Truth and Solace

by Jana Richards

  Luke flinched. That was uncalled for, asshole. Considering what his mother had told him about deliberately keeping him and his father apart, Jerry wasn’t entirely to blame. But if he’d really wanted to know him, he would have fought harder for him. If Luke had had a child, it’s what he would have done.

  “When I was a kid, I pictured you as GI Joe, a hero. I even made up stories about you that I told kids at school. I told them you were away on a secret mission and that’s why you didn’t live with me and—”

  Luke abruptly stopped. He’d revealed far more than he’d wanted to. But the truth was he’d longed for a father growing up, a man he could look up to, and emulate. All his friends had fathers.

  Jerry fixed his gaze on a spot somewhere across the room. “I wish I could go back and change things. You can’t imagine how often I’ve wished that. But I can’t change the past. What I hope is that from this point forward, you and I can forge some kind of relationship. I know I’ll never really be a father to you, but I hope we can be friends.”

  Friends? Luke didn’t know how to respond to that. That might be the only option left open, but he wasn’t sure it was enough.

  Luke clicked on Celeste Bishop’s Skype icon while Maggie pulled a stool up to the counter. A moment later, his laptop screen filled with Celeste’s image. She was a woman in her late twenties, he guessed, with expressive dark eyes and café au lait colored skin.

  “Hi, Celeste,” he said after introducing himself and Maggie. “I’m glad to meet you.”

  Her smile had a nervous edge. “I appreciate your willingness to talk to me, even though I’m so far away in South Carolina.”

  Maggie answered before he could. “We’re glad to do it. We’re trying to find the best candidates for sous-chef, wherever they are.”

  “Why don’t we begin? Did you get all the ingredients together for your burger?” Luke had emailed her and told her how they’d interviewed other prospective sous-chefs. It wouldn’t be easy trying to assess her skills over the internet, but Maggie wanted to give her a shot. Celeste’s resume was intriguing enough that he was willing to give it a try.

  “Yes, I did.” She adjusted her laptop so the camera pointed toward her kitchen counter.

  “Tell us how you’re going to make your burger,” Maggie said.

  Celeste disappeared from the screen for a moment, but they could hear her voice. “Before I start anything, I need to wash my hands and then I’ll heat the grill on my stovetop to medium high. I like to start with medium ground hamburger because it tends to stay juicer than a lean ground.”

  They watched her set a bowl, a package of ground beef, and a carton of eggs on the table. She cracked one of the eggs, then whisked it with a fork.

  “Next, I add my seasonings,” Celeste continued. “A teaspoon mustard – I like Dijon best – a teaspoon Worcestershire sauce, about a half teaspoon salt and some pepper.”

  She disappeared from view again and returned with a small onion and a clove of garlic. Luke watched with approval as she finely diced the onion and efficiently crushed the garlic. The woman had good technique.

  “I add the onion and garlic to my egg mixture, give it a bit of a stir and then crumble in the hamburger meat. Occasionally, at this point, I like to add a little something extra, like creamy Caesar salad dressing or chopped sundried tomatoes. It gives an extra kick of flavor.” She opened the package of meat and then using her hands, gently crumbled the hamburger into the bowl. “I find the less I handle the meat, the juicer it stays. I only turn it once on the grill, and I never pierce it with a fork or all the juices run out.”

  She formed six patties and placed two on the grill. Luke heard the sizzle over the internet and swore he could almost smell it.

  “So while the burgers are grilling, about six to eight minutes per side, I like to get the buns ready.” Celeste disappeared from view and reappeared a moment later with a bag of hamburger buns. “I bought these buns at the supermarket. I’m guessing you would make your own in-house or get them from a bakery?”

  Maggie answered. “Yes. I plan to purchase our breads from a local bakery. That may change in the future if it makes sense for us to bake our own.”

  While Maggie talked, Celeste sliced open two of the buns and placed them on the grill next to the burgers. “Personally, I like a nice warm toasted bun for my burger.”

  She flipped the burgers and couple of minutes later removed the buns, which were perfectly toasted. After slicing a tomato, she put one slice and a leaf of lettuce on one half of each bun.

