“What happened to the lights?” Elmer asked as he stepped inside. “Something wrong with the electricity?”
“Nothing’s wrong with the electricity at the church. And we’re on the same line.” Another man stepped into the café.
“Pastor Matthew?” Nicki asked as she looked up.
The door from the kitchen opened again, and Linda came back out with several long dresses draped over her arm. “I’ve got the costumes. Take your pick. Jazz is looking for the camera.”
“We’re making an advertisement,” Nicki explained to the three men who were now inside the café. Jacob had been the last to enter. “Something to make men bring their wives in for a romantic breakfast.”
Elmer grunted suspiciously. “Isn’t bacon and eggs enough to bring in the customers?”
“Not according to Woman’s World,” Garrett explained.
“Oh.” Elmer nodded.
Linda stopped at the table where Nicki and Garrett sat. She held up the first of the paper dresses. It had a red cross on it in several places and a paper stethoscope in the pocket. “No, that won’t do. Jazz wouldn’t like to have a nurse in the picture. It’d give people a bad feeling about the café.”
The next costume was of a judge. Linda tossed it aside. “Not very romantic.”
“But orderly.” Nicki wasn’t so fast to give up on the judge costume. “And it matches Garrett’s tuxedo—I mean the uniform—and it’s dignified.”
“Dignified’s not romantic.”
“But it’s nice.”
“No, this is what we need.” Linda held up the last costume.
“Oh,” Nicki breathed out.
Nicki heard four men echo her.
It was a princess costume.
“That pink reminds me of the inside of a seashell I saw once when I was a boy,” Elmer said. “I’ve never forgotten it.”
The skirt on the dress flared out and had dozens of tiny tucks drawn onto it. The bodice plunged low and the cleavage that was drawn on the paper would have made any prince drool. “I can’t wear that. It’s—”
“It’s winter out, that’s why.” Garrett hoped they didn’t choose the princess outfit. It made his breath stop just to look at the dress and then to think of Nicki wearing it. He certainly didn’t want to be sitting in church with those thoughts in his head. He’d be excommunicated for sure, and he hadn’t even joined anything.
“Well, we’ll take the pictures inside, of course,” Linda told him.
“Of course.”
“Just as soon as Nicki puts the dress on, in fact.”
A bell rang in the kitchen and Linda turned. “Your specials are ready. I’ll be right back with them. Nicki, you can just pull that dress over what you’re wearing.”
“I smell bacon,” Elmer said as he pulled a chair over to the table beside Garrett and Nicki. “Mind if I join you?”
“Me, too,” Jacob said as he found another chair. “That smells mighty fine.”
“Well, I only came over because they said you were looking for me,” Pastor Matthew said, but he pulled over a chair all the same.
Garrett was beginning to see why no one dated in Dry Creek. They were never alone long enough.
“It was my mother who wanted to see you,” Nicki told the pastor as she stood up. “Maybe she’d like to talk to you in the limousine. There’s more privacy there.”
Nicki hoped her mother would talk to Pastor Matthew in the limousine. That way her mother could ease her conscience and not be so public about it all. “I’m going to go in the kitchen and put on my dress.”
“But it’s paper. Stay away from the grill.” Garrett saw another reason why people didn’t date in Dry Creek. You felt responsible for a person before you even had the opportunity to date them. It wasn’t quite fair. It made it hard for a man to concentrate on his moves. “I’d better come with you.”
“To put on her dress?” Elmer said as he started to rise.
“It’s just a costume,” Garrett protested. “It’ll go over all her other clothes.”
“Oh.” Elmer sat down.
Garrett felt all three men watch him as he followed Nicki into the kitchen. Then again, this might be the main reason nobody dated in Dry Creek. There were too many chaperones.
Garrett couldn’t remember ever dating anyone who was so protected. He’d have thought it would bother him, but it didn’t. He liked knowing there were men who would take care of Nicki and protect her from someone like him. It was depressing to know that he was the kind of man that a town wouldn’t want their favorite daughter to date. But he couldn’t fault the men for their judgment. They knew he wasn’t the kind of man who stayed around for long.
