The Sourdough Wars

Tosi Monster. “You’re nice,” said Sally suddenly. “Were you seeing Peter?”
    “Yes. I was very fond of him.”
    “I guess he told you about me?”
    Chris shook her head. “Peter wasn’t like that.”
    “How could I forget? Of course he wasn’t. He wouldn’t tell you his name if he thought he could avoid it. We hardly ever saw each other, the last year or so, but he was a wonderful person. Who’d want to kill someone like that?”
    She sipped some wine and went into a little reverie. “Peter was the reason I left Bob. I mean, I needed to leave. I wasn’t happy with Bob. But I just didn’t have the courage. Peter courted me. He took me on picnics and things, at first just acting like a good friend, and then we became lovers. He simply took me away from Bob. He wouldn’t be stopped.” Chris looked as if she was about to lose consciousness. “I guess I used him, in a way, to give myself the courage to leave—I leaned on him. But he fell too much in love with me.”
    Obviously Chris couldn’t speak, so I did: “You didn’t love him?”
    “Oh, I guess I did, in a way. But not—you know—the way I’d really like to love somebody. I just couldn’t open up to him. And I always thought it was silly the way he fought with Anita. I like Anita a lot, and I didn’t think it was right, a brother and sister being estranged like that. I tried to get him to make up with her, but he wouldn’t.”
    “That was why you couldn’t fall in love with him?”
    “It sounds odd, doesn’t it? But I think it had something to do with it. He just wasn’t emotionally mature.”
    Chris sighed and nodded. Apparently, she identified with Sally.
    “So I had to let him down gently,” Sally continued.
    “But surely that wasn’t all,” I said. “Did Peter seem slightly cold to you? I don’t know how to ask this gently, but did you get the feeling he might have been bisexual?”
    “Peter?” Sally laughed. “Never. He was crazy about me and showed it in every way. I mean,
every
way. He took it kind of hard when I stopped seeing him. I don’t think he had another girl friend until you, Chris. I think you must be a very special person.” She gave Chris a very warm smile. “It wasn’t easy to get Peter’s attention.”
    Chris started puddling up, so I changed the subject. “If Anita decided to sell the starter, you’d want to bid, is that right?”
    “I don’t think she’d want to sell it. But maybe, just maybe—”
    “Well, going back to the original auction—the others must have stacks of money at their disposal. I don’t mean to be rude, but could you really have hoped to outbid them?”
    “I’d have tried, anyhow.”
    “You’re awfully brave,” I said, and meant it.
    “Thanks.” Sally smiled. “It’s hard to keep my nerve up. I don’t think I could have done it without support.”
    “Support? You mean from your friends?”
    She looked flustered. “I have someone who believes in me.”
    “Ah. A backer.”
    Her cheeks were slightly pink and she smiled like a teenager. “You might call it that. But if I didn’t believe in my product so much, I couldn’t possibly have accepted help. It’s so hard for me—it’s something I have to learn. Anyway, this is a good friend, but our arrangement was also a good business deal for both of us—I believe that or I wouldn’t have been in it.”
    Bobby came into the kitchen, dragging an old worn blanket and rubbing his eyes. “Hi, young man,” said Sally. “Time for you to go to bed.”
    Chris and I stood up, recognizing our exit cue. “Did you really like my bread?” asked Sally.
    “It’s wonderful,” said Chris.
    “Well, you must take some with you.” Sally went to a cabinet and produced two loaves. “One for each of you. Fresh-baked.”
    Headed south in the Volvo, Chris said, “I like her.”
    “She’s disarming, isn’t she? Tony was honest, but he seemed on the ragged edge. Sally just seemed kind of confused and not very bright. Things seem to pour out of her because that’s the way she is.”
    “I felt very sorry for her when she talked about Peter.”
    “If I were you, I don’t think that would have been my reaction.”
    “She’s kidding herself, Rebecca. I think she’s remembering Peter as a great deal more ardent than he could possibly have been—remember, I knew him pretty well. Sort of.”
    “Maybe she was lying. Bob Tosi said Peter dumped her—maybe she’s telling it the other way around because she