by catt dahman
“Ya want that tea sweet?”
“No, unsweetened, please.”
“Coming right up,” she said as she tore off the top sheet of the pad and slid it through to the cook in the back.
That would be Coral. Pax watched him, and he was a little star-struck.
“Pretty busy,” Pax noted, as expected, as he looked around at the memorabilia and posters of the New England Patriots. All the seats were in royal blue, and here and there were accents of red against the stainless steel tables and counter.
“Always is. You just passing through or going to the spa or what?” She giggled fetchingly as he didn’t look the spa type.
“Enjoying the town,” he said, only fibbing a little since it wasn’t a lie but just that he was holding back information.
“Staying long?” she asked and smiled prettily. She was curious.
“Depends on how things go, I suppose.”
Lydia slid a little metal rack close to him that was filled with ketchup, hot sauce, a jar of home made spiced pickles, Coral’s own steak sauce, salt and pepper, and sweetener for the tea. She handed him a rolled napkin of cutlery and a stack of napkins. “You’ll need them for the burger; it’s juicy and messy.” She gave him a cute, flirty wink.
She waited on other patrons, and Pax watched people around him as they dined. As soon as a table was empty and cleaned, a new couple or a family was waiting to sit and eat dinner. The diner was as clean and neat as he knew it would be, was tastefully decorated with just the right amount of color and big screened televisions, and the waitresses all smiled and looked good in their uniforms. It was a place that a couple could enjoy for a date before a movie or a family would like to eat lunch after Sunday service, and where a lone diner didn’t feel alienated and stared at for being alone.
It wasn’t fancy, but it was the cleanest diner Pax had ever been in, with everything in good repair and gleaming. The waitresses didn’t have that washed out look some got as they followed a set routine, but all were cheerful and energetic. It was just as he had known it would be.
When his order came, the extra burgers were on a separate paper plate with a big helping of meaty chili on top. “Katie deserves it,” Lydia said.
Pax thanked her. He slipped outside and gave Katie her dinner, waited for her woof to say ‘thank you’ and then returned to his spot at the counter to survey the huge burger: two thick meat patties cooked just right; two big slices of cheese; purple, sweet onions, lightly warmed; fresh green lettuce; several slices of salted and peppered deep red tomatoes; crisp pickles chopped to bits; and homemade jalapenos that peeked from the toasted buns. A third slice of cheese nestled between the meat patties, and the burger dripped with tangy secret sauce and thick slabs of crunchy bacon that hung out the sides.
For a second, Pax wanted to hang on to the aroma and savor it. As good as it would taste, the anticipation was good, too.
Pax opened wide and bit into the burger, sighing as he chewed; it was delicious. The chili fries were thick wedges, fried to perfection and then loaded with homemade chili with a little kick to it, and lightly covered with cheese. He cooled his mouth with gulps of tea. The flavors almost were an over-load. Everything was perfect.
Lydia returned, refilled his glass, and smiling asked, “Good?”
“Fantastic.” Pax wiped his chin and grinned back.
“All the veggies are from the farmer’s market across the street. Save room for dessert,” she suggested as she refilled more glasses.
Savoring each bite, he looked around at all of the activity. He watched one particular waitress more than anyone else, seeing her smile and greet people by name and serving the good food with pride. Her hair, braided down her back, was almost black, and her eyes were greenish hazel; she was dressed in the same kind of royal blue uniform as the other waitresses, but she wore a pair of hiking boots with the outfit, unusual but sexy in some way.
He ate every bite of the burger and the fries and even the carrot sticks that decorated the plate; they were tangy with a garlic flavor. He was stuffed but wanted more.
“Now what kind of dessert sounds good to you?” Lydia asked.
“I‘m getting too full. But I’d take some more tea,” Pax said. As she poured, he shrugged in a casual manner and asked, “That waitress there, is her name Annie?”
Lydia frowned. “That’s Annette or Annie.”
Pax realized that the other woman’s name tag must say Annette, and he had used her informal name. “She looks almost as capable as you are.”
