Serena's Choice - Coastal Romance Series

by Jennifer Ransom

  “So that’s what he’s been so involved with,” Serena said. “Makes sense now.”

  “Of course, I’ve noticed for a while that Daniel hasn’t been pulling his weight. The owner and I were talking about firing him anyway. I’m just sorry you had to cover for him so long. That really wasn’t fair to you.”

  “Thanks for saying that, Scott. What are you going to do?”

  “The owners and I agree. We’d like to offer you the head chef job. You deserve it after everything you’ve had to put up with. We are prepared to allow you to add some entrees to the menu. Some Italian entrees. The owners think that would be a big sell and sort of rejuvenate Bridgewater’s.”

  Serena couldn’t believe what Scott was saying. The head chef job at Bridgewater’s would be a major career move that would put Serena’s name on the map. But she had already told Nonna she would be staying. She had already committed herself to Rossetti’s. But for a moment, she envisioned herself as the head chef of Bridgewater’s.

  “Serena?” Scott said. “You there?”

  “Yes, I’m here. That is a great opportunity and I appreciate so much your offering it to me. But I’ve decided to stay in Luna Bay. My grandmother and our family restaurant need me. If your offer had come before everything happened, I would have snapped it up.”

  “It should have come much sooner, Serena. I know that,” Scott said.

  “I know you’re going to be in a bind, but I know you’ll find someone very talented to take Daniel’s place. I wish it could be me, but the timing is just not right.”

  “It sounds like your mind is made up,” Scott said. “I’m disappointed. I’d like you to continue to be part of Bridgewater’s team. But I understand.”

  “I need to come back and pack my apartment up. I’d be happy to come help you out for a few days while I’m doing that. But I’ve got to get back to Luna Bay as soon as possible.”

  “I’m not going to say we’re doing okay without you, but we’re getting by. I think you should just go ahead and make your move. I know your grandmother needs you even more than we do.”

  “Thanks, Scott.”

  When Nonna got home after lunch, Serena told her she was going to Atlanta the next day to clean out her apartment. She would be back in a few days, just as soon as she was finished. She didn’t tell Nonna about the job offer from Bridgewater’s because it would just make her grandmother feel guilty. She and Adrianna had such high hopes for Serena’s career. But Adrianna’s untimely death had changed everything.

  She worked the dinner shift and left the after-dinner crowd to Sandy and Mark. Her grandmother was already asleep when she returned to the cottage. The moon was getting fuller and Serena sat on the back porch with a glass of wine, thinking about her incredible day and what lay ahead. She wondered what had caused Jeff to come to Luna Bay for her mother’s funeral. It didn’t make sense to her, to the relationship they had. She would have to call him when she got to Atlanta to let him know of her plans. He deserved that much now.

  As usual, Nonna made a substantial breakfast the next morning. Afterward, Serena left the dishes to her grandmother—Nonna wanted to do them—and packed her suitcase for the trip to Atlanta. At the door, she hugged Nonna and told her she’d be back in a few days.

  “I’ll try to figure out how to replace Jimmy and Olive while you’re gone,” Nonna said.

  Serena drove the five hours to Atlanta, grateful for the down time to think. More than once, she started crying as she remembered her mother. As far back as she could remember, her mother had attracted men. Serena knew this, even if she didn’t understand it when she was small. But then, as she grew older, she did understand what it meant. She did understand why the men kept hanging around. Adrianna was beautiful and vivacious. She had a light all her own and everyone else, including Serena, was happy just to bask in that light.

  Adrianna was like Sophia Loren, with her own Italian American spin on it. But she had little interest in the men that ogled her, the men that hung around her just hoping for a look, a laugh. She dated some of them, but Adrianna had loved only one man, Serena’s father, and no other man would ever measure up to him. Adrianna died loving only that one man. It was both sad and sweet.

