Chapter 4 #2
“My dad and I moved around a lot, but always in big cities. Syracuse was the place we were the longest, so I have