Lydia broke into her grin again, popping her gum and replied, “Mister, you are a sweet talker.”
“Nah. Not me. She caught my eye,” and then he added, “too”.
“Oh, yeh?”
Pax waited a second. He knew Lydia had a boyfriend that owned and worked at the mechanic shop. His name was Chris; he had long hair and a beard and liked to ride his Harley. Lydia might be a little flirty, but she was devoted to the guy who treated her like a queen. “So?”
Lydia leaned on the counter in order to speak quietly. “She’s single all right, but she has this man she likes on the Internet, if you can imagine; they talk all the time. I’d say she’s pretty well taken.”
“Oh,” said Pax looked down, “Taken.”
“You betcha.”
“Internet, huh? And she likes him?”
“She’s crazy for him, but he lives far away. But they talk every night, and she’s nuts for him. He has a funny name, too, Pax.” She wiped the counter, concentrating on a spot of ketchup.
Pax held out a hand, “Nice to meet you, Lydia. And it isn’t so funny, short for Paxton.”
Jaw dropped, she shook his hand and then covered her mouth as she began to giggle madly. “She said he…uh…you were going on a trip, and she’s been mooning over not chatting. What are you doing here?” Her tone was as if she had known him for years. She appraised him more carefully, finding him average but with a wonderful grin, and those baby blues would knock a gal’s panties off. “She is gonna go nuts over you, handsome.”
“I came to meet Annie. Shhhh, I wanna surprise her, so don’t you tell. Now, you’re being a sweet talker.”
Lydia giggled again. “All this way to meet Annie. Wow, just wow. She’s gonna pop a cork.”
“Would you ask her to come over; tell her there’s a problem and that I need to speak with her? I want to surprise her. Do you think she’d like that?”
Lydia nodded and answered, “Oh, she’s gonna be surprised all right, big time, Hon.”
Outside, the harsh sunlight faded as clouds moved in suddenly. Distantly, they could hear thunder, which made all of the customers stop talking for a fraction of a second, and then they went back and carried on, maybe discussing the weather. If it rained, Pax was glad he had reached his destination and would not be out in the bad weather.
Lydia spoke to Annie in a whisper, and Annie glanced at Pax. She looked a little perplexed as if she knew him and couldn’t place him, but she finished cleaning a table, handed the container to Lydia, and walked over. “Yes, sir, how can I help you today?”
He looked like pictures she had seen, but he was not in a place he was expected to be in, so Annie was obviously having an itch in her brain but was unsure how she knew this man. It made him grin harder.
“The burger was outstanding.”
“Glad to hear it,” she said.
“And the home fries and chili were superb.”
“Good.”
Pax pretended to think hard, “But now this is the problem: I can’t believe the famous Coral Robbins, former linebacker for the Pats, is a cook in the diner….” He paused. “It defies logic.”
He had used those exact words often to her as they sent messages back and forth across states, teasing her, and her face showed she was flummoxed, trying to figure out how this stranger was using the exact words he had used. He could almost see her mind grabbing to make sense of this.
“You wouldn’t know logic if it bit yo
u in the ass,” she said automatically, just as she had typed the words many times.
“Biting ass seems a bit violent,” he responded as he always did.
Like Lydia, Annie’s mouth dropped open as she understood. “Oh, my God, Pax? Pax? My hair is a mess.” She started smoothing it back, embarrassed and excited. Her nerves jumped. She turned pink and looked suddenly a little shy and nervous. Her heartbeat raced.
“In the flesh.”
“I…well…oh my, Pax?” She was about to jump out of her skin because she was so thrilled to see him.
He realized with a thud in his belly that this was an important moment: either she’d be disappointed and he had come a long way for nothing, or the magic was real, and she’d be as excited to see him as he was to see her.
“Oh, you crazy man!” She ran around the counter and grabbed him into a hug. It was a real hug, too, not one of those polite, pretend hugs that women sometimes gave with more patting than hugging. She squeezed him tightly.
He smelled the scent of food she had served and underneath, a lemony fragrance of her shampoo and clean skin. She felt sturdy, not too thin, and very warm in his arms; he hated when she pulled away to look at him to ask, “What are you doing here in Cold Springs?”
