ok... here we go again! Please feel free to check out my completed challenge- Option 4- Recipe for Trouble- Thank you to those who have and are continuing to read another challenge offering. Good thing I don't need much sleep... or is it just that my alarm clock looks like this... when I get done with it...
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“But…” Tara sighed when her mother wouldn’t let her get a word in edgewise. She juggled the phone between her ear and her shoulder as she stooped down to rummage through her fridge. Left over pasta or two-day-old pizza? She grimaced at the shriveled choices before her and then cautiously edged the crisper drawer open, shuddering when she caught a glimpse of the contents. “Nothing crispy about that…uh, yeah Mom, I’m listening. Uh-huh…every word, but…” She stifled a groan and chose the lesser of two evils, popping the lasagna into the microwave.

Hitching herself up onto the kitchen counter, she gazed at the clock in consternation. 45 minutes! No wonder she was starved. After a late breakfast and an apple for lunch she’d worked an hour’s overtime before driving home. About to call in Chinese takeout, she answered the phone before checking call display and now, nearly an hour later, her mother was in one of her talkative moods.

The ping of the microwave interrupted her the latest torrent of words and Tara hastily leapt in. “Like I said, Mom, I’ll think about it, but right now I have to…”

She sighed when her mother refused to let her off that easy. A litany of dire warnings, a well-aimed guilt trip and the parting threat of a dastardly curse had her pinky promising. Only then did her mother end the phone call with her standard, “You always were a good girl, Tara. Love you to bits,” before she hung up.

It came as no surprise that while she had been otherwise occupied the lasagna had turned to rubber – an unappetizing blob that identically resembled the puke her cat, Dixie had barfed up right before she keeled over and died.

“Definitely inedible,” she declared, tossing the tray into the garbage can while her stomach growled a protest. She patted it reassuringly. “Don’t worry we still have oatmeal,” and started the fixings.

There was something soothing about eating breakfast food at dinnertime. She savored the cinnamony taste of the hot cereal and munched contentedly on a crisp piece of raisin toast....well, as contented as she could be given her mother’s final ultimatum.

It was time. She had known it for weeks. She felt the pull every night now when she came home from work. Regardless of how exhausted she was it was there, demanding an audience. Time was running out. Her birthday was in three weeks. The big 3-0. A landmark year worth celebrating. She knew Lucy and Sue were planning a surprise party. She snorted in amusement -- and they thought Sue was the only one who could read lips. Tara was getting pretty good at picking up the odd phrase here and there…things like “Shhh, she’s coming.” And “Surprise party,’ and “Secrets.” It was sweet of them and she would be suitably surprised when the time came – provided her atoms hadn’t been scattered to the four winds on the stroke of midnight on the eve of her birth, as the prophecy proclaimed.

She glanced up at her hallway closet and suddenly the bowl of oatmeal she’d just snarfed down felt like a lead weight in her belly. Pushing her chair out from the table she stood and walked briskly to the closet. Pulling the door ajar she glanced inside the murky depths and blindly groped for the battered box she knew was stashed at the very back. Her hands closed over it easily and she staggered backwards under the surprising weight of it. She teetered over to the couch and plunked the box down, staring at it suspiciously. She hadn’t lifted the lid once since her mother had sent the box to her seven years ago. She didn’t have to look, she knew what was inside and the power that it held over her…and all the Williams’ women for as far back as anyone could remember.

Tipping the lid open cautiously, she peeked inside. It was there, in all its resplendent glory. A family heirloom, it had been past down from mother to daughter for centuries. Now it was her turn with the ‘recipe book’ as her mother laughingly referred to it.

It was all well and good for her mother to be irreverent about it. She’d done her time and survived, cheerfully thrusting the familial obligation onto her daughter when she left home to come work in DC. She’d been nagging her ever since.

“Have you tried any of the recipes, dear?”

“You might find page 48 helpful with that little problem, darling, just give it a try.”

“Nothing to it, sweetie, once you get the hang of it. Try 21. It’s scrumptious…”

Her mother thought it was cute the way she used cooking terminology to describe the contents of the book.

“Cooking!” Tara scoffed. “If you like cooking up trouble.”

She gazed morosely at the object of her angst, childishly making a face at it as she sullenly turned to the table of contents and skimmed down the line of odd recipes. Page 21 caught her eye. Love Potion Pie. Curious in spite of her self, she ruffled through the pages and scanned the ingredients quickly.

Ugh. She shuddered. And people actually ate this stuff? Still, she supposed the lovelorn would stoop to anything to change their solitary fate. It was a sad fact of life – especially for women. There just weren’t enough commitment minded guys out there. She had first hand knowledge on that score. She gazed at the ingredient list again and then committed the instructions to heart, grimacing when she caught the twist in the last sentence.