  Serena herself had never experienced that kind of love or anything even close to it. She’d dated Tony Meadows her senior year of high school and afterwards, before she went to culinary school. She’d lost her virginity to Tony, but she hadn’t loved him deeply. He had loved her more strongly, begging her not to leave Luna Bay. He asked her to marry him, and she turned him down. He had not taken her rejection well, and by the time she left, he was angry and refused to talk to her. She hadn’t seen him since.

  Then Serena was so busy with school and work, that she only dated casually or had brief sexual relationships. Nothing had changed about that. Jeff was just one more in a long line of that type of relationship.

  Serena lived in a fourplex that was in a sea of fourplexes, designed to attract young professionals making their way in Atlanta. It wasn’t that far from Bridgewater’s, which is where Serena spent most of her time. As she walked into her apartment after being gone for several days—a lifetime ago, it seemed—Serena saw the place with new eyes. She had never even bothered to truly decorate and make the apartment her own. Now, it seemed sterile and out of a box. The furniture was nice enough, but there were very few personal pieces that bespoke her personality. It was like no one really lived there. What had happened to Serena? Why had she allowed herself to live such a half-lived life?

  She was tired from the trip and dropped her suitcase to the floor. The only thing to eat was cereal and a little milk, which she ate without thinking before she went to her bed and fell asleep.

  The traffic was heavy the next day when Serena went to Wal-Mart for boxes and other storage containers. It was always heavy in Atlanta and Serena was not going to miss it. What made her think Atlanta was a good place for her? She was starting to wonder if Nonna and her mother’s dream of culinary school for Serena was even her own dream. Why did she have to go to culinary school? She already knew how to cook Italian food, which is all she wanted to do now. Maybe that dream of Nonna’s and her mother’s was misguided or an unfulfilled dream of their own. Serena could not say that she had been particularly happy going to culinary school, then getting into the rat race of the chef world.

  She stacked the packing containers and materials in the living room and surveyed her apartment. There was no reason to take all of that furniture to Luna Bay or anywhere else. It wasn’t the kind of furniture that one would want throughout their lives, the kind one would want to drag around from place to place, setting up household after household. She didn’t need the furniture. She didn’t want it.

  Without the furniture to deal with, Serena started packing her things in boxes and containers. Most of the things she had that she wanted to keep were in the kitchen. Pots and pans and other kitchen implements. She cleared out her closets and dressers, she packed her few books and knick-knacks, and she was done. It seemed impossible, but she was done. Was this really all she had to show for her life? It was only three o’clock.

  Goodwill agreed to come by the next day to remove her furniture and dishes and glasses she had packed. Then it was time to call Jeff.

  “I wanted to let you know that I’m leaving Atlanta,” Serena said when Jeff answered.

  “Leaving?” he asked.

  “Yes. I need to help my grandmother now. Rossetti’s won’t survive if I don’t. At least I don’t think it will.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that, Serena,” Jeff said. “How is Elena?”

  It sounded weird to hear him call her grandmother Elena.

  “She’s doing okay. She’s back at work and being strong, like she always is.”

  “She’s a great lady,” Jeff said.

  “Yes,” Serena said, feeling awkward and wondering when she could get off the phone.

  “When are you leaving?”

  “I’m alrea
dy packed. When Goodwill takes the rest of the stuff tomorrow, I’ll get on the road.”

  “Can I take you out to dinner tonight? To say goodbye?”

  Serena wasn’t sure if she wanted to do that, but Jeff had been so kind coming to Luna Bay that she felt she should let him take her out. A final goodbye.

  “Okay,” she said.

  When she opened the door to Jeff, he said, “It feels weird to pick you up at your apartment.” They had always met each other at Bridgewater’s after Serena got off work. They would go out to a club, then back to her apartment where they made their way directly to Serena’s bed. Jeff would stay for a little while, long enough for intimacy, before he left. That bed would be gone from her life forever the next day.

