A Taste Just Like a Hug by Kari Kilgore

A Lightning Gap Story

Kay's Café specializes in comfort. From the greetings to the decor, and especially the food.
Kay prides herself on knowing exactly what everybody needs.
But some folks need comforting in a different way. One Kay struggles to recreate.
Can she figure out how to bring the taste of love itself back to life?

Also available in the collection Stepping Out of Reality

An excerpt from A Taste Just Like a Hug:
That Taste You Never Quite Forget

Venus wrapped both hands around the mug and took in a deep breath, and her smile wasn't quite as sad as before.

"You'll understand this probably better than anyone else I know," she said, "with the way you specialize in comfort food and how much it matters and all. It's just so sad when someone passes, and they loved making something special that you know you'll never get again."

Kay nodded slowly, remembering all the things she'd been lucky enough to learn from her parents and grandparents and aunts and uncles, and a bunch of people she'd met along the way. Not everyone got that chance to learn, or even if they did, the results never were quite right.

Some mysterious touch of magic—of love made so real you could touch and smell and taste it—passed away from the world.