Summer In Stanton (Stanton Falls #3) (4 page)

Tessa flicked the
television off and lay down with her eyes closed.  A minute later she
rolled over onto her back before sitting up on the bed and looking at the alarm
clock beside her bed.  

Twelve thirty-seven a.m.
 No way I’m gonna make it until morning.  

Tessa got up angry with
herself.  She knew she should have at least grabbed a sandwich last night
before it got too late but she was caught up talking to her dad about the crazy
series of events that had happened so far that day.  Now she was bone
tired and only wanted to rest.  If she wasn’t so hungry, she would have.
 But she knew her body and she knew that she wouldn’t get much sleep with
her stomach in need of food.  She got up and headed to the kitchen
downstairs.  

That’s the problem with
staying in small towns.  No one down here and not even a vending machine
in sight.  

There was no way she was
going to wake someone up just to make her a sandwich.  At the same time,
she wasn’t going to bed hungry.  She made her way into the kitchen as
quietly as possible and opened up the fridge, preparing to make a peanut butter
and jelly sandwich--but the eggs, milk, butter and syrup in sight had her mind
set on pancakes.  She looked in the cabinet and found the flour, sugar,
vanilla, and baking powder.  There were even fresh strawberries on the
counter.  Her mouth watered at the idea of her mother’s extra fluffy
pancake recipe.  

She took all the
ingredients out and started cooking.  

Nearly twenty minutes
later she had set herself a place on the table and was eating pancakes with
hand whipped heavy cream, syrup, and strawberry pieces.  She bit into the
pancakes and smiled.

“Thank you mom.”

She mumbled through a mouthful
of food.  She would have savored the delicious mix of sweet goodness in
her mouth a little longer if she hadn’t been nearly scared to death by what
happened next.  

“I’m not your mother.”

She sat stiff in her
chair and wondered momentarily if she was sleeping.  Until the person
started talking behind her again.  

“And why are you in my
kitchen?”

She got up and turned
around.  She had never met the woman but Tessa had no doubt that the
motherly figure standing before her was Ms. Celia.

“I… I’m sorry.  I
didn’t think anyone else would be up.  Are you Ms. Celia?”

“I am, and normally I am
the only one that ever sets foot in that kitchen so I feel inclined to ask what
in the devil you are doing down here at this time of night?”

“I got hungry and I
didn’t want to bother anyone.  I figured everyone else was sleeping.”

“And you didn’t want to
bother me.  Well you didn’t have to do that.  It’s my job to cook the
food here so you can’ be taking away my responsibilities.  I could have
got up and prepared you something.   I’m up half the time snacking
myself.”

“Oh I don’t want to be
trouble though.  I really had planned on a sandwich but your fridge was so
stocked that I couldn’t help it.”

The older woman sat at
the table.  

“Well.  You got a pretty
big pile there beside you and all this good smelling food you got is what woke
me up so do you have enough to spare one for an old lady?”

“Yes ma’am I have
enough.  I made too much.  I was going to see if Libby wanted to
share some with me in the morning since I’d made so much.”

Tessa took two pancakes
from the pile

“I’m sure she would
have.  She doesn’t exactly love my cooking.”

Tessa didn’t want to say
anything negative to the woman in her own kitchen.  

“That’s probably not
true.”

“Now listen.  You
can’t feed me and lie to me in the same breath.  I may not be the best
cook in the world but my hearing works just fine.  Thank you for sparing
my feelings but I heard you and Libby talking about my cooking earlier.  I
believe you were trying to find out if salt and pepper are on strike.”

“Oooh.  Did I say
that?”

“Yes you did.”

“Sorry.”

The woman bit into the
pancakes.  

“Don’t worry about it.
 As good as these are, you have the right to say whatever you want about
my bad cooking.”

“Honestly, your food
wasn’t bad in and of itself.  It just needed a little more seasoning.
 Little salt here and there would work wonders.  

“I guess that’s what
happens when they make the housekeeper change jobs.  I never really wanted
to do the cooking.  Most people think every old, heavyset woman from Texas
can cook but I’m terrible in the kitchen.”  

“Ms. Celia, it’s so not
true.  My mom taught me that anyone can cook if they enjoy it.
  You just need a little help with your seasoning skills.”

“Well even if I did
enjoy it, I don’t know how an old lady like me would learn cookin’ at this age.
 What am I supposed to do, go to one of them fancy schools that Chef Alvin
went to?”

That gave Tessa an idea
and she smiled.  

“In a sense.”

“What you mean?”

“I mean that I could
show you a few things.  Basic ingredients and tricks that will have your
food better than any restaurant stuff.”

“Really?  You would
take from your vacation to do that?”

“Yeah.  It might
sound kind of strange for me to offer but I’d like to.  Because of my
job--former job--back home, I don’t find the time to cook anymore.  I’d
forgotten how much fun it was.  How much I used to love doing it with my
mom.  She always said that cooking could bring any two people together.”

