[Second Chances 02]California Dreams

by Morris Fenris

  “On one condition.”

  Raising an eyebrow at his audacity, she inquired, “And what would that be?”

  “Have dinner with me tomorrow night?”

  Grace shook her head, “No. I’m busy tomorrow night.”

  “Lunch then and I won’t take ‘No’ for an answer. Please?” He smiled at her and she felt her stomach do a little flip.

  What on earth is wrong with me? Tamping down on the feelings his hand was creating, she shook her head, “Why should I go to lunch with you? I don’t even know you.”

  Michael smiled, “But you know my parents. They raised me. Therefore, you know more than you think you do. Besides, I read your bio in the parent handout. I’m sorry for the loss of your husband.”

  Grace shook her head, “That was a long time ago. It seems like a lifetime ago, actually.”

  “I asked about you. That man Derek over there. He said you don’t date and you’re not seeing anyone. Why? Are the men in San Diego blind?”

  Well isn’t he pouring on the charm! “I don’t actually see that many men because I don’t go out. At least not without my daughter.”

  Michael smiled, “The picture of her with you is cute. I would love to meet her sometime.”

  “It doesn’t bother you that I already have a child?” Grace asked, wondering if this guy was for real.

  “Not in the least. I love children. Come have lunch with me tomorrow and we’ll get to know more about each other. I’m going to be here all week and possibly next week.”

  “On vacation?” Grace asked, trying to remember if he was the doctor or the archaeologist.

  “A sabbatical of sorts. I find I’m not very happy working where I am at the moment. I’m thinking of making some changes in my life.”

  Grace looked at him and realized he was being very honest and open with her, yet it didn’t seem out of place. She barely knew this man, yet she felt a connection to him unlike anything she’d ever felt before.

  “Fine. I would love to have lunch with you. Will your parents be joining us?” Grace asked, pulling her hand away at last.

  “Do you need them to?” Michael asked, intrigued by the nervousness that seemed to have stolen her confidence at the thought of having lunch alone with him.

  “No, of course not. I just thought that they might miss your company, seeing as you are only visiting.”

  “That’s not exactly what I said, but no matter. I would like to take you to lunch. Just the two of us. Does that meet with your approval?”

  Grace nodded, “Okay.”

  Michael smiled at her again, and she felt her breath stall. “How about I pick you up around 11:30, that way we can beat the lunch crowds?”

  “Sure. I’ll meet you out front of the building here.”

  “Excellent.” Michael reached for her hand again, leaning down to place another kiss upon it, this time on her palm instead of the back of her hand. Drawing his lips away, he closed her fingers over her palm and smiled at her, “Until tomorrow.”

  He released her and joined his parents, his mother having watched the entire exchange and secretly giving herself a pat upon the back. Operation Get Michael Married was well underway and neither he nor Grace Powers had any inkling that they had been set up.

  *****

  Samuel cringed as Daniella came at him with the plastic earrings, hoping that he didn’t embarrass himself by screaming or running from the room.

  “Are those really necessary, sugar?” he asked her for the fifth time.

  “All princesses need bling,” Daniella informed him.

  He looked at the bedroom door, hoping to see Jane standing there ready to rescue him, but she was still in the kitchen fixing dinner. Deciding to save himself, he dropped his voice a little and tried to correct Daniella’s thinking, “Now, Daniella, see that’s where you’ve got it all wrong. Sweetie, I’m just not princess material. Now a prince, maybe. But no self-respecting prince would be seen wearing earrings or a tiara. It just doesn’t happen.”

  Samuel sat back and watched as she tried to process what he was telling her and then groaned when she pointed at him and said, “You’re wrong. Princes do wear earrings and tiaras. Well, I thinks they call them crowns, but I don’t gots none of those so you’s got to pretend.”

  “Daniella, I don’t know any princes that wear earrings, sorry,” Samuel shrugged his shoulders.

