by Beth Byers
He shook his head and looked back out into the dining room as if checking to see if they were creeping up on us to jump out.
With a low voice I said, “Her sister-in-law showed up with the ex-boyfriend.”
“Shut up,” he breathed back. He squatted down and I followed him, so we were both too low to be seen through the window.
I couldn’t help but giggle, but I kept it quiet. He laughed back, a large hand over his mouth.
I whispered, “He showed up and then insinuated Simon and I should give up our bed because he has a bad back.”
“Shut up,” Az said again, “But you didn’t know he was coming?”
“I’d have said no!” I hissed. I glanced around, but this time I was looking for Zee. She didn’t know about her sister-in-law dumping Peter Culver on me, but I knew she’d be furious. She just knew her sister-in-law irritated me. I was pretty sure that Zee had to know that Nancy didn’t like dogs when she set her up at my place. Which was a black belt level of messing with your sister-in-law, and I had to admire it even though I was a partial victim.
“And he asked you about her?”
“Oh man, Az,” I whispered. “You should have heard him. He described Carver as some second rate buffoon.”
“Carver?”
“I think they just assume that whoever Zee dates is going to be like a step up from a drunk in the gutter.”
Az frowned and we both looked towards the window into the dining room where Carmen was standing holding an order. Her lips were pressed together to hold back her laughter as she gazed down at us.
“Shut it,” Az and I said in unison and then I rose to take the order from Carmen. She and her son worked in The 2nd Chance Diner having moved here from Portland after their food truck failed. I wanted to try another in Silver Falls near the public beach. I was even working on buying a piece of property where I hoped we could put a trio of food trucks. A taco one like Carmen and Lyle used to run, a Jamaican one for Az, and I was thinking an ice cream cone, Hawaiian shave ice, and waffles. Portable waffles. Something like liege waffles, dipped in chocolate and served with a dip-able topping of choice. I’d place picnic tables outside of all of them with some sort of cover since it rained nearly year round in Silver Falls. I wanted to put one up by the actual water fall, but that was ending up to be far more complicated.
I was excited by the idea of it, but more by the idea that Az could have a business of his own. He deserved it. He really, really did. I started to pour the waffles that were ordered up. They had quickly become the new signature food of The 2nd Chance Diner because they were my favorite food. We served specialty waffles every day, and today’s was peach cheesecake. It was topped with a cream cheese topping, grilled peaches, and a brown sugar crumble.
I made the waffles while Az did the topping and another order came in followed by another. Zee’s sister-in-law arrived, and I could hear her loudly talking about the dog hair and the filthiness of pets in general let alone so many dogs in the inhumane. Her order was an egg white scramble with a vegetarian omelet and a side of fruit.
I looked at it for a long minute and then asked Zee if Nancy was really a vegetarian or just paranoid about her weight. When the answer came back about her weight, I made her coffee with full cream, her omelet with veggies cooked in extra butter and real sausage—heavy on the sausage. I added mozzarella, so you couldn’t see the flavor and plated it with an accidental side of hash browns and bacon.
Laney and Zee came into the kitchen while I was adding the mozzarella to Nancy’s omelet and Zee cackled while Laney’s eyes widened.
“She’s not very nice,” Laney said diplomatically.
“While you’re too nice,” Zee said, but she didn’t have an ounce of her usual meanness in her voice.
“Did you hear?” I asked Zee. Her blank look told me that she hadn’t.
“Nancy—I assume she bulldozes your brother?”
Zee nodded and then said, “He always was too soft.”
“Well…she brought Peter to my house and pushed him in.”
Zee’s eyes narrowed while Laney gasped.
“They are too mean about Dad and the other guys you’ve dated, Mom,” Laney said, her indignation apparent.
“They seem to see Carver as a buffoon.”
Zee cackled at that and even Laney smirked. I knew that Carver and Zee had gone to visit Laney and her family in the last month, but I hadn’t realized that Laney liked him. Her expression told me that she very much looked forward to everyone else realizing what kind of man he is.
