“I’ll have the Mandarin salad with grilled chicken,” she told the girl behind the counter. “Dressing on the side, please.”
“And to drink?” the girl asked.
“A bottle of water, thanks.”
While she waited, Sophie picked up a folded menu from a stack that sat inside a basket on the counter and studied the offerings. Lots of sandwiches—some basic, a few more creative—and soups and salads that changed daily. Covered cake stands on the counter held layer cakes, brownies, and bar cookies. Figuring this would be her competition in the center of town, Sophie took it all in, from the light hardwood floor to the benches that stood along one wall. Not many seats, she realized, but since this was strictly a take-out establishment, the lack of seating wasn’t an issue. She watched the food being prepared, noting how everything was packaged to travel, then placed in a white paper bag stamped with a picnic spread out on a red-and-white checkered tablecloth.
Cute, she thought. Nice presentation. She’d have to do better.
Maybe box lunches, she thought as she paid for her lunch and walked back to her car. White boxes with the name of the restaurant—she was still working on that—maybe tied up with plain white string. Something that the film people would find visually appealing, since she was going to have to depend on them if her restaurant was going to be a success. And of course, the food was going to have to be exceptional. She’d have to find someone who cooked at least as well as she did.
“What do you get when you cross the godfather with a lawyer?”
Sophie glanced over her shoulder, then smiled. “An offer you can’t understand.”
Jason walked toward her in dusty jeans that had a rip here and there, a short-sleeved gray T-shirt, dark glasses, and a Phillies ball cap.
He does the suit-and-tie thing really well, she thought, remembering Saturday night, but casual? Outstanding.
Sophie unlocked the driver’s-side door. “What else ya’ got?”
“Depends. Can I use my cheat sheet?”
“Sorry, but no.”
“Then I’ll have to get back to you on that.” He leaned against her car. “So how’s your first official day as a St. Dennis lawyer going?”
“It will be going better once I finish cleaning up my brother’s mess so that I can actually do legal work.”
“What kind of work are you doing?”
“Trying to get things organized so that I can do the work he left for me. Then I need to set up my office. Move some stuff around.” She pulled at the front of her baggy faded red sweatshirt. “Stuff you wear old clothes to do.”
His phone buzzed and he hesitated. She could see he was trying to decide whether or not to answer it.
“Go ahead and take that,” she told him. “I need to get back anyway. See you later.”
“Okay. Sure.” He nodded and took the phone from his pocket and answered the call.
She turned on the radio and found her new favorite satellite station that played ’90s music, the songs from her high school days. She drove back to the office mouthing the words to “Smooth” and thinking back on the crush she’d had on Kevin Russo her junior year. He was the cutest guy on the baseball team and he drove a Jeep Wrangler, which was the designated cool car back in the day. They’d gone to the movies together three weekends in a row and she could still remember every one of those films: Saving Private Ryan, Armageddon, and Lethal Weapon 4. No one was surprised when he joined the Marines right after graduation. Their romance was short-lived—the day after Armageddon he dumped her for Carrie Maloney, who was rumored to be fast and easy—but for a few short weeks, Sophie had been the envy of every girl in the school. She remembered how it felt to have the cute guy pass her notes in class and wait at her locker for her at the end of the day.
It was a silly memory, she knew—she was long out of high school—but somehow it buoyed her spirits, and she went back into the office singing another song from that time—Sting’s “Brand New Day”—and trying to relate the memory to life as she knew it.
She critiqued the salad as she ate at the small kitchen table: the romaine was fresh and the dressing citrusy, which she liked, but the oranges were tasteless and the chicken just a little on the dry side. Not bad, but all in all, she could do better. Maybe she should put something like this on her menu as a one-day-a-week salad special. She asked Violet for her opinion, but she claimed not to have one.
“I’m a silent partner, Sophie,” Violet reminded her. “I’m not getting involved in the food or the day-to-day.”
