Cast Iron Will (The Cast Iron Cooking Mysteries Book 1)

by Jessica Beck

  Before I could pull all the way into the road, a different pair of headlights lit up the inside of my car as though it were noon, and a horn nearly jarred my teeth out of my mouth as a massive beast rushed past.

  I’d almost hit a tractor-trailer in my zeal to catch whoever had been following me!

  I waved my apologies to the driver, though they were long gone by the time my hand went up, and I drove back up the road to my cabin, considerably more slowly this time.

  My hands were shaking slightly the entire way, and I felt my legs go a little wobbly when I got out of my Subaru, but I managed to steady myself on the car and made my way toward the front door without further incident. The Christmas lights were a welcome sight as I walked up onto the porch alone.

  It was good to be home again.

  I could have fixed myself a four-course meal, but there was no way that was going to happen tonight. I’d been known on occasion to make a real feast just for myself, even putting out the fine china I’d inherited from my folks, but tonight, it was going to be a bowl of cereal and sitting on the couch watching old episodes of ancient sitcoms on my computer. I thought about giving Pat a call to tell him what had happened, but I knew that he’d overreact, and besides, if there was any justice in the world at all, he wasn’t going to be alone. I finally decided that I could wait until the morning to report what had happened, if I decided to tell him at all. The entire episode may have been born out of my paranoia, and I’d feel like a fool if I told Pat.

  I couldn’t stay focused on the TV shows though, and after sampling and abandoning three different books that I’d enjoyed reading in the past, I decided that I just didn’t have the attention span for anything too trying tonight. Instead, I grabbed a blanket from the couch, turned off all the lights in the cabin, and headed outside. Nestled into my rocking chair on the front porch, I sat there in silence as I listened to the sounds of the woods all around me. As far as I was concerned, it was the most beautiful, haunting lullaby that anyone could ever ask for. What Pat found alarming was reassuring to me, and I let the sounds and scents of my surroundings envelop me.

  Without realizing what was happening, I drifted slowly off to sleep.

  When I woke up an hour later, I realized that the day had been more exhausting than I’d realized. I went back inside, and in short order I was in my pajamas, tucked snuggly into my bed in my loft with the stars just overhead, framed in my skylight.

  There would be plenty of time to deal with everything that had happened tomorrow.

  Tonight, I needed to sleep, and I let it come gleefully, nodding off with the images of the dancing night sky fresh in my mind.

  CHAPTER 15: PAT

  “Would you like some tea?” I offered Molly after she took a seat on my sofa. “I’ve got three or four kinds, so I’d be more than happy to make whatever you’d like.”

  “No, thanks. You know what? Sure. Why not? I’ll have whatever’s handy.” Her voice sounded nervous as she spoke, something that puzzled me. We’d dated off and on since junior high, and we must have been alone together a thousand times. Why would she be jumpy now? As I made the tea for us, I began to wonder about why Molly was really in my apartment above the Iron. Did she want to get back together? If she did, was that something I even wanted? It took only an instant of thought to know that of course I did. I was in love with her, no matter how difficult it was for us to keep things going in the long run. As far as I was concerned, there was nobody else for me, and I knew it. She’d taken a brave step in coming here, so did I really have to make her be the one to declare her love first? I took a deep breath and got ready to tell her how I felt when she beat me to the punch and spoke first.

  “Pat, we’ve got to end this thing between us, whatever it is, once and for all, tonight. I’m not going to be able to move on until I get some closure. We’ve been a part of each other’s lives for so long that I have a hard time imagining going on without you, but we both know that we’re never going to be able to make it work.”

  “You came here to dump me, and we aren’t even dating?” I asked incredulously.

  “I’m sorry. I just can’t keep going on like this.” She stood and headed for the door.

  I didn’t know what to say. I was totally dumbfounded. I’d been about to declare my feelings for her, and she dumped me before I had the chance to say one word. “What about your tea?” I asked her. Are you serious? I asked myself. She tells you that she’s done with you forever, and you ask her about a hot beverage? Have you completely lost your mind?

  “No, thanks. If you don’t mind, I’ll show myself out. Good-bye, Pat.”

  “Bye,” I said. I felt as though I were in the middle of a nightmare, and I kept hoping that any second I’d wake up.

  Unfortunately, the conversation had been real enough.

  I didn’t know what to do, so I did the only thing that made any sense to me at all.

  I called my twin sister.

  “Hello?” she asked in more of a question than a statement.

  “I woke you up, didn’t I?”

  “Of course not,” she said, doing her best to hide the fact that she’d been asleep when I called.

  “Go back to bed, Annie. This will wait until tomorrow.”

  “What is it, Pat? I’ll never be able to get back to sleep if you don’t tell me what happened this instant.”

  “Molly just dumped me,” I said, blurting out the words.

  “What? I didn’t even realize that you two had gotten back together.”

  “That’s the thing. We didn’t.”

  “Patrick, you are making no sense whatsoever. Take a deep breath and tell me what happened.”