“He’s the best match for Mom I’ve ever met,” Laney said. Her nose crinkled but unlike Zee’s it didn’t have any of the scowl in it.
“You all can stay here as long as you like,” I told Zee. We were edging quickly towards closing time. “I’ll get everything ready to go and leave you to lock up.”
Zee nodded and then said, “That’ll be best. They can have drinks and snacks, and I have a reservation that will get us out of here without too much lingering.”
“You don’t have to keep him,” Zee said. “I’ll…”
“You don’t have to do anything,” I countered. “You have enough crap happening right now, and I can deal with him. Simon is there, and this Peter dude is a real piece of work, but he’s just a worm. Not a snake.”
Zee hesitated and then I said, “Where is my mean Zee? Because I need you to find her and bring her out for this weekend, so you can get through it. And I mean it.”
“Really, Mom,” Laney agreed and even Az said, “Don’t pull back now.”
“It’s my mum,” Zee sighed. “Every single time. She gets me.”
I didn’t know anything about siblings, and I had an extraordinary Mom, but I said, “Moms are powerful creatures.”
“That’s for sure,” Laney joked and grinned at her mom. “Pull out the woman who took me by my ear senior year and walked me through the school to apologize to everyone I was rude to.”
Az and I laughed while Zee gave her daughter a wicked smirk and then said, “You are right.”
Chapter Five
The next morning the sun rose high and beautiful in the air. I’d left extra early to take the dogs to Az’s place and then made my way down to the diner. We were far busier than I was used to, but it was because we were running without the magic of Zee and her capacity to understand the needs of the diner almost intuitively.
“Rose?” Simon’s voice crackled a little in my ear, so I guessed he was winding his way down from our house on the mountainside towards the town.
I was answering with my wireless earbuds which was a terrible plan, but I was the boss after all. So a few mildly irritated customers weren’t really going to change anything for me. I refilled a cup of coffee and gave Az an order for our chocolate covered strawberry waffles and then grabbed a bin for dishes and cleared several tables.
“Yeah?” I might have sounded worried. I probably should have because Zee smirked when I tried to backtrack on the kitten. He paused, and I knew he knew where my worry came from. I sighed, and he echoed me.
“What did you do?” Now he sounded long suffering and it made me want to ruffle his hair a little bit.
“I was mad,” I said, sounding defensive. I had been thinking of adopting a kitten for a while. I’d even brought it up to Simon before, but of course…we did have seven dogs. We just also had a new cleaning service. I felt like that had to balance out the animal hair. “Nancy is horrible.”
“Cats can live for like 20 years.” His voice had very little expression. “Was this a reasonable response?”
I laughed and then tried, “Um. I love you?”
“And I you,” he said. He was calm enough that I was pretty sure he wasn’t too mad. The good news was we were both huge animal lovers. The bad news was he might not be all that excited about birds. I laughed at the thought and then decided to ask him before I did that one.
He added, “Nancy was there when Zee rang the bell on the doorstep and sped a
way with Carver. The look on her face with the kitten in a box and the sight of Zee fleeing is the only reason you’re not currently bringing this kitten to Zee’s house.”
I laughed and then said, “You already love him, faker. What do you think of naming him Cheeto?”
He laughed again this time any irritation was completely gone and he offered, “Oliver?”
As soon as he started considering names, I knew I was okay for keeping the little fellow. I grinned. I couldn’t wait to get back after the tea.
“I mean…I’m not that clever. We have a dog named Mama Dog and another named Goliath because he’s huge. He’s probably one of about three thousand Great Danes named Goliath in the U.S.”
“Very likely,” Simon said. His voice was warm in my ear, and I was suddenly so very much in love. It wasn’t that I hadn’t loved him before, but that the feeling of that love rushed me all at once.
“Simon,” I said. “Maybe after this family reunion weekend for Zee we can go see that chapel.”