“But you can still have an opinion.”
“No, I can’t. One opinion will lead to another, and the next you know, I’ll be bringing in my mother’s recipe for lemon meringue pie.”
“You have your mother’s recipe for lemon meringue pie?”
“I might.” Violet focused on opening the mail.
“Well, you would share that, though, wouldn’t you?”
“We’ll see.”
Sophie smiled. The recipe was as good as hers. She went into Jesse’s office and stared at the files, then poked her head back into the reception area.
“Violet, what is your filing system?”
“It’s very simple. Alphabetical starting from the first file cabinet there.” She pointed to the tall wooden cabinets directly across from her desk. “It picks up in Jesse’s office because we ran out of room in here.”
“All the files in all the cabinets are open cases?”
“I’m afraid not. I used to pack away the closed files to store in the attic, but I stopped doing that years ago because it was too hard for me to climb the steps.”
“So you wouldn’t mind if I weeded out the closed ones now and put them elsewhere?”
“Not at all. I’d welcome it, actually.”
“Then that’s what I’ll do.”
For the rest of the afternoon, Sophie emptied filing cabinets and sorted files. She made the decision to use one of the two small unoccupied offices on the first floor as a file room and proceeded to move the closed files into there. It seemed she’d barely gotten started when Violet called to her from the front hall.
“Sophie, I’ll be leaving now unless you need me for something.”
“What time is it?” Sophie pulled up a sleeve to look at her watch. “Really? Six fifteen already?”
“I’d stay and help you, but I have dinner every Monday night with some old schoolmates. I hate to miss that. There aren’t so many of us left.”
“I wouldn’t dream of having you stay. Go. Have a great dinner. I’ll see you in the morning.”
Sophie continued emptying file drawers and boxing up files, all the while thinking about her restaurant. In eight more days it would be hers, and then the real work would begin. Violet’s mention of her mother’s pie recipe had sparked an idea. Sophie had wanted to make the restaurant reflective of the St. Dennis community in a unique way. What if she had other recipes that had been passed down through the generations there in town? Heirloom recipes, she’d call them, and she’d feature a different one every week. There’d be a special little blurb on the menu noting who’d contributed it, maybe something about that family that might be interesting or noteworthy.
So much more fun than plastic blue claw crabs and fish nets on the walls.
But what to put on those walls? she pondered while she pushed a box of files down the hall. She’d just pulled the box into the file room when she heard the front door open.
“Hello?” she called and stepped into the hall.
“How do you get a lawyer out of a tree?”
“Cut the rope.”
“Damn it.” He snapped his fingers. “I’m going to have to find a better website.”
“I told you, I’ve heard them all.” Her nose caught the scent of something that caused her mouth to water. “What’s in the box?”
“Pizza from Dominic’s. Best on the Eastern Shore. I ordered a medium, but they made a mistake and made me a large. I was driving home and passed by and saw your car he
re and the lights still on, and thought I’d take a chance that maybe you hadn’t eaten yet either.”
“I haven’t, but you don’t have to …”
“Where do you want it?” He held up the box.
“I guess the kitchen.” She led the way. “I hope paper plates are okay?”
“Since I usually eat mine right out of the box, that would be an upgrade.” He put the box on the table.
“Sit.” She motioned to one of the chairs before opening the refrigerator. “We only have water to drink, as far as I can see.”
“Water’s fine. I have beer at the house, if you’d rather. I could run home and …”
“No, no. Water’s pretty much my beverage of choice these days anyway.” She got two paper plates and a stack of napkins and placed them on the table.
He took a seat, then opened the box, and the steamy aroma filled the room.
“I had no idea I was this hungry.” She sat across from him at the small table and peered into the open box. “Veggie pizza? Really?”
“What?” Jason frowned. “What’s wrong with veggie pizza?”
