Page 51 of A Class of Her Own

Aryn nodded slowly. “We do what the bride wants. When you get married we’ll dig up graves.”

Ruby sputtered, “Or hand out pencils to little children who think they’re getting candy.”

I held up a hand. “Hey, I did that one Halloween. One, okay. And it was only because I didn’t think I’d get trick-or-treaters in my neighborhood full of old people and hadn’t bought candy.”

Ruby sighed. “It would have been better to turn them away.”

I laughed and shook my head. “I hope it’s pasta and you spill red sauce all over your dress.”

“She’s bloodthirsty, just like I always thought,” Ruby said to Aryn.

We joked and jabbed as we followed the rest of the women into Bella’s restaurant. The front end had a few diners, but many fewer than usual, and I asked Aryn how they’d managed to pull this off. Bella’s was a delicious Italian restaurant in a town that really needed one. It was busy all the time with long wait times that no one bothered to complain about.

“Ford and Hailey pulled some strings,” Aryn replied. “I didn’t ask too many details. My part of the evening comes after this.”

“There’s more than just cooking?” Ruby clapped her hands together. “I hope it’s a tour of a candy factory. Or maybe go-cart racing.”

Aryn chuckled. “It’s neither of those things, but I’ll keep them in mind for your bachelorette party someday.”

“Or for my birthday, whichever comes first,” Ruby replied cheerfully.

We followed the group through a set of doors and into a cavernous kitchen, which we passed through into a back area that was set up with eight tables and cook tops. It didn’t look like something that had been there long-term, and I wondered what kind of strings Hailey and Ford were dealing with, because the strings I’d been given in life did not tug the same way.

“Everyone pick a partner,” Hailey said when we were all together. “Two to a table. I’ll go let Tori know we’re here.”

“We should be partners,” Ruby said to me as Aryn was called over by a woman I didn’t know.

I looked at Ruby and the way she’d gone directly to the knife block, and then I glanced around to see if there were any other empty spots open. I heard the specific sliding sound of a knife coming out and spun to face her.

“This feels well balanced,” Ruby grinned.

“Something at this table has to be,” I replied. “I’ll go see if they have aprons.”

Ruby waved the knife around and then tossed it lightly in the air and caught it again by the handle. “Yeah. I can definitely cut stuff with this.”

Ruby was a great cook and knew her way around the kitchen, but I didn’t think she should be handling that knife like she was warming up for a circus act. I backed away and went to where Hailey had returned and was chatting with Aryn.

“Ruby is tossing knives,” I tattled.

Aryn and Hailey glanced over at Ruby in time for the three of us to see her pick up another and start some sort of juggling thing. I looked back at them with a ‘see what I mean’ expression. Aryn bit her lips together, and Hailey covered her mouth with one perfectly manicured hand.

I gestured to Ruby. “Well? Maybe one of you should be her partner.”

Neither of them said a word but kept biting and covering their mouths until Aryn accidentally snorted, and then both of them burst out laughing.

I blinked. “So, you’re telling me I’m her partner?” They nodded. “I’m going to need an apron, some towels, a mop, safety goggles, and a Kevlar vest.”

This really set them off, and even I couldn’t help laughing as we glanced Ruby’s way in time to see her move over to the table next to us and test out their knives while the poor strangers watched in total confusion with a smidgen of alarm.

“There are aprons on that hook by the door,” Hailey pointed to the side.

I marched over and snagged two before retrieving Ruby from yet another table, offering up apologies and nudging her back to our station.

“Word is that Tori is the original owner’s great-granddaughter, that they look eerily the same, and some people think she might actually be Bella reincarnated because this restaurant was her heart and soul and even death couldn’t keep her away,” Ruby said as she tied on her apron.

“Bella’s opened the same year I graduated high school, Rubes. It hasn’t been around long enough for Tori to be a great-granddaughter.” Ruby snorted, so I shook my head and opened the proverbial door. “Okay, what do you believe?” I asked, tying my own apron and wondering who would have told her all of that in the three minutes I was gone.

“I can’t say for sure because I’ve seen some strange things. But I do know, for a fact, that this place has the best fettuccine alfredo in town.” She smoothed her hand over the metal table in front of us. “I’m hungry.” She pointed a knife at the front of the room. “I wonder what we’ll be making, and I wonder what Tori will look like. I’m thinking she’s got to be maybe twenty-five years old, short curly brown hair, big soulful eyes. I’d imagine she looks content because she’s where she loves to be.”

---