  Daniella walked to her bookshelf and pulled out a sticker book of Disney characters which she brought back and showed him. There, on the pages of her book, she had added earrings to go with Aladdin’s jeweled turban. “See, Aladdin’s wearing earrings.”

  “Yes, but you put them on him,” Samuel tried to reason with her.

  Daniella started to pout and Samuel gave a huge sigh, “Fine. I’ll wear the earrings.”

  Daniella clapped her hands and then turned when she heard Jane laughing in the doorway.

  Samuel looked up at her and smirked, “Not a word. Please tell me dinner is ready?”

  Jane nodded her head, “Yes, dinner is ready. Daniella, we need to put your dress-up stuff away and get ready for dinner. Mommy should be home any minute.”

  “Yeah. Mr. Samuel, I’m sorry, but we’s got to put the jewry away now. Mommy’s coming home.”

  “Wow, that’s too bad,” Samuel tried to look sorry, but failed miserably if Jane’s laughing was any indication. Looking at her, he gave her his sternest look, “Just you wait. Next time we watch her, I’m cooking dinner and you can play dress up with her.”

  Jane laughed, helping him get up off the floor, “The difference between me and you is that I don’t mind. I think it’s cute the way she wants everyone to be a princess. In her eyes, being a princess makes life worth living.”

  Chapter 30

  Grace was full of energy when she had walked in the door the night before. Jane had made a fantastic spaghetti dinner and then she had spent some time with Daniella before putting her to bed.

  When Jane and Samuel told her they were heading over to his place for a bit to watch a movie and take Lucky for a walk, she felt nothing but relief. She needed time to process her meeting with the handsome Michael Simpson, but not with company around.

  She poured herself a glass of sweet tea and headed out to the back deck. Daniella had fallen asleep quickly, her energy draining after her bath. Grace didn’t want to think about the new bruising she had found over the child’s ribs. They had an appointment with Dr. Patterson on Wednesday and hopefully, he could come up with something other than a virus to help explain what was happening to her little girl.

  Turning her thoughts back to the handsome man she had agreed to have lunch with, she wondered again if he was the doctor or the archaeologist. Deciding he must be the doctor, she wondered what might have happened to make him question the direction his life was heading. Hopefully, she would find out more about him during lunch.

  *****

  Tuesday morning, Samuel watched as the armed guard stepped off the elevator with Julian Quintana in handcuffs beside him. Hector had been moved from ICU the night before and the judge had signed off on allowing Julian one visit with his brother.

  Samuel and Stan had personally checked the entire floor, and vetted the medical personnel, but there were so many people coming and going from the floor, it was hard to keep track of who was safe, and who they needed to watch.

  Julian sneered at him as he walked past and Samuel told the guard, “Don’t let him out of your sight.”

  “You got it. He’s not going anywhere except straight back to prison after his little visit.”

  Samuel watched as the guard led him to Hector’s room and then exited it to stand outside the door.

  He glanced at his watch, seeing that it was 9:30 and wondered how Jane’s meeting with the Chefs was going. He hoped it was going well. He was ready to ask her to stay in California permanently, but knew that it would be easier for her to say “Yes” if she had something meaningful to do while she was here.

 
*****

  Jane took another look at the brochure sitting in front of her, stunned and at a total loss for words at the offer Chefs Scaltini and Perez had just made her. They were in the process of re-opening their chain of restaurants, but The Inferno took so much of their time, they hadn’t found time to create the menu that would be served at restaurants across the nation.

  They had loved her creativity and ability to think outside the box and had offered her the position of creating the entire menu and then helping implement it by training the head chefs at each location. Initially, each head chef would travel to Southern California for two weeks of intensive training, and then she would be required to periodically go and check-up on restaurants that didn’t appear to be making the grade.

  “Why me?” Jane asked them both.

  Chef Scaltini answered first, “Because you’re capable of doing the job and you have the maturity and common sense to understand what our customers want when they eat out. They don’t want fancy gourmet dishes that cost and arm and a leg to make and where they only get a few bites of each dish. They want good food, plenty of it, in an atmosphere where they can relax and enjoy having someone else prepare their meal.