Still, he wished he was sitting back out there with those three men and scowling at the back of some other stranger passing through instead of being the stranger himself.
Chapter Seven
Garrett changed his mind. He didn’t wish he was anywhere else in the world right now except inside the kitchen of Dry Creek’s café.
The men outside in the dining area didn’t know it, but they should have followed him into the kitchen. Garrett was standing so close to Nicki he could feel every curve along her back. He blessed the makers of those paper dresses, whoever they were.
The paper dress didn’t just slip on easily. It had to be coaxed over the sweater Nicki was wearing, inch by blessed inch.
Garrett had not noticed the back of Nicki’s neck until now. She had reached up and clipped her hair behind her so it didn’t get in the way of pulling the dress on. Garrett had already brushed his hand across her hair several times and, if he was lucky, he’d feel its wispy softness several more times before they left the kitchen.
“It’s stuck,” Nicki said.
Garrett could feel her nervousness and frustration in the way she held her back. “It’s just got a twist here.”
Garrett reached up and smoothed the hair off of Nicki’s neck before he let his hand smooth the paper dress over her shoulder. “We’re almost done.”
Nicki grunted. “We’d better be.”
No one was in the kitchen but the two of them. Linda and Jazz were outside in the other part of the café arranging their breakfast plates.
Garrett gave the dress one last tug. “There.”
The dress covered Nicki from her neck to her toes. Even her arms were covered. Still, the whole thing made her feel naked.
“A princess wouldn’t really wear something like this, would she?” Nicki looked down at the dress. The drawing showed as much paper skin as it did paper dress. Nicki had tucked the collar and sleeves of her sweater inside the costume so it was just her head sticking out. “It would shock the palace.”
While Nicki talked, she had slowly turned around until she was facing Garrett. The morning light filled the kitchen and the air smelled like biscuits and bacon.
Garrett was speechless. No wonder all the princesses he’d ever heard about had become queens. If women dressed like that today, they’d get all the political votes, at least the ones from the men.
“I can’t walk in this,” Nicki said as she started to move toward the door leading to the rest of the café. The paper dress trailed along with her. “You’ll have to carry the train to this thing.”
Nicki opened the door to the main room of the café.
Garrett was glad that Linda had covered the windows. Not that it looked as if there was anyone left to peek in the windows from the street outside. All of the people of Dry Creek must have come inside while he and Nicki were in the kitchen.
“Oh, there you are.” Nicki’s mother was standing at the front of the crowd. Jacob and Elmer were on one side and the young couple who ran the café stood on the other side. “I’m getting ready to say my few words.”
“Now?” Nicki squeaked. There wasn’t any place to hide. Maybe if she had Garrett lift the train on her dress a little higher she could crawl under it. She might look like a garden slug, but she’d be hidden.
Lillian Re
dfern looked around and frowned. “No, I can’t speak yet. Mabel Hargrove isn’t here. She’d never forgive me if she wasn’t here when I said what I have to say.”
“Good,” Linda said as she motioned for Nicki and Garrett to come forward. “We have time to get the pictures taken first then. We don’t want the food to be cold for the pictures.”
“No one can tell if the food is cold,” Nicki reassured her as she sat down.
The table was set for romance. A red napkin was laid carefully across the middle of the table, as if it was an afterthought. Three candles of different lengths stood beside the salt and pepper shakers. A plate of strawberries sat to the right of a small pitcher of cream. Water glistened on the just-washed strawberries.
Jazz, tall and thin, was standing and frowning at the table. “I don’t want any shadows hanging over the table.” He looked up at the people crowded around the table and lifted an eyebrow.
“I’ll go out on the porch and wait,” Pastor Matthew offered as he nudged one of the older men.
“And I’ll go ask Mabel Hargrove to come over here,” Elmer said as he reluctantly backed away from the table. “Just don’t start anything without me.”
“And, Lillian and I—” Jacob looked around for an excuse. “We’ll go sit over in the corner. You won’t even know we’re here.”
