by Gemma Hart
And with the small bump in business the diner was getting, this was not a good time for them to be shorthanded. She needed to be at the diner. But feeling the painful twinges radiating from her ankle, she knew there was no chance of that happening any time soon.
Kat looked around. Malcolm had put a stack of old books and magazines near the couch for her. He clearly expected her to stay on the couch all day. She wondered if he had taken into consideration at all about nature’s calls. Then Kat jerked upright, looking down to make sure there wasn’t a bucket or anything for that exact reason. She wouldn’t put it pass Malcolm.
But luckily no bucket.
So grabbing an old magazine, she flipped through till her eyelids drooped and she fell into a light doze.
She had no idea how long she had been dozing when three loud knocks interrupted her sleep.
Knock knock knock!
Kat jerked up, still sleepy and confused.
Knock knock knock!
The front door. Kat tried to wriggle free from the afghan. She had no crutches since she had promised the good doctor she’d stay off her feet till she got better.
Using tables and chairs as makeshift crutches, Kat winced as she made her slow way to the door. Opening the door, she caught Jason, hand raised, poised for another series of knocks.
He looked a little out of breath as if he had run over here. He had some lines of exhaustion around his eyes but otherwise looked much better than that night she had left him with Al.
In fact, seeing him again after a few days absence, she realized just how good he looked.
Jason seemed to be doing his own inventory of her.
He gently turned her head so he could get a better look at the swelling bruise around her temple.
He looked down at her feet where her injured foot was almost covered by her pajamas pants.
“I heard it was the right one,” he said.
Kat pushed her twisted ankle back behind her good foot. “I’m fine. I just—”
Jason stepped in and lifted her up into his arms with an easy strength that almost made her dizzy. He carried her as easily as he’d carry a sack of flour. Without any hesitation, he carried her back into the living room.
“You just thought you’d make a batch of cookies before concussing yourself,” he said. Although he gently laid her on the couch, Kat could feel the restraint in his arms that told her how much he would’ve enjoyed just dropping her to teach her a lesson.
“It was muffins, not cookies,” she corrected.
Jason gave her a mock look of offense. “Oh how could make such a dumb mistake,” he said, staring at her pointedly, clearing referring her dumb mistake of reaching for a bowl in a hazardous area.
“And I’m not concussed!” she continued, choosing to ignore his look.
Jason sighed as he sat down next to her, pulling her feet into his lap. Kat was surprised by this sudden intimate gesture.
“What are you going to do next? Have a stroke making brownies?” he said.
“Have you been talking with Malcolm?” she grumbled.
Jason carefully massaged her injured ankle, probing around the foot to detect any swelling. Kat tensed as his fingers probed. It didn’t hurt but she could feel more acutely just the damage she had done to herself.
“As a matter of fact, I have been,” Jason replied. “I was at the diner, thinking you’d be there. But your brother told me about his crazy sister who wanted to bake in the middle of the night in a half finished kitchen.”
Kat sighed, rolling her eyes. “There’s a bit of a momentum Doughy Pop’s is riding right now. I wanted to capitalize on that. I was going to bake some muffins for—”
“Who cares if Doughy Pop’s succeeds if it means you having a broken back and a knocked up head?” Jason said, quietly chastising as he began gently massaging her calf. Kat couldn’t help but sigh a little. She had unconsciously been tensing her entire leg for fear of jostling her injured ankle. She hadn’t realized how tight her muscles were until Jason’s touch.
“I’m not made of glass, you know. You don’t need to treat me so preciously,” she said, her eyes closed and her head leaning back against the couch. She moaned a little, enjoying the relaxing massage.
Jason’s hand paused. “But you are precious,” he said quietly. Kat opened her eyes and stared at him. “And I wish you’d treat yourself more preciously. Stop throwing yourself so completely into every problem.”
“I don’t throw—” she began but Jason cut her off.
“How about coming into a dangerous dive bar like Reggie’s alone? Or wanting to walk down a road on your own after your car breaks down? Or baking in the middle of the night for the sake of your restaurant?” Jason raised a brow, daring Kat to argue against him.
“You’re tougher than glass. That’s for damn sure,” he said, his lips twitching. He then wrapped a hand around her foot. His large hand nearly swallowed her entire foot in its warmth. “But that doesn’t mean you’re not precious.” He met her eyes with a steady honest gaze. “That doesn’t mean you’re not worth protecting.”
Kat stared at him.
“What about you?” she countered.
“What about me?”
“You’re certainly tougher than glass. Tougher than bricks, even.” She gave him a faint smile. “But that doesn’t mean you’re not precious. That doesn’t mean you’re not worth protecting.” She saw the faint smudges underneath his eyes that spoke of several sleepless nights. “You don’t have to fight alone.”
