She stood with him beside his car.
“When do you think you’ll be back in Atlanta?” Jeff asked her.
“I’m not sure. I know the restaurant is probably falling apart with Daniel in charge, but I’ve got some things to take care of here. Nonna needs my help.”
“Will you let me know when you get back?” Jeff asked.
“Of course I’ll let you know. Thank you for coming. It’s meant a lot of Nonna and me.”
Jeff kissed her lightly on the lips before getting in his car. Serena watched him drive off down the quiet road. She watched until she could no longer see his car.
Nonna was washing the dishes when she went back inside. It was a scene Serena had seen many times in her life, but this time it made her cry. Life would go on, and Nonna was letting her know that.
“I’m going to the diner,” Serena said.
“I’m going with you,” Nonna said.
“I was thinking you might want to take it easy today. The last few days have been pretty rough.”
Nonna turned off the water at the sink and turned to Serena, wiping her hands on a dishtowel.
“You mean you want me to stay here all day, alone with my thoughts, while you go to the diner? My diner? I don’t think so,” Nonna said. “It’s my diner, and I’m going with you.”
Serena knew better than to argue with her grandmother. It was good to see Nonna’s strong-willed personality surfacing after her terrible loss.
“Let’s get going then,” Serena said.
Jimmy and Olive were in the kitchen when they arrived at the diner. They were good cooks, but not as good as Adrianna. Not as good as Serena. And not as good as Nonna. But they were still good. Better than good. They got the job done, but neither one knew how to run a kitchen. Neither did Adrianna. Serena realized that Rossetti’s had been suffering ever since she left for culinary school eight years earlier.
After speaking to Jimmy and Olive, Serena walked out the back door to the garden area. Basil, ready for its final harvest of the year, grew in profusion along the fence to the right. That was good. Basil was necessary to an Italian diner. The rosemary bushes, planted there by her great grandmother Camille, grew near the back. They were in good shape. But the rest of the garden was covered in weeds. Tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, and white beans used to grow in the now grown-over plots, providing frequently used ingredients for the diner. At one time, the diner was one of the first restaurants in the country growing their own produce. Serena was disappointed to see the garden mess.
When she walked back into the kitchen, Nonna was at the big pot making the minestrone, the only soup the diner served. Her grandmother stirred the soup, then put the lid on to let it simmer.
Serena walked to the salad area and began to prepare the simple leaf lettuce salad they served with the specialty house dressing. She opened the refrigerator for the dressing and couldn’t find it. She pushed cheeses and olives and meat sauce around, but could not find the dressing.
“Where’s the dressing?” she asked Jimmy, who was closest to the refrigerator.
“Damn,” he said. “I forgot to make it. We were so busy yesterday with everything. We ran out and I forgot to make more.”
“That’s okay,” Serena said. She could hardly blame Jimmy. He and Olive had given everything they had to prepare the celebration food after the funeral. These things happened in restaurants.
“I’ll make it,” she told Jimmy.
“Thanks,” he said gratefully.
Serena squeezed the juice of several lemons into a large bowl. She added pinches of dried oregano, salt, and pepper and began to whisk. She grabbed the bottle of extra virgin olive oil and drizzled it into the mixture, whisking the whole time. The dressing thickened, and when it was thick enough, she put it in a storage bowl.
After she put the bowl in the refrigerator, Jimmy walked over to her. He looked like he had something to say.
Serena looked at him expectantly. Jimmy looked down at the floor. Get on with it, Jimmy. What is it?
“I know I should be talking to Elena about this,” he said. “But I think I need to tell you first.”
“Yes?” Serena said. Was he going to tell her the kitchen was a filthy mess? She knew that already.
“Olive and I have taken a job at Antonio’s in Destin,” he said. “We found out the day Adrianna died and I just haven’t had the heart to bring it up. But I had to bring it up.”
This was very bad news. Rossetti’s had already lost Adrianna, and now Olive and Jimmy would be leaving. That left Nonna as the only cook until they could find replacements.
