Her Lifelong Dream (8 page)

Terry led her to the Jeep. She pulled out her car keys
and turned to him to say goodbye. "I'll see you in class on
Thursday," she said and handed him his jacket. "Oh, and,
by the way, you do too have a one-track mind."

Terry stopped her from putting the key into the lock by
pulling her close to him. He held her tightly for a moment,
his breath warm against her cheek. "I do not," he whispered, soft and husky, into her ear. "And I could prove
otherwise, Ms. Collins, if you have some free time."

"Why, Mr. Foster," she said, with all the indignation of
a compromised southern belle. "You may just have more
on your mind after all." She opened up her car door and
climbed in behind the wheel. "It is a pity that I'm your
student," she said and firmly shut the car door. She rolled
down the window and beamed at him. "I'm a big fan of
protocol." She waved out the window and started the engine of the car.

"Yeah, but it is only a six-week class!" he called to her
as she drove away.

66 Six weeks, twice a week-every Tuesday and Thursday," Leedy explained. "I can't believe I've already been
to three classes! The time is flying by!"

"Are you sure it's enough time?" Brittany asked.

"Enough time for what?" Leedy asked, not understanding
why her friend had a mischievous grin on her face.

"Enough time to charm your professor into falling for
you," she teased. "I know it won't take you long. But still,
these things are not always instantaneous."

"What are you talking about?" Leedy asked.

"As if you don't know."

"I don't know."

"Admit it, Leedy."

"Admit what?"

"Admit you have a crush on the hunky banker."

Leedy only rolled her eyes.

"Liar, liar, pants on fire," Brittany taunted. "Come on!
This is me you're talking to, remember? Don't forget, I'm the one getting married in one month. I understand exactly
what you're going through."

"Oh? Do you?"

"Yes, I do. In fact, I understand it better than you do."

Leedy raised her eyebrows. "Oh," she said, her voice
suspicious. "Then tell me, She Who Knows All, what exactly am I going through?"

"You're in the `Mr. Wonderful Is Not Supposed To Appear Until Step 28 Of My Master Plan. Therefore, I Am
Not Really Falling For This Perfect Guy' phase," Brittany
retorted with a smug expression on her face. "Except that
you're falling for him, Leedy. Next comes the attraction/
attraction phase."

There was a ring of truth to what her friend said, but
Leedy didn't want to admit it. "What's that phase all
about?"

"That's when you both stop tiptoeing around each other
and decide you're indeed really and truly falling for one
another. That's when you both stop pretending and start to
really enjoy being with each other. This is a great phase to
be in! So admit it!"

"Okay," Leedy said, feeling her cheeks turn pink. "I admit it! I'm a little bit attracted to him. Does it show that
much?"

"Only to the trained eye," Brittany said. "I had the same
dopey expression on my face after I met Mark."

"What dopey expression?"

"That look in your eye! It's like ... like you're on Cloud
Terry."

Leedy blushed, embarrassed that she was so transparent.

"It's okay to feel that way. In fact, it is wonderful to feel that way! So you see, Leedy, I know exactly what you're
going through after all."

"I'm not as far gone as you were over Mark."

"Yes you are."

"What makes you say that?" Leedy asked.

"I can just tell," Brittany said. "Because I remember how
I was. I was excited and happy, but at the same time, anxious. I couldn't wait to see him again, but I didn't want to
be appear to be overly interested either. I had trouble concentrating at work and I sometimes forgot to eat. I found
Mark creeping into my thoughts all the time, especially at
night when I was lying in bed."

Leedy was speechless. Brittany did know exactly what
she was going through.

"At least, that's the way it was for me," Brittany added.
"At first, I tried to run away from my feelings for Markjust like you are trying to run away from your feelings for
Terry. I pretended I didn't really care about him, except I
couldn't get him out of my head. Whenever I saw him, my
heart pounded and I turned into a quivering blob of pudding. But in a good way. It feels good to fall for someone.
You'll see."

"If you say so," Leedy said, trying to sound indifferent.
"And you're cute when you get all squishy."

Brittany shook her finger at Leedy. "Fine," she grumbled. "Don't believe me. You'll just have to see for yourself. Just promise me one thing."

"What's that?"

"Promise me that you will enjoy it, Leedy. It's going to
be a wonderful ride."

"Oh, mush!" Leedy said, rolling her eyes. "Aren't you
getting a little carried away, Brit?"

"No," Brittany said. "I'm not the one getting carried
away. I've already been carried away. Now it's your turn."

Leedy wrinkled her nose at her, but she liked the sound
of that phrase-your turn. "Oh, stop."

"No! You have a major thing for this good-looking, intelligent, charming, considerate ... oh, and did I mention
he has a nice butt ... banker."

"You forgot to mention his butt," Leedy said. "Not that
I've noticed ..."

"Yeah, right!"

"Come on, Brit," Leedy said. "Terry hardly knows me.
I just met him a few weeks ago."

"That doesn't matter."

"You're adorable. But you have wedding bells on the
brain. And the banker isn't romantically interested in me.
Besides, he's my class instructor and my former loan
officer."

"So what?" Brittany said. "When two people are attracted to each other, they find a way to make it work.
Besides, a little bit of romance is nice too."

"I don't have time for romance."

"You don't mean that," Brittany argued. "You haven't
had a date in too long! And it's been almost a year since
you and Brian broke up."