“Ummm, going to the spa?”
“You are not.” She laughed, eyes twinkling. “You came all this way to meet me, really? Are you really here? Pax, I can’t believe this.”
“Yup. Sold my truck, hitched and walked, and here I am to meet the toughest, prettiest girl playing Mafia Kings on the Internet. I always said I would do something stupid and crazy one day because of you.”
“And you did. But I am not gonna scold you for the biggest surprise of my life,” Annie said as she blushed, slicked her hair back and wished she had put on lipstick or something. She wasn’t ready to meet Pax when she looked this disheveled. And my, wasn’t he an attractive man, just like his pictures? Had she been paying attention, she would have known it was him sitting there or at least thought it was his doppelganger.
She knew he was cute in his pictures, but he was handsome. His blue eyes crinkled at the edges, and he looked at her as if he were taking her in all at once, seeing her every nuance. She felt self-conscious for a second, and then it faded as she fell into their comfortable friendship. This was the Pax she had come to know from exchanged e-mails and pictures, Mafia King gaming, and messaging.
“So, did I screw up royally by coming here uninvited?”
Annie laughed. “No way! I am excited to meet you finally, but you could have picked a time when I was fancied up.”
“You look great.”
“So do you.” Thunder almost drowned out her words.
“Katie is out there.”
“Outside?” she asked. “I can’t wait to meet her. Oh, tell you what. Bring her around back, and she can go into the lounge so she won’t get soaked.”
“You sure it’s okay?” He wanted to ask if it were okay that he was here to meet her and was he putting Annie on the spot.
“Positive.”
Pax finally dragged his eyes away from her and got Katie, who was dancing with nervousness over the approaching storm. They walked around to the back of the diner. Thick dark clouds were rolling in quickly with flashes of lightning and ear-splitting booms of thunder. For a second or two, Pax watched the clouds, feeling a bit concerned for some reason. But he shook off the weird feeling, attributing it to the excitement over meeting Annie and hurried to the open door where he and Katie went inside.
Off a hall was a restroom for staff and across from it, were a clean but plain lounge with a tattered plaid sofa, a big television, and a few chairs and tables with a sink and counter covered by a min-fridge and microwave. Pax snickered to see the conveniences even in the lounge.
Katie sniffed around quickly and then greeted Annie with a ‘woof’ and a sloppy kiss; Annie hugged her tightly. “She’s beautiful,” Annie said. “She looks just like her pictures. So do you.” Annie’s cheeks turned pink again.
“Very beautiful,” Pax agreed although he was unsure which one of the females he meant. Annie’s blush made him fairly certain that it was she whom he had been looking at when he said that, and she probably knew it.
Katie nosed around a little more and then settled into a corner, curled up, and fell asleep almost at once. She was full as a tick and comfortable, glad to be out of the approaching rain.
Pax smiled, “I got her two doubles with cheese, and Lydia added chili; she’s full and happy thanks to Coral’s cooking and Lydia’s idea to add the chili.”
Annie knelt to unhook Katie’s water dish and then filled it at a sink in the little room and set it next to Katie.
“I am so surprised by this; it’s so good to finally meet you for real. I’m glad you pulled this insane, wicked trick on me. Will you stay a while so we can talk in person?” She cocked her head prettily.
“If you want me to, I’ll stay as long as I’m welcome, okay?”
“Come out front and sit; I’ll sneak over and visit; I am off at seven tonight.”
“That’s a deal.” Pax followed her after dropping his backpack.
“Coral, hey, Coral, guess what? The man I am always talkin’ to on the computer, well here he is,” said Annie as she motioned Pax to the cooking line.
Coral Robbins was a big man, wide and tall and heavily muscled. Stripping off his gloves, the giant came over to shake hands. “I didn’t know you were coming here.”
“He surprised me. I didn’t know either, but here he is,” Annie said. “Pax…Coral; Coral…Pax.”