Jimmy was looking at her like a child needing forgiveness. What could Serena say? She herself was looking for a different work situation.
“How long?” she asked.
“Until the end of next week,” Jimmy said. “I know this leaves you and Elena in a bind, but we felt that it was time to move on.”
“I’m not going to lie to you, Jimmy. This does put us in a bind, especially with everything that’s happened. But I understand. I think you should tell my grandmother yourself.”
“I’ll do that right now,” he said, walking to the office in the back where Nonna sat at the desk. Serena didn’t know what Nonna was doing back there, but maybe she was tending to the complicated financial business of running a restaurant. She hoped that’s what she was doing.
Serena watched Jimmy through the window in the office door. She saw Nonna stand up and give Jimmy a hug. It broke her heart to see that. Her Nonna, losing everything, but still willing to give Jimmy a hug of good will.
After Jimmy left, Serena walked back to the office.
“Jimmy and Olive are leaving,” Nonna said as soon as she walked in. Serena didn’t tell her that she already knew that. It was, after all, Nonna’s diner and Jimmy should have told her first.
“What are you going to do?” Serena said instead. She was already starting to think that it might be time to close the diner, or sell it to a younger person who still had dreams and didn’t understand how hard it was to run a restaurant. It just might be time for that.
“I’m going to replace them, like I always do. I’ve had many cooks here, cara, as you well know. I’ll have more. That’s how the restaurant business is.”
“Do you have any ideas of how to replace them?”
“I do. The sheriff has been telling me his daughter needs a job. She graduated from high school last May and hasn’t done a thing since. He said she’s a good cook.”
“It doesn’t sound like she has any experience,” Serena said.
“That’s okay. I’ll teach her,” Nonna said.
Serena’s heard the text sound from the phone in her pocket. She pushed the button and was dismayed to see it was from Daniel.
“When are you coming back?” he had texted. “The company only pays for two days bereavement and you’ve been gone three already.”
Serena wished that she would never lay eyes on Daniel’s jowly, sweaty face and greasy hair again.
She texted back. “I’ll be back soon. I have business to take care of. Guess I’m off the payroll for now.”
“What are you doing?” Nonna asked Serena after she put her phone back in her pocket.
“That was the chef at Bridgewater’s wanting to know when I’m coming back. I was texting him.”
“I’ve heard about this text stuff,” Nonna said. “Do you think you can teach me how to do it on my phone?”
“Of course. It’s easy.”
“Easy for you, cara. Maybe not so easy for me. But I want to learn,” Nonna said decisively. “Let’s get out to the kitchen. Lunch will be here soon.”
Serena and Nonna worked side by side with Jimmy and Olive through lunch, then through supper. Nonna usually only worked lunch, so Serena knew she must be exhausted, and the evening wasn’t over yet. Rossetti’s stayed open after supper for drinks and music.
Adrianna had handled dinner and the after-dinner crowd. Tonight, Serena and Nonna wo
uld be relying on the two bartenders who ran the place after hours. When one of them came in at eight, Serena realized she didn’t know him—like cooks, bartenders changed all the time. She was really out of touch with Rossetti’s.
The tall burly man introduced himself as Sandy. His grip was strong when she shook his hand. Serena felt the restaurant was in good hands with Sandy, who looked more like a bouncer than a bartender. He said Mark, the other bartender, would be showing up soon.
“Sandy, I’m going to take Elena home now. I’ll come back later to check on things. I know my mother was always here, and I’m not sure how we’re going to handle everything now.”
“We’re going to miss Adrianna,” Sandy said. “She really livened the place up. I think people came here to see her as much as anything.”
“Thanks,” Serena said, grateful again how loved her mother was. She supposed they could drop the after-dinner schedule, but she knew it made a lot of money for the diner—more than the food on some weeks. Luna Bay wasn’t that big of a place, and people liked having a local spot to hang out in without going to the beach. Serena would have to discuss it all with her grandmother. There was no way Nonna was going to be able to handle supper and the late night.