Kat expected Jason to give a chuckle and brush off her words saying something like, “Let’s start with protecting you first.” Or something of the like. She expected him to tease and lighten the mood so that he could deflect the attention away from him.
But she had not expected his smile.
His small but genuine smile. A smile that reached all the way to his eyes and showed open gratitude to her.
“You’re right,” he said, blowing her mind. “I find that I sleep better at night when I’ve spent the day with you. I think you have a secret skill in fighting off the bad dreams.”
Kat felt her heart skip a beat. She also slept better after having spent the day with Jason. Whether it was arguing over shelving or teasing each other through Malcolm, she felt more complete at the end of the day when her hours had been filled with his company.
“Well,” she said, her voice a little husky with emotion. She cleared her throat. “I guess we both have our hands full.”
Jason raised a brow as he carefully lifted Kat’s injured ankle. “Very,” he replied pointedly.
Kat grinned.
Suddenly a loud gurgling cut through the air. Jason’s brow nearly touched his hairline at the volume of the sound. He slowly turned his head towards Kat whose cheeks turned a faint pink.
“Hungry?” he asked sardonically.
She gave a coy smile. “I guess I could eat a little,” she said delicately before her stomach gave out another roaring gurgle that sounded like a starving lion gobbling a gazelle in the Serengeti.
Jason snorted before standing. “Well, you’re in luck. I make a pretty mean chili.”
Kat raised a brow. “I work in a diner,” she answered, arms crossed. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
Chapter Eighteen
“And how long have you worked at Doughy Pop’s?”
Kat blew air out of her lips as she smiled. “Oh gosh, I feel like I was born here!” she laughed. “I’ve been working here nearly all my life. This was my uncle’s baby and I loved knowing I was helping to take care of it.”
The blogger nodded as she eagerly tapped against the keys of her laptop. She grabbed a French fry and munched as she wrote. “I have to say,” she added in a less interview-y tone, “this is just a cute town.”
Kat beamed. “It is. It’s hard to find towns like Peytonville anymore.”
The blogger nodded and then looked up and sniffed. “What’s that smell?” she asked, her eyes wide with entic
ement.
Kat grinned. “My cinnamon almond scones. They’re almost done.” She looked at the blogger nearly drooling over her keyboard. “Would you like one?” she asked casually.
The blogger nodded eagerly.
Kat headed back towards the kitchen to check to see how close to finish the scones were.
The blogger had emailed Kat a few weeks ago about her food and Doughy Pop’s. She had been interested in coming in and interviewing Kat. Kat had welcomed the woman and had encouraged her to come in and try some of Doughy Pop’s menu.
But as soon as the woman had come into Peytonville, she had been completely charmed by the town. She had spent a whole day blogging and recording videos all about town. Kat was excited. She knew this blogger had thousands of followers online. She hoped with her endorsement Peytonville would only gain more popularity.
And it wasn’t just the blogger.
With the renovations the entire town was receiving, many members of the community began to feel hopeful for the first time in months in actually making a turnaround with the town.
Hoyt’s Market looked remarkable after its facelift and Hoyt seemed to agree. He reached out to some nearby local farms and was in the process of creating a weekend farmer’s market out on the lot of his store. He would stock his market with locally produced goods and on weekends, he would let the farmers come in themselves as vendors and sell not only their produce but also homemade products like oils and soaps.
The blogger had been thoroughly charmed by the whole idea when she had heard about it.
Mrs. Olsen who owned one of the largest homes in town had decided to make her place into a bed and breakfast. She had asked Kat for some help in setting up a website and advertising. Within a few weeks, she had already booked out the place.
It was small incremental growth but Kat could see it all snowballing into something greater.
Essentially Peytonville was doing what the big hotshot New York buyers wanted to do, which was turn the town into a getaway resort. But instead of bulldozing all the history and character for condominiums and pools, Peytonville had stayed true to itself, assured that its own charm would bring in people.
And so far, it looked like it was working.
Kat looked around her finished kitchen. It was beautiful. With additional ovens, more storage space, and new worktops, it looked like a real restaurant quality kitchen. Malcolm and Kat could now work without constantly bumping into each other.
It was amazing how well thought out the plans had been. Jason had truly outdone himself, given that he had no restaurant experience. He had clearly put a lot of thought into the plans to anticipate the needs of people working inside a small kitchen.
Kat couldn’t help but smile to herself when she thought of Jason.
It was clear now that Jason fit into her life like a foot into a shoe. And not just her life but also Malcolm’s and Dillon’s as well.
Jason always offered to drive Kat to the hospital to see Dillon. Recently when he suffered a fever spike and was feeling quite grouchy, Jason had sat with him and turned on a ballgame. He had sat in relative silence with Dillon, throwing out odd trivia or comments on the players.
