Recipe for Love

by Aurora Rey

  “Oh, it’s not as bad as all that. We’re all still on speaking terms and I’m at the house at least a couple times a month for family dinner.”

  Baker’s gaze remained kind. “Still. Good for you for blazing your own path.”

  “Thanks.” Hannah rolled her eyes. “Now, let’s talk about something more fun. Like what Drew was like in high school.”

  Baker laughed in a way that told Hannah there was no shortage of stories. “Where do I even begin?”

  * * *

  Drew emerged from the kitchen and glanced toward the bar. Baker was still there, but she appeared to be deep in conversation with the woman next to her. It only took a second to register the woman was Hannah. Hannah was laughing and had her hand on Baker’s leg. Drew’s instant delight at seeing her clashed with something else, something not at all pleasant.

  Knowing the stab of jealousy was irrational did little to squelch it. Drew considered returning to the kitchen until she could pull it together, but Baker looked up and their eyes met. Drew growled under her breath. She was stuck now.

  She headed to the bar. Hannah turned. She wouldn’t say Baker vanished, but it was like she faded into the background. Hannah’s eyes fixed on hers and Drew felt like the only person in the room. It probably wasn’t good that Hannah had such an effect on her, or that she liked it so much, but she didn’t care. Hannah’s gaze—happy, easy, intimate—was all that mattered. She couldn’t help but smile. “Hey. I didn’t think I’d see you again.”

  Hannah shrugged. “You did promise free dinner.”

  Baker tutted. “And here I thought she showed up for the company.”

  Hannah glanced at Baker, offered a wink. “That, too.”

  “Likely story.”

  The banter was more friendly than flirtatious, but it didn’t help the weird jealous vibe coursing through her. “So, did Carlton give you menus? Do you know what you want?”

  Baker snagged the menu card from the bar. “I want the chicken with sundried tomatoes and goat cheese. And the summer squash with pecans to start.”

  “Excellent choices.” Drew looked at Hannah. “And for you?”

  Hannah didn’t look to the menu. In fact, she didn’t break eye contact at all. She bit her bottom lip just long enough to make Drew’s insides churn. “Surprise me.”

  It didn’t matter that she was talking about dinner or that Baker was right there. It didn’t matter that they were in the middle of the crowded restaurant or that order tickets were popping out of the printer at full speed. In that moment, Drew wanted nothing more than to push Hannah up against the bar and fill her hands with Hannah’s hair and put her mouth—

  “Drew?” Hannah asked.

  She blinked. Even with Hannah pulling her back, it took a minute for the intensity of her reaction to subside. When her vision cleared, both Hannah and Baker were staring at her—Baker with a look of amusement and Hannah with one that bordered on smug. She focused on Hannah. “My pleasure.”

  As much as she hated to leave them, she needed to get back to work. Drew returned to the kitchen and put in the order for Baker’s first course. For Hannah, she settled on the eggplant puree with roasted peppers. She carried the plates out herself but did a loop of the dining room instead of lingering. Between the two of them, it would be too easy to lose track of time and leave the kitchen scrambling.

  She checked the tickets, jumped in on the sauté station to help Poppy get a half dozen plates of fish out at once, then turned her attention to making Hannah and Baker’s entrées. She settled on the lamb for Hannah, thinking she’d like the toasted orzo laced with lemon and mint she’d created to pair with it.

  When she returned to the dining room, Baker and Hannah had their heads together, like they were sharing secrets. She was torn between wanting to know what they were discussing, since it likely had to do with her, and not. Not was probably better. On her way back to the kitchen, Baker gave her a knowing smile but didn’t tease her about anything—unusual to say the least. And when things slowed down enough for her to join them while they devoured a pair of lavender honey crème brûlées, conversation had lulled into the kind of quiet comfort that came from being friends.

  Hannah kissed Drew’s cheek and thanked her for dinner, then headed home. Baker decided to linger at the now-empty bar with her computer and get some work done. Drew returned to the kitchen to finish service, only to find Poppy trying to mediate a screaming match between two of the prep cooks over the whereabouts of several bunches of basil.

