by Geonn Cannon
Robin looked at the plate and then followed the white sleeve up to Molly’s face. “Oh! I’m going to start expecting this kind of service every time I come here.”
“Are you staying on the island?” Molly asked. She again gestured at the empty seat as Robin tried a piece of halibut. She knew she probably could have sat down without permission, but she still didn’t feel comfortable enough with Robin to make such a presumption.
“Mm, please,” she said, indicating she could sit. “And no, I’m leaving right after this meal, in fact.”
Molly sat and said, “I’m actually sorry to hear that.”
Robin smiled and pushed her rice around with the tip of her fork. “You were looking to get rid of me?”
“Yeah, actually, I was. Most of the time you were here, anyway,” Molly admitted. “But after last night, it feels...”
“Like we finally met each other, and now we immediately have to go our separate ways.”
Molly nodded. She looked at the plate as Robin squeezed a lemon slice over the fish. “How is it?”
“It’s very, very good.” She dabbed her lips with a napkin and smiled. “So, who should I compliment on this?”
“Me,” Molly laughed. “Our expediter told me it was you, so I went ahead and cooked it for you. I figured I might as well cook one meal for the woman who meant so much to my sister.”
Robin’s smile turned sad, and she looked down at her food. “It was one week ago today.”
Molly looked at her in surprise. “It was, wasn’t it?”
Robin nodded. One whole week since April had died and thrown everyone’s world off its axis. Seven days. How could that be? Molly flicked at something on the tablecloth with her fingernail and said, “She was lucky to have you in her life, you know.”
“I was the lucky one,” Robin whispered. She hesitated and then added, “I’m really glad I met you, Molly. I mean, that I got to meet the real you.”
“Me, too,” Molly whispered. She turned and looked out at the water. “It still feels so strange. I miss her so much.”
“I guess no one can ever know what it feels like. Not unless they’re a twin.”
Molly looked at Robin and searched her eyes. They were deep, deep brown, but the sunlight and water reflecting off the window made them look almost chocolate. “I think you have a pretty good idea. You lived with her, you loved her. Twins and live-in lovers or spouses. You have a connection to her just as strong as mine.”
“Even though you two had your problems, I know she still cared for you. She still loved you. It’s part of why I wanted to meet you so badly. I could tell you were such a big part of April’s life even when she refused to talk about you. I wanted to see who could have that kind of pull on her to see if...well...I guess...”
“To see if you’d ever had even a hope of exerting the same pull on her?”
Robin nodded.
Molly leaned back in her chair and said, “Where were you last Christmas?”
The question was so out of left field that it took Robin a minute to realize what Molly was asking. “Um, San Diego. There was a class trip, and I was elected to be the chaperone.”
“And April didn’t go.”
Robin shook her head. “No. We figured it would look too suspicious if both of us went. Plus there was the fear we wouldn’t be able to cover for ourselves the entire time, the fear one of us would slip up.” She looked down at her plate, lowering her eyes out of shame. “It was mainly me. I’ll admit it. April was willing, but I told her it would be better this way. She agreed without a fight. She told me she’d have a good time by herself, she’d read or–”
“She didn’t. She flew out here and moped around my house for two days. I tried to ask her what was wrong, but she wouldn’t say. She came out of the funk for a little while on Christmas morning when we were opening presents–”
“I called to say Merry Christmas,” Robin whispered. She looked up and met Molly’s eyes.
“-- but she never told me why she was there or what was wrong. I just figured she’d come out of some familial obligation to me. In fact, I was kind of pissed off she would make the effort and then act like she was doing me a favor by being here. But she missed you. She was falling apart without you. She knew it would look bizarre if she showed up in San Diego, so she came to me. The only other person she felt that bond with. And I wasn’t enough.”
“You don’t have the same bond April and I did,” Molly concluded. “Yours was stronger.”