  Instead of going to a loud club or packed restaurant, Jeff drove a few blocks over to a small and intimate pizzeria. A yeasty smell greeted Serena as they opened the door, a smell that used to permeate Rossetti’s back when they still made their own bread. Serena definitely planned to start that tradition back at the diner. The waitress seated them at a table with a red-checkered tablecloth and a wine bottle with a lit candle in the center. The voice of Frank Sinatra filled the restaurant, but not too loudly.

  “This is different,” Serena said.

  “I wanted to be able to talk,” Jeff said. Loud clubs had definitely not been conducive to conversation.

  Jeff ordered a bottle of red wine. He filled their glasses and handed one to Serena. He talked about his grandmother and the food she cooked for him. He told Serena about his trip to Italy, to the Callabra region of his heritage, after he graduated from high school.

  Serena told Jeff about the herbs and vegetables her mother grew. She told him about leaving Luna Bay to attend culinary school. She even told him about Tony. She wondered aloud if she had been living someone else’s dream and not her own.

  Jeff listened attentively. He asked her questions about Luna Bay, Tony, her mother, culinary school. He seemed to really want to know the answers. Their “dates” had never included personal conversation. Serena didn’t know what to make of it.

  At her apartment door, Serena invited Jeff in for a glass of wine.

  “I’m afraid I’ve packed all the glasses, so it’ll just be plastic cups,” she said.

  They sat on Serena’s living-room-in-a-box couch and sipped the wine from the plastic cups. It was the first time they had ever sat on her couch; they always made a beeline for the bed. Serena felt awkward again, not knowing how to deal with this new Jeff.

  Jeff took her hand. “How are you doing?” he asked.

  “I’m okay,” she said taking a drink of wine. “Doing okay.”

  He pulled her to him and started to kiss her.

  “Is this okay?” he asked. He’d never asked before if it was all right to kiss her. They’d kissed many times. She’d kissed him back and then they’d had sex. Why was he asking if it was okay now?

  She nodded, suddenly feeling vulnerable. “It’s okay,” she said.

  He kissed her again and it was gentle and not urgent and hurried like his late-night kisses had been on their dates before. He wrapped her in his arms and she accepted his embrace as they kissed. After a few minutes, Serena led Jeff to her bed, made up for the last time, and they made love. For the first time, they made love. It was slow and tender, with deep kisses and loving strokes. Jeff didn’t jump up and leave when it was over, like he always had before. He stayed. He held Serena close all night as they slept.

  When she woke up, Jeff was in the living room with two Styrofoam containers of breakfast from a nearby diner. Two large cups of coffee sat on the coffee table.

  “You were still sleeping, so I decided to get you breakfast,” Jeff said, motioning to her to sit down.

  Who was this person?

  “Thank you,” she said, sitting on the couch and opening the container. They ate the eggs, bacon, and biscuit without saying much. When they were finished, Jeff said, “Can I help you do anything here?”

  “I think I’ve got it under control,” she said. “Goodwill should have already been here. When they’re gone, I’ll vacuum the floors and leave.”

  The doorbell rang while Serena was talking and it was Goodwill. Serena showed them the furniture and boxes to take. While the two men moved the stuff out to the truck, Jeff moved Serena’s boxes to her car. It didn’t take long for Goodwill to finish. Serena vacuumed the floors and put the vacuum cleaner in her car. She was finished. It was time to get on the road to Luna Bay.

  Jeff stood by Serena’s car with her.

  “Do you think I could come visit you sometime?” he asked.

  “I’d like that,” Serena said. She was a little amazed to think that she really would like that.

  She kissed Jeff goodbye and got in her car, ready for the highway. Ready for Luna Bay.

  Chapter Five

  During her first week back permanently in Luna Bay and Rossetti’s, Serena studied the diner. She looked at the menu, she looked at the staff. She didn’t want to jump in and start changing things without thinking about it. But she knew one thing for sure. Rossetti’s would start making its own bread again.