“I’d like that,” he said, and I knew I was forgiven for giving into the desire for a kitten. “I’ll be by soon for breakfast. I expect Carver is coming too.”
“Lovely,” I said brightly as Zee opened the door coming into the diner in her regular clothes for once. Her regular clothes were a pretty jean skirt, sandals, and white blouse. Her eyes were tight with anger, but I assumed that was because Peter Bradford Culver was standing behind her, talking into her ear as though they were lovers.
“Gotta go,” I told Simon, “Love you.” I pulled off my headset before I got caught by Zee.
“Roxy,” I called, “Is the backroom ready for Zee’s family.”
“Oh nice,” a waiting customer said. “Have her move to the front.”
I smiled brightly and lied, “That’s what happens with reservations.”
We never used the backroom no matter how busy we were. This was special just for Zee’s family.
Peter Culver leaned closer to Zee as I approached but was startled by the door opening behind him. I just heard him say, “I’ve got my mom’s place now, Zapphirah. It needs a mistress. Think on it…”
Two rounds circles of fury colored Zee’s cheeks especially as I choked back a laugh.
Carver, however, did not. He had been the one who opened the door and after he stopped laughing he said, “If you think Zee needs or wants someone to provide her their mom’s house, you don’t know her at all.”
“Why don’t you stay out of it, you buffoon?” Peter snarled. Zee’s fury had faded while Peter’s was terrible. He was splotchy with redness and his ears were so brilliant, they were almost hot enough to set fire. He wheezed in his anger as though he were barely able to hold back some inner beast.
Which made the differences between the men all the more shocking. Carver was a large man, but not so much gone to fat as simply a man who’d once been cut with muscles and had softened into a powerful thickness. His eyes were clear, his shoulders were broad and strong, and he stood as though he could carry the world.
Peter Bradford Culver seemed almost tiny next to Carver. It wasn’t because Peter was all that small of man, but because he simply stood as though he were half-cowed. Maybe he was a little afraid of Zee? Maybe he’d simply been hen-pecked his whole life? He blustered, but it had all of the force of an angry chicken.
“You just…you just stay out of this,” Peter snarled, but with the edge of a whine. He glanced at Zee as if expecting her to rescue him, but she simply shook her head and said, “Good morning.”
“That’s it?” Nancy demanded. “That’s it? Peter’s come all this way to see you, and you’re just going to throw him aside as if that is worthy of nothing?”
“It is worthy of nothing,” Zee said back, finally finding her meanness. She snorted and added, “It’s not like the last thirty years I haven’t been clear that I have no interest in a relationship with Peter. I’ve said it. I’ve moved away. I’ve married another. I’ve…”
“But you’re divorced now,” Peter said, sniffing.
“That doesn’t have anything to do with you, Peter. Nothing that I do or am has anything to do with you.”
“Well I never,” Nancy said, holding her hand to her chest again and looking around as if expecting everyone to jump in and back her up.
“Zee couldn’t have been more clear, dear,” Zee’s brother, Talfryn said. “We don’t have any business interfering in her life.”
“Tell that to your mother,” Nancy snapped back. “I’m not all that surprised that Zee’s idiot friend or that fool she’s dating is on her side, but I would expect you to be on mine.”
“This isn’t any of our business,” he said mildly. “I think we’ve done more than enough to drive my sister away. It’s time to stop.”
“I…” Nancy’s eyes swelled with tears, and she let one roll down her cheek. I had never seen such a case of obviously engineered tears, but Talfryn seemed to fall for it.
“Oh darling,” he said, “Don’t cry. There, there.” He tried patting her back, but she turned her back on him, holding a very convenient handkerchief to her eyes, curling in on herself. If I hadn’t seen Az shaking his head in the window, I might have almost believed that she was truly hurt. Az’s expression, however, told me all I needed to know. She’d turned away to hide her real reaction.
“This way,” I said firmly. “We’re crowding my entrance.”
Nancy muttered to her husband as she followed me, “Why are we eating here again? We’re coming back for tea, too? You know that I’m not sure she gave me vegetarian sausage yesterday. I was having issues all evening.”
