The Vegan and the Wolf by Julie Steimle (red white and royal blue hardcover txt) 📕

“Oh, you’re one of those people.” Mrs. Richardson sneered down at her. “An activist.”

Audry bristled. “Better than being a self-centered—”

“Mommy!” The little girl from before ran up and hugged Mrs. Dell around her arm, then climbed onto her lap. She had mustard and ketchup on her cheek, and residue of relish on her upper lip. “Did you know there is a zoo inside Central Park? Big brother Rick said he once snuck into there with his friends and went to see the wolves in there and—”

“Shhh!” Rick marched up, his eyes only on the little girl and his mother who was quickly taking up napkins and wiping her little girl’s face off. But he was laughing. “Don’t tattle! That’s a secret.”

“Oh, we don’t have secrets in our family,” the little boy announced, marching up with him. “We only have surprises.”

Rick chuckled, looking around at the street and the shop. “Man, I wish I could adopt that philosophy.” But then his eyes set on Audry and his grandmother. He stared, his eyes widening.

“Hello Howie,” his grandmother said, reaching out for a cheek to cheek kiss.

“Hi Grandma,” but his eyes were on Audry as his grandmother kissed him. Yet he said, “Audry, what are you doing here?”

Audry huffed while folding her arms. “I work here.”

“You know this girl?” his grandmother protested, flustering indignantly.

But Rick ignored her. “But why? You have a Master’s degree now. Shouldn’t you be planning safaris for rescuing rhinos or something?”

Audry blushed. Was that how he saw her?

“I mean, I thought it was weird you were at the university yesterday, so I assumed you were teaching,” he said.

“Howie, I demand your attention this instant!” His grandmother slapped her hands together as if calling a naughty dog.

Shaking her head, Audry ignored his grandmother as she replied, “I am now working toward my PhD.”

“But why work in a restaurant?” he asked, looking around again. “You are too smart for that. You should be at a zoo? Though, I think a wild animal park is more up to your speed.”

Blushing more, Audry was amazed. After yesterday, picking on her, she never expected him to actually think of her in a positive way.

“Howie.” His mother put her hand on his arm to get his attention. “Would you please introduce her to us?”

Rick Deacon immediately colored, turning toward her. “Oh… um.” He shot panicked peeks to Audry. “This isn’t what you think it is. We’re just acquaintances.”

Audry smirked, realizing exactly what the mother was thinking. It was cute, but clearly a mother’s imagination for her son.

“Introduce her anyway,” Mr. Dell said. “Your acquaintances are always extremely colorful.”

Audry wondered on that. She had met his New York friends only briefly, and colorful was an understatement.

Sighing, Rick said, “Mom, Mr. Dell, uh, Grandma, Grandpa… this is Audry Bruchenhaus. She did her Master’s research on Deacon land for the past two years. She’s a…” he looked back to her to confirm it, “Animal preservationist—and a vegan.”

Audry rolled her eyes to the sky.

“What did you roll your eyes for?” Mrs. Richardson snapped.

About to retort, Audry bristled.

“It’s a free country, Grandma,” Rick snapped. “Eye-rolling is legal.”

His mother pressed her lips together in a chuckle. The two children were staring at Audry though, and looking up to Rick.

“What are defending her for?” Mrs. Richardson asked with a glare for him. “She was mocking you.”

“So what?” Rick shrugged. “I mock her back.”

“Did you say Bruchenhaus?” Mr. Richardson asked. He had been pensive the entire time.

Rick’s mother also drew in a breath. Then so did Mrs. Richardson, eyeing Audry up as if a Bruchenhaus being at a café with an apron on was scandalous.

Rick nodded, nonplussed.

Audry looked to the sky again.

“Are you related to the Pennsylvania Bruchenhauses?” Mr. Richardson asked, his eyes inspecting her carefully.

Cringing, Audry knew he was talking about her Great Aunt Helena Bruchenhaus and her posse. She nodded with a painful smile, “Second cousins.”

He nodded knowingly. “I see. So you are relative of Gregory Bruchenhaus.”

Stiffening, Audry could hardly smile. “He’s my grandfather.”

Rick blinked then stared at her. “Who? What?”

“Old money,” Mr. Richardson said, almost with approval of Audry.

Rick looked to her then closed one eye, leaning back. “Is that why you don’t like people with money?”

Mr. Dell smothered a laugh.

Rick’s mother looked thoughtful. She gazed warmly at Audry.

Audry felt like laughing at his blunt speech also. And she nodded. “Exactly that.”

His grandparents grew affronted. His grandmother swelled once more with indignation.

“I see…” Rick nodded knowingly. Then he shrugged and said to his mother. “So… How’s it going?”

Mr. Dell continued to chuckle.

“That bad, huh?” Rick looked to him, raising his eyebrows. Audry was impressed that he didn’t look down on Mr. Dell. She could see a mutual respect there which had a tinge of deep understanding which she did not know the root of. Something incredible must have happened for Rick to have garnered so much respect from his step-father and admiration from his half-brother and half-sister.

“Howie,” Mrs. Richardson said with a plying voice, “Can you please convince your mother to move back to New York? She is being ridiculous.”

Rick turned to his grandmother with a sharp look in his eyes, yet he flippantly replied, “Why? Mom is happy where she is. I just invited you here so you could know she is alive and happy.”

“Happy?” Mrs. Richardson balked, chuckling as if the possibility for anyone living a middle class standard could be happy.

Earnestly nodding, Rick said, “Yes, Grandma. Happy. Very happy, in fact. This meeting isn’t so much for her, as it is for you.”