“I had you pegged for a pepperoni kind of guy. Maybe sausage and peppers. Eggplant, purple onions, dried cherries, and arugula seems a stretch.” She picked up a slice and sniffed. “Is that goat cheese?”
“I thought you might like this better than pepperoni.”
She put the slice on her plate. “I thought you picked it up, then drove by and stopped because you saw my car.”
“I may have had that slightly out of order. I may have driven past first.” He took a bite, chewed, then nodded. “It’s better than I expected it to be.”
Sophie laughed. “You ordered a pizza you didn’t think you’d like because you thought I’d like it?”
“Okay, so I saw your car and figured you were working late. I called Dominic’s and asked him to make something a little out of the ordinary. This is what he made.”
Sophie grinned. “And if I’d been gone by the time you got back here?”
“I’d be at home, picking off the dried cherries by myself.”
Still smiling, Sophie passed her plate to him. “I’ll take them. You want my eggplant?”
“Nah, I’m good, but thanks.”
“This was really nice,” she told him. “Thank you. I’m really glad you stopped by.”
“So am I.”
“Oh, water.” Sophie got up and took two bottles of spring water from the fridge and handed one to Jason.
“Thanks. Now, how was the family reunion yesterday?”
“Oh, it was a lot of fun. It’s so interesting how people who are related can be so much alike, even if they didn’t know each other growing up.”
“Give me a for instance.” He finished his first slice and went back for a second.
“Well, Zoey works for one of the shopping networks on TV, and she does a lot of the cooking shows. She’s apparently become quite the gourmet.”
“Is that your way of telling me you’re a gourmet cook?”
“Actually, I am. If you’re nice to me, I might even cook something special for you sometime.”
“I am nice to you.” He pointed to the pizza box.
“So you are. As soon as I get my stuff unpacked, I’ll prove just how good I am.”
“You’re on.”
“Seriously. I’m really a very good cook. I’m going to open a restaurant.”
“I’ll be your first customer.”
“That would be my mother.”
“Ah, your mother … fascinating woman. We had quite an interesting chat the other night.”
“What exactly did she say?”
“Just stuff.” His lips curved into a smile.
“What kind of stuff?”
“Just stuff like how happy she is that you’re moving here, stuff like that.”
“Not ‘I hope my girl meets a nice young man so she can settle down like her brother has’?”
“Maybe a little.”
“Arrgghhh.” Sophie covered her face with her hands.
“It wasn’t too bad.” Jason laughed. “Really. And she was charming about it.”
“I’m sure she was. Mom can ooze charm when she wants to, which makes her quite the formidable courtroom opponent. I’d hate to have to go up against her.”
“Well, you can’t blame her for wanting you to be happy. She did say she was glad that you and Jesse have gotten close to your grandfather, though.”
“Speaking of whom, did you see him today?”
“No, I was working on something else.” He picked up his water bottle, then hesitated before he took a sip. “Is something wrong?”
“No, no. I was just wondering. Both he and I all but passed out yesterday after everyone left, he in his chair and me on the sofa. If the caterer hadn’t made so much noise leaving, I might still be there.”
“I’ll be there tomorrow for a while. I’m having some shrubs delivered and will get them planted.”
“How do you know where to put things? How do you know what it will look like in another year? Or in five or ten years?”
“You learn by studying, just like you learn anything else. With plants, you study their growth patterns and you know what they’ll look like at different stages, how big they’ll get, how their needs for sun or shade and water will change as they grow.” He took a long drink of water. “I was lucky that after Eric went into the service, I was hired by a guy in Florida who did a lot of restoration work. He taught me a lot, encouraged me to go to school. The local community college had courses in landscaping, so I signed up for those. So I had both the theoretical and the hands-on education going for me when my boss retired and I went into business for myself.” He put the cap back on the bottle. “Well, for Eric and me. He was going to partner with me when he got home, put up half the money for the start-up. After he died, I felt obligated to pay Brooke back for Eric’s investment, so I sold the company and came here to pay her in person.”