Jazz had the camera to his eye before anyone even stepped away from the table. “Let’s try this angle first.” He brought the camera away from his eye and frowned. “No, that’s not right. Maybe if we try it from some height.”
It took Jazz ten minutes to decide the angle of his first shot. Garrett was sitting at the table and his jaw was beginning to ache from smiling so much.
“I can’t hold this much longer,” Nicki said through clenched teeth. She sat at the table across from Garrett. Her hand was falling asleep as she held her spoon in midair. “No one eats eggs with a spoon anyway.”
“Creative license.” Linda was in charge of the staging. She shifted the spoon slightly so it got more candlelight. “Have you ever noticed the way a spoon reflects the light? It’s so much more elegant than a fork. Once we start shooting it won’t take long.”
Linda pulled away from the table and Jazz snapped the picture.
“Look dreamy now,” Linda said as Jazz repositioned himself.
“Dreamy?” Nicki wondered if cross-eyed would do.
Linda nodded. “Like you’re in love. Remember, romance sells pancakes here.”
Nicki had avoided looking at Garrett for that very reason. She didn’t want her heart to be out there for anyone who was interested in buying a pancake to see.
Jazz took four more shots before he mentioned the strawberries. “For the last one, let’s do a strawberry shot.”
“I’m starving.” Nicki thought it might be worth mentioning.
“And she almost fainted once this morning,” Garrett added helpfully.
“The food’s getting cold.” Nicki nodded.
“We’ll heat it up for you.” Linda sprinkled some pepper on the eggs. “Besides, you’ll like the next shot. It involves food.”
“We get to eat the eggs?”
Linda shook her head until her earrings swayed. She picked up a whole strawberry from the plate. “You get to split this.”
Half of a strawberry didn’t look like enough to halt her hunger pangs, but Nicki lifted her knife anyway. She’d be fair.
“No, you don’t split it with your knife. You kiss it apart.”
“What?”
Garrett was starting to grin. He had a feeling he was going to see more of those green sparks fly out of Nicki’s eyes.
“With our lips?” Nicki looked skeptical. “Can’t we just each take a bite? That’s a lot more sterile.”
Linda shook her head and held the strawberry out to Nicki. “Just hold it in your teeth. Garrett will do the rest.”
“I—” Nicki was silenced with a strawberry.
Garrett had barely begun to kiss Nicki when Jazz took the first picture.
Nicki wondered why she’d never really tasted a strawberry before. The fruit was warm and soft and sweet with just a hint of something stronger. Maybe the strong part was Garrett’s lips. No, they were the soft part.
Jacob had to clear his throat three times before Nicki realized the flashing had stopped.
“Oh.” Nicki pulled away from Garrett. She wondered if she had the same bewildered look on her face that he had on his. “Something was wrong with that strawberry. You must have soaked it in something.”
Linda grinned. “You liked it, huh?”
Nicki didn’t have to answer because the door to the café opened and Mrs. Hargrove walked in.
“Where is she?” Mrs. Hargrove hadn’t bothered to put on her coat or take the metal curlers out of her hair. She was wearing a green-checked gingham dress with a white apron over it and clutching a coin purse in her hand. She entered the café and looked in all directions until her gaze settled on Lillian. “There you are.”
Nicki felt the blood start to flow in her veins again. It was time someone gave her mother a good scolding and Mrs. Hargrove was just the person to do it. Mrs. Hargrove had taught the first grade Sunday school class for the past thirty years in Dry Creek and she didn’t hesitate to speak her mind.
“Hello, Mabel,” Nicki’s mother said as she stood. “You’re looking well.”
“I’ve got baking powder on my face and curlers in my hair. I know I look a fright.” Mrs. Hargrove studied Lillian where she stood. “You dyed your hair blond.”
Lillian nodded. “I’ve worn it that way for years now.”
“You could have written, you know. I worried about you.”
“I didn’t think you’d want to hear from me—not after I took the money.”
Mrs. Hargrove shrugged. “Charles and Jacob paid it back.”