Kat had sat in consternation at first. She had heard about Dillon’s grumblings and his difficulty in taking the additional medication he needed. The nurses had asked she talk to him. But Jason had given her a warning look and hushed her.
So she watched in huffy silence as Jason and Dillon watched the ball game.
But then slowly but surely, Dillon’s hunched and resentful shoulders began to relax. His face lost that angry frown and instead, Kat could see him leaning back a little on his pillows. Jason’s calm and quiet presence along with his casual commentary was clearly taking Dillon’s mind off of everything.
Dillon had been stuck in the hospital now for nearly a month. That was a long time for someone used to being an outpatient. It was no wonder he was feeling frustrated and angry.
Jason, immediately sensing that no amount of words or lecturing would work, had sat down and soothed Dillon’s temper by distracting him.
Later when the nurse came to give him his medicine for the day, Dillon took it calmly with no grousing. The nurse’s eyes widened in surprise and then she smiled, patting Dillon encouragingly.
As she was leaving, the nurse gave Kat a covert thumbs up, applauding her success in however she had managed to subdue her rowdy younger brother.
But Kat could only give a faint smile, unable to explain to the nurse that she had had nothing to do with it. Jason had been the one to instinctively know what to do. The man, who was so awkward in a hospital it would make any doctor nervous, had sat down and immediately plunged Dillon into a world of ball, athletes, and batting averages.
And his skills in handling her brothers hadn’t just improved with Dillon.
Jason was now completely at ease with Malcolm as well. Although Malcolm had become quite the fan of Jason now, that didn’t mean he shared every single attitude Jason had. Namely, Malcolm didn’t think Kat was safe from any kind of arguing just because Jason seemed to worship her.
For example, a few days ago Malcolm and Kat had been arguing through the order window. Malcolm, behind the grill, pointed the greasy spatula through the window at Kat.
“I told you not to order in such small quantities,” Malcolm argued. “It’s way too expensive!”
Kat plunked her hands on her hips. “Malcolm,” she started like a mother explaining a simple math problem to her child. It never failed to raise Malcolm’s hackles and she could see it working now as well. “I don’t know if the flours will work with every recipe. It’s wasteful to buy bulk in what might be a one shot deal.”
“But you bought basically twenty different flours at literally just grams!” Malcolm cried out. “And all from specialty stores that charge an arm and a leg!”
“Those flours are only made in specialty stores!” Kat argued back. “That’s why the flours are considered special.”
“How many cookies are you gonna be able to make from that handful of sunflower seed flour that you ordered?” Malcolm threw back. “I know one thing—it won’t be enough to cover the cost of the ‘special’ flour.”
“And since when have you become such a bookkeeping fanatic, huh?” Kat replied, her face getting redder at the accusations towards her baking. “Mister I Need This Japanese Spatula Shipped In Express Because Pancakes Can’t Be Flipped With Anything Else?”
Malcolm’s cheeks turned a bright red. “Oh so now we’re gonna talk about waste, huh? Well, why don’t we just see who spends the most on equipment here! Because last I checked—”
“Alright, kids,” Jason interrupted, stepping in. “I think that’s enough playtime for the two of you.”
“I’m just trying to run a business here!” Malcolm said huffily.
Kat’s eyes widened. “Oh really? And just what am I doing all day in that kitchen? Playing hopscotch?”
Jason tried to placate them once more before realizing the siblings had sunk their teeth into the argument and had no interest in stopping. So he stopped the argument his own way.
Jason bodily picked up Kat and simply carried her to the other side of the diner. Kat had protested and tried calling back arguments towards Malcolm but Jason kept her separated until she cooled down. He set her against a wall, pinning her by leaning one arm above her head.
She had no idea when Jason become so apart of her family but now it felt like he had always been around. The sibling arguments seemed to unfaze him and he had no problems in stepping in.
“I have the final plans for the remodeling of the dining interior,” Jason said, capturing Kat’s attention to distract her from Malcolm’s slaphappy grilling.
Kat threw a glare in the direction of the order window before looking up. “What?” she asked, before realization lit up her eyes. “Oh really?”
That was the part Kat had most been looking forward to. They were going to refloor the dining area and re
upholster the booths. The walls were going to get new paneling and the light fixtures would be replaced.
Kat wanted to keep the old school charm with the classic Formica tables and shiny metal stools but she wanted to give the place a clean lift to make it look a little brighter and more open.
“Do you want to look it over tonight before we start work?” Jason asked, leaning over her.
Kat grinned, excited. “How about you come back when we close? I want to do a walkthrough here with the plans.”
Jason smiled back. “Sounds like a date.”
