but don’t authors often also do standalone stories? Would your publisher let you do that?”
Adrienne put down her spoon and rested her chin on her hands, looking over at Ethan. “You mentioned that the other daytoo. I honestly don’t know. I guess I hadn’t considered it before now.”
“If I’m putting myself into a situation where I don’t function right because I feel like Ava somehow needs someone else, and you disagree, then I can maybe help you see that you might be putting yourself into a box of your own making as well. Maybe there’s more for you out there. More opportunity than you give yourself credit for.” Ethan winked at her.