“Oh.” Lillian frowned. “I didn’t mean for anyone to do that. I meant to sneak into some Sunday service and slip it into the offering plate. At first, anyway. Then I was worried someone would recognize me and I didn’t know what I would say.”
Mrs. Hargrove nodded. “I see how that could be.”
“I want to pay it back now though.” Lillian had a purse strap on her shoulder and she swung the purse around to open it. “I could write a check.”
“You can’t just write a check,” Nicki protested. If Mrs. Hargrove wasn’t going to scold her mother, someone else would have to do it. “Money can’t make up for the hurt you caused the people around here.”
“You’re right. I did mean to apologize first and ask everyone to forgive me.” Lillian looked at the people in the café. “Do you forgive me for doing something so foolish?”
Lillian smiled and blinked as if she were on the verge of tears.
Elmer caved first. “Don’t mention it.”
Mrs. Hargrove wasn’t far behind. “We just worried about you, not the money.”
Jacob looked at Lillian, but he didn’t say anything.
“Nicki’s right, though,” Pastor Matthew said, and everyone looked to him. “Money isn’t enough.”
Lillian smiled. “I meant to include a little extra for the minister of the church, as well.”
“I don’t take bribes,” Pastor Matthew said mildly. “I was just thinking that if you spent some time praying about it, you might think of a better way to make peace with the people of Dry Creek.”
“Pray about it?” Lillian covered her surprise quickly. “Why, yes, of course, I can do that.”
Nicki felt that someone was finally taking her mother’s actions seriously. Good for the pastor.
“Maybe Nicki can pray with you about it,” Pastor Matthew continued.
“Me?” Nicki decided the pastor was going too far.
“It’ll do the two of you good to pray together,” Elmer said.
“We’ll all pray about it,” Mrs. Hargrove said decisively. “That’s what friends and family are for.”
Garrett was liking the people of Dry C
reek better the longer he was around them. They were an odd group of people, but he could see they were loyal to each other. Kind of like Aunt Rose would be if she was here.
“And, of course there’s the Thanksgiving service tonight,” Elmer suggested. “We’ll all be there, won’t we?”
Elmer looked around for nods.
“I’ll be there. Nicki and I have a date,” Garrett volunteered.
“Really.” Pastor Matthew brightened. “You’re coming to the Thanksgiving service on a date?”
Garrett nodded cautiously. He wondered if anyone else had ever used church as a dating plan in Dry Creek—he supposed not even Lester had sunk that low.
“I’ll have to throw in a few of the love verses in my meditation,” the pastor said. “You know the ‘love is’ ones.”
Garrett nodded. He had no idea what the man was talking about.
“I always liked those.” Mrs. Hargrove smiled. “‘Love is patient. Love is kind.’ They are true, true words.”
“If you’re going to be talking about love, maybe you could mention our pancake heart special,” Jazz suggested. “You know just at some break or something.”
“I could mention it in the announcements,” the pastor said. “Sort of a community service thing.”
“Good.” Jazz put the cap back on his camera lens. “And tell people to look for the pictures in the hardware store of the guy in the tuxedo.”
Garrett felt as if his smile was frozen on his face. He turned to Nicki. “You said the store sells some kind of overalls?”
“We’ll go back after breakfast.” She was just as anxious as he was to get him into other clothes. No man sparkled in farmer overalls. Once Garrett didn’t have the tuxedo anymore, she was sure he’d settle down into looking really quite ordinary.
Nicki sure hoped so. Ever since the strawberry kiss she’d felt her appetite slowly leaving her. She’d never had even the smallest dent in her appetite around Lester. Maybe she was catching a cold or something.
“Do you have more of those strawberries?” Garrett asked Linda as he poured some syrup on his heart-shaped pancake. “They’re some of the sweetest ones I’ve ever eaten.”
Linda gave him a strange look. “They’re frozen without sugar. Jazz said they were bitter. He wanted to return them to the supplier.”
A Rich Man for Dry Creek / a Hero for Dry Creek Page 24