“Your story is so nice.
 How could I possibly say no to that?”

“You can’t.  And
your problem is so easy to fix, I promise.  When I was in your kitchen, I
noticed you have hardly any seasonings in there.  I’m gonna have to head
to the store and get some so how about I go through your menu and go to the
store tomorrow?  I’ll pick up some stuff to spice things up.”

“Oh I can’t let you do
that honey.  You’re a guest here.”

“Exactly.  Consider
it me being selfish.  If I’m going to last here two weeks, I’m going to
need salt to survive.”

The old lady and Tessa
laughed at each other as they continued to enjoy their pancakes.
   

***

Tessa got out of her car
and headed towards the entrance of the grocery store when she saw the bed and breakfast
manager walking in her direction.  She didn’t want to create a scene.
 At the same time, she didn’t really know what to say to him.  She’d
just as soon not talk to him but since he was walking in her direction, she
guessed it would be considered rude to run away.  

“Ms. McGuire.”

She smiled at him.

“Please.  After the
last twenty-four hours, I think we can at least use first names.  In fact,
maybe we should start over.”  

She took her hand off of
her shopping cart and extended it to him.

“Tessa.”

“Great.  I’m Connor
and I wanna thank you for staying.”

“Well, despite the
ownership issues, I think your little bed and breakfast is really nice.  I
haven’t slept like I did last night since I moved to New York.”

“Different city huh?”

“More like a different
world.
”

“Yeah.  We get that
in Stanton Falls a lot.”

“I bet.”

Tessa looked up at
Connor.  In spite of his attempt at a gruff exterior, she could read him
as easily as he had read her and every mannerism about him told her that he had
the world on his shoulders.  That only made her feel worse about her
attitude yesterday.  So many people had bigger problems than her ruined
clothes.  

“So. Doing a little
grocery shopping?”

“Yeah.”

“You know we have a cook
at the b and b right?”

“Of course.  I’ve
met her and she’s nice but her food could use a little help.”

“Maybe but she tries.”

She could tell by the
way he said it that he was a little protective of Ms. Celia.  He probably
thought she was being rude again.  She started to tell him what she was
doing but changed her mind.  If he’d misjudged her again that quickly,
that was his fault this time.  All he had to do was ask but she didn’t
have time to go around that again.  

“Yeah. Anyway, you
shopping too?  Maybe I should just have you pick my stuff up for me too.”

“I’d be glad to but I’m
actually headed to the flower store next door.”

“A guy that buys flowers
huh?  You can’t be all that bad.”

“Don’t let that fool
you.   I have been known to say completely stupid stuff to people I
hardly know.”

“I bet.  Well don’t
let me keep you from your flowers.”

“Yeah.  Okay later
then.”

Kinda awkward there but
it could have been worse.  

She watched as he walked
off and then she went back to her business.  She had a small shopping list
so she figured it would be quick.  

Five minutes later,
Tessa grabbed the container of red seasoning off of the shelf and placed it in
her cart.  She looked at the list on her phone once again and put a check
mark beside the last item.  She was done shopping, so now she could head
on home and get started on tonight’s dinner with Ms. Celia.  

***

Connor stood up and
stretched.  It was hot out today and he needed a break.  He’d been up
all day fixing the leak in the roof.  It had been two days since he found out
about the leak and he didn’t want it to get a chance to do more damage than it
already had.  He’d shut down the room until he could check the floors and
other areas for more structural damage but he’d found the source of the leak so
the worst was done.  Now he just wanted a cup of cold lemonade and a roast
beef sandwich so he headed inside.  

He walked into the
kitchen and stopped in his tracks.  What he found inside was a real
surprise to him.  The last guest that he ever expected to be in his
kitchen was not only in there, but wearing a hairnet and apron.  If the
amount of flour all over it was any indication, the apron was not just for
show.  She was instructing Ms. Celia to take the biscuits out of the oven
and to place them on a cooling rack.  

As he watched, he
couldn’t help but notice how Tessa looked different to him than before.
 Maybe it was because she wasn’t wearing her designer clothes or
sunglasses.  No.  It was something different.  She looked happy.
 The first day he’d met her, she looked overstressed, overworked, and
tired.  Now she looked like Stanton Falls was finally having a relaxing
effect on her.  

“Excuse me?  What
are you smiling at?”

It took him a second to
realize that Tessa was talking to him.  

“Ehem.  Sorry.
 I . . .  nothing at all.  Just a bit surprised to see
you
in
the kitchen.”

“Okay now Connor I have
to say this.  You have made too many assumptions about me.  Some may
have been right but you know they say that even a broken clock is right at
least twice a day.  Your odds are much worse than that.”

“I have to agree.
 Well, the food smells completely delicious.  What did you make?”

“Pot roast, mashed
potatoes, corn on the cob, and extra butter biscuits.”

“Sounds delicious.
 Can I taste?”

“Not before dinnertime.”