  “After you left, we came upstairs to my apartment. I suddenly realized just how much Molly meant to me and that I needed her in my life again. I was about to tell her that when she told me that she was finished with me, once and for all.”

  “What did you say when she said that? Did you at least try to change her mind?”

  “Actually, I asked her if she’d like some tea,” I admitted.

  “What? Why on earth did you do that?”

  “Annie, I was working on autopilot at that point. I’d started making tea, and it was all that I could think to do. She must have thought that I was an utter idiot.” I could feel the emotion creeping into my voice as fresh tears trickled down my cheeks. I hadn’t even realized that my ex-girlfriend still had that kind of power over me, and now that I did, it was too late to do anything about it. “Sis, you’ve got to help me. What am I going to do?”

  “Do you want my honest advice, or do you want to hear platitudes and comforting talk that might help you sleep better tonight?” she asked me.

  “I want the truth, no matter how brutal it might be,” I said. I knew that I could count on Annie to deliver just that, even if it was another body blow after what I’d just gone through.

  “Don’t accept it,” she said simply and without embellishment.

  “What? How can I do that? She was pretty clear that she was done with me, once and for all.”

  “I heard what you said, but Pat, you need to respectfully tell her that you aren’t ready to give up. Then you need to explain to her exactly how you feel about her and that you want her back in your life, whatever it takes.” Annie had sincerely promised not to meddle in my love life years ago, but I’d asked for her opinion this time, and she hadn’t held anything back.

  “Let me ask you something. How long have you known that I was still in love with her?” I asked my sister.

  “Since the moment you first saw her back in junior high school.”

  “That was a long time ago,” I said softly.

  “That doesn’t mean that anything’s changed,” she said.

  “When should I do it? How do I even approach her? Should I bring her flowers and balloons, or is that too corny? I have to do it face to face, don’t I? Of course I do. Man, it’s going to hurt when I do it, because I have a hunch that it is not going to go
well for me at all. Any advice you have for me would be greatly appreciated.”

  “Sorry, but I’ve said all that I can say on the matter. The rest is up to you,” Annie answered.

  “What? You’ve been dying to give me advice about my life for years, and now that I’m telling you I need it, you’re holding back on me?”

  “Patrick, I love you like a brother—”

  “I am your brother, you nit,” I told her. It was a classic joke between us that never got old, but I found very little humor in anything at the moment.

  “Don’t interrupt me. Like I said, you mean the world to me, but you’ve got to do this by yourself. If it doesn’t come from your heart, then it’s not going to work.”

  “Do you honestly think that if I’m sincere enough, Molly will give me another chance?”

  The pause was long enough to make me wonder if we’d lost our connection. When Annie finally spoke, her voice was full of sadness. “I don’t know.” The words were spoken like an execution, and I felt my heart die a little as I took them in.

  “But I still have to at least try, don’t I?” I asked softly.

  “No matter what the final outcome is, you can’t let it end like this,” Annie said, and I knew that she was right.

  “Thanks. I know just what to do. Go back to sleep.”

  “Aren’t you going to at least run your plan by me first?” Annie asked.

  “No time. I’ll tell you what happened in the morning.”

  “As if I’ll have any chance of getting back to sleep tonight,” she protested.

  I didn’t even reply. I hung up the phone, grabbed my truck keys, and headed out of the Iron. I knew if I put off what I had to do for one second longer than was absolutely necessary, I’d lose my nerve—and any chance I ever had of getting back with Molly.

  It was time to see her, and I meant right now.

  When Molly answered her door, I could see that she’d been crying. In a way, it made me feel a little better. After all, she hadn’t been able to cast me away without consequence, pain, or remorse, so at least that was something. She looked genuinely surprised to see me. “Pat, what are you doing here?”

  “We can’t end things like this, Molly. I love you. I always have, and I always will. I need you in my life. Give me just one more chance. We can make it work. I know we can.”

  She was about to answer when I heard a man’s voice coming from her living room. “Molly? Are you okay? Who is it?”

  She closed the door a bit, just poking her head through the opening. “I’m sorry, Pat.”

  “Yeah, I can see that.” I knew that I’d been beaten, and what was worse, that I’d even already been replaced. “I won’t keep you. It was important that I at least tried. Have a good life. I hope whoever is in there treats you as well as you deserve. I guess this really is good-bye.”

  I turned and started to walk away, and I nearly made it back to my truck before I looked back at her.

  She was already gone, and the door was closed.

  I wasn’t a big fan of metaphors, but I’d just been hit over the head with one.

  More doors had been shut than the one in front of me, and the sad truth was that there was nothing I could do about any of them.

  I’d waited too long to tell Molly how I felt about her, and now it was too late.

  She’d wanted to move on, and clearly, that’s exactly what she was doing.

  I was going to have to find some way to get over her as well, whether I liked it or not.

  I didn’t have the heart to call Annie back.

  I’d deal with it tomorrow.

  For now, all I wanted to do was go home and lose myself in self-pity and despair.