On the drive home, Nonna seemed agitated.
“Are you okay, Nonna,” Serena asked. Her grandmother was gripping the handle on the door, over and over.
“Not really,” Nonna said. “All day I’m thinking how you’ve got to get back to your job and I don’t know how I’m going to handle everything. I’m not trying to make you feel guilty, cara. I know you’ve got your own life. I’m just wondering what’s going to happen to mine without Adrianna.”
Serena thought for a moment before speaking. She had to be careful with Nonna. Finally, she said, “Do you think it might be time to think about selling the diner?” she said slowly.
“What?” Nonna said sharply. “Sell Rossetti’s? The diner has been in this family since 1946. I’m not going to sell it. It’s all I’ve got to leave you when I die.”
Serena was sorry that she had upset her grandmother further. If Adrianna had lived, she would have inherited Rossetti’s, continuing the tradition of passing it down from mother to daughter. But she hadn’t lived and now Serena was the next likely choice. She wasn’t sure she was ready for that. She had worked hard to build a career after culinary school and now was trying to find a chef’s position where she could let her Italian background in cooking flourish.
“I’m sorry, Nonna, for bringing that up. I guess I needed to see where your thinking is,” Serena said softly.
Nonna reached over and took Serena’s hand and gave it a squeeze.
“It’s okay, cara,” she said. “It’s a natural thing to think about.”
Once inside the cottage, Serena suggested to her grandmother that she get ready for bed. She would bring her some tea and toast before she went back to the diner.
“I’m going to take you up on that, cara. I’m so tired.”
Serena brewed the tea and put it in the flowered teapot they always used. She made toast and buttered it and put everything on a tray. Nonna was already in bed when she got there, propped up on pillows with the TV remote in her hand.
“Are you sure you’ll be all right here while I go check on the diner?” Serena asked as she poured the tea into a cup and added lemon and honey.
Nonna waved her hand at her. “Of course,” she said. “Don’t worry about me.”
When Serena pulled out of the driveway and headed back to the diner her mind wandered to Jeff. It was hard to believe he had left just that morning. It seemed like a lifetime had passed since then. She still didn’t know what to think about Jeff’s visit. It was so unexpected. It didn’t fall into the category of their casual dating.
Sandy and Mark were behind the bar when Serena walked in. Several customers sat on barstools. Serena looked around and noticed people sitting at the tables, drinking their drinks. One couple was dancing on the little space that was cleared for that.
She walked over to the piano in the corner. Joe looked up from the keys and jumped up to give her a big hug. “Hey, Serena,” he said in his smoky voice. “I thought you might’ve left already.”
“I’m helping Nonna out for a few days in the diner,” she said. Just talking to Joe was comforting to Serena, his voice soothing her grieving mind.
“That’s nice of you to do,” he said.
“I’ll let you get back to playing. I just wanted to say hi.”
“You’ll let me know if you need anything, right?”
“Of course,” she said giving him another hug. “Thank you.”
She sat at the bar and let Sandy make her a martini. The bar was well stocked with liquors and glasses, which gleamed on shelves. As it got close to ten o’clock, more customers streamed in and the restaurant was full. The bar was a moneymaker for the diner, but Serena couldn’t decide how to handle it in the future.
As she sat, she thought about her career and what a standstill it was in. She thought about Daniel and what an ass he was. She decided he was lazy. He had grown up in a wealthy family who sent him to Europe for culinary school. That must have taken a lot of hard work on his part, but now he was slacking off. She didn’t want to keep taking up his slack. She wanted to be an Italian food chef.
And then it came to her. It had been there staring her in the face all along but she had refused to acknowledge it. She was going to be an Italian chef, that much was certain. At Rossetti’s. Her grandmother needed her now. Rossetti’s would be her own one day, and she could bring it back to its former glory. She knew how to run a restaurant, she knew how to deal with staff and problems in the kitchen. Rossetti’s was her answer. She had nothing in Atlanta to return to.