The sound of Brian's name brought Leedy back to
reality, and her stomach dropped at the thought of her ex-
boyfriend. "Thanks for reminding me, Brit," she groaned.
"But between my job here at Mr. Hobo's, the night class,
and trying to open my own restaurant, I'm so busy. Maybe
after my career is more on track, I would like to see more
of Terry, but ..."

"We'll see," Brittany said, her eyes twinkling. "But,
don't mind me, I have wedding bells on my brain."

"Yes, you do," Leedy said. "But we better get back to
work." She fake punched Brittany's shoulder and then went
to the back of the kitchen and began to prepare some rolls for
the dinner crowd. She spent the next hour working through
her thoughts as she kneaded the soft, buttery dough.

"I'm sorry," Brittany said, standing next to the long
stainless steel table where Leedy was elbow-deep in her
work.

"For what?"

"I shouldn't meddle in your business."

"You weren't meddling."

"It's none of my business," she said. "And you're my
boss ... but you're my friend too." Brittany gave her a hug
and Leedy returned it.

"Forget about it, Brit," Leedy said. "You can say anything to me."

"Thanks, buddy," Brittany said and she started to head
out the door. She stopped, snapped her fingers and said,
"Yikes! I almost forgot. I came back here to tell you that
there's a lady in the dining room asking for you."

"Who is she?"

"I don't know, but I don't think she's a customer. I asked
her if I could help her, but she said she'd wait for you."

Leedy washed her hands, wiped as much flour from her
black tuxedo as possible, and headed for the dining room
wondering who on Earth wanted to see her.

"I'm sorry to bother you at work," the dark-haired
woman standing outside the big stainless steel swinging
doors said. "I'm Jo Anne Phillips ... from class. Terry Foster suggested I speak with you."

"Of course ... Jo Anne!" Leedy said, recovering. "It's
great to see you again. I'm sorry I didn't recognize you
right away. My mind was a hundred miles away."

"That's quite all right."

"I've been meaning to talk with you, too," Leedy said.
"It's been hectic here the past few days."

Jo Anne nodded. "I know," she said. "I wanted to catch
you before class, but I've already missed one class and I
was late for the other two. I was hoping we could get
together and talk. It would be wonderful to have a conversation with someone who understands the difficulty involved with breaking into the restaurant business."

"I would like that very much," Leedy agreed.

Jo Anne Phillips looked to be in her late forties. She had
short, curly brown hair and warm grey eyes. She was petite
and slim and wore lemon yellow linen overalls over a
bright orange long-sleeved T-shirt. There was a liveliness
to her Leedy noticed right away-a kind of hyper-energy
and confidence that belied her small size. She suspected
that Jo Anne was a fireball and capable of accomplishing
any task she set her mind to and she instantly took a liking
to her.

"I was hoping you might be free for dinner ... on me,
of course," Jo Anne suggested. "I would love to spend
some time talking with a kindred spirit. Can we get
together?"

"I'd love to," Leedy said. "And I insist on treating. But
I don't know how much help I could be to you. My efforts,
so far, haven't been what you'd call a success. I'm no
closer to opening up my restaurant than I was five years
ago."

"We'll go dutch for dinner, and it looks as though you are running this restaurant just fine," Jo Anne swept her
hand to illustrate the crowded dining room. "Are you free
one night this week? Wait ... I have football and soccer
practice to attend just about every night. This is why I'm
having such a hard time making it to class! Could we make
it Saturday?"

"Saturday is fine. I'm working the early shift."

"Wonderful," Jo Anne said. "There's an Italian restaurant
on the corner of Market and King Streets. It's a lovely place
called Antonio's. Not that this restaurant isn't charming,
dear. I'm only assuming you may want a change of pace."

"And how." Leedy sighed, and Jo Anne smiled knowingly.

"I managed a restaurant just like this years ago," Jo Anne
confided. "Coming in here, it was all I could do to keep
from barking out orders as I passed the kitchen doors."

"If you see anything amiss, you go right ahead."

"I might, just for old time's sake. Is seven o'clock good
for you?"

"Seven o'clock is perfect."

"Very good then," Jo Anne said, shaking Leedy's hand.
"I'll see you then." She smiled another ear-to-ear grin and
walked away.

"Who's that?" Brittany asked, as Jo Anne bounced past
her.

"One of my new classmates," Leedy explained. "Her
name is Jo Anne Phillips and she's interested in opening
up a restaurant too. We're going to meet for dinner and
compare war stories."

"That sounds like a wonderful idea," exclaimed Brittany.
"It will do you good to talk to someone who shares your
dream."

"I think so, too," Leedy said. "Although Jo Anne may
be my competition someday ..."

"Maybe," Brittany said. "Or she could become a good
friend."

Leedy was deep in thought as she headed for the mall.
For someone who crammed as much as she could into
every minute of every day, her time in the classroom suddenly seemed woefully inadequate. Last night's class had
zipped past her. Not only was she unable to talk to Jo Anne
after class, Terry had slipped from the room with only a
polite wave and a smile. Leedy was disappointed as all get
out that he hadn't walked her to her car, but ...

She shrugged it off. There was no point in letting small
disappointments throw off her groove. It was her day off!
A rare occurrence indeed, and she planned to make the
most of it. She drove to the mall, all the while fretting over
the fact that no one at Mr. Hobo's could prepare Chocolate
Ecstasy Cakes properly. Oh, and there was that stack of
resumes for a new assistant chef still sitting on her desk,
waiting to be reviewed. Perhaps just a quick trip to the mall
was all she needed. Then she might pop into Mr. Hobo's,
just to see how things were going.