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Intro
Emoni got pregnant her freshman year of high school. Her boyfriend at the time, Tyrone, was charming—though he kept seeing other girls and was dismissive and cruel to Emoni throughout her pregnancy. Emoni decided to remain pregnant and then parent her daughter Emma (whom Emoni calls Babygirl) with her grandmother ’Buela’s support. ’Buela has raised Emoni from infancy; Emoni’s mom died in childbirth, and Emoni’s dad, Julio, returned to Puerto Rico to deal with his grief. He visits every summer.
Now, Emoni is starting her senior year of high school. She’s excited and scared when she discovers that her school is offering a culinary arts class—she’s wanted to be a chef since she was a kid, and ’Buela even insists that Emoni has a way with spices and food that borders on magic. Though she wants to take a real culinary arts class, she also worries about giving up her study hall. The class also includes what’s bound to be an expensive spring break trip to Spain, which Emoni isn’t sure she can afford. Additionally, she’s not certain that college is the right path for her, even if she enrolls in a culinary arts program. Emoni remains uncertain, but she signs up for the class.
Throughout the first few weeks of school, Emoni remains skeptical of the culinary arts class and of her teacher, Chef Ayden, who reminds her to follow recipes instead of spicing things her own way. Also complicating things is the fact that Malachi, a new boy, clearly has a crush on Emoni—but Emoni has no interest in dating and doesn’t trust boys after Tyrone. Still, she agrees to go out for water-ice with him after school, and her best friend Angelica tags along. Angelica gives Malachi her seal of approval.
Things come to a head between Emoni and Chef Ayden when he tells her to throw away a dish in which she deviated from the recipe. Enraged, Emoni skips class for a week. That Saturday, Angelica is celebrating her six-month anniversary with her girlfriend, Laura, and Emoni has agreed to cater their dinner. Malachi helps Emoni cook and carry the food to Angelica’s house. The next morning, Tyrone confronts Emoni: a friend saw Emoni with Malachi, and Tyrone doesn’t want Emoni dating other people. This conversation upsets Emoni, so ’Buela suggests they go out for lunch. ’Buela takes Emoni to a fancy restaurant, Café Sorrel, and insinuates that she knows Emoni has been skipping her culinary arts class. However, the food at Café Sorrel wows Emoni, and she gets to meet the chef—who knows Chef Ayden and says he’ll teach Emoni the skills she needs to thrive in a professional kitchen. On Monday, Emoni apologizes to Chef Ayden and promises to work hard. He appoints her the head of the fundraising committee: she has to come up with ways to raise thousands of dollars for the class trip to Spain.
Over the next several weeks, the culinary arts class puts several of Emoni’s ideas into action. They open up the school’s training restaurant and begin serving lunches to teachers, and they convince the principal to let them cater the annual Winter Dinner. Emoni and Chef Ayden work on the Winter Dinner menu together, and Emoni’s classmates help develop a silent auction fundraiser. The dinner is a huge success—though by the end, each student is still responsible for almost $300 for the trip. Emoni is certain she can’t come up with the deposit by the deadline, though she’s flattered when the chef from Café Sorrel, Chef Williams, gives Emoni her card and offers Emoni a job. Later that week, Emoni’s Aunt Sarah, who lives in North Carolina and emails recipes back and forth with Emoni regularly, unexpectedly gifts Emoni $300 for the trip.
Malachi and Emoni have been spending more time together, and he invites her to bring Angelica, Laura, and Babygirl to Disney On Ice. The evening is magical, and when Malachi walks Emoni and Babygirl home, Emoni makes it clear that she likes him—but she wants to take things slow. He’s fine with this.
Just before winter break, Emoni gets caught with her phone at school and a security guard takes it away. This means that Emoni only finds out early that evening that Babygirl’s daycare has been trying to contact her—Babygirl is sick, and Tyrone’s mom, Mrs. Palmer, ended up picking her up. Emoni is so upset after Mrs. Palmer brings Babygirl back that when ’Buela (whom Emoni thought would pick Babygirl up) gets home, Emoni asks where ’Buela has been. ’Buela has been seeing the doctor a lot recently, and Emoni is certain that something is wrong with her grandmother. But ’Buela admits that she’s been lying about having doctor’s appointments so she has an excuse to take time for herself. Emoni and ’Buela remain at odds with each other over the break.
When Emoni approaches her boss at her after-school job, Steve, about taking time off to go to Spain, he insults her and cuts her hours. Eventually, Emoni quits when it costs more to travel to work than she earns. The next few months pass in a blur and soon, it’s the end of March. ’Buela’s friend Mr. Jagoda drives Emoni to the airport; Emoni lands in Madrid several hours later. Unfortunately, Emoni and her nemesis, Pretty Leslie, are both staying with a woman named Señorita Mariana. But on the plus side, Emoni is apprenticing with a chef named Chef Amadí, who encourages Emoni to follow her instincts and pair herbs and spices as she sees fit. Chef Amadí puts Emoni in charge of coming up with the daily lunch special, a challenge that many of her classmates aren’t getting in their apprenticeships.
Emoni and Malachi decide to go out one night; they end up at a bar where several of their classmates, including Pretty Leslie, are drinking. Pretty Leslie is drunk, and she insults Emoni—and then vomits in the bar. Emoni and Malachi help her back to Mariana’s, and the next morning, Leslie and Emoni speak honestly for the first time. Leslie admits that she’s jealous that Malachi chose Emoni, and she’s also resented how perfect and put-together Emoni has always seemed. The following night, their last night in Spain, Emoni and Malachi hang out at Malachi’s host parents’ house while his host parents are out. They decide not to have sex, but they kiss and have a good time anyway.
When Emoni gets back from Spain, all her college admissions decisions are available. To her surprise, only one of four schools she applied to accepted her: her reach school, Drexel. It has a renowned culinary arts and restaurant management program. ’Buela is thrilled, and she finally tells Emoni that she’s tired after raising three generations of children. In fact, she’s dating Mr. Jagoda and he’d like to marry her. Emoni tells ’Buela to accept. Later, Julio cries when Emoni calls and tells him she got into Drexel. Emoni spends weeks worrying about what she should decide to do, but she finally mails her decision.
Julio shows up unexpectedly the night before Emoni’s high school graduation. She fully expected him to miss it and show up in July, as usual. But surprisingly, Julio says that he’d like to try to stay longer and help Emoni with Babygirl so she can attend college. He also says that he refuses to eat Emoni’s cooking because it reminds him of Emoni’s mother, and the memories are too painful. However, he eats a bit of Emoni’s bread.
Emoni and her classmates graduate the next day. Soon after, Tyrone shows up unannounced and says that he’d like to start taking Babygirl for longer weekend visits and a summer vacation—and he’d also like to offer Emoni and his daughter more financial support, now that he has a job. Several days after this, Emoni goes to Café Sorrel and asks to speak to Chef Williams. She asks for a job: she’ll be attending Drexel’s culinary arts program part time in the fall, but she’ll be able to work the lunch rush. Chef Williams hires Emoni to start that day. Later in the summer, Emoni plans to visit her Aunt Sarah in North Carolina for the very first time while Tyrone takes Babygirl on vacation.