  “That’s what you gave to us Sunday night. Rather than make a bunch of fancy, foreign cuisine we may or may not have liked, you chose everyday dishes, and then kicked them in the seat of the pants and made them stand up and be noticed. “

  Chef Perez jumped in with her own comments, “Jane, everything you served us Sunday night could have come from my momma’s kitchen, except it was unique and served in such a way that I will always remember it. That’s what we want in the menu for S&P. We want you to create a menu so that the customers leave satisfied and our restaurants are the first place they think of when deciding where to eat out.”

  Jane was flabbergasted and humbled all at the same time. These two famous Chefs are entrusting me to create the entire menu for their restaurant. Me! Jane Trowler! “I don’t know what to say.”

  “Say ‘Yes’.”

  “It would mean you’d have to move to Southern California, but somehow I don’t think that is going to be a hardship for you.”

  Jane blushed and shook her head, “No. I was kind of heading in that direction anyway.”

  “So, you’ll do it?” Chef Marco asked.

  Jane couldn’t come up with a reason to say “No”, so she nodded, giving her assent, “Yes!”

  “Fabulous! We’ll have contracts drawn up and you will need to look over our current students and select a few to apprentice and help you, but that can happen next week. For the rest of this week, enjoy the California sunshine and rest up. We’ll want the menu ready for the Grand Re-Opening of the Restaurants April 1.”

  “That doesn’t give you much time, but we have some excellent students to choose from. Come by in the next day or so during lunch service and you can observe them for yourself.”

  “Now,” Chef Marco said, looking at Chef Perez, “If we don’t get into the kitchen, who knows what will happen with today’s menu.”

  Chef Perez nodded her head, “Jane, welcome aboard. We’ll see you sometime later this week.”

  Both Chefs took their leave and Jane wandered out into the sunshine, lifting her hand to signal the taxi driver she was ready to go. What just happened in there? Did I just decide to move to California permanently? What is Samuel going to say?

  Chapter 31

  Michael kept his interest in Grace to himself, slightly shocked that his mother hadn’t grilled him about asking the vocal coach out on the spur of the moment like that.

  He arrived at the arts center promptly at 11:30, pleased to see Grace already waiting outside for him. Leaning over the console, he pushed the passenger door open and said, “Get in. I’d come around and do this correctly, but I’m in a drop-off only lane and there’s a policeman two cars behind me.”

  Grace lowered herself into the sleek sports car, pulling the door shut behind her. “Great car! And don’t worry about it. I don’t expect you to open doors and such like that for me.”

  “Why not?” Michael asked.

  “What do you mean ‘Why not?’”

  “Why don’t you expect guys to treat you with the respect you deserve?” He glanced at her, hiding his smile when he saw the shock on her face.

  “Uhm…well, that’s not what I meant. I do expect guys to treat me with respect, but I guess I’m just a little out of practice.”

  “How long has it been?” Michael asked, knowing that she had just given him an unintended glimpse into herself.

  “Since I went on a date?” Grace asked, blushing and trying not to sound too gauche. “Uhm…well, I don’t know, maybe five years?”

  Michael stopped at the red light and then looked at her in disbelief, “You, looking as you do, haven’t been on a date in five years?!”

  “Well, it’s been a busy five years,” she offered in way of justification.

  Five years and no dates! Wow! Wait a minute – didn’t her bio say she has a four-year old. So no dates since her husband died? Michael chose his words carefully, not sure if he was entering a minefield or not. “Your last date was with your husband?”

  Grace smiled sadly, “Yeah! That’d be right.”

  “Want to tell me about it?”

  “Are you sure you want to hear about my dead husband?” Grace asked, not sure how to take this turn in conversation.

  “I want to get to know you, so yeah, I’d like to listen if you’re willing to tell me.”

  Grace blushed again, “Well, Alec was a Navy Seal and he spent a lot of his time out of the country, doing secret stuff. Anyway, I met him right after I graduated from college and he swept me off my feet.

