Page 33 of The Playboy and the Waitress

“You are in for a treat, Playboy. This is good, old-fashioned country cooking.”

“Are we expecting company? You fixed enough for a small army.”

“Nope, what we don’t eat now, I’ll put up. This is one of those meals that just gets better each day. It’s kinda like chili, it always tastes better the next day. Grab a seat, the bread is almost ready.”

He sits down in daddy’s seat and instead of it bothering me, I smile. I think dad would have liked Dage. Of course, he would never have been good enough for me in Dad’s eyes but isn’t that the norm? I set the plates on the table as Dage fills our glasses with iced tea.

“Go ahead and dig in, if you don’t like something you won’t hurt my feelings, it will just leave more for me.”

He doesn’t have to be told twice as he fills his plate to the rim.

We don’t talk much because we both simply enjoy the yummies in front of us. Dage finally pushes his plate away and leans back, rubbing his belly.

“I’m going to have to work out three hours in the morning to get these extra calories off, but damn Jenna, that was wonderful. Thank you for fixing that for me.”

“I assumed you had a workout schedule, no keeping those pretty lines on that belly of yours without it.”

“It’s become a ritual for me, some people need coffee in the mornings to get their minds operating. I need stimulation and coffee.”

“That’s funny, if you put me on a treadmill first thing in the morning, I wouldn’t be worth a crap the rest of the day.”

“Oh, you are doing the same thing just in different terms. Packing wood and feed for the animals at seven in the morning, I believe is a workout in itself. What big adventure do you have planned for us this evening?”

“I’m hoping that I didn’t jump the gun with the plan I have for this evening as it still may be too early. I have done this for as long as I can remember with Mom and Dad. I have it marked on my calendar that they come out this week, but this is a light show that’s out of my control.”

“So we are going star chasing again?”

“Nope, something a little closer to the ground. Help me get this cleaned up, and we will make our way there. Or, I should say we will waddle that way. Lord knows I ate way too much. I have gotten used to grilled cheese and egg sandwiches since I only had me to cook for all this time.”

As I’m grabbing a flannel shirt out of the closet, I hand Dage one of the folding camping chairs I keep stored in there. “Come on, we're taking a walk.”

Dage has been quiet most of the evening; he doesn't seem distant, but you can tell something is on his mind.

“Playboy, cat got your tongue this evening?”

“Sorry, I promise I’m right here. If anything, I feel more grounded here than I do anywhere else and I’m a little confused about that. I’m used to expensive dinners and impersonal conversations. Here, I don’t feel like I have to work so hard to maintain a certain image. You are easy to be with and this place is so peaceful. It’s like I'm living two separate lives.”

“That’s pretty deep, Stud. I don’t envy you. If anything, I'm glad I'm on the easy and peaceful side of your world.”

“I don’t blame you for holding onto this place, Jenna. I know it’s been a huge struggle to keep all of this, but you have a little hidden peace of heaven out here. Everything here seems to move slower. The rest of the world is wide open and in a big damn hurry. Sorry, I know I'm rambling, but I have started watching the people I looked up to all these years. Only, to see things are not what they appeared to be.

“There are a couple of older gentlemen I have asked for advice multiple times that come into the country club daily. I have seen them with their wives…women they have been with for years and I assumed they were all happily married. These women are classy and intelligent, a lot of them run their own businesses or are huge into charities. If you were simply watching them from afar, you would think they have it all. I saw one of them kiss his wife on the cheek as he was pinching the waitress' ass who was trying to sit his drink down. The other guy I watched straighten his tie as he walked out of one of the cleaning closets. I waited to see if anyone came out behind him and sure enough one of the maids walked out straightening her apron just a few minutes later.

“Then, my main cook opened his lunch on break and smiled. I noticed he had a note written on a napkin laying on top. I offhand said, ‘One of your little ones, Markus? With a huge smile on his face, he informs me it is from his ‘beloved.’” These two lost their oldest son in a car accident last year, and they have been struggling financially. But that man smiled down at that napkin like it was priceless.

“I’m thirty-three years old, Jenna, and I feel like I have had blinders on my whole life. How do you turn from the path you’re on? I'm confused.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I have had a few moments like that these last two weeks myself. You don’t have to figure it all out this evening. Sometimes it’s best to step away from your problems and just breathe. Do you see that patch of woods over there, that’s where we are headed.”

I open my chair up and motion for him to do the same. He gives me this odd look as we face the woods. Right before he grabs my hand, playing with my long fingernails.

“Are we looking for Sasquatch?”

“Something slightly smaller.”

“Fairies, gnomes, possibly a ghostly figure haunting us now from a cow that’s passed.”

I can’t help but laugh, “You are not good at chilling out, are you? Sit back and watch the woods come alive, they should emerge right about twilight.”

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