Page 1 of Summer Savory

Chapter One

Nora

I’d always loved the way bread dough felt in my hands as I worked it. Soft and malleable, yearning for deft hands to mold it into its final shape. I rarely got to work with bread in that state, and it was a welcome treat. As head chef of Mountain Ridge Resort, bread-baking didn’t fall under my purview.

I should’ve been grateful that the baker didn’t have a brain in his head, or I wouldn’t have been working with the dough that day. Most of my exposure to bread was creating sandwiches, appetizers, and even bread puddings for dessert. Occasionally, one of my staff created a dish, and I was always happy to encourage such endeavors. If it weren’t for that policy of mine, I wouldn’t have been there shaping that mound of clay into the beautiful boule it would become.

The baker wanted a change of pace and set off the previous morning looking for mushrooms to mix in with the bread dough. It sounded delicious, so I didn’t mind him spending a few hours in the woods. What I did mind, however, was him coming back covered with poison ivy because the damn fool didn’t know what he was doing. After that little escapade, I thought it best to check the mushrooms too, in case he found poisonous ones and didn’t know the difference. He didn’t. I wondered if I should add preventing illness and death to my bio for the resort’s website.

Still, with all the frustration, it was nice to have the task for the morning. That was not my normal time to arrive at the kitchen, but since we needed the bread for the breakfast crowd when they rolled in at 7:00, it was required. The kitchen was quiet, which was a pleasant surprise. I had time to think without answering a thousand questions from my staff, and I had plenty of time to plan future meals, which rarely happens until much later in the day. I was grateful for the solitude.

I should’ve known that it wouldn’t last. Just as the Zen feeling took over, muffled sounds outside the kitchen door distract me. Since the door behind me led to our vegetable garden at the resort, my first thought was that some kind of animal had found its way to the cottage. Lots of deer, rabbits, and other wildlife wander through, especially early in the morning, so it wouldn’t be uncommon. The sound was loud, though. My mind raced, thinking perhaps it was a bear. We’d had a few sightings recently, though few were that close to the inhabited areas of the resort. It was only when the intruder began humming incredibly off-key that I realized it was a person and wasn’t about to be mauled to death.

It sounded like someone trying to put a key in a lock. I couldn’t imagine what was happening at first. It was way too early for my staff, and besides, they all had keys. Dusting flour off my hands and covering the dough with a towel, I pushed it out of the way. I’d worked hard on that loaf, and I had no intention of letting go to waste, intruder or not. I crept to the sideboard and grabbed the biggest rolling pin from the cupboard. I didn’t have time to reach for a cast-iron skillet, which was probably a good thing. Although I knew it was probably a better weapon than a rolling pin, I didn’t think I actually had the heart to hit someone with it. I imagined that would likely cause tremendous damage to a person’s skull. At least with a rolling pin, I could thrust it toward someone in a stabbing motion in order to defend myself. Unless whomever was there had a knife or a gun. In either case, I was pretty well screwed.

I reached the door just as the person on the other side figured out that it wasn’t actually locked. I made a mental note to be sure to lock it in the future in case I was ever there alone again. I crouched behind the cabinet on the other side of the door to have the best angle to whack the guy on the head if necessary.

“Wait,” the man said, speech slurred barely to the point of understanding, “what the hell? This isn’t right.”

“No, it isn’t,” I said, with as much force in my tone as I could muster. “There’s nothing right about you sneaking in here. What do you want? The resort doesn’t keep money here, and I’m armed if you’re trying to rob me.”

He snickered, catching sight of me standing at my full 5’6” height with a rolling pin swinging over my head. In response, he stood straight up and he must’ve been all of 6’2”, maybe taller. He was lean, but muscular, like an athlete. He pointed to the rolling pin, still hoisted in the air above us, and said, “You can put that down. I don’t mean any harm. I’m just looking for something to eat. This is still the kitchen, isn’t it?”

“It has been for eons, but we’re closed right now. Breakfast service begins at 7:00.”

“That’s three hours from now!” I cautiously lowered the rolling pin and nodded. “But, I’m starving now. Come on, please, have a little compassion. I was up half the night spending time with my family, which is why I started drinking the other half of the night. I got here too late for dinner last night, and I could really use something to eat.” I stood unmoved, staring down the drunk man the way my dad used to do when my sister and I came home after a hard night on the town. “Whatever happened to the hospitality Mountain Ridge Resort is famous for? Please. Just a sandwich or something and I’ll be on my way. Crackers even. If it’s any consolation, I’ll pay for this in a few hours anyway when I wake up with the biggest hangover in forever and then Joshua and Delilah, my sister’s kids, jump on me first thing, wanting me to take them swimming or hiking.”

He nearly collapsed into the chair next to the small table at the entryway of the kitchen, looking harmless and pitiful. With his head in his hands, I wondered if he was planning to fall asleep here. Reluctantly, and against my better judgment, I grabbed a frying pan and placed it on the stove to heat. While it was heating, I took butter, bacon, and three eggs from the large walk-in refrigerator and placed them on the counter next to the stove. It was always a sense of pride for me that my staff and I could produce such elaborate meals from a kitchen that wasn’t much bigger than one found in a large private estate. The small workspace gave me enough room to monitor the stranger while I made breakfast for him.

He was good looking. I could say that about him. I didn’t normally notice men anymore, not since my heart was broken, but it was still nice to look. To prevent myself from staring at him for so long that I burned the bacon, I gathered the remaining items for his breakfast and started a pot of coffee. The whir of the enormous machine as it powered up made him lift his head momentarily, but he quickly placed it back in his hands. Sobering him up was going to be harder than I thought.

`I headed out of the kitchen for a moment and took a bottle of tequila and a highball glass from the bar, making a mental note to replace them before anyone missed them. I rarely had free rein of the bottles in the bar, though I needed the occasional bottle of wine or rum when I experimented with a new recipe. Tequila, not so much.

Returning to the refrigerator in the kitchen, I pried off the plastic wrap covering the garnishments the bar staff had left over from last night. There was no harm in using the fruit now, as the bar staff would’ve tossed them out later anyway and replaced them with freshly cut fruit. I filled the glass a third of the way with fruit and then added ice almost to the top. I sloshed in tequila topped with grapefruit juice and placed it not so gently on the table in front of him with a bang. “Good, you’re not asleep,” I said, smiling sweetly at him as his head popped up in surprise.

His eyes focused on the drink, his nostrils flaring slightly and I thought for a moment he was turning green. “What’s this?” he asked, voice sounding like gravel.

“Hair of the Dog. Drink up while I get your breakfast. Between this and the bacon and eggs, you’ll be ready for your sister’s kids in no time. Who knows? You may go after them instead of the other way around. I’m Nora, by the way.”

He pushed past his initial hesitation and took a couple of tentative sips. “Not quite the liquor I was downing just a couple of hours ago, but it’ll do.” He downed it the rest of the way and looked at me, smiling. “I’m Reese, and I’ll take another, if you don’t mind.”

“And what if I do?” I asked, shaking my head. I shrugged. “I don’t recommend it, but go ahead. When your sister’s kids are jumping on your aching head, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

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