  “The fixings are to individual taste and we can add almost anything – cheese, bacon, pickle, relish – whatever. I like to keep it simple with the tomato and lettuce because I enjoy the fresh, cool taste of the vegetables right beside the hot meat.”

  A moment later, she slid the burgers onto the prepared buns. “And there you go. Lunch for my daughter when she gets home from school in a few minutes. My sister is walking her home today.”

  “How old is your daughter?” Maggie asked.

  “She’s six, in grade one.” Celeste fidgeted with the plates, turning them around and around. Now that she was finished cooking, she appeared nervous again.

  “Maggie, what did you think of Celeste’s burgers?” Luke asked. He wanted her to take the lead as she’d done with the previous interviews. If she was going to be head chef, she’d be doing a lot of hiring and firing in her career, so she needed to get acquainted with the process and know what to look for.

  “I think that if I was in Celeste’s kitchen right now, I’d steal her lunch from her. Your burger looks delicious.”

  A brief, relieved smile crossed Celeste’s face. “Thank you.”

  “You were quick, efficient and knowledgeable. You know your way around a burger.”

  Celeste’s smile was more relaxed. “Well, I have flipped my share.”

  Maggie glanced at Celeste’s resume. “I see you worked at a couple of well-known restaurants in the Myrtle Beach area in the past ten years, but I’m noticing a gap in your work experience. It looks like you haven’t worked in a restaurant for over a year. What have you been doing?”

  Celeste fiddled with the dishes on her counter once more, pushing the two plates with the burgers to one side. Luke knew a stalling tactic when he saw one.

  An awkward moment of silence dragged on, making him fidget. Finally, Celeste replied. “I’ve begun a new business making birthday and wedding cakes.”

  “What made you leave the restaurant business?” Maggie persisted. “Why do you want to work for the Solace Lake Lodge? We’re a long way from South Carolina.”

  Celeste sighed and closed her eyes, lowering her head before facing them once more, a resigned expression on her face. “I might as well tell you. I’m sure you’ll find out anyway. At my last job at The Beachfront Bistro, the head chef became obsessed with me. He began making sexual advances at work and phoning constantly to harass me during my off hours. Occasionally, he followed me home, which was really scary. I told him repeatedly I wasn’t interested, but he wouldn’t stop. Finally, I got up the nerve to complain to the owners of the restaurant. All I asked was that they tell him to leave me alone and let me do my job. The head chef denied he’d ever harassed me. He turned the tables, saying I was the one who was harassing him. Who do you think they believed?”

  “I’m guessing they went with the head chef,” Maggie said. Luke heard the repressed anger in her voice.

  Celeste nodded. “He was a star chef and I was a nobody. They fired me on the spot. But what was worse was that I was labeled a trouble maker. Nobody in this town has been willing to hire me. I’ve been making cakes out of my sister’s kitchen the past year, but it’s difficult to make a decent wage, especially since none of the restaurants will buy from me. My daughter and I had to move in with my sister and her family to make ends meet.”

  “I see.” Maggie’s face was devoid of expression. It made Luke uneasy not knowing what she was thinking. “Thank you for speakin
g to us, Celeste. We’ll get back to you with our decision later today.”

  Celeste nodded, her expression tense. “Thank you for interviewing me. I appreciate your time.” Her tone suggested she didn’t expect to ever hear from them again.

  “Goodbye.”

  Luke disconnected. “What do you think?”

  “I want to hire her.”

  He blinked, totally taken aback. “Are you sure? Don’t you think we should at least check with her last employer to get his side of the story?”

  She folded her arms across her chest, her mouth unsmiling. “I can tell you exactly how that conversation would go. We’d ask about Celeste and the head chef would say she was nothing but trouble, and they had to fire her. Or perhaps he’d be more subtle than that. He might say there was a personality conflict in the kitchen and everyone agreed she’d be better off somewhere else. But he’d make sure we understood that Celeste was a bitch, a whiner and a troublemaker, and he was glad to be rid of her. Which is the message I’m sure he’s given to every other prospective employer.”

