by Judy Kouzel
The sun was quickly slipping down into the sky, and their conversation stalled as they watched the end of the day. The effect of the sunset cast a strange shadow over the patio. It held a soft, pink warmth that floated over her. It gave her a soft, dreamlike feeling and filled her with a sense of anticipation and delight. The soft colors played across the sky as dusk approached. It also did wonders for the color of Terry's eyes. They seemed to almost glow in their blueness. Leedy felt a gentle stirring within her, a stirring that was becoming all too familiar when she was near him. A feeling of longing and awe and desire all at the same time.
"You look very pretty in this light," he said, his voice dropping to almost a whisper. "But then again, you look pretty in any light."
"Thank you," she said. "You're making me blush."
"I'm sorry," he said. "I can't help it. I find you attractive, Leedy. Very attractive ..."
She said nothing. She found him attractive too, of course, but she did not know how to tell him. He was watching her with a new expression on his face. An expression that hinted there was more he wanted to say. An expression of breathless desire and aching passion. It was a look that warmed her all the way down to her toes and made the butterflies in her stomach take flight all over again.
He leaned across the table and brushed a loose hair back into place. "You have the most beautiful hair I've ever seen," he said in a hoarse voice. "It's so soft and shiny. It's like silk." Leedy still said nothing, but the sound of his deep, sexy voice was sending shivers up her spine. She looked into his face and was immediately lost again in his blue, blue eyes. Her heart was pounding and her breathing was uneven.
"Leedy ... I ..." he began. "You're absolutely gorgeous and ..."
She thought she heard the sound of a doorbell from far away and then, before Terry could finish his sentence, Deanna was calling them from inside the house.
"The food is here, Uncle Terry!" she shouted as she yanked open the sliding glass door. "Cough up some cash for the delivery guy! And I get first dibs on the Egg Foo Young."
Terry blinked his eyes and then shook his head. "Rotten kid," he whispered to Leedy. "She sure knows how to kill a moment. Remind me to tell her that she's grounded."
"I guess we better go in," Leedy said, her voice shaking.
They reluctantly went into the house. Terry pointed Leedy to the kitchen, then excused himself to pay for their dinner. She found Deanna setting the table. She had already piled the food cartons onto a lazy Susan that sat in the middle of the table and was now laying out chopsticks and napkins.
"Oops," Deanna said when Terry reappeared, looking dazed. She gave him a look of apology. "I hope I didn't interrupt ..."
"That's okay," Leedy said. "We were just watching the sunset."
"It was beautiful," he said, looking at her. Then he remembered Deanna. "You must be starving, kiddo. I know what an appetite all that shoe shopping can create." He pulled a chair out for his niece and then for Leedy. He lightly touched her elbow as she sat down. His hand was gentle against her skin, but underneath the pressure, she felt a tremble to his touch.
Deanna piled food on Leedy's plate, but she barely noticed. She couldn't stop thinking about Terry on the patio ... and the way his fingertips felt against her skin. No one had ever touched her that way. No one had ever made her feel like this.
Deanna was telling Terry about their day. She had a way of speaking that was rational and dramatic all at the same time. She told him about the shoe store and the rows of "way sweet" shoes she had stopped herself from buying. She also told him all about lunch with Leedy and how it was the most fun she had since last May's spring break.
"I had fun too," Leedy said. "We have to do it again soon."
"Okay," Deanna said, excited. "How about next Wednesday?"
"Deanna," Terry scolded.
"Wednesday is good," Leedy said. The words came out too quickly and for a moment she felt ashamed of herself. She didn't want Deanna to think she was trying to get to Terry by forming a relationship with her. Which she would never do!
Would she?
No. Of course not. She was genuinely fond of Deanna. There was a quality to the girl that was captivating. She had touched a spot in Leedy that she had not realized existed. Leedy felt an almost overpowering need to take care of Deanna. To mother her.
"Great," Deanna said. "Can you meet me at the coffee bar? Let's say noon."
"Sounds good to me," Leedy said, smiling broadly.
"Try to keep her out of the shoe stores," Terry said. "But what am I saying? It's like sending the wolf in to guard the hen house, isn't it?"