“Of course you can’t make it for yourself. That’s against the rules,” she muttered and wrinkled her nose in distaste and then read the last line out loud. “Though a ripple effect is a common occurrence and it is often to the benefit of the ‘cook’.”

She leafed back to the forward, which contained the curse in gruesome detail. All manner of hideous things would happen to the Williams’ heir who did not attempt at least one potion recipe from the book before her 30th birthday.

“Just peachy keen and groovy,” she mumbled to herself as she studied Love Potion on page 21 again. "Everyone else I know gets handed down tried and true recipes for pot roast and matrimony cake while I get handed a book of spells with a curse. Next thing you know Mother’s going to send me a broom and a black cat.”

She glumly perused the book but kept coming back to page 21. The book was like that, she’d been told. It picked the perfect spell for the first time potion maker. It was best to go with the book’s gut instinct, rather than your own. Grandma Williams given that advice years ago.

So Love Potion it was…but who would be the most likely candidates for her first foray into the family's secret hobby?
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She sat for a long time, considering the possibilities. There was of course Stanley. Her on again… off again… mostly off, really, relationship would be the easiest of all to pull off. He was already in her web… as her mother would say. But Tara didn’t know if she wanted to settle for Stanley and during the times that they were off again, that’s what she felt like she was doing - settling. She read the page in the book again, no… Stanley Abbott was not the right person to experiment on.

She closed her eyes and ran her hands over her face. Green eyes popped into her mind and she allowed her mind to wander to their owner. Bobby. They had shared that one kiss after the concert and if she ever had to classify something as feeling magical… it was that kiss. She’d practically floated to her bed that night, absently humming ‘Hamsters in my Heart’ as she got ready for bed. To be completely honest, her dreams had been haunted by the memory of his kiss ever since.

She glanced back down at the book. She couldn’t make him eat the pie… what if she took it into the office and Myles ate some of it first… or Jack… or… she shuddered… Levi? No that wouldn’t do at all. She flipped back through the book, searching for a love potion that wouldn’t involve feeding any mystery ingredients to Bobby or the team.

great start, looking forward to more

cath

YEah the next one ) !

Wow! How do you do it!
Thoroughly enjoyed the last one - looking forward to this!

loved this line

Great start! I'm looking forward to more.

Great start! I look forward to the rest!!!!

This is going to be very, very interesting!!!

Joy

Nice start, Mione. Keep it coming!

Ooh! I was hoping that someone would choose this one! I can't wait to see what happens!

Tara pls give a love portion or a truth portion to sue so that she persuase Jack to declare jis love to her as otherwise they never come togrther

This is me because you finished your first one and Imissed it and this is me because you've started another one and I'm almost on time!

kav

A new story!!!! Can't wait to see what's up next... You've got me hooked!

Kav!!! it's still there... it's just on page two... LOL And you should go finish reading, I'm anxious to hear what you think!
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It was late when she looked at the clock again and her stomach growled at her. Oatmeal and cinnamon raisin toast hadn’t gone as far as she would have liked them to. She heaved a sigh and slid her feet into the flip flops that were by the front door and grabbed her keys and purse. Once in her car, she wavered between the good choice and the urgent choice. It would be far better for her to go to the grocery store, in spite of the late hour… and make a decent go at filling her refrigerator rather than settling for the quickness of a Slappy’s drive thru. She rolled her eyes and headed to the nearest store, parking and heading off to the store, prepared to fill her grocery cart and get home.

Tara started roaming the store, filling her cart with things she hoped would remain appetizing even after she got home. She found herself in the ice cream aisle all too soon, staring at the wide array of choices available. Tonight, she just didn’t know what to choose. She wasn’t planning on eating it tonight which meant she had to factor in what sort of day she’d be having tomorrow when she made her choice. She reached for the Coffee frozen yogurt, having decided that it would be best and put it in the cart when she bumped smack dab into someone that she hadn’t known was standing behind her. “Sorry.” She said softly, her words muffled by the fact that she was stuck between her cart and a stranger’s chest. Tara could feel her cheeks burning as the person didn’t move at all. “Excuse me?” She shifted her cart backwards and was able to take a step back without any help. Her cheeks burned hotter when she looked up into the smiling eyes of Bobby Manning. “What?” She asked. “Weren’t you going to remove a perfect stranger from your chest or is this your pattern? Meet girls at the grocery store when they crash into you in frozen foods?” She arched a brow at him, one little foot tapping out an impatient beat waiting for him to answer.

“Tara…” he said, grinning at her. “For one thing, you are perfect… but you‘re not a stranger…” He colored slightly when he heard his words. “And maybe I frequent the frozen food aisle hoping that you’ll run into me.” he teased.

She gulped. “Don’t tease about that Bobby.” She said quietly as she turned to push her cart away and head to the checkout stand. She was slightly annoyed when he fell in step with her and walked with her up to the registers.