  “Have you two lost your mind?” Drew stepped between them and sullen silence ensued. “I can hear you in the dining room.” That part wasn’t true, but it would help shame them into acting like grownups.

  “Sorry, Chef,” they both mumbled.

  “Back to work. Now.”

  The entire kitchen staff, who’d paused whatever task they were doing to watch the fray, launched into a flurry of movement and attention directed anywhere but at her. Drew rolled her eyes and shook her head. She’d not had any drama in weeks, so it was overdue, but that didn’t make her any more tolerant of it. Satisfied things were back on track, she pulled Poppy aside. “Was that really about basil?”

  Poppy chuckled. “Word on the street is they hooked up last weekend, but now Carrie isn’t returning Kyle’s texts.”

  “Seriously?” It was easier to date other people in the restaurant business, if for no other reason than scheduling. But Drew had learned very early in her career to steer clear of anyone who worked in the same kitchen. Too much potential for things to head south, and the prospect of working in such close quarters with an ex of any kind was, well, never a good thing.

  “It’s handled. Don’t worry about it.”

  Her instinct was to wade in anyway. She had absolutely no patience for petty bickering, especially if it threatened to derail the flow that kept service running smoothly. But she trusted Poppy and wanted the rest of the staff to see her as a leader. It was good for business and would also make it a hell of a lot easier for her to take a day off every now and then. “All right. If you say it’s handled, it’s handled.”

  She focused her attention on the handful of tickets that came in during the scene, getting the plates done and out the door. The last couple hours of her shift dragged by. It was the first time since opening she’d had that feeling, and she didn’t like it. By the time she and Baker were in the car back to her place, Drew had a gross mix of exhaustion and crankiness simmering.

  “So, you and Hannah looked pretty chummy tonight.”

  Baker shifted, angling her body toward Drew. “She’s really great. And not that she wasn’t cute in her farmer clothes, but, damn, she cleans up fine.”

  The stab of jealousy from earlier in the evening returned, multiplied by about ten. Drew bit back a snarky comeback. “What did you two talk about, anyway?”

  “Everything, really. The farm, my job, books, movies, family. I guess I expected her to be, I don’t know, kind of country. But she’s smart and sophisticated. I totally get why you have the hots for her.”

  Drew scowled, her irritation bubbling over. “Don’t you have a girlfriend?”

  “Dude.” Baker looked at her like she’d grown a pair of horns. “I’m not moving in on her. She’s your girlfriend. And as I made clear, I’m pretty much in love with Lucy.”

  “Sorry.” It came out more accusation than apology.

  “Don’t apologize, just tell me why you’re so pissed.” Before Drew could formulate an answer, Baker leaned over and smacked her arm. “Oh, my God. You’re jealous.”

  “I’m not jealous.” That’s exactly what she was, she just didn’t want to admit it. Or why.

  “You are. That means you’ve gotten all weird and possessive or you’re way more gone over her than you’ve let on. Please tell me it’s the latter.”

  Drew didn’t answer. It was definitely the latter. She’d been dancing around that reality, content to let it hover around the edges of her consciousness. Now, with s
omeone who knew her better than almost anyone, she could no longer do that. “Yeah.”

  Baker studied her, seeming more satisfied than surprised. “Good for you.”

  They pulled into the driveway and Drew cut the engine. “Is it, though?”

  “I don’t see why not. Hannah’s awesome.”

  Drew drummed her fingers on the steering wheel. “She is. She’s also really rooted here. I’m not.”

  “I feel you.” Baker sighed. “But maybe don’t borrow trouble. You’re here for at least a year or two, right? Anything could happen, good or bad.”

  “Is that supposed to make me feel better?” Because it didn’t.

  “It’s just the truth, dude. I’m saying you shouldn’t fight it based on what might play out in the distant future. She could get sick of your ass by then.”