Robin bowed her head again, this time to hide the tears streaming down her cheeks. Molly stood and went around to Robin’s side of the table. She kissed the top of Robin’s head, rubbed her back, and slipped a napkin into her hand. “Come back soon. Okay?”
Robin nodded, obviously not trusting her voice. Molly slipped away from the table and went back into the kitchen.
##
On the ferry back to the mainland, Robin left her car on the lower level and climbed the stairs to the lounge-like passenger level. She took a seat on one of the long wooden benches at the back of the ship. She crossed her legs in front of her, making a diamond shape with her knees. There was a loud bellow of the ferry horn that meant the ferry was done loading and would be leaving shortly. She pulled her wallet out of her pocket and flipped it open, taking out the plastic accordion that held her photos.
She unfolded the pictures across her lap and ran her fingers along the faces and memories. Here was one of her with April the Christmas before the San Diego trip; one of her sitting next to April on a Snoopy towel at the beach. She stopped on a picture she had taken of April at a carnival. April’s head was tilted slightly to her left, her lips pursed in a “put-that-camera-down” expression. She was bundled up, a stocking cap pushed low on her forehead, and a scarf was blowing in the wind behind her head.
“I’ll miss you,” Robin said.
The ferry finally pulled away from the dock, and wind surged through the open doors at either side of the observation deck. The cross-breeze moved swiftly behind the bench, lifting the short hairs at the back of her neck and caressing the warm skin there.
Robin shivered and straightened her back, turning to look around. She knew it was just a breeze, knew it had just been the wind playing with her hair, but for half a second she could have sworn she’d felt fingers on her skin.
“April?” she whispered.
“Bye, baby.”
Robin scanned the empty observation deck and softly said, “Bye, April. I love you.” She turned back to face the window, chewed on her thumbnail and smiled.
Chapter Sixteen
Late Wednesday afternoon, after the flow of customers had slowed, Molly left Shane in charge of the kitchen and knocked on Clifton’s door. “You needed to see me?”
He glanced up from his phone and waved her in. “Yeah. Okay, that will be fine. Thank you very much.” He hung up and straightened his tie. “Sorry to pull you away. Shut the door, please?”
“Sure,” Molly said. Her voice was hesitant because Clifton had that look on his face. That “something’s not going right and I need to figure out a fix now” look. She wasn’t well acquainted with it, but she knew it didn’t go well with closed-door meetings. “Is something wrong?” she asked as she took the seat across from him. She took off her toque and laid it on her lap.
He sighed and folded his hands together on top of the desk. “Sort of. A couple of people have been to the hospital the past couple of days. The doctors determined it was a case of food poisoning, so the police did a little searching and found the one thing they all have in common.” He poked one knuckle against the desktop, making a hollow knocking sound.
“Here?” Molly said. Her ire was rising. “They ate here and got sick? Clifton, you know that if they’re saying we had anything to do with–”
“Calm down,” he said. He held up both hands and waved her back into the seat. “Sheriff Rucker didn’t think it was too likely, either. He eats here from time to time himself, and he
’d know if we cut corners or put customers at risk. He looked into it himself and found out everyone who was hospitalized ordered the same thing: rainbow trout. He got in touch with me, I called our distributor and turns out there have been food poisoning cases in from Vancouver to Portland, Oregon. We’re not to blame. It started at the source, and we were just another victim caught in the crossfire.”
Molly relaxed slightly. “Okay. So it’s not the worst thing that’s ever happened.”
“No. But there is some bad news to go with your relief. The state health department got called in about this. Since it crosses the border into Canada and Oregon, it’s kind of a huge deal. So, they’re going to take the opportunity to go over the “afflicted restaurants” with a fine-toothed comb to assure everyone that the restaurants are indeed up to code. We’re going to have to shut down for a day or two.”
Molly groaned and sagged against the back of her seat. “When?”
“They wanted Saturday, but I talked them out of it. Our busiest day, and we’re shut down?” He scoffed and said, “The only other option was tomorrow. So it’s a little short notice, but...”
