What she’d done was make five different kinds of quiche, a tray of golden brown yeast rolls, four bread pans worth of prepped meatloaf, and three large casserole dishes of lasagna. It was enough to keep the café’s patrons fed all day!
“Now look here,” she said. “This here’s a meat lasagna, a vegetarian lasagna, and a low-carb lasagna. It’s got zucchini slices instead of pasta. And this tray of rolls is cooked up, but I’ve got three more trays ready to put in the oven. They’ll cook up fast. And the meatloaf is good to go whenever you decide to use them. Fix ‘em tonight, fix ‘em tomorrow night. Don’t matter.”
I gave her another hug and fought against tearing up. But it wasn’t any use. Running the café without Brenda had been so difficult. I knew she couldn’t stay, and I would miss her terribly when she left again.
“I’ve got to go let Jonathan in,” I said, swiping under my eyes to brush away the not-yet fallen tears.
“Don’t you worry about him,” Brenda said. “Jack’s learnin’ him how to make those fancy pancakes of his out on the griddle.”
“Jack? But it’s… it’s barely six AM!”
“Well when else is a busy businessman like him gonna give cooking lessons?” Brenda said with a heartwarming smile and a wink. “And it’s not just Jack. They’re all out there.”
“All of them?”
“Yep, Joel called me last night and asked if I could come in and let everyone in before you got up. Come on. They’ve got a surprise for you.”
She took me by the hand to lead me out of the kitchen, and I was honestly shaking. I couldn’t imagine what was up. I’d never in my life had people be so good to me. Then I walked through the door and into the grill section, and dumbfound it all, I burst into tears right then and there.
Just like Brenda had said, they were all there—Jack, Agatha, Jonathan, Brad, Joel and a very, very sleepy Zoey. But that’s not what had made me burst into tears. What had done that was the huge canvas sign declaring this “The Berry Home.” It was the name I’d chosen for the café, to make it my own. But I hadn’t had the time or the money to cover the fees of legally changing the name, let alone change the café’s sign. I knew that this banner was none of those things, not really, but the gesture filled me with more love than I knew what to do with.
Joel stepped forward. He had a thin stack of papers in his hands. “This is all that you need to make the name change of your café official. I’ve filled out all the paperwork except for a few tidbits that we can sit down and finish together, and I’m covering all the fees.”
“What? No…”
Joel laughed. “Yes,” he said, then grew somber. “I was in trouble and you came through for me. The cops thought I’d killed Morgan, and you risked everything proving otherwise. Let me do this for you. I’ll even hang the banner outside.”
I took a breath. I started to say no again, but then my head nodded yes and I reached up to hug his neck. It was important to know when to accept a person’s generosity… and this was definitely one of those moments.
When the hug ended and he pulled away, Joel turned his sights on Zoey—even though she was sitting with her head on the counter and her eyes closed. Her outfit was… it was pajamas! Dark blue flannel with Snoopy and hearts on all of them. She wasn’t even wearing any makeup.
I hid my chuckle behind my hand. This was Joel’s show, and it was clear that he wasn’t done yet. He pulled a rectangular box out of the back pocket of his jeans, put it on the counter, and did a slow slide to in front of Zoey.
Zoey opened one eye. “What’s this?” she mumbled.
“It’s for you,” Joel said. “It’s a thank you. I know that you went through everything that Kylie went through, and I just want you to know how much that means to me.”
Groaning, as if from the effort of having to move, Zoey flipped the hinged top of the box open. “They’re glasses.” She flipped the lid closed and laid her head back down on top of her hands. “I don’t wear glasses.”
Joel leaned forward and whispered loud enough for us all to hear. “They’re smart glasses.”
Zoey opened an eye. “They’re what?”
“They’re smart glasses. You can see computerized readouts on the lenses.”
Zoey opened up her other eye and lifted her head. She opened the box again, and a slow smile grew on her unpainted lips. “I can work with that.”
“Sit. Eat,” Jack ordered. He put a plate of stacked walnut and blueberry pancakes in front of me. It was dripping with maple syrup that smelled of rum and butter. I had to swallow to keep from drooling.
Jack’s smile was dazzling against his dark complexion. “Jonathan made that for you himself. He’s a good student, and it feels good to pass on the secrets to a perfect pancake.”
Jonathan brandished a slender steel spatula in the air and then twirled it in his fingers. His beard was as scraggly as ever, his face was just as aged, but his smile was like that of a kid’s.