"I'll try to control myself," Leedy said.
They talked and laughed and dawdled over dinner. Terry made a pot of decaffeinated coffee and they sat around the kitchen table, telling stories and drinking the whole pot.
"Oh my gosh!" Deanna said, suddenly jumping out of her seat. "It's after nine o'clock! I'm late! I gotta get back to the dorm!"
"Late for what?" he asked. "What's your hurry? You don't have an early class tomorrow. I thought we were going to watch the movie?"
"I'm sorry, Uncle Terry," Deanna said. "But I've got a ton of homework left to do!"
"But I thought you said you only had a little reading."
"It's more than I thought.... Can you give me a lift?"
"I can give you a ride," Leedy offered, getting up from the chair. "I should be leaving myself."
"I'll drive her," Terry said, a note of disappointment in his voice. "And you could come with me. Then we could come back here and watch the movie ... if you'd like?"
Leedy almost accepted the offer, but just then the telephone on the wall began to ring. He answered it, absent- mindedly. "Hello," he said, distracted. "Oh ... um ... hi."
Something had changed in the tone of his voice that made Leedy's ears perk up. She didn't know who was on the other end of the phone, but whoever it was had a visible effect on him.
"No," he said, his voice dropping to a low murmur. "Not tonight. Deanna's here and we're ... fine. Tomorrow would be better." He hung up the phone and looked at Deanna and then at Leedy. He then smiled warily. "Work," he said, with an unconvincing shrug. "They don't know when to call it a day sometimes."
Terry had a look on his face that Leedy immediately recognized from her last few months with Brian. It was the same look of deception and guilt that she had told herself was only her imagination.
"I better be going," she said, pasting a smile on her face.
"Are you sure you wouldn't like to watch the movie?" he offered. "You can stay here, if you'd like. I'll take Deanna back to her dorm and be back here in no time. . ."
"I have to work tomorrow," she said. "I better not." It was true she had to work the lunch shift at Mr. Hobo's the next day. But she didn't have to be there until ten o'clock. She endured the tempting image of spending the evening curled up on the sofa watching an action movie with Terry. But the effect of the phone call determined her decision.
"No, thank you."
"Okay," he said. "But I don't want to impose on you. I'll take Deanna back to her dorm."
"It's no trouble," she said. "In fact, it's right on the way. It will give me the chance to thank her for the shopping trip."
Deanna appeared carrying her bookbag, and Leedy bade a quick goodbye to Terry at the front door. "See you in class tomorrow, Professor," she said. "And thanks for a lovely dinner."
Deanna was bouncing from foot to foot, obviously in a hurry to get into the car. "Bye, Uncle T," she said, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. "I'll see you Saturday morning!"
"Saturday morning?" Terry asked. "I thought you'd be coming home Friday night?"
"I have a date," Deanna said, bounding down the steps. Leedy followed behind her.
"A date?" he frowned. "All right. But don't stay out too late, Dee. And I'll see you on Saturday. Leedy ... thanks again. I'll see you tomorrow in class. Maybe we can go out afterwards for coffee?"
Leedy did not say
anything, but instead headed for the driveway. Deanna was already in the car with her seatbelt on waiting expectantly for the ride to take her back to her dorm. Leedy started the engine, gave one final wave to Terry and headed into the night, with Deanna all but spinning in the passenger's seat next to her.
"Turn left at the stop sign," she said. "I know a shortcut."
Deanna chattered nervously the whole way back to the college campus. She faked a yawn and smiled but every few moments she would glance anxiously at her watch.
"What's his name?" Leedy asked, as they turned into the University's entrance.
Deanna hesitated for a second. "Chris," she said. "Am I that obvious?"
"Only to the trained eye," Leedy said. "Where are you and Chris going?"
"We'll probably just watch television with some friends," Deanna said. "I told him I would be home by nine o'clock though. As usual, I'm late."
"Only by a half-hour," Leedy said, pulling up to the building Deanna had led her to.
"Thanks," she said, climbing out of the car. "I had a lot of fun today, Leedy. And I'm glad I got to know you better."