“Better a Thursday than a weekend.”
“Right. And even if the food poisoning came from the source and not from us, it’ll make the customers feel better to know the health department has covered all the bases.”
“Okay. Should I be here so they can check me out?”
“No, they didn’t mention anything about you,” Clifton said. “They probably want you as far away as possible; they know how chefs can get about their kitchen. You’d probably just get in their hair and take up space.”
Molly smirked. “Well, looks like I’m getting a day off. Just make sure they don’t touch my knives, okay?”
“Will do.” He frowned and said, “How long has it been since you had a real day off, anyway? Not talking about recently, with your sister and everything...how long has it been?”
“I don’t know...”
He waved her off. “You’re definitely out. Enjoy tomorrow. I’ll let you break the news to Shane.”
Molly blinked. She hadn’t realized it, but Gail’s being shut down meant she and Shane would be off, free for an entire day, at the same time. She stood and put her hat back on, trying to keep her movements casual. “Is that all?”
“Yep,” he said. He looked up suddenly and said, “Hey, uh...I don’t have anything to worry about, health-code wise...?”
“You’re fine,” Molly said. “This head’s-up will give us time to move the rats over to Harbor Lights.” She smiled sweetly and left his office. She went back into the kitchen where Shane was handing a plate to Lloyd. Shane took another order slip, but Molly plucked it from her fingers before she could see it. “Lilly, you take this.”
Lilly took the order slip without question, and Molly hooked her hand around Shane’s elbow. “Come here.” She walked Shane into the walk-in fridge and propped the door open a bit with her foot. “Gail’s is going to be shut down tomorrow. The health department wants to take a look around.”
“Okay,” Shane said, not getting the point. “Is everything all right?”
“Yeah, everything’s fine. There was some bad trout in circulation, so we don’t have to worry about anything. But the point is, Gail’s will be shut down tomorrow. Meaning neither one of us has to work.” She looked down at her foot, stuck between the door and the wall, and said, “I don’t really know how to do this because I’ve...never been on this end of it before. Do you want to go to the movies with me tomorrow?”
Shane smiled. “You’re asking me if tomorrow is good for our date?” Molly nodded. “Yeah. It’ll be fine. But no movie. The only thing playing downtown is that new Johnny Depp movie and, unless it has Kiera Knightley being a pirate, his movies are never worth it for me. We can have dinner.”
“I won’t have to cook, will I?”
“No,” Shane smiled. “I promise, neither of us will have to cook.”
Molly nodded. “It’s a date.”
The fridge door swung open, and Lilly sighed when she saw them. She looked like she had just been knocked down and dragged a few blocks. “If you girls are done flirting, the Squire’s Knights baseball team just came in and they’re all ordering appetizers.”
“Once more unto the breach,” Shane sighed.
“We few, we proud, we band of bakers,” Molly lamented and followed Shane out.
##
The next day, Molly slept in, took her time in the shower, and leisurely dressed. When she finally came out of the bedroom, clean and rested and dressed, it was almost noon. The plan they’d settled on during their evening break was that Molly would pick Shane up at seven. They’d go out to a nice restaurant and then return to Shane’s apartment to watch something on DVD if it wasn’t too late. Molly dried her hair and reached instinctively for the rubber bands she kept next to the sink. Her fingers hesitated, and she looked at her reflection in the mirror.
“Give me a break,” she told her look-alike in the glass. “It’s my first date. Do you blame me for wanting to be you?” She grabbed the rubber band and stretched it between her fingers. “Of course, that doesn’t mean I have to be the same old, same old, either.” She chewed her bottom lip and decided to find a happy medium before she picked Shane up.
Leaving her hair down for the moment, she went to her closet and searched through her clothes. How casual was she supposed to be? She looked at the tight olive-green T-shirt and decided the night shouldn’t be quite that casual. She put it back and withdrew a blue-and-white silk blouse. Maybe not that fancy. She stepped back and examined her closet. Everything she owned had been picked with the knowledge it would only be worn underneath a chef’s jacket. Nothing seemed nice enough on its own.