He reached for her hand before she could put the first groceries on the conveyer belt. “I’m not teasing about that, Tara luv.” He said softly, brushing a kiss to the back of her hand, his eyes smoldering at her.

She gasped at his bold glance and snatched her hand back so she could finish with the groceries. She didn’t look at him during her check out and rushed out to her car and headed home before he could say anything further.

Tara, your knight is pursuing you - you need to slow down!!!

Joy

tara, what are you doing?

cath

Yeah, Tara, what are you doing?!?

HELLLO!!!! Earth to Tara....Bobby is pursuing you....he is your soul-mate....HELLLOO is anyone home???!!!!

okay, calm down!

this is Tara were talking about, she's a little shy and gets nervous around him because she's in love with him.

hello tara I know he is mr gorgeous and that is scary when he likes you but hello you like him and well your running turn round and run back into his arms

“Weren’t you going to remove a perfect stranger from your chest or is this your pattern? Meet girls at the grocery store when they crash into you in frozen foods?” She arched a brow at him, one little foot tapping out an impatient beat waiting for him to answer.

“Tara…” he said, grinning at her. “For one thing, you are perfect… but you‘re not a stranger…” He colored slightly when he heard his words. “And maybe I frequent the frozen food aisle hoping that you’ll run into me.” he teased.

Tara, what are you thinking??

Great start, can't wait for more!

I know she's just feeling overwhelmed and flustered and a tad discombobulated, but surely to goodness she could stop long enough for Bobby to catch her!

kav

That's true... I certainly wouldn't go running away if Bobby was to appear as if by magic in my frozen food aisle... I'd actually have to hustle him out of there in fear that all the food would melt because he... like the weather today is... ! I just love these little cute girly smilies... they rock!
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She couldn’t explain the tingling sensation she had the whole way home. And she certainly couldn’t explain the way her brain replayed his words to her the entire night.

“For one thing, you are perfect… “

She punched her pillow and rolled over, burying her head in it in hopes of blocking out that strange buzzing that was ringing in her ears.

“I’m not teasing about that…”

She flopped over the other way, kicking off her blanket… wondering why it was so hot tonight.

“Tara luv…”

The way that her name dripped off his lips, was enough to make her eyes pop open and she stared at the ceiling, a gasp escaping her as she recalled the smoldering that she saw in his eyes… ‘Was that what it would look like if he was looking at me with desire?’ She wondered. She shook her head. “C’mon Tara… snap out of it. Bobby Manning couldn’t desire you.” She muttered, rolling over again, trying to will herself to sleep.

She might have dozed off around 2 am, but she was awake… and annoyed… when the roadwork that was taking place outside of her house included jackhammers at 4 am. Frustrated with the lack of sleep, she got out of bed and grabbed the book. She didn’t think twice about grabbing the pint of frozen yogurt out of the freezer. After all, it was tomorrow now and it was coffee flavored so why not? She sat down and poured over the book, trying to find anything it might have to offer her in way of a potion for anything… because after last night, she was having second thoughts about a love potion.

poor tara, bobby why didn't you chase her home?

cath

She should have turned right back around and ran into his arms and kissed him senseless. Of course, if she'd done that, it really wouldn't be much of a story and it would be all over much too quickly.

Still, Bobby Manning was trying to pursue her. She must be crazy for running away!

Poor Tara - she really needs to find an 'infusion of self confidence' in the book.
have to say I wouldn't run away from Bobby... more likely the opposite...


I know its a bit OT, but I'm glad to see someone else use this word - my ex-boss once told me I'd made it up!

Two great posts. This part absolutely made me melt!

Bobby that was the cue for you to follow Tara...geesh!

Hey eclipsse, discombobulated is such an exceptional word and widely used in my vocabulary, perhaps because I am often in that state. Poor Tara, I can see how she might think Bobby being interested in her could be just too good to be true. I'd say more but I have 24 pound dog in my lap due to firework trauma from last night. She thinks the sky is going to fall every evening at dusk now. We went through this last year as well.

kav

Bobby, you really should have chased her down!! Tara, I think you're right to look for another potion - I don't think a love potion is needed!!!

Joy

Bobby Manning!!! It's not nice to tease your girl and left her burning!

That's something in the line of my reasoning too. My biorhytm is just... wacky these days. And it's not because of a man.

There's never a bad time for Coffee frozen yogurt....
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Bobby was confused. He’d sat at his desk all day, trying to get Tara’s attention… stopping by her desk to try and ask her a question but all he’d gotten all day was terse, one word answers. He wondered what it was about their late night meeting that had put her off. He drummed his fingers on his desk and annoyed Myles but still he wondered what he’d done.