“And you stayed.”
“Yes, I stayed. Logan’s here,” he said simply. “I saw a need for the kind of work that I do, so I decided that St. Dennis was as good a place as any to start over.”
“I’m glad you did,” she heard herself say.
“So am I.” He reached across the table to touch her fingers with his. “So what’s your story? Why did you decide to pick up and move here?”
“Family guilt, for one, but it was more than that. Jesse was in over his head with work and really did need me. I’ve been a prosecutor for eight years and I was ready for a change.” She was tempted to tell him about Chris, then decided against it. Lately, Chris hadn’t seemed quite as important as he once had.
“So is this the change you were looking for?”
“I’ve only been here for a few days, but I think it’s going to be fine. I like the town, I like the people I’ve met. I like the vibe here.” She smiled. “And I think I’ll like the work once I get this place organized. Speaking of which, I should get back to it.”
“Is there anything I can help you with?”
“No, thanks. I’d think you’d be tired by …” She glanced at her watch. “Is it really eight o’clock?”
“Ten after,” he told her.
She stood and cleared away the plates and the empty pizza box. “Thanks so much, Jason. I think I probably would have just kept on going and wouldn’t have stopped until I passed out from hunger.”
“Way to give Violet a heart attack in the morning.” He pushed back his chair. “Do you have much else to do tonight?”
“I do, but I think I’m going to let it go. There were some boxes I was going to bring back, but my arms are starting to feel like noodles.” She let them hang straight down. “I’m afraid I’m out of shape.”
“Your shape looks just fine to me.”
“Two compliments in three days,” she mused. “Keep it up and I might start forgetting that I’m a lawyer.”
“Speaking of which … how many lawyers
does it take to screw in a lightbulb?”
“Please.” She rolled her eyes. “Three. One to climb the ladder, one to shake it, and one to sue the ladder company. Old as the hills.”
“I gotta find some better material,” Jason muttered. “So where are the boxes you need moved?”
“In Jesse’s office, but you don’t have to …” Too late. Jason was out the door, down the hall, and into Jesse’s office.
“These on the floor?” he called back to her.
“Yes. The ones …”
“Where do you want them?” He was carrying them, one on top of the other.
“In here.” She showed him into the new file room. “Anyplace is fine. Thank you.”
“Two more. Be right back.”
She liked the way he moved, all easy saunter, like he had all night.
“This should do it.” He returned with the remaining boxes and put them down on the floor next to the others.
“Thank you so much. I’d been reduced to pushing them all the way from the front of the office and it was taking me forever.” She leaned back against the filing cabinet. “You’ve saved me about a half hour, not to mention my back and my arms.”
He took two steps toward her, took her hands and drew them upward until they rested on his neck, then lowered his mouth to hers and kissed her. As kissers went, she thought, Jason was an A-plus. The tickle she felt whenever he got too close was more like an electric charge that went straight to her gut. By the time she caught her breath, he’d eased away from her, but her face still felt the brush of his five o’clock shadow and her heart was still racing.
“How ’bout I help you lock up?” His hands had slid to her waist as if they belonged there.
“You don’t have to …”
“It’s dark, and there doesn’t seem to be anyone else around.”
He planted one soft kiss on her forehead, then took her by the hand. On their way out of the room, Sophie turned off the light.
“I just have Jesse’s room and the kitchen to close up,” she said.
“I’ll take care of the kitchen.”
He let go of her hand and walked to the back of the hall while she went to the front. She restacked a pile she’d knocked over earlier, picked up three files she’d decided she’d need to read through before acting on the most recent correspondence, and swung the strap of her bag over her shoulder. Then she snapped off the office light, as well as the overhead in the reception area, and took the key from her bag.
The Chesapeake Diaries Series 7-Book Bundle: Coming HOme, Home Again, Almost Home, Hometown Girl, Home for the Summer, The Long Way Home, At the River's Edge Page 201