  “I hadn’t dated much before that. My mom had pancreatic cancer and the last several years of her life were pretty bad.”

  Michael reached across the console and picked up her hand, “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Did you have anyone to help you?”

  Grace smiled, “Yeah, my older sister, Sara. She lives in Montana now and she was great. She did so much for my mom and me.” Taking a deep breath, she continued, “Anyway, Alec was this whirlwind of energy. I think he was probably an adrenaline junky, but I was so caught up in experiencing everything he wanted to show me, I didn’t see it at the start.

  “He loved to test his skills against nature. So did most of his team members. I didn’t see anything wrong with it. Before I knew it, we were climbing mountains, and scuba diving in the ocean. Then his team got called up for a long-term mission overseas. He never made it home.”

  Grace grew silent and Michael simply held her hand as he directed them out of the city and onto Highway 1. After several minutes, Grace cleared her throat and spoke up again, “He didn’t even know I was pregnant when he was deployed. He was in country for three weeks when his unit was attacked, killing everyone. I found out I was pregnant two weeks after his funeral. “

  Michael had known she was a widow, but he hadn’t known her husband had been a Seal. “I’m sorry you had to go through that. Tell me about your little girl.”

  Grace smiled, her face lighting up with energy once again, “Daniella is like no other four-year old I’ve ever met. She’s precocious, intelligent, and thinks she is a princess.”

  Michael laughed, “Which princess is her favorite?”

  Grace looked at him, “You know about Disney princesses?”

  “Every last one of them. My patients watch a lot of DVDs and believe me, there’s nothing worse than a sick seven-year old whose doctor messes up the identity of her favorite princess. I learned right out of medical school that it was my solemn duty and responsibility to know all things Disney and to be able to discuss the attributes of each princess in detail.”

  “Wow! So you work with kids?” Grace asked, amazed and thinking how much her daughter would like this man.

  “Yeah! Unfortunately, most of my patients are really sick, so I don’t get to laugh with them very often. That
’s one of the things that has me questioning my career path.” Michael pulled the car into a parking lot and put it in park, letting it idle, “Sit tight while I grab our lunch.”

  Grace watched as he exited the car and jogged up to a small seafood establishment. When he emerged moments later, he carried two large bags with him, which he deposited in the trunk before rejoining her in the car. “I hope you like seafood.”

  “I love it. Where are we going?”

  “On a picnic. Sit back, we’re almost there.”

  *****

  Jane dialed Samuel’s number, not really concerned when he didn’t pick up right away. She knew they were supervising Julian Quintana as he visited his brother today in the hospital so she had the taxi driver take her to his location.

  She entered the hospital just as sirens went off and security guards rushed to shut and lock down the exits. “What’s going on?” she asked a passing guard.

  “I don’t know, but something happened up on the fifth floor.”

  Jane’s heart sank as she rushed for the elevators. Seeing a mass of people waiting to get in, she looked around frantically and found the stairs. Glad that she had her tennis shoes on and not some strappy sandals, she climbed the stairs, gasping for breath as she neared the fifth floor door.

  She edged the door open to hear several things going on. An alarm was going off loudly, signifying a patient was in distress, several men were yelling to each other through the smoke filled hallway, and the fire suppression system was showering everything and everyone with water.

  “Turn those sprinklers off. Samuel, can you get the guard away from the door?”

  “I’m on it. Cover me.”

  Jane held her hand over her mouth hearing Samuel’s voice, not wanting to cry out and distract him from whatever he was doing. She knelt by the doorway, straining to see through the smoke, but it was too thick.

  A noise to her right caused her to turn her head and she saw a male, Hispanic in origin, helping another Hispanic man make a painful trek down the smoke-filled hallway. Something about the scene didn’t look right and suddenly she knew she was watching Julian Quintana try to escape with his brother. She slipped through the doorway and headed to her left before hollering down the hallway, “Samuel!”