She finally decided that a slate-gray turtleneck and a black vest would have to do. She put on a pair of jeans and examined herself in the mirror. Not bad. Nice balance of casual and not-too-fancy. She exhaled and looked at her watch. Quarter past two. She sighed and sat on the edge of her bed. She folded her hands between her knees and drummed her fingers together.
She stood up, started to take off her sweater because there had to be something better in her closet, and then sat down when she realized that there wasn’t.
“Jesus,” she sighed. She leaned forward and rested her forehead in her hands.
If this was what a real date felt like, maybe she’d been on the right track with the meaningless dates she’d had in the past. The last time she’d been this nervous...well, it wasn’t too hard to remember...
Molly had gotten her hair done at a downtown hairdresser, and now she was spinning in her dress to watch how it swirled around her legs. She smiled, but she couldn’t help wishing she could just stay home tonight. She walked to the bed and sat down, pulling her high heels off and rubbing her feet. Her mother had done the whole glamour shot thing in the living room, making her pose in front of the fireplace and show off her (very expensive) pretty dress. Her feet were killing her after only an hour in the horrific high heels. She had no idea how she would survive the night.
Her bedroom door was open and she heard her father talking to April in the next room. “That’s what you’re wearing to the prom?”
“I told you. I’m not going to the prom. We’re just going to hang out.”
“You and your friend?”
Their mother came down the hall. She saw Molly and smiled. “Your date is going to go crazy for you, Molly. You look absolutely darling.”
Their father looked into the bedroom and smiled. “Yeah, you sure look great, kiddo.” Then he looked back into April’s room. “You and Molly could go to the prom together.”
“Her date might take an issue with that.”
Molly wanted to say she wouldn’t mind. Screw Todd Paulson. She’d have more fun hanging out with April and her date anyway. Before she could say anything, April came out of her room. It was still a shock to see her with such short hair. It was gelled, plastered to her head in a
style Molly just knew would be sprouting curls by the end of the night. She was wearing black slacks and a man’s dress shirt, untucked. “Jill and I aren’t going to the prom. We’re just going to hang out.”
“You’re both such pretty girls,” their mother said. “I can’t believe you couldn’t find a date to this prom.”
April rolled her eyes and said, “I’m sorry I didn’t waste a hundred bucks on prom tickets and another two hundred or whatever on a prom dress. I thought you guys would be thrilled I was boycotting.”
Their father sighed and ran a hand over his head. “Fine, okay. You want to hang out with your pals, fine.” He looked into Molly’s room and smiled. “You do look great, kiddo.” He turned and walked back towards the living room, their mother trailing behind him.
April watched them go and then went into Molly’s room. “Ugh.”
“Yeah,” Molly said. She was toying with the hem of her dress.
“Hey,” April said. “You know when I said that stuff about boycotting and wasting money, I wasn’t talking about...that wasn’t a jab at you or anything. You know that, right?”
Molly looked up. “Yeah, I know.”
April smiled and sat on the edge of the bed. She reached up and toyed with a strand of Molly’s hair. “You look like a princess.”
“Thanks.” Molly reached up and ran her hand over the oil slick on top of April’s head. “You look like a Ken doll.”
April laughed. “Thanks.” She looked into the mirror and examined herself. She reached up and touched her extremely short hair. “You know, I’m not sorry I did this, but I do miss my hair. Never, ever again.”
Molly leaned into April, lifted a wave of her own hair, and draped it across her sister’s head. April laughed and put her head on Molly’s shoulder.
Molly looked at their reflection in the mirror. Four Page sisters. “Are we okay?”
“Uh-huh,” April said.
Their eyes met in the mirror, and both of them knew it was a lie. They were drifting apart even now. Molly turned and kissed April’s forehead. “I am sorry.”
