The tart was perfect and the chicken was perfect and everything was perfect." "Not quite everything," Evelyn said, hugging her back. "The cornbread was a little dry on one edge." "Nobody cared about one dry edge. You won."
Lily pulled back, her face shining with uncomplicated joy. "Can we celebrate? Can we have a party?" "Lily," Ridgewell started. "Actually," Mrs. Chen interrupted, "a party sounds appropriate.
We could have it at the ranch this weekend. Invite the hands, make it a proper celebration." The idea took hold quickly. By the time they loaded back into the wagon for the journey home, plans were already being made for a party the following Saturday. Evelyn sat in the back of the wagon with her blue ribbon and her prize money, watching Red Hollow disappear behind them.
She'd come back to this town a different person than she'd left it. Stronger, maybe. More certain of who she was and what she could do. "You're quiet." Ridgewell observed from the driver's seat.
"Just thinking." "About?" "About how strange life is." "3 months ago I was desperate and humiliated, taking a job I didn't want because I had no other options. And now I'm riding back from winning a cooking competition with $50 in my pocket and people who actually respect me."
"Life has a way of surprising us, usually when we least expect it." Evelyn looked at the back of his head, at the set of his shoulders and the way he held the reins with capable, calloused hands. She thought about inappropriate feelings and dangerous possibilities and all the reasons she should keep her distance. But for today, for this moment, she let herself just be grateful. For the job, for the friend she'd made, for the strange and unexpected place she'd found herself.
The rest could wait. The celebration parties became something bigger than anyone had planned. What started as a simple gathering for the ranch hands turned into an event that drew people from neighboring ranches and even a few curious folks from town who'd heard about Evelyn's win and wanted to see what all the fuss was about. She spent the entire week leading up to it in a state of controlled panic, preparing food for what she estimated would be maybe 30 people, but preparing enough for 50 just in case. The bunkhouse kitchen became her fortress again, but this time the work felt different.
She wasn't proving anything anymore. She was just doing what she loved. Mrs. Chen helped without being asked and Lily was constantly underfoot asking questions and stealing tastes of everything. Even some of the ranch hands volunteered to help set up tables in the yard and string lanterns between the buildings. "You know you're creating a monster, right?"
Holloway said, watching her pull yet another pie from the oven. "After this, the boys are going to expect celebration-level food at every meal." "They can expect whatever they want. Doesn't mean they'll get it." But Evelyn was smiling as she said it.
The day of the party dawned clear and unseasonably warm for late November. By mid-afternoon, wagons were already arriving, and Evelyn found herself greeting people she'd never met who acted like they'd known her for years. "You're the one who beat Sarah Mitchell," a rancher's wife said, shaking Evelyn's hand enthusiastically. "I've been wanting to see that girl taken down a peg for 5 years. Best entertainment I've had since the county fair."
"I wasn't trying to take anyone down. I was just cooking." "Honey, sometimes that's exactly what taking someone down looks like. Doing your job better than they can do theirs." The woman winked.