Page 4 of Summer Savory

Chapter Three

Nora

Iavoided my sous chef Dawn’s eyes, but I still felt them on me. She didn’t let up from her questions since the morning when she was the first one into the kitchen and saw Reese kissing my hand. She pelted me with questions about who he was and why he was here ever since. At first, I thought I could just ignore her, but she was a persistent lass. She couldn’t stand to be ignored, no matter how hard I tried.

“Wanna know what I found?” she asked, but didn’t wait for me to respond. “In years past, the entertainment director got a picture of the group of teens who would take part in a talent show. That would’ve been around the time that Romeo came here for vacation with his family.”

“I’m sure there’s a point to your story, but I’m not sure I want or have time to hear it. I’m very busy. And you should be, too. Those peaches will not peel and cut themselves, you know.”

“Don’t worry about your great-aunt’s precious peach cobbler. I’ll get all this done with plenty of time to spare. Besides, I can talk and peel peaches at the same time.”

I couldn’t stop a derisive chuckle from escaping my mouth. “I’m not sure about that. The last time you got excited about something while you were supposed to be working, we ended up with peach pits in two cobblers.”

“And you wrote me up for it, yes, I remember. But, at least I found them before we baked them, and we could remove them. Anyway, that’s why I want to tell you now before I work on them. So, back to Romeo when he was a child.”

“Please stop calling him that. He’s a guest, and that’s disrespectful.”

“Fine. Back to Reese Marlowe, then. That gorgeous and incredibly sexy male model I found kissing you yesterday morning. The same one who couldn’t take his eyes off of you when he and his family came to dinner last night. By the way, why didn’t you go talk to him?”

Another derisive noise surfaced from my throat before I could stop it. “Are you crazy? I wouldn’t dream of disturbing him while he was with his family. Not only would that have been rude, it would have been unprofessional too.”

“Whatever, Nora! You’ll have to excuse me, but I’ve never seen you worry about being rude.”

“And just what is that supposed to mean?” My hands instinctively moved to my hips, which pissed me off because I had to wash them again before I continued working.

“It means that you are possibly the most direct person I’ve ever met in my life. I’ve never known you to shy away from anyone or anything, no matter the reason. So, what’s the deal with that?”

“Again, I’m going to ask you if there’s a point to all of this. If not, you can either start on the peaches or, better yet, go out to the fences and see if there are enough ripe blackberries for the cobbler instead. I noticed last night that we’re running low on peach preserves. I might want to use the peaches for that instead.”

Then she made a similar derisive noise. “You know I hate picking blackberries! I look like I’ve been at a murder scene with all the blood from those damn thorns.” She pouts for a moment, but then turns to me, smiling. “I’ll make a deal with you. I’ll go pick the blackberries if you promise me you’ll go flirt with Reese the next time he’s in here.”

“First, he’s a guest, so his name is Mr. Marlowe. Second, have you forgotten that I’m your boss? You can’t bargain with me about a work-related task I ask you to do. Besides, I didn’t say you had to pick them all by yourself. I’ll come to help you when I finish the marinade for the chicken. Just go see if we have enough.”

“Fine, but I’m going to show you what I found before I go. Look at this,” she said, holding out an 8x10 photo from under a stack of papers. I’d only then noticed she’d been hiding from me. “This was from the summer of 2007. The theme for the talent show that year was Broadway.”

Despite my best efforts to look away, I glanced at the image. He stood out in the crowd of teens and young adults. One thing that struck me was that there seem to have been a lot more families who vacationed at Mountain Ridge Resort back then. While we still had families who visited us, I’d seen a ton of couples and young single adults. We had a unique mix of guests; more single adults and couples. Could that be why my loneliness was sometimes too much to bear? I’d often wondered about that. For a long time, I thought it was just old negative emotions rearing their ugly heads, but the longer I was around people who seemed happy in their relationships, the more I realized that it just might have been me.

I didn’t see him for the next few days, and I was both disappointed and relieved. Disappointed because I’d found myself unable to think of anything but him since the morning he barged into my kitchen. My relief was for the same reason. I’d worked too hard in my career to allow anything or anyone to derail me. Even if he was the most exhilarating man I’d ever met.

Glancing over the list of students in my cooking class that afternoon, my heart really skipped a beat. I would see him after all. He and his sister had signed up for my 3:00 class. Peach cobbler? That’s what a male model would want to learn how to make? Peach cobbler? I thought. It must’ve been something about it being so unhealthy that made it appealing for him. I wondered how I would make it through the class without mixing up my words or staring at him the entire time. I’d seen a few other women watching him too, and I’d heard the chatter from them too. They wanted to be near him, and I hated to admit to myself that I was slightly jealous about it.

I’d have to figure it out. My dad would want me to be professional about it, and I’d spent so many years following my dad’s instructions. He’d taught me that nothing was more important than taking care of my patrons. Feeding people and making them feel at home when they eat my food. Though dad was an accountant most of his life, when he retired and left the firm to my sister, he opened his own restaurant. After a lifetime as a foodie, even before that was a familiar term, he went to culinary school, part time, while running the accounting firm. It was one of the happiest moments of his life, and mine. I also enjoyed when he would call me to ask questions while he was going through it.

“Something on your mind?” The deep, steady voice behind me almost made me spill my coffee. The space between my legs tingled and my heart pumped so fast I thought it might beat right out of my chest.

“Oh, Reese! You startled me.”

The devilish smile on his face assured me he both knew he’d taken me by surprise and was quite pleased with himself because of it. “Sorry,” he said smugly, though I knew he wasn’t.

“If you’re here for Cobbler Class, I’m afraid you’re a bit early. That doesn’t start for another hour.”

“Yes, I know. I actually came to talk with you, if you have a minute.”

I knew it! He wanted to tell me that our flirtation in the kitchen a few days before when we had first met meant nothing. All the smiles and small talk we’d exchanged over the prior week weren’t real. He was just messing around and had no intention for me to take him seriously. I bit the bullet. “Sure. How can I help you?”

“I just wanted to let you know how excited I am to be taking your class this afternoon. My sister has to cancel, but I’m looking forward to it.”

“Oh, thank you. Is everything alright with your sister?” I realized as the words escaped my mouth how forward that must have sounded.

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