Tara somehow made it through the day by ignoring all of them. If she had paid attention to any one person, she’d feel obligated to pay a little attention to Bobby and that’s where she would have met her downfall. She kept her nose stuck to her monitor, grateful that the light case load that they had right now meant that she could focus on the dozen or so software projects from all over the country that wanted her to approve them or to fix a section of code so that it would be secured. When she finished those by lunch though, she ran her eyes over the list of requests from other divisions in DC as well as the batch that popped up from other offices in the country. Tara was the most highly sought after… and often fought over… agent skilled in cyber tracking that the bureau had to offer. She could have transferred to any office she wanted to, anywhere in the country or out. But she didn’t want to. The reason she didn’t want to was sitting not more than 5 feet away from her and she thought she’d fall apart if she ever told him that.

Bobby watched her escape at the stroke of six and he frowned when she left… head down… as she headed into the hall to the elevators. He looked up into D’s concerned eyes. “I think I blew it, D.” He said softly, seeing the flash of understanding in his eyes.

“Come home for dinner with me, Bobby.” D invited. “Donna will help you fix it.”

Bobby grinned. “And if she can’t… whatever she made for dessert will.” D laughed and waited for Bobby to shrug into his jacket so that they could go to the garage where Bobby would follow him home for dinner, just like he had years ago when Donna used to make a habit of feeding the team regularly before the kids had come along.

Poor Tara for feeling the way she does.

Poor Bobby ... he can't help but be confused.

This was so cute. I hope Donna really can help Bobby out.

I'm loving your story! Thank goodness he'll talk to Donna - there seems to be shades of "men are from Mars, women are from Venus" going on here. Hey, that could be a very good title for a story!

Tara, Tara, Tara! Look up you drongette and see the love in Bobby's eyes! This is me cheering Donna on. Hopefully she has excellent advice...and something nummy for dessert.

kav

i hope donna can help

cath

Donna's words of wisdom will probably do him much better than dessert ever will. The last thing we want Bobby to do is drown his sorrows in some sort of pie.

Kav, "drongette" - too funny, but very apropos!!!

I think Donna might be just what Bobby needs!! Along with that delicious dessert, she can push him in the right direction!!!

Joy

Yay!!! I just read the intros (I'm a little behind ) and I was hoping someone would write on this one!!!! This is great; keep it up!!
~Christy

Mione

I had read the first couple of posts but evidently didn't have time to post a comment.

I love the premise of this story and am glad you have chosen it for your second story. Tara needs to get some self confidence; but, that is easy to say, hard to do! I think she needs to use that love potion on page 21 on Bobby.

She could invite Bobby over for dinner, now that she knows he at least is interested. And I don't see how she could have resisted that chest in the grocery store.

I like that Donna is going to get involved. I think she will offer Bobby some very sage advice!

Looking forward to the rest of the story.

Lynn

I hope Donna can help too!!!!!!

I've just found this and I've enjoyed every post. The grocery store encounter was perfect, well it would have been if Tara hadn't scurried away. I'm hoping Donna has a recipe to fix this little hiccup.

Looking forward to more,

Sairs

Tara made it home and stared at the food in her refrigerator, hoping that something would jump out at her and yell 'Eat Me for dinner!'. But nothing did and she shuffled her feet as she headed back into the living room. She curled up on the couch with the book and idly flipped through the pages.

She became increasingly annoyed with the book as it seemed to be letting the pages slip back to some tidbit that appeared tempting... and tantalyzing... but they were all love potions. "Argh!" She yelled, pulling at her hair. "I give up." She said, throwing her hands in the air. "I can't do this... not without advice." She muttered, glaring darkly at the book as she slammed it closed and stormed off into her bedroom. She slammed the door because she felt like it and flopped down on her bed.

"I don't know... I just don't know." She said to the ceiling. "Who am I supposed to turn to? Mother will just trill a merry laugh and tell me to try page 30." She shuddered. "As if I need a potion to increase stability... with my luck, I'll get it wrong and end up with a potion to increase fertility..." She sighed, not like she'd need one of those anytime soon either. She swiped angrily at the tears of frustration that tried to escape. "Sue and Lucy won't understand... well, Sue might... but..." She sighed heavily. "I think there's only one thing to do." She said to herself as she reached for the phone and dialed her lifeline... someone who would understand everything and help her make sense of it.

wonder who she's phoning?

cath

So.... who's she calling?

I can feel Tara's frustration oozing out of every line. Now I, too, am wondering who she is going to call. Donna maybe? I just had a thought which sent me into a giggling fit, sliding out of my chair onto the floor...Could it be Howie?

Lynn

I reckon Donna she is like the group mum aunty big sister all rolled into 1

I agree it's Donna!

Poor Tara!! I do believe she's calling Donna!!!

Joy

I wonder who she's calling too. Donna would be a good choice. Whoever it is, I hope they can help Tara out.

Absolutely loved this line and calling her 'lifeline' -- brilliant dash of humour.

kav