The two men studied one another after the handshake. Coral asked the usual questions about how Pax had gotten there, how long he was staying, and why he had suddenly come to Cold Springs, and then he muttered, “If you hurt my gal, I’ll break your legs.”
“Coral!” Annie blushed again.
Pax looked at the dark-skinned, African American, former defensive end whom he and hundreds of thousands had idolized during the man’s career, judged the other man’s strength and speed and decided that they would be evenly matched for a while as Pax was no slouch. He then told himself the big man could indeed break his legs if he wished to, probably several times over. “Yes, Sir, I don’t aim to hurt her at all; I’m right fond of her.”
“And you came all this way to surprise her?”
“I can’t believe it,” Annie said.
Coral rubbed his jaw in thought, taking in all the information and wondering how he could make sure this fellow wouldn’t hurt a good girl like Annie. His eyes lit up. “You know anything about cooking? My other cook is off today with his wife having a baby, and I am short-handed. Seems you could cut fries and smear mayonnaise on a bun, if nothing else.”
Annie rolled her eyes. “Seriously?”
“I am a desperate man, Annie Jo.”
Pax knew she hated her middle name and couldn’t suppress a grin. “I think I could even handle a grilled cheese sandwich if I tried real hard to figure out what all goes into one.”
“Ha, ha, okay, come on and get into an apron and get your hands clean. Annie....”
“I know, go tend the customers. Slave driver, cruel and wicked boss, evil overseer of….”
“Get gone,” Coral ordered with a pearly white smile that reached his eyes. After she skipped out of the room with a smile and a half-wave, Coral told Pax, “I have questions about your intentions, and if you’re working, I can get more information ‘cause I won’t give you time to lie; I’ll keep you too busy.”
“Quid pro quo. You ask my intentions, and I get to ask you NFL secrets.”
“You drive a mean bargain. It’s a deal.” Coral said as he threw a snowy-white apron at Pax who caught it and tied in on.
Chapter 3
For the next few hours, Pax did much more than make a few sandwiches as Coral went on about how he made each dish, what he put into recipes, how much spice he added, and how long each item had to cook. In between the demonstratio
ns, Coral asked Pax questions, and Pax answered, only faintly aware that he wasn’t getting as many questions answered in return as Coral taught him to cook, lulling him with interesting culinary tricks.
Coral had a certain way about him. He moved easily, but fast, and the whole time, he talked about this and that, tossing in occasional questions, but always with one eye on his task and one on Pax. He was direct, but he also relied on his instincts and probed a little at a time. He was pleased that Pax just talked, never launching into a speech, but just chatted, sometimes saying something about Annie or him in the same sentence as he mentioned adding turmeric to the simmering chili.
Annie periodically came back to check on them, to either make sure Pax hadn’t run away or that Coral hadn’t broken his legs or maybe just to reassure herself that Pax was, indeed, really in Cold Springs. Each time, she gave Pax a smile that made him feel warm.
“She likes you,” Coral noted.
“I hope she does. I like her. A lot.”
“You sticking around a while?” Coral asked as he smothered a perfectly cooked, tender chicken fried steak with thick milk-gravy and motioned Pax to add the creamed potatoes and green beans on the side. Pax slid a big hand-made roll onto the plate and a piece of parsley as he had been shown. Then as instructed, he added some crisp, tangy, hot pickles from a jar. “Those pickles, they have some lime juice, garlic, and pepper so that the citrus and heat cleanses the palate. They make the dish real.”
“Ahhh. Makes sense,” Pax smirked. “I’d like to stick around. I’ll stay until she wants me to go, I reckon. She might get tired of me. I like the way those taste. The garlic is just right.”
“Need a job?”
“You offering me one?”
“I’m offering so I can keep an eye on you and so my other cook can spend some time with the new mama and baby. You aren’t too dumb to follow my expert instructions, it seems.”
Pax laughed. “Smartest cook in the kitchen, I betcha. I’ll take the job.”
“I pay fairly well ‘cause we do a damned fine business here, won’t get rich, but it’s honest, and you’ll do fine with the pay around here. And your co-workers are tops.”