  “This is more than idle speculation, isn’t it? Have you had personal experience with sexual harassment?” The thought made him sick to his stomach.

  She closed the lid of the laptop and slid off her stool. “Let’s just say I understand what she’s up against.”

  He grabbed her hand before she could run away. “What happened, Maggie?”

  Pain and defiance shone in her eyes. “Nothing you want to hear.”

  She was scaring him. He gripped her hand a little tighter. “You’re wrong. I want to know. I want to help if I can.”

  She tugged on her hand, and he let her go. “There’s nothing you can do. It’s ancient history. Can we drop this, please?”

  Luke nodded, disappointed. He couldn’t make her confide in him, and he certainly couldn’t make her trust him. He’d burned those bridges.

  Maggie tied her apron around her waist. “Celeste is in difficult position. I think she showed good skills and knowledge in her presentation. She could have made up some kind of story to explain the gap in her resume, but she told the truth. I believe she’s an honest, hard-working woman who, through no fault of her own, fell into an impossible situation. But I don’t want to hire her because I feel sorry for her. I want to hire her because I think she’ll be an asset to our kitchen.”

  She stood completely motionless, her back straight, as if she was bracing herself for some kind of push back from him. But even though she expected to be overruled, she’d spoken her opinion bravely and honestly.

  He’d never been prouder of her. “Okay. We’ll hire her.”

  Maggie blinked. “We will?”

  He couldn’t help grinning at her surprise. “Yeah, we will. You’ve made a very compelling argument. I have one caveat. We hire her for a three-month probationary period. If we find that things aren’t working out, we’ll go our separate ways, no harm, no foul.”

  “Fair enough. Can we call her back right now and let her know?”

  “Sure. Go ahead.”

  Her sudden smile transported him back to that summer so long ago, back to the beautiful, happy teenager she’d been. His breath caught in his throat. He wished he could make her smile like that more often. His heart squeezed at the thought of all he’d lost.

  A few moments later, Celeste’s picture popped up on the laptop screen once more. This time, she wasn’t alone. A little girl with large dark eyes and curly pigtails stood at her side, munching on a hamburger.

  “Hi, Celeste. I’m glad we caught you,” Maggie said. “Who do you have with you?”

  Celeste put a hand on her daughter’s shoulder, as if trying to protect her from whatever was going to happen in the next few minutes. “This is my daughter Hope.”

  “Nice to meet you, Hope. How’s your burger?”

  The little girl smiled shyly. “It’s good.”

  “I thought it would be,” Maggie said. She turned her attention to Celeste. “We’ve talked it over, and we want to offer you the job as sous-chef at the Solace Lake Lodge.”

  Celeste simply stared, her dark eyes wide. Hope tugged at her arm. “Mama, Mama! You got a job!”

  Luke told her about the probationary period and what they were prepared to pay. Still, Celeste said nothing. He and Maggie exchanged a concerned glance.

  “I know the lodge is a long way from South Carolina, and I understand it would be a big adjustment for you and Hope. We’ll give you a couple of days to think things over and get back to us,” Maggie said. She sounded disappointed.

  “No!” Celeste stretched her hand toward the screen as if she were trying to reach out and touch Maggie. “Don’t go! Yes, I’ll take the job. I didn’t expect… I didn’t think… after I told you about… I didn’t think you’d want me.”

  “We do want you, Celeste. Very much,” Maggie said, her smile warm and reassuring. “How soon can you get here?”

  Celeste froze, her expression crestfallen. “I don’t know. I don’t have a car, and I don’t have the money for airfare. I didn’t think that far in advance when I sent in my resume. I’m sorry.”

  Maggie tapped her finger on the counter and bit her lower lip before turning to him. “I’m about to make an executive decision, Luke.”

  “Go for it.” He was unbelievably proud of her.

  She returned her attention to the screen. “We’ll arrange and pay for your airfare to the lodge. You can pay us back over the next three months. Does that sound fair?”

  “More than fair. Thank you.” Celeste’s brow wrinkled. “I almost hate to ask after everything you’ve done, but is there some place Hope and I will be able to stay? It doesn’t have to be fancy.”

