chance meeting at the farmers market
Grace saw the light peak through the curtains and rose from the charging station in her room. She decided that she would go outside today. She had been doing this more and more, widening her circle of comfort around the academy. When Mr. Hargreeves was alive, she was never allowed beyond the front door. Now that he was gone and she had so many of her children back, she was feeling bolder every time she left.
Grace loved the feel of sunshine and brushing shoulders with people in the streets. She loved picking up smooth rocks in her hands, running her fingers over them, and bringing them back home to keep in her room (she is allowed to have possessions now, which she puts on shelves and in pretty boxes that she doesn’t have to clean). She loved feeling the weight of a ripe tomato in her hand and looking it over for bruises or cuts before she decided to buy it and bring it home to cook up some marinara.
First, she would make breakfast. Pancakes— she was thinking pancakes for breakfast. She made her way downstairs and mixed a batch of pancakes while the Hargreeves children wandered into the kitchen one by one. Vanya walked in and asked if she could help with anything, but Grace told her she could just sit down and relax. Allison greeted Grace with a kiss on the cheek before taking a seat at the table. Klaus strolled in, chatting to Ben by his side before he noticed Mom mixing something up.
“Pancakes?” he asked excitedly.
“Yes!” Grace confirmed cheerily.
“Oh mom, have I ever told you that you’re the best mom ever?” Klaus asked.
If she could have blushed, she would have. She shooed him towards the table with the job of setting it with plates, utensils, and napkins. Diego came in after him, smiling at Grace, and decided to help Klaus with the table setting.
“Where’s Luther?” Grace asked over her shoulder, knowing that Five was probably on his way down, but Luther was usually the first one up.
“On a run,” Vanya supplied. Grace smiled softly to herself. Luther, like his mother, was testing the waters leaving the walls of the academy. She found herself happy to have him trying new things, and extremely pleased to see him back home safe after his short adventures.
Five entered last and started a pot of coffee, enough for all of his siblings if they wanted any, which was a new and nice thing that he may or may not have realized that he was doing.
Grace smiled and reached over to ruffle his hair. Five didn’t shy away, she thought he may have even leaned into the touch. “Hi mom,” he said quietly.
“Hi Five,” she said back.
He brought his coffee cup to the table and sat with the rest of his siblings. They ate breakfast in relative peace. Klaus wanted to balance a spoon on the tip of his nose but was repeatedly unsuccessful, so Allison rumored him into being able to do it, which made Klaus smile and ask her if he had ever told her she was the best sister in the world. Diego and Vanya talked about some garbage TV show they were both obsessed with. Five ignored them in favor of reading a book about morphic fields. Klaus poked him in the side to get him to look at his spoon-nose achievement and received a head shake and an eye roll. Ben was probably rolling his eyes too. Grace sat down with them, and watched the calm chaos of her family unfold. She wished Luther was here to try to fold two pancakes into his mouth at once while Vanya looked on in disgust.
Once they were finished, everyone helped clean up and went their separate ways for whatever weird going-ons they were getting into today. Before Diego left he asked Grace what she was doing today.
“I am going to the farmer’s market downtown,” she replied. “I’m getting fruits for some pies I’m making this week.”
“Why pies?” Diego wanted to know.
“I am making a pumpkin one for you kids, and some cherry and lemon ones to donate to the soup kitchen.” Grace said.
“Mm, pumpkin?” Diego smiled and asked. Since they had all started to come home, the siblings have agreed on very little. One thing they agreed on was a group affinity for holiday foods at times outside of their usually designated seasons. They particularly enjoyed Christmas cookies in spring, a hot-dog and burger “cookout” in February, and pumpkin pie in the summer. The Hargreeves children loved to break rules— even meaningless ones about holiday eating convention.
“Yes, pumpkin,” Grace said.
“Okay, love you mom, be safe,” Diego said to her and nodded as he left through the backdoor.
Grace had always loved and protected her children. It was particularly nice to be loved and protected back.
—
When Grace got to the farmer’s market, patrons were buzzing around the stalls, talking with farmers and making their purchases. This was a place she would have liked to take Five some day, but knew that he didn’t care for crowds or lots of overlapping noises. It was something they were working on.
Grace first stopped under the awning of a cook selling all natural, organic brown sugar. She wanted to pick up some for the crust. The man who sold it to her was very kind, and she even looked him in the eye the entire time she talked with him. With Mr. Hargreeves, she was never allowed to look him right in the eye, out of “respect.” Eye contact was another new thing she was trying.
Next, a stall with brightly colored fruits caught her eye. They looked healthy and very ripe, perfect for her cherry and lemon pies. She quickly walked up to this stall and started examining the fruits. Her concentration was interrupted by the woman behind the table.
“Hi, can I help you find anything?” the woman asked.
Grace looked up at this woman, and although she was literally programmed with all the right words, she was unable to adequately find any at this moment. The woman in front of her had smooth dark skin and beautiful curly hair. She was a little shorter than Grace with broad shoulders and a sloped nose. This woman’s eyes were large and brown like a beautiful doe. Like eyes painted by someone with a complete mastery of the brush.
“Hello,” Grace eventually got out. “Hi. I’m looking for lemons and cherries for pies.”
The woman smiled slowly, “Well then you’ve come to the right place,” she giggled and motioned to the lemons and cherries sitting on the table in front of her.
She laughed and Grace wanted to hear it again. She wanted to hear it like she wanted to hear Vanya’s violin melodies— in as many settings as possible, at all times of the day, in her kitchen and in the living room and in the courtyard. She wanted to hear this woman’s laugh in places that she would probably never hear Vanya’s violin though. She wanted to hear the laugh in a restaurant or the park or at the gardens near the library.
“I’m Grace.” She smiled and shot her hand forward to shake. She wanted to know this woman and for this woman to know her so badly that her usual poise took a bit of a backseat.
“I’m Rachel,” the woman introduced herself and shook Grace’s hand. “You bake?”, she asked.
“Yes,” Grace replied, breathing a little easier. Baking was something she knew about. “I bake for my children often.”
“You have kids?” she asked.
“Yes! I love them very much.” she answered, always happy to talk about her kids. But she also wanted to know more about Rachel. “Do you bake?” she asked.
“No, I just grow the produce. That I can do, but I’m no good at following recipes. Or remembering to check on the oven, for that matter.” Rachel admitted.
Grace giggled at that and ducked her head while searching around in her purse for the cash to pay for the produce. “Well, these fruits are very beautiful, so maybe your talents lie with them instead.”
“You’re too kind, Grace.” Rachel said. Hearing Rachel say her names made Grace feel a little nervous in a way that was entirely unfamiliar.
“Oh,” she commented dumbly. She handed the cash to Rachel, who had very soft hands.
“Thanks for coming by today,” Rachel said, leaning against the stand.
“My pleasure,” Grace said. Before she could stop herself, she blurted “Maybe we can make pies together sometime?” She was surprised at herself. Grace was friendly, sure, but she didn’t usually make plans to spend time with people outside of her family. Maybe this was one of those really good new things, like the farmers market or the ducks that live in the park.
Rachel let another beautiful smile grow on her face. “Sure, that sounds nice! How about I give you my phone number?”
“Yes, that would be great!” Grace said. Grace had never called anyone on the house phone before, but was excited at the prospect.
Rachel scribbled down a line of digits on a piece of paper and handed it to Grace, again brushing their hands together.
“Nice to meet you Grace, I hope we’ll see more of each other,” Rachel said.
“It was nice to meet you too,” Grace said and nodded.
Grace turned around and started to walk towards the other stalls she needed to visit.
“Rachel,” she said quietly, rolling the name around in her mouth.