“Thank you, Jack,” I whispered. I was so overcome with emotion that it was the best I could do.
I walked around to the front of the grill’s bar and sat down in front of the stack of pancakes, right next to Agatha. I was about to dig in when I heard the tinkle of Agatha’s many bracelets. Then I felt her slip a knitted afghan on my lap. It was made of dark, bright, and pale greens interspersed with splashes of sunshine yellow.
“Agatha…”
“That’s for you, sweetheart. I’ve already given Zoey her gift. I’ve had them in the works for a while, and this seemed like the perfect time to give them to you both.”
I leaned back so that I could see Zoey, and Zoey turned on her seat, stuck out a leg and pulled up the pants leg of her Snoopy pajamas. Underneath she was wearing hand-knitted black lace stockings.
They. Were. Stunning!
“They’re thigh highs,” Zoey said, smiling like a Cheshire cat.
I pulled my afghan up close to my chest. It was unbelievably soft and beautiful. “Why, Agatha?” I had to ask even though there was no way she was getting the thing back. She’d have to pry it out of my cold, dead hands. I loved it!
Agatha looked at me with her dark, aged and wizened eyes. “You take care of us, and I believe it’s good to take care of the people who take care of you.”
I wondered if she would adopt me, and I mentally dubbed her my brand new godmother. I’d fill her in on her new title when the time was right. It didn’t matter whether or not she felt the same way. It was only important that that’s who she was to me.
Brad slid onto the seat on the other side of me and said, “I don’t know… I kind of wish ol’ Aggie here had knitted you up some of those fancy stockings like she did Zoey.” He took the fork out of my hand and slid my as-of-yet untouched plate of pancakes over in front of him. He cut off a big bite and had it stuck in his mouth before I could even do more than squeak in complaint.
Brad smiled after he’d swallowed. “Snooze you lose, Berry. You outta know that by now.”
I was trying to decide whether or not to wrestle the plate and fork away from him or strangle him instead when Jonathan slid another plate of pancakes in front of me. This one had whip cream mounded on top with little nuts sprinkled, just like a sundae, and I felt instantly placated and happy.
I shot Brad a dirty look as I picked up my new fork and dug in, but any animosity I felt melted away as soon as the scrumptious pancakes reached my mouth. “Mmmmm.” I closed my eyes and chewed.
Something cold and metallic clicked into place around my wrist. I opened my eyes with a fright, more than half expecting to see my wrists in handcuffs yet again. Instead what I saw was a lovely, slender white-and-gold bracelet with a flat, turquoise stone at its center.
I looked, stunned, at Brad. He gave a nonchalant shrug.
“It’s a lo-jack,” he said. “It’s got a chip in it behind the stone. You go missing, all I gotta do is find that stone.”
I thought about Owen’s plans to sell our organs on the black market. We wo
uld have been kept alive until the optimal time to cut all our necessary parts out. If Derek hadn’t crawled his way up that hill to foil Owen’s plans of kidnapping us, Brad’s gift might have been our only other hope.
I was floored by Brad’s gift, by how perfect it was… and how much he must care to have thought of it.
I guessed my expression gave my thoughts away, because Brad’s smile quirked up in a lopsided grin and he shrugged. “Just doin’ me since I can’t stop you from you doin’ you.” He put an arm over my shoulders and kissed my temple, and I found myself wishing he’d kissed me somewhere else.
Then he returned his attention to his food, and said more to it than to me, “At least maybe now I’ll be able to get some sleep.” He had another big bite of pancakes in his mouth before I could ask him to elaborate.
I traced the tip of my finger around the stone’s edge. Being a police officer, Brad saw a lot more of the realities of life than most of us. A lot more of its harshness. That he had trouble sleeping because of thoughts of what might happen to me made me want to hug him and hold him tight.
I looked around me. These people were my new family as much as The Berry Home café was my new home.
I had never been more blessed in my life.
“Cheers to all of you!” I said, holding up a big wedge of pancake and got a chorus of hear-hear in return. “I’m going to make a dinner, just for all of us. Something special!”
Groans followed.
“Hey! Come on! I’m getting better!” I exclaimed.
Everyone laughed, but I didn’t care. I’d cook. They’d eat. And we would have ourselves a great big family-style meal.
Together… The moments that mattered.
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A Berry Cunning Conman_A Laugh-Out-Loud Cozy Mystery Page 19
