Speak Rain
Page 17
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At about 8:10 Daniel heard a loud rumbling exhaust coming down the street towards his home and he knew it was finally time for a house guest. The gravel in his driveway crunched and headlights flashed in the front window as he left the bedroom to get to the doorway. He put on his coat in a hurry so he could help Rachel unload.
“Well, hello again, stranger!” Rachel greeted him in an overly friendly tone.
Daniel was very happy to have her there finally and even the rain seemed to slow a little as he caught her warm smile. But he thought there may be something more at hand going on for her to press the warmth so much.
“Howdy. Welcome to Tremon Manner. May I take your things inside for you, Madam?”
She chuckled and slapped his shoulder as she pulled out an old style green canvas backpack from the passenger seat through her driver’s door.
“Now you are silly, old man.”
“Don’t you have anything else?”
“Well…there’s a couple small bags there, but this is pretty much it. I can grab them after we have something to eat. I’m starved!”
“Oh! You are? I hope you’re not making a lot of food this late…”
“Nah…I just want to make something to warm up to,” she replied.
He offered again, and she allowed him to grab the couple small bags in the passenger foot well. Then he welcomed her inside. Something was definitely a little on edge hidden beneath her pleasure, but he decided that was something she should bring to light when she was ready. For the time being he graciously showed her to her room downstairs and explained where a few things were. She in turn complemented him on the Christmas décor and once or twice asked where he’d gotten some of the pieces, and in just about all cases he indicated they were from his mother, even when some of them had been things his late wife had brought to their collection.
Then Rachel headed to the kitchen to make a meal. She hadn’t even taken off her coat before she started asking for a large frying pan and olive oil. He still wasn’t convinced from their earlier phone call about the Navajo Tacos idea that she could adequately deep fry tortillas in a frying pan, but he kept quiet. He didn’t like being questioned when he was cooking so he was sure she wouldn’t either.
Once her concoction was completed, both the Fry Bread and the taco fillings, they sat down to enjoy it together. Dan found himself into the second of servings when Rachel realized something. She stood but slapped her hands down on the table before her exclamation.
“Dimmit! I forgot the most important part!”
“What is it?” Daniel said with a giggle.
“Oh…you don’t happen to have any of that chocolate-hazelnut spread do you?”
“What?”
“Crap. I can’t believe I forgot. The desert taco is the most important part. It’s the whole reason I wanted to make them,” Rachel said as she left the table and went back to the kitchen cabinets looking through Daniel’s spices and such.
“What is it?”
“Oh, I dunno. It’s like a nice donut or something. You’d love it.”
She kept rooting through his cabinets and pulled out the cocoa along the way he’d notice, along with a few other items. By that point, Daniel put his napkin down and strode over to try to help in her search.
“Don’t you have any peanut butter?”
“But of course, madam,” he replied, opening the large pantry cabinets to the side of his refrigerator. “Right here. Chunky or creamy?”
She snatched at the jar in his right hand and said with a smile, “Creamy of course. Don’t give me any of that crunchy crap. That’s what you give the dog when you want him to stop barking.”
“Well, actually…” he began, but his protest was not permitted.
“Ah! Ah! No, you let me take care of this. It’s bad enough I didn’t think to get the good stuff, it at least has to be creamy.”
Daniel returned to his seat while Rachel mixed up a few ingredients. She returned with what looked like a chocolate flavored peanut butter.
“Okay! When you’re done with your taco there, you take one of the fry breads and you spread this on it.”
Rachel began working hers and Daniel’s brows raised a bit as he watched, taking a bite of his own taco. It looked to him as though she had more chocolate peanut butter than fry bread by the time she was done. Her reaction as she took her first bite made Daniel change his mind about the remaining bit of his second taco. So he set it aside and took up a new tortilla and slid the cocoa confectionary over to his side.
Daniel’s own spread on the fry bread was meager, much like he’d put jam on his toast: just enough to taste. Apparently this was not satisfactory for the chef because she reached over and lifted another huge knife full of the peanut butter.
“That ain’t going to do it. See…” she directed as she spread a nearly half-inch thick frost across the top, “this is how you do it the right way.”
The first bite was definitely a bit over-stated. But as Daniel chewed and the cocoa and whatever other flavors she’d mixed in took over he relished it. Rachel also picked up a second fry bread, having finished her first, and equally spread it as thick as the first.
“Now, you see, Dan,” Rachel spoke with an authoritative, parental voice, “this is why I don’t need a relationship right now.”
“Oh, really?” he smiled.
“Ya. See…as long as you have chocolate, you don’t need anything else.”
“Yet, you seemed to want to be around friends anyway, didn’t ya?” He meant it as a jest but Rachel’s mood became a little more somber as they ate. Her smile was still there, but she didn’t pursue anymore witty comebacks.
“I guess you’re right,” she said in a more subdued voice. She caught his eyes directly to express her thanks. “I really do appreciate this.”
“Not a problem! Like I told you, I think you’re a pretty neat person, and …”
“Shhh! I’m talking!” she teased again, but her tone was still lower than it had been during her arrival.
“Okay. …Sorry.”
Daniel took another bite of his fry bread. In his mind he was already calling it his ‘Navajo Donut’ to go along with Rachel’s Navajo Tacos, but it was indeed one of the better treats he’d had in a long while.
“I just…” Rachel toyed with her fry bread, picking off small bits to put in her already full mouth she was trying to speak around. “I just feel like I can trust you, you know? And…well…I guess I needed a break. I think this will be fun.”
“Sure!”
She rolled her eyes at him to warn him to silence again before continuing. “If you want to, you know, show me some cool parks or anything, or want to go see a movie for Christmas or something, I’m all game. Oh! And I’ll pay my own way and everything, too! But…I don’t mind just relaxing and catching up on some television or reading or something too.”
She seemed to conclude and to be waiting, so Daniel spoke again. “That sounds really nice for the holidays. Just one thing.”
Her broad smile warmed him again as she had a habit of doing. “Oh? What’s that?”
“Well, if you’re my guest…and I may have a new job here in a little while…you have to let me pay for the dates.”
“What?” she grinned. “Remember! No dates! Just…having fun with a friend, right?”
“You bet. You have to let me pay for my house guest’s entertainment. Deal?”
“Alright,” she acquiesced. “But not necessarily every time.”
“We’ll see.”
“Okay. Deal then.”