Serena ordered another martini from Sandy.
“I’m going to go back home after this,” she told him. “I’m sure you can take care of everything.”
“Yeah, I close every night,” Sandy said.
Serena finished her drink and went back to Joe to tell him goodnight.
“I’ll see you tomorrow night, Joe,” she said.
“Oh? That’s good, Serena,” he said with a wink and a smile.
Chapter Four
Nonna was making breakfast in the morning as she had every day of Serena’s life growing up on Luna Bay. It would do no good to tell her not to.
Serena sat at the kitchen table with a cup of coffee while she waited on the eggs and toast.
“Nonna?” she said.
Her grandmother turned away from the skillet and looked at her.
“I’ve been thinking,” Serena said.
Nonna turned off the skillet and sat at the table, looking at Serena.
“I’ve been thinking that I need to come home. I need to work at Rossetti’s.”
Nonna stood back up and went to the stove. She put eggs and toast on plates and brought them to the table.
“I don’t want you to give up everything you’ve worked for to come back home right now,” she said.
“I’m not giving anything up,” Serena said. “I’m not even happy at Bridgewater’s. The chef is never there and everything is on me, without any of the glory. I’ve been looking for something else, and I think Rossetti’s is the answer.”
Nonna took a bite of egg and drank a sip of coffee.
“Are you sure about this? You know I need you and it fills my heart with joy that you would want to work at Rossetti’s again. But are you sure?”
“I’ve been wanting to cook Italian again and the chef won’t allow that. It’s really just what I’ve been wanting. So, yes. I’m sure.”
Nonna got up from her chair and walked over to Serena and gave her a hug.
“Thank you, cara. I love you for doing this. But if you decide it’s not what you want, you can always change your mind.”
“I know,” Serena said. “I probably need to give Bridgewater’s some kind of notice. I guess when Jimmy and Olive leave I can be here by then.�
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“I’ll go ahead and interview the sheriff’s daughter,” Nonna said. “I don’t have much choice right now. Maybe she would make a better waitress. We’ll see.”
They ate their eggs and toast for a few minutes.
“I know there’s probably some things you’d like to do at the diner,” Nonna said. “You’ve got a lot of experience now. You might want to make some changes, and I’m all right with that. Rossetti’s probably needs some changes.”
“Thanks, Nonna,” Serena said. “Thanks for having faith in me. I wouldn’t change anything that would change what Rossetti’s is.”
Nonna looked relieved. “Rossetti’s is going to be yours one day, so do whatever you want to. I trust you.”
After breakfast, Nonna said she was going to the diner to work lunch. This was her regular routine and she didn’t need Serena. She could drive herself and she could run her own restaurant for lunch. Serena was relieved to see Nonna bouncing back into the strong person she always had been. She knew Nonna was devastated by the sudden loss of her child, but she dealt with it in her own way and moved on to get the job done.
“I’ll call Bridgewater’s while you’re gone. I don’t look forward to that,” Serena said getting up from the table. “And I’ll get the dishes, Nonna. I do know how to do dishes.”
At ten, Serena called Bridgewater’s. Jody, the head of the wait staff at lunch, answered.
“Hey, Jody,” Serena said. “Is Scott around?”
“Hey, Serena. I’m so sorry about your mother.”
“Thanks,” Serena said. “How’s it going around there?”
“There’s major news. Major. But I’ll let Scott tell you about it.”
A few seconds later, Scott picked up.
“Serena!” he said. He certainly did sound excited to hear from her.
“Hey, Scott. Sorry I’ve been out of touch.”
“We understand completely.”
“I need to tell you something,” Serena said, but Scott was already talking.
“We fired Daniel,” he said.
“You’re kidding!”
“Not kidding. He was hardly ever here, and then some goons showed up one day to the restaurant looking for him. Turns out he’s been gambling and built up quite a debt with it.”
Serena's Choice - Coastal Romance Series Page 3