  It was the kind of advice Drew would give. As much as she knew what she wanted in life, she also believed in living in the moment, especially when it came to relationships. “Maybe you’re right.”

  “I usually am.” Baker tipped her head toward the house. “Now let’s go in. It’s way past my bedtime.”

  Drew wished Baker a good night and went to take a shower. She did a quick towel dry and pulled on a pair of loose cotton boxers. Alone in the quiet, she gave herself a minute to mull over her feelings for Hannah. Being invested in a relationship didn’t make a whole lot of sense right now, for her career or otherwise. But maybe Baker was right. She really liked spending time with Hannah and it seemed to be mutual. Maybe, for the moment, that’s all that mattered.

  Chapter Twenty

  Hannah worked her way down the row, filling a crate with bell peppers. Baker had left for the city less than a week ago and now Drew’s family was coming up for a visit. And she found herself with yet another invitation to dinner. It shouldn’t have mattered to her one way or the other, but it weighed on her, almost like dealing with her own family.

  “Dealing with” probably wasn’t the right phrase, or a fair one. She had no reason to be nervous about meeting them. It wasn’t like they were coming to meet the girlfriend. But something in Drew’s demeanor the last couple of days gave Hannah that impression. What was she supposed to do with that? Nothing. She wasn’t supposed to do anything. Even if she’d started to think about Drew as more than a casual thing, they’d not talked about it. And she had a hard time imagining Drew talking about her the way Baker talked about her girlfriend, or the way Jenn had taken to talking about Suri.

  Daisy loped across the field from the orchard and settled herself in the dirt between the rows. “It’s a hot one, isn’t it? Don’t worry. We’ll get rain before the day is done.”

  They were supposed to get torrential rain, the edge of a slow-moving front forecast to soak the region for several days. She was grateful for the rain but worried about the intensity of the storm. She hustled through picking peppers so she could get started on peaches before the worst of it blew in. She pulled her cart to the barn and did a quick check on Clare. Jeremiah had Guy out harvesting tomatoes, so she left the wagon for them and grabbed a stack of bushel baskets. She took them out to her truck and started up the dirt road to the orchard.

  Hannah found a few people picking. Seeing people on her land, appreciating the fruits of her labor, never failed to make her heart swell. She pulled around to the far end of the rows and got to work. The u-pick crowd had been big over the weekend, so there were few fully ripe peaches to be had. She focused on those that were close, the ones that would be likely to fall with high winds. They could finish ripening off the tree and keep the farm stand stocked if it was too soggy for folks to want to pick themselves.

  She moved one of the tripod ladders around, snagging big beautiful fruit just starting to blush. She’d filled close to a dozen baskets when the wind really started to pick up. Dark clouds gathered from the west. She picked up her pace. There was the financial implication of losing part of a crop to weather, but she had an emotional reaction that went beyond the money. Seeing fruit bruised and ruined on the ground broke her heart.

  The rumbles of thunder started, paired with flashes of lighting in the distance. The last of the u-pickers called it a day, leaving Hannah alone among the trees. She refocused her efforts closer to the ground, knowing better than to take chances on becoming a human lightning rod.

  As so often happened with summer storms, the sky opened up all at once. She went from perfectly dry to completely soaked in about ten seconds. The rain was the hard, pelting kind, but it cooled her skin and made her feel alive. She filled her final basket, climbed into her truck, and headed back to the barn. She pulled around back and started unloading.

  “Are you out of your mind?”

  The sharpness of Drew’s voice startled her and she almost dropped a whole basket of peaches. She tightened her grip on the handles and turned. “What are you talking about?”

  “You were out in this? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

  Nothing in Drew’s tone indicated she was joking, but Hannah couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped. “Don’t worry, I’ve been at this awhile. I know what I’m doing.”

  Drew’s brooding expression didn’t change. “I saw a tree get hit by lightning on my way over here.”

  “And as soon as the lightning got close, I headed in.” Was Drew really going to scold her like she was some willful child?

  “But you’re soaked, which means you were out in it. I don’t see why you’d take that risk. To save a few peaches?”