  The sheriff’s daughter, Brittany, started working before Serena had returned to Luna Bay. Nonna had her making salads. That was pretty easy. Hard to go wrong there. Brittany had a tattoo on her forearm and wore several studs and earrings in her ears. She had a blue streak through her dark hair. She looked like a lot of young people Serena had seen. But she was determined not to judge Brittany and discount her. Every person was an individual with individual values, no matter their age or cultural orientation.

  Serena was going to put Brittany to the test. She asked the girl to help her get the bread oven clean and operational. She motioned to the oven in the corner when she spoke. Brittany looked over at the oven.

  “Is that what that is?” she asked. “I didn’t know what that thing was.”

  “It’s a bread oven. We used to make our own breads here, and I want to start doing that again.”

  Brittany walked over to the oven and stood in front of it, looking at it.

  “I can tell it’s been a long time since it’s been used,” she said.

  “You’re right,” Serena said. “It’s been way too long.”

  “Are you sure it’s worth it?” Brittany asked.

  “Let’s find out,” Serena said.

  For the remainder of the morning, Brittany and Serena worked to clean the bread oven. Brittany didn’t seem to be afraid of hard work. She put on rubber gloves and went to work cleaning out the interior of the oven.

  “This is a mess,” she said more than once. But she kept going. Then she took some steel wool and worked on the outside of the oven. When she was finished, the bread oven looked, if not like new, then close to it.

  “You did a good job, Brittany,” Serena said.

  “Thanks,” she said shyly.

  “Would you like to help me make the first bread that Rossetti’s has seen in a decade?”

  Brittany brightened up. “I’ve never made bread before,” she said.

  “That’s okay,” Serena responded. “I’m going to teach you.”

  Serena got out the big bowl from under a cabinet. She washed it out because it hadn’t been used in ten years. She put it on the counter and motioned for Brittany to stand beside her.

  “This is yeast,” Serena said to the girl as she poured it into the bowl. “It’s going to make the bread rise and become bread.”

  “But the yeast needs something to feed on,” Serena continued. “It needs something sweet. So I’m going to add some honey.” She squeezed honey into the bowl and added warm water. She stirred it around and put a towel on top of the bowl.

  “We’ll let that sit for a few minutes. Let it get good and yeasty.”

  Brittany followed every movement that Serena made.

  “That’s going to be bread?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  A few minutes later, Serena called Britta
ny back over to the big bowl. She showed her how to measure the flour and told the girl to put it in the bowl. Serena added salt.

  “Now stand there and stir that around for about five minutes,” she instructed the girl. Brittany did as she was told.

  Serena had cleared a place on the stainless steel counter and put flour down.

  “Dump that out here,” she told Brittany.

  “Now you need to knead it,” she said, laughing at her own joke. “Here, let me show you.” Serena took the large ball of dough and placed it on the flour on the counter. Serena began to knead the dough, pushing it with the heels of her hand, then pulling it back with her fingers. Over and over, she kneaded. The motions felt familiar and comforting.

  “I can do it,” Brittany said. So Serena turned it over to her. She watched the girl and saw that she could do it. She was doing it just right.

  “I think you’ve got a knack for that, Brittany,” she said.

  Brittany smiled but continued to concentrate on her kneading. After a few minutes, Serena said, “Now it’s time to put it in a bowl and let it rise. We’ll get back to it in an hour or so.”

  “An hour?” Brittany said.

  “Yes, an hour. Maybe two. It’s got to double in size. That’s how you make bread.”

  “You mean that’s going to double in size?” Brittany said gesturing toward the bowl.

  “Yep. You’ll see. While we wait, let’s check on the salads and the house dressing.”

  Brittany followed Serena to the refrigerated section of the kitchen.

  “Check and see if we’ve got house dressing,” Serena instructed her.

  Brittany opened the refrigerator door and peered inside. She stood there a moment.

  “What does it look like?” Brittany asked.

  “It should be in a big covered bowl. Do you see that?”

  “No.”

  “Okay, then we’re making house dressing next. Do you see lemons in there?”

  Brittany reached inside the refrigerator and pulled out several lemons.