"Me, too," Leedy said, and she meant it.
"Um ... Leedy?"
"Yes?"
"Don't tell Uncle Terry about Chris, okay?"
"He already knows you date, doesn't he?"
"Well, yes," Deanna said, as she looked at the building and then back at Leedy. "But. . ."
"But, what?"
"Nothing," she said, a sigh in her voice. "I just wish Uncle Terry would go out more. Then he wouldn't worry about me so much."
Leedy nodded in understanding. But she understood Terry just as much, if not more. It certainly couldn't be easy on him to send his pretty niece off to college. Leedy watched Deanna dash up the steps into the dormitory building. She thought she saw a tall, blonde-haired boy in a black jacket walk up and greet her at the door, but she was not sure if it was an embrace or simply a welcome between fellow students. Leedy tilted her head to one side, watching the couple. It was probably her imagination, but there was something familiar about the boy.
She shrugged and pulled away from the curb. "Ah," she sighed to the empty car. "Young love ..." She drove away, thinking about romance. But more than Deanna and Chris, she thought about a handsome blue-eyed man who was watching a movie alone in his living room. "I wonder who that phone call was from," Leedy said out loud. It was all she could do to keep from driving back to his house.
Leedy had heard that the restaurant Antonio's was a wonderful place to eat, but since most of her evenings were devoted to Mr. Hobo's, she had not yet been there. She arrived right on time to find Jo Anne already waiting for her when she walked through the door. Jo Anne was wearing an attractive long, black silk dress with a coordinating long, black floral jacket. She looked every bit the picture of a poised and sophisticated woman about town.
"I'm over here," Jo Anne called, waving. Leedy walked over and gave Jo Anne a warm hug. "Antonio's is usually packed by this time, so I came a little early," Jo Anne confided. "Our table is ready. It's in the back."
The hostess led the way as Jo Anne and Leedy followed her through the restaurant. They could smell the wonderful aromas as they passed by the kitchen doors, which reminded Leedy that she had not eaten anything since breakfast.
"I'm starved," she confessed when they were seated in a corner table near a window. They had a nice view of the courtyard behind Antonio's.
"I remember those days of working in a restaurant and skipping lunch," Jo Anne said. "Ironic, isn't it? Always being surrounded by delicious food, yet somehow you can never find the time to eat."
"Yes," Leedy said. "When I was a chef in California, I ate all the time. If only to make sure the food tasted good. Now, all I can manage is a quick snack in the dish room. I hardly ever sit down and eat a real meal."
"You're a chef too?" Jo Anne said. "Terry didn't mention that."
"Yes," Leedy said. "I attended the Cornwell Institute and apprenticed in a few restaurants in Southern California."
"How exciting!"
"It was fun, in a crazy, exhausting way. But I only did it for a few years. I also worked for a small catering company."
"What brought you to Mr. Hobo's?" Jo Anne asked.
"I wanted to come back home to Wisconsin. I grew up just outside of Madison. I also wanted to learn the ropes of running a restaurant. When the manager's job opened up at Mr. Hobo's, I took it. I thought it would give me some insight into the management side of the restaurant business."
"Has it?" Jo Anne asked.
"Yes," Leedy said. "Managing a restaurant is a lot tougher than I thought it would be. I always thought the kitchen was the only part of the place that was in constant chaos. Now I know better."
"Oh, yes," Jo Anne said. "The restaurant business is a difficult industry."
"Tell me about it."
"What types of foods do you cook?" Jo Anne asked.
"Italian cuisine is my favorite," Leedy said, nodding at the menu. "Particularly recipes with lots of garlic and tomatoes. My personal favorites are anything with seafood. My grandmother was from Sicily and I have some wonderful old family recipes. How about you? What is your background?"
"I never was formally trained," Jo Anne said, "but I grew up in the restaurant business. My father had a deli in Philadelphia. I could make a cheesesteak before I could ride a bike. My father retired years ago, but the deli is still in the family. My youngest brother runs it now. It has become even more popular than when my father owned it. Roger is doing quite well. It was recently voted best cheap eats in town by the local newspaper."