  I figured that I at least had that coming to me.

  CHAPTER 16: ANNIE

  When I got to the Iron the next morning well before I usually arrived, I was surprised to find my brother already sweeping the hardwood floor inside. We’d rescued the wood from an old factory building two towns over, and it gave the Iron that look of ancient authenticity that we’d been striving for. I loved the way the floors looked, though Pat had actually suggested that we refinish them after we’d had them laid at our place. I talked him out of it, and he’d come to thank me for stopping him from doing something atrocious, sanding away the decades of patina that had taken so much effort to build up.

  “You’re getting an early start on things this morning,” I said as I took off my light jacket and hung it on the rack back by my workstation.

  “I couldn’t sleep,” he said, refusing to make eye contact.

  I could see that he was in pain, and I didn’t need any special twin powers to catch it. I put a hand on his broom, effectively stopping him in his tracks. “What happened last night?”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” he said as he struggled to pull the broom out of my hand. I wasn’t about to give in that easily, though.

  “Did you at least try to talk to her again after we hung up?” I asked him. “You could have called her, Pat.”

  “I did more than that. I went to see her to declare my undying love.”

  “What did she say when you did that?” I was proud of my brother for taking such a big step, and I knew how hard it must have been on him.

  “That’s the thing, Annie,” he said, his heart breaking with every word. “Someone else was already there at her place with her by the time I got there. I was too late. I’ve lost her forever.”

  I dropped the broom and hugged my brother tightly. I knew, more than anyone, how much Molly meant to him, and I could hear in his voice that he indeed thought that he’d lost his last opportunity to be with her.

  “Forever is an awfully long time, Pat,” I said softly.

  “I finally realized that I can’t spend the rest of my life waiting for her,” he answered. “She made it clear how she felt. Even if she breaks up with this guy, the two of us are never getting back together.”

  There was nothing to say to that, so I remained silent, still holding him, doing my best to offer whatever comfort I could. “Are you going to be okay?”

  “I don’t know,” Pat said as he pulled away and discreetly wiped a few tears from his cheeks. “But I’ll have to figure out a way to be, won’t I? Thanks. You helped a lot.”

  “I don’t see how,” I replied in all honesty.

  He laughed at my comment, a sound that lightened my own heart. “You being here and having my back is more valuable to me than all the gold in the world.”

  “You’d do the same thing for me,” I said, knowing that even if the whole world turned against me, I’d always have my twin by my side. Pat was right; having someone nearby who loved and supported him was the most comforting thing in the world, and I felt bad about all those untold millions and millions of people who didn’t have the luxury of having a twin of their very own.

  By the time Edith and Skip came in for work, we had the place ready to greet our customers for the day. Both of our employees wanted to chat about the murder, but neither my brother nor I were in any mood to talk. They quickly got the hint, even Skip, and as they went about prepping their own work for the day, they made sure to keep the conversation light as they both avoided discussing what had happened to Chester Davis just a few feet away from where we were all working.

  “Throw an extra order of bacon on the griddle for me,” Les Hodges ordered as he mulled over his breakfast choices. “I feel like splurging today.”

  “Any reason in particular?” I asked him as I retrieved three extra slices from the small built-in fridge by the range. I had a larger refrigerator/freezer in back, but I liked having that meal’s supplies close at hand.

  “It’s a beautiful morning. Isn’t that reason enough?” Les asked.

  I glanced outside and saw that the rain was coming down in buckets. If this kept up, we’d all be drowning soon. “Liquid sunshine, is that it?”

  “Annie, I run a landscaping service,” Les said. “The more rain we get, the more grass we cu
t and the more money I make. Things have been kind of dry lately, so I say bring on the rain.”

  “Speak for yourself,” Thad Jennings said three stools over. “It’s not good for everyone.”

  “What’s the matter, are your footings underwater again?” Les asked him.

  “No, we got them poured two days ago, but my masons were supposed to start on the basement today, so it’s quite literally going to be a wash.”

  “Hey, you’re the one who decided to build houses for a living, not me,” Les said.

  “Shut up, Lester,” Thad said, though the words were delivered with a good-natured smile.

  That ended that conversation when Lester wouldn’t answer.

  I went back to the griddle, monitoring pancakes, hash browns, and bacon, while I had biscuits in the oven and eggs cooking in two different skillets on the burners. Coffee was percolating away, and I was happy to be in my element. I liked things when they were busy; it was more of a challenge to my talents and skills as a short-order cook when the Iron was hopping.

  I was plating up Thad’s order and getting ready to pivot it and make the delivery when someone caught my eye coming into the Iron. What was Bryson Oak doing here? I thought he was going to stop and chat with my brother, but instead, he headed straight for the lone empty stool at my counter without even breaking his stride.

  “Should I come around and get that myself?” Thad asked gently, reminding him that I hadn’t delivered his food yet.

  I hadn’t even realized that I’d stopped mid-delivery. “Sorry about that. I must have zoned out for a second.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It happens to everyone,” Thad said reassuringly.