Lost Recipe

Beth had looked everywhere, and she couldn't find it. It was her copy of her grandmother's shortbread recipe. Her mom didn't have a copy, her sisters didn't have a copy, only Beth did. She knew she could ask Grandma for a new copy but she had given Beth such a pretty copy last year. And she had wanted to show Grandma she could make them without help. It had to be somewhere…

She looked at the books and cards strewn across the table; maybe tearing apart her recipe box wasn't the best way to start. She took her time putting everything back, checking each book and carefully reading each card. It definitely wasn't there. Taking a breath, she thought back to last Christmas. Would it be tucked in a box somewhere that she'd forgotten?

Her house was already decorated, the tree was up, and everything she hadn't used was nicely packed up in a box, so she was sure the recipe card wasn't there. Then where was it?

She sat on the edge of the sofa and scanned the room as if the recipe card would jump out at her like this was a find-and-seek game. She had been so happy to have her grandma give her a copy. How could she have lost it since last Christmas?

Maybe it wasn't with the Christmas stuff, maybe it wasn't with her cookbooks and recipe cards. Was it with her books? She had a bad habit of using anything as a bookmark.

Beth headed to her room and stared at her bookshelf.

…

She was going to have to go through all of these, wasn't she? She couldn't remember what she had read last year. She sat on the floor - might as well start from the bottom and work her way to the top.

Two hours and several distractions later, she had nothing. Well, she'd found several other things, but not what she was looking for.

Beth blinked back tears. It was just a piece of paper. How could it make her this upset…? She sat against the wall and stared up at the ceiling. Maybe she could look another day; for today she could surprise her grandma with different cookies.

Sighing, Beth stood up, went to the kitchen, and picked up a recipe box, she could make chocolate chip cookies. Mom's were better, but Grandma didn't mind Beth’s.

An hour later, she had cookies cooling on the counter. Beth finally let herself relax on the couch. In the back of her mind, she was still figuring out where that recipe had gone. At least she had something to take when she visited her grandma tomorrow.

The next day she climbed the stairs to Grandma's apartment, cookies in hand. Several of the other elderly folk who passed her teased her about having a cookie. She laughed and enjoyed the jokes. She finally made it to the apartment.

"Hey Grandma, I'm here for tea!" Beth called as she walked in.

"Hi Sweetie, oh! You made cookies! You didn't need to do that." Her grandma hugged her.

"I know I didn't, but your space is smaller this year so you won't have all the room for baking like you used to." Beth shrugged.

"Well, I appreciate it.” Grandma set down two cups of hot chocolate.

“No tea?” Beth raised an eyebrow.

“It’s Christmas - might as well be festive.” Her grandma took a cookie. “And we both know you hate tea. You drink it because I like it,” Grandma teased.

“Something like that.” Beth laughed.

“Oh - by the way, Dear, I found my original copy of the shortbread recipe, so you can have your copy back.”

Beth blinked. The paper she’d spent half the day searching for was being slid across the table to her. “Oh! Thanks! I was looking for it yesterday. I forgot I gave it to you.”

Her grandma giggled. “I think your mom picked it up for me a few weeks ago, you might have been at work.”

“Ah, that would do it.” Beth laughed harder than she needed to; next time she lost something important, she should just text her mom.