  Normally, she’d find that kind of comment condescending, leading her to fight back or shut down entirely. But something in Drew’s tone held her in check. She seemed genuinely worried. Hannah set down the basket, then went over to her. “Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay. I was just getting into my truck when the rain started.”

  Drew closed her eyes. “I’m sorry. I’m being an ass.”

  “Not an ass.” Hannah gave her arm a squeeze. “Overprotective maybe, but not an ass.”

  “Okay, sure. Still, I’m sorry.”

  Hannah narrowed her eyes. “Are you okay? Is something else bothering you?”

  “Totally fine.”

  Hannah didn’t believe her for a second. But it wasn’t really her place to pry and she didn’t know what she’d do with the answer even if Drew did open up. “If you say so.”

  “I do.” Drew nodded and offered a smile, the kind of gesture that said they were done discussing it.

  “So, what brings you by? Did you run out of tomatoes?” She made sure her tone was playful. She didn’t want Drew to think she was picking a fight on top of it.

  “I’m having my mom and grandmother come to the restaurant for dinner Saturday and I wanted to see if you wanted to join them.”

  She’d already agreed to dinner at Drew’s place Monday. Sharing a meal with just the two of them and Drew stopping by the table from time to time did not sound like a good time. She was relieved she already had plans. “It’s my dad’s birthday. I’m already locked into dinner with the fam.”

  “Ah. No worries, then.” Drew didn’t sound disappointed or relieved.

  “But we’re still on for Monday, right?”

  “Absolutely. It’ll be great. I thought they’d enjoy company at the restaurant and I know how you feel about free dinner.”

  Drew’s teasing dispelled any awkwardness over her declining the invitation. “This is true.”

  “I might still bring them by the farm. My Grann in particular said she wanted to see it.”

  Hannah smiled. “I like her already.”

  “I’ll get out of your hair. I’m sure you have plenty to do.” Drew started to leave, but stopped. She turned back to Hannah. “Sorry I flipped out earlier. It’s not my style.”

  “It’s all good, city mouse.”

  That got her a laugh. Drew offered a wave and then she was gone. Hannah resumed spreading the peaches out so they could dry. Jeremiah came in to help. He’d been caught in the rain as well and was soaked. They finished
the chore and Hannah sent him home early. They’d have to do some work in the rain, but she’d meant what she said to Drew. She didn’t take chances when it came to lightning.

  * * *

  Just as she had the day Baker arrived, Drew drove into town and over to the Cornell campus. She had the same excitement, tinged with nerves. The source of the nerves, though, felt different. Drew wasn’t worried about her family having a good time, or even meeting Hannah. No, this time Drew worried they would see just how much she’d settled into her life upstate. She wasn’t ready for the questions that revelation might stir up. And she certainly didn’t have any answers.

  She tried to put it out of her mind while she waited for the bus. Manman and Grann would pick up even a hint of stress or weirdness in her.

  When the bus pulled in, she got out of her car. The downpour had slowed to a drizzle at least. She stood, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. People began to disembark—college students and professor types and older couples. Like at the airport, a few people had loved ones waiting for them. Some shared hugs and smiles, others an enthusiastic kiss.

  Grann appeared first. She held a newspaper over her head with one hand, grasped her cane in the other. Despite the cane, she looked as formidable as ever. Drew waved. “Grann.”

  She turned toward Drew, nodded her recognition. By then, Manman was right behind her. Drew hurried over and took turns hugging them. She lingered for a moment in her mother’s embrace, absorbing the smell of orange blossom and clove. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “About damn time you invited us,” Grann said. “We were contemplating showing up on your doorstep unannounced.”

  “She exaggerates.” Manman patted Drew’s cheek. “But we were glad to get an invitation.”

  Drew lifted a shoulder, feeling like she was ten and had been caught hiding something. “It’s not that I didn’t want you to come.”

  Grann swung her cane with surprising dexterity, bumping Drew on the behind. “We know, child. We know.”