Page 11 of Silas

The bell above the door chimes as I enter You’re Bacon Me Crazy. “Hello dear, so lovely to see you again. Just you today,” Gail asks as she walks by with a tray of food.

“Yeah, just me, like always.” Gail gives me a warm smile that gives that grandmotherly vibe to her. “Right this way, dear.”

It’s awfully busy here for a Wednesday morning. I know that it’s one of the few restaurants in town, but good lord, the place is bustling with activity. Don’t people work? “Here you go, dear, a nice little booth in the corner. Do you know what you want to drink today?”

“I actually do. I would love a coffee with sugar and oat milk, please. Also, can I order two waffles with strawberries and whip cream?” Gail nods as she pencils all of it down onto her notepad. “It’s awfully busy here for a Wednesday morning. Is it normally like this?”

She looks around the place and smiles down at me, “Of course. Most people love the sense of community that we get here in Jasper. So people don’t mind coming in for breakfast to chat with their neighbors and the other residents of our little town. It keeps everyone close knit and bonded.”

“Wow, that is definitely something I am not used to. Not the restaurant being busy on a Wednesday morning, given that New York City is always busy. But I definitely am not used to people being so friendly. Speaking of, last night I had the rudest experience in this town.”

Shocked, she prompted, “I’m all ears; tell me more.” After unloading all the details of last night, she still has a look of shock on her face. “Can you describe this rude man to me?”

“Yeah for sure, so he was roughly 6’ 2” with black hair, chiseled jawline, scruff beard, with dark broody eyes.”

Gasping, she says, “Oh, I know who you are talking about. Odd that he was so rude to you.”

“Yeah, well, I threw my drink into his face because of his behavior.” I say with an attitude.

“Silas isn’t usually that rude, odd indeed. Well, let me go put your order in and grab that coffee for you.”

Gail may mean well, but the Silas I met was a complete asshole. I mean, who would make such assumptions about a complete stranger? My big-city background doesn’t prevent me from embracing this small-town atmosphere. For as long as I can remember, I have been dreaming of the day that I would leave New York City behind and find some quaint little town to settle down in for the rest of my life. Nobody, not even Silas, will ruin that for me.

In the short time that I have been here, I have already fallen in love with this town. It’s slightly terrifying that they are so close knit because that is the farthest thing I am used to. I can’t even imagine people being that in my business that they know when I am not having a good day just by looking at me. I mean, don’t get me wrong, Nellie could do that, but she is my best friend, so obviously she could. Random people walking down the road being able to spot it though? Absolutely not! It will take some getting used to, but I am excited about this adventure.

“Here you go sweetie, nice steaming cup of coffee with sugar and oat milk. Your waffles with strawberries and whip cream, nice and hot off the griddle. Does everything look wonderful?”

The waffles smell amazing. There are little dollops of whip cream topped with slices of strawberries. The intensely sweet smell of freshly picked strawberries filled the air, a stark contrast to the bland, weeks-old berries from NYC supermarkets. I assume this whipped cream is also homemade, unlike the kind in aerosol cans.

“Oh my gosh Gail, it smells amazing, as always. Question, does Moe make the whipped cream?”

“Oh yes. We make everything from scratch here. We also locally source as much as we can to continue to help our community.” She looks over to where I assume Moe is busily working in the kitchen.

“That is wonderful! Definitely something that I am not used to. I can honestly say that I did not know where my food was coming from outside of the big box store I purchased it from. So this is another reason I am falling for Jasper. I love how this community gives back to each other.”

“Speaking of giving back to each other, we have a Christmas Festival coming up and we need volunteers to run some booths. Would you be willing to help?”

“Oh, I don’t know about that. I am not sure that I am quite ready to put myself out there like that.” Looking down at my hands as I twist the ring around my finger. I don’t know if I am ready to meet so many people at one time. I can only imagine that running a booth would lead to meeting the entire town in one day.

“It would be a great opportunity for you to meet others in the community and make some friends.” She says with a reassuring smile on her face.

“That is actually what I was afraid of. That is a lot of people to meet at one time. I know I am a big city girl, but that doesn’t mean that I am good at meeting hundreds of people at one time. Big City people are actually not social creatures.” I say with a huff of a laugh at the irony of the statement.

She chuckles, “Don’t I know it. I actually don’t think I have ever met a nice New Yorker. But then again, I haven’t met that many. It would be good, either way, to show the communitythat you aren’t a big-city girl and are willing to give back to the community welcoming you.”

“You drive a hard bargain, Gail. Fine, I will help out. When do you need help, and what am I doing?”

“It’s going to be this Saturday, and I would need you to run the cocoa booth. Nothing too crazy, just pouring cups of hot cocoa for the patrons.” She chippers up at my acceptance.

“I guess I can run the hot cocoa booth. What time do you need me there?” I sigh in defeat.

“8 AM sharp, young lady. The festival is opening at 9 AM, so that will give you an hour to get acquainted with the booth and ready to go.”

“Gail, it's hot cocoa. I can’t imagine needing an hour to learn to pour hot cocoa.”

“Be there at 8 am,” Gail says, hitting me with her mom face.

“Fine.”

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