"It sounds like my favorite kind of deli," Leedy noted. "I don't care much for the chains."
"I agree. I miss Philly sometimes, although I love Madison. I visit with my family a few times a year though, and I always stop by the old place. It still has the best hot pastrami on rye I've ever tasted."
"Do you cook?" Leedy asked.
"Yes," Jo Anne said. "I love to cook, and I'm a really good baker, even if I do say so myself. Especially anything to do with chocolate. Chocolate cheesecake, chocolate silk pie, homemade chocolate-covered toffees ..."
"Mmm," Leedy said. "I think we should definitely get dessert after dinner. Don't you?"
"I was hoping you would say that."
They picked up their menus and read the offerings with keen interest, commenting on possible spices used to pre pare this or cooking techniques used to prepare that. They chit-chatted about their lives, and Leedy felt instantly comfortable talking with the friendly, likeable woman she had just met. As a matter of fact, by the time the waitress had taken their dinner orders, she felt as if she and Jo Anne were old friends.
"Tell me about your restaurant," she said.
"Which restaurant is that, dear?" Jo Anne asked.
"You know which restaurant. Your restaurant. The one you would open tomorrow if you could."
"Oh, that restaurant," Jo Anne said and smiled wistfully. "It has been an ambition I've had for many years, you know. Even when I was a teenager working the counter of my father's deli, I couldn't imagine ever doing any other kind of work. I had already decided the restaurant business was as natural to me as breathing, but I thought a young lady of my sophistication was destined for a finer establishment."
Jo Anne gave the impression that she was teasing, but Leedy knew better. She knew that Jo Anne's restaurant was as real to her as Leedy's restaurant was to her. And both places were as real as the restaurant they were sitting in. "It will be elegant," Jo Anne began. "But not in the snooty, intimidating way some places I've been to have been. My restaurant will be classy, but in a warm, inviting way. I'll furnish it in a traditional decor. You know, lots of cherry wood and starched linens. It will also serve the finest gourmet menu in Wisconsin. In fact, if you didn't already have other ambitions, I'd want someone like you to be the chef. Someone with formal training and a diverse background. My restaurant would be located inside the city, or, alternativ
ely, just barely outside the city limits. But not too far away as to make it inconvenient to my customers. Oh, and there would be a huge room for private banquets. I love planning big parties, especially wedding receptions. I'm good at it, too. I've helped a few of my friends plan their children's weddings. Now I'm the first person anyone calls when someone gets engaged."
"I would love to have seen the receptions," Leedy said, nodding.
"I have lots of pictures. I'll show you them one day ... if you'd like to see them. They were beautiful affairs. But, at the same time, I'm very budget-conscious. I consider it a challenge to create the nicest reception with the least amount of money. It's difficult sometimes, but I enjoy doing it. Now, tell me about your restaurant?"
"My restaurant?" Leedy said, thoughtfully. "It's funny, Jo Anne. To tell you the truth, my restaurant sounds quite similar to yours, although I had not given as much thought to a banquet room. But my place has the same feel to it. I want a state-of-the-art menu in a classic but comfortable setting. I want elegance and gourmet food in a friendly place, just like you."
"Have you thought about what you would call your place?" Jo Anne asked.
"I don't know," Leedy confided. "I thought of Leedy's House but that sounds a little bit too big-headed when I say it out loud. It needs some more work. I've also thought of naming it after something that speaks of the history of the area. How about you?"
"I would name it after my boys," Jo Anne said, decisively. "They're almost grown now, but they're still my babies. Ryan is seventeen and Riley just turned fifteen. What do you think of the Ryan-Riley Inn? Do you think people will assume it is an Irish pub?"
"I like it," Leedy said, nodding. "And you can change the pub image through your advertising."
"That's true," Jo Anne said. "My husband is willing to dig into our savings to get this thing off the ground. But the money we've saved wouldn't be nearly enough. Especially with sending two boys off to college soon."
"I know what you mean," Leedy said. "Except for the added stress of saving for college, of course. It seems as though I've been saving for this forever, but I can barely keep up with the cost of inflation. I'm not making much progress."