I grinned and mentally rubbed my hands together, cackling as I did. I shot Az a wicked grin and saw he’d caught the comment too. I wasn’t sure what she’d be ordering for breakfast, but I was sure that we’d be messing with her again.
Zee’s mother and other family arrived while I took care of refilling the coffees in the dining area, so it was Carmen who seated them. She was much, much nicer than I was, but when she came into the kitchen a moment later and said, “I don’t know how Zee stands her family,” I was shocked.
“What happened?” Az asked. He was mixing the dressing for the cucumber sandwiches we’d be serving.
“Her mom and sister—the one named Camise—started in cooing over that creeper who came to stalk Zee and totally ignored Carver. I don’t understand how they can think that the weirdo is a better catch than Carver. Or that they are trying to interfere in the love life of a grandmother.”
Az laughed and then said, “I guess parents never change. My momma would have never stopped commenting on the woman I married.”
“Well now, Az, you probably need to get married, so we can comment in her place.” Carmen’s glance was wicked and Az flinched at the idea.
“Can you imagine Zee harassing whoever Az falls for?” I breathed at the image.
“I can. And it’s hilarious. I took the orders for Zee’s family. She told them they had to choose from simple stuff. They were mostly fine with it except that one chick who’s staying with you?”
“Nancy?” I asked.
Carmen nodded and then said, “She whined about it all having gluten.”
I laughed at that and bet that it was exactly why Zee had made the selections she had.
“She also told them they’d be getting their food when they did and we weren’t taking complaints when you’d offered them breakfast for free.”
I grinned and made the regular diner means while Az started on the orders for Zee’s family. Carmen came back a second later and said, “Zee says that you are to give Nancy only the biscuits and gravy but do the spicy style. Zee said that the gravy was hamburger instead of sausage.”
“Sounds like sausage messes up Nancy’s digestive system,” I told them both. None of us were surprised that Zee was messing with Nancy. As far as I could tell the woman was irritating beyond belief. Given that she’d eaten three pieces of toast in my kitchen last night, I figure
d gluten was only an issue when she wanted to be high maintenance.
As far as I was concerned, if you were celiac, I’d do everything under the sun to help you avoid gluten. Anyone else, however, I wanted to explain to me what gluten was before they started telling me they couldn’t eat it. There was a ton of food with gluten in it that non-celiacs never realized. Just don’t order toast if you were avoiding carbs. Don’t talk to me about gluten because then I have to start wondering if you needed special soy sauce or reconsider the ingredients of my salad dressings.
Az nodded as he thought about Zee’s order. Then he flashed a nasty grin that would have done Zee proud, his eyes narrowed, and he threw two sausage patties on the grill, chopping them fine. He poured pancakes, split the biscuits for Nancy, scattered the extra sausage over it and then topped it with sausage gravy.
Nancy wasn’t just getting sausage, she was getting an overload. She shouldn’t have been mean to our Zee if Nancy wanted to be catered to.
I poured the hot sauce on Nancy’s biscuits and delivered them myself, bringing a carafe of orange juice with me. We’d delivered every order except Nancy’s, so much of the family were finished and waiting on Nancy.
“Finally,” she growled. “We’d have been better off going to a restaurant where we had to pay.”
“Yeah,” I agreed. “I’m sure you’d have had swimming luck getting someone to take all of you.”
Zee snorted but didn’t bother to react beyond that.
“If this is how you run a business,” Nancy started, but one of Zee’s sisters cut in.
“Oh Nancy, stop it.”
“This isn’t what I wanted.”
“We can make you something else,” I said, smiling politely, “But it’ll take about 20 minutes. The kitchen is backed up.”
I refilled her coffee with decaf knowing she’d had full caffeine and then asked, “Did you want to place a second order?”
Nancy scowled at me and said, “I suppose I can choke this down.”
“Just don’t choke on it,” I said brightly, hoping she did.
