Tink had been in Los Angeles for a week so that morning before his plane left LAX, it occurred to me that a good, wifely thing to do would be to welcome him back to the Rondarosa with a home-cooked meal. It would be, I decided, simple but grand. After deciding upon a vegetable lasagna and a four-layer red velvet cake with coconut cream cheese icing — nothing says, "Welcome back South" better than red velvet cake — I sat down at the kitchen table to make out the grocery list.