Page 29 of Tumbleweed Temptation
“Well, you know. His mom.”
“Yeah, right. I wonder if she’s made an appointment yet?”
“She’s pretty much bedridden.”
“I might get with him and see when I can go out and check on her. Is she one of Lacey’s patients?”
“No, I think Maggie Salinas is her nurse. Did you talk to her about coming to work for you?”
“No, I don’t...she was one of the ones who gave me a hard time about my mom. I’m trying not to stay in the past, you know, but I’d just really rather not. I mean, the idea that she didn't even have anyone on the bus, but she was so willing to come after my mom? No. So, hey, Melissa married Matt? How’d that happen?”
Ginny supposed she was a good source of gossip, since she saw so many people in the diner, but she didn't really want to talk about that, either.
The sound of a door closing made her jump. She closed the lid of her container, half her burger and most of her fries still inside. “Guess it’s time to get back to work.”
“Let’s hope this afternoon runs smoother than this morning.”
Well, clearly that jinxed it, because for the second time in one day, Ginny found herself cleaning up puke from the carpet in the waiting room. At least the nap wasn't thick, but gross. She didn't have a particularly weak stomach, after working in a diner for almost half her life, but this wasn't fun, either.
Because they had so many kids coming in with the stomach virus that Austin couldn't really do anything about anyway, other than pass out the electrolyte fluid he hadn’t gotten enough of when he went to the city, they didn't walk out of the office until after seven.
Ginny almost never worked this late.
“Let’s go over to the Wheel House and I’ll buy you a beer,” he said, locking up the office with a sigh of what sounded like relief.
“I have to be at work in less than twelve hours.”
“One beer, just to wind down. Come on. Maybe some wings, too.”
“For a doctor, you have a terrible diet.”
“Yeah, I actually want to talk to Mrs. Lopez about her produce selection, and maybe Janine about some healthier choices on the menu. Not just for me, but for everyone in town.”
“You think you’re going to get them to add to their expenses at your request? I can hear Mrs. Lopez now.”
“Well, maybe we can do something like cooking classes or something, teach people how to make tasty food that’s good for them, and then the demand will rise.”
“I think that’s actually a really good idea.” Ginny brightened. “Maybe we could even do that at the diner, you know? I wonder if Janine would go for something like that.” “She wouldn't want all those people in her kitchen.”
“Yeah, but maybe it wouldn't be all those people. Maybe we could do like four at a time, or something, like on those cooking shows? And they could serve people and the people could vote on who they think is the best?”
He grinned at her. “You like those cooking competition shows?”
“I love them, actually. And if Janine wouldn't do it, I know Hailey would. Her kitchen isn’t as big, though.”
“Let’s work on that, then. Figure what produce is in season, or, hey, if we want Mrs. Lopez to play along, we can do something even with frozen vegetables. See who can come up with the best idea?”
“I think this could be really fun.” Ginny wasn't sure what was going on. She hadn’t felt excited about something in a long time. Maybe it was good to look forward to what was coming instead of what could have been.
When they got to The Wheel House, they ordered wings and beer, and Ginny asked Hailey if she had any paper and a pen so they could brainstorm. She was actually surprised she had any brain left after the day they’d had, but Austin seemed to come alive, also.
“What if we do categories?” Ginny asked, opening the spiral Hailey handed her, popping the pen open by bouncing the end against the bar, then drawing three lines down the middle of the page, dividing it into four columns. “We could do vegetables, we could do meats, we can do desserts.”
“We can do quick meals, too.”
“And give them the ingredients they have to use, or at least a list of ingredients they have to use.”
“Well, since Mrs. Lopez probably doesn’t stock what we want, maybe we can go up to San Angelo to pick up the ingredients, let them know ahead of time so they can come up with something.”