Audry slowly stepped back to get out of the proximity of the discussion. Mrs. Dell noticed.

“Um, wait!” Mrs. Dell then looked to Rick. “Do you want anything for lunch? She was staying to take your order.”

Rick looked to Audry, blinked at her with a blush then said, “Uh… no. Mom, we had hotdogs in the park. So I don’t need anything.”

“Hotdogs?” Mrs. Dell gazed dryly at him. “Really? You choose the lowest form of food, and you feed it to my kids?”

Shrugging, unrepentantly, Rick said, “We’re in New York City. It’s the experience.”

His mother moaned. “Howie… The New York hotdog is like the least real food you could possibly get nutrition from.”

“Agreed,” Audry murmured.

Rick shot her a wry look. “No comments from the vegan.” Then he said to his mother, “All the same, what is done is done. And I am not hungry.”

“Do you two want anything?” Mrs. Dell said to her other two children. 

“Do they have ice cream?” the little girl asked.

The little boy nodded eagerly.

Audry said, “We have gelato.”

“What’s gelato?” the little boy asked gazing at her like he was expected to know her longer than just a lunch at a café.

“Fancy ice cream,” Rick chuckled.

Audry shot him a look. “No. It is a lot thicker and a great deal better.”

“I thought vegans didn’t eat ice cream?” he said to her, smirking.

With a remark like that, Audry felt like grabbing his hair with both hands and pulling out a few chunks for Silvia. He was being so cheeky. Honestly, he exasperated her. It wasn’t like his personality had shifted much from when she last saw him. But that in being reunited with his mother, he seemed more open to be himself—happier. And more mischievous. This was the real Rick Deacon.

“What flavors of gelato do you have?” Mrs. Dell asked, gently smirking at her son while shaking her head.

Looking to her with sympathy for ending up with such a son, Audry replied, “Vanilla bean, chocolate, strawberry, caramel and…” looking to him, “honey.”

Rick cringed, pulling back from her. “Did Mrs. Gruber tell you about that?”

Audry nodded. “She was warning the staff.”

“You know Grace Gruber?” Mrs. Dell’s eyes widened on Audry.

“She spent part of her Master’s research at the ski lodge last winter,” Rick cut in before Audry could reply.

“What were you researching?” Mrs. Dell asked, genuinely interested. Her interest and manner was like Rick when he was being a gentleman. He may not have been a momma’s boy, but he certainly took after her in a lot of ways.

With a short look to Rick, Audry said, “I was studying the effects human recreation had on wildlife reserves.”

Mrs. Dell nodded, thinking about that. Perhaps she was wondering if the ski lodge (which had been a gift to her from her ex-husband, Mr. Deacon) had affected the animal reserve adversely. Audry had not expected it from her.

“Your family still keeps that land for wildlife?” Rick’s grandfather asked.

Rick nodded. “We sure do.”

With a disdainful huff, the elderly man said, “You know, maintaining such a thing is a drain on your father’s resources. I’ve always told him. The Deacon family squanders too much money on animal reserves when you could be putting it back into business. You would have five times as much profit if you did.”

Audry bristled.

But Rick said, “Profit is not the main concern of Deacon Enterprises.”

“Clearly,” his grandfather muttered. Yet he said more straight and openly, “But it should be. You have a duty to your shareholders.”

Rick held back a repulsed cringe. Audry could see it in how he stiffened at his grandfather’s words. And Rick’s mother rested her hand over her face as if she were ashamed of her father… or rather considered him incredibly ignorant about the Deacon family.

“I believe,” Rick said, “that Deacon Enterprises is going exactly in the trajectory that we want it to.”

His grandmother laughed, looking mildly amused while also appalled. His grandfather gravely shook his head.

And with a peek to Audry, Rick added, “And for the record, I agree with my father about his stance on hunting for fur and sport. I am totally against it.”

They seemed to lean back from him.

Rick’s mother gazed at him with a look of knowing, though.

“Why don’t you just go vegan, then?” his grandfather snapped, gesturing to Audry.

Though insulted by the old man’s attitude, Audry agreed. It was a step in the right direction.

“Dad,” Mrs. Dell interrupted. “Howie could never go vegan.”

Audry stared at her, dismayed, annoyed, and confused.

“Why?” escaped her lips the same time as it had from Mr. Richardson. They shared a look, though from different stances on the issue.

Rick stared skyward.

Weakly chuckling, Rick’s mother said, “It is dietary.”

Audry shot him a dry look. Rick nodded back to her, a satisfied smile from his mother’s reply on his lips.

“The Deacons and their weird diets….” Mrs. Richardson muttered. She said louder, “I still don’t see why you can’t have real silver silverware. It is in the name, for pity’s sake.”

Rick drew Audry aside, peeking back to his family as his mother argued with her mother over the reason silver was bad for both Rick and his father. He whispered, “Sorry about getting you involved in that mess…”

“Families are messy,” Audry said, feeling sheepish, realizing that she had been judging him too harshly.

He chuckled, nodding. Then he whispered, peeking over his shoulder again, “Can I ask you a favor, though?”

Blinking at him, Audry wondered what he was going to ask.

“Can you… um… not, uh, mention this incident on your blog?” he asked.

Audry blushed. “You read my blogs?”

He shrugged. “I was curious. I noticed you go by your middle name online, and you blogged about your research. I had wanted to know what you had finally concluded without all the academic mumbo jumbo required in a Master’s Thesis.”

She smirked at him. “You’re not a fan of academia?”

He shrugged again. “Not really. Academic education is a means to an end. The real education is out in the field. My view is if you cannot explain it in layman’s terms then what you are