A Family Recipe

Linus finds Tess at a night market, running a stall that sells fried mushrooms. She has a daughter of four and a half with her, and several men circling. They were together six years ago. He has done well for himself since; she is doing this. Curious about how she ended up here, he works his way quietly into her life without announcing himself. It turns out to be a harder life than it looks from outside, and there are things about it he cannot account for. He keeps at it, one step at a time, deciding to stay and be the thing she can lean on, and along the way trying to find out whether she still feels anything for him.