  Maggie turned to him again. “What do you think?”

  “Well, the lodge isn’t officially open yet, so we have several rooms in the new guest wing available. Celeste and Hope can stay in one of the double rooms until we can arrange something more permanent.”

  “Does that sound okay?” Maggie asked.

  Celeste laughed and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue. “It sounds more than okay. I don’t know how to thank you.”

  “You can thank me by being the hard-working, creative chef I believe you to be. I can’t wait to meet you and start working together.”

  Celeste laughed while tears spilled down her cheeks. “I can’t wait either.”

  Luke watched Maggie’s face as she went over a few details with Celeste. Despite everything she’d been through, or maybe because of it, she was a strong, capable, compassionate woman. She was going to make a success of the restaurant, and her life.

  Too bad he wasn’t going to be around to see it happen.

  His joy at seeing her excel, his pride at her strength and resilience, faltered at the thought.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Maggie poured tea for Abby and placed the cup and saucer on the table next to her chair. She opened the plastic container she’d brought and held it out to Abby. “Can I tempt you with some cookies?”

  Abby reached for an oatmeal raisin. “You know I’ve always loved your baking.” She ate a small bite of the cookie and set the rest on a plate beside her teacup. “Tell me about your adventures at the lodge.”

  “Well, we’ve hired a sous-chef.”

  Maggie launched into the story about how they’d interviewed Celeste online. She even told her their newest employee had been harassed and unable to get a job in her community, knowing that Abby wouldn’t share that information.

  “So, she and her daughter will arrive here in a few days. Luke and I will drive to Minneapolis to pick them up at the airport.”

  “She has a daughter?”

  “Yes. Hope is six. I imagine it’s going to be a big change for them moving here. Starting with the weather.”

  She looked out the window at the heavy coating of snow covering Harper’s truck, which she’d borrowed to visit Abby. “I hope it’s not such a big adjustment that she leaves in a couple of weeks. I hope I haven’t made a
huge mistake in hiring Celeste.”

  “Trust your gut, Maggie. You have good instincts.”

  She smiled, amused by Abby’s certainty. Her instincts had been off before. “You think so?”

  “Absolutely. Always listen to that little voice in your head. It won’t lead you astray.”

  “I’ll try to remember that.”

  Abby was silent for a moment while she drank her tea. Then, she placed her cup on her saucer. “I’d like to tell you some stories about your mother. Would you like to hear them?”

  Maggie sat up straighter. “Yes, of course. I’d love to hear them again.”

  When she was a teenager, Abby had told her stories about some of the things she and Miranda had done as girls. Like Miranda perming Abby’s hair and leaving the solution in too long, resulting in frizzy mess that Abby had to endure for weeks until it grew out. Maggie had treasured those stories.

  Abby shook her head. “I want to tell you some other stories about Miranda. You were too young before, but you’re an adult now and I can tell you things I couldn’t back then.”

  “What kind of things?” Maggie’s interest was definitely piqued.

  “About her life, and the person she was. The things that happened to her. The first time she fell in love.”

  “With my father?”

  Abby hesitated. “With a boy from school. He was nearly five years older – eighteen and a half to her fourteen. He’d recently graduated high school and she’d finished ninth grade. As soon as her parents found out they were…together, they forbade her from seeing him.”

  Maggie’s breath caught in her throat. “Like me and Luke.”

  “Yes. It must have been difficult for your grandparents to see you fall in love so young, like Miranda.” She covered her mouth with a tissue as she coughed. After sipping some tea, she continued. “Things would have been so different if they could have accepted him.”

  “What happened?”

  “Miranda and her boyfriend ran away together. But they didn’t have much money and couldn’t get far. Your grandfather caught them and brought Miranda home. He threatened to have the boy charged with rape and abduction if he didn’t leave town. The boyfriend was scared and broke and believed he had no choice but to leave. Miranda was broken-hearted, but she was also angry with him for leaving. She had some adolescent romantic notion that if he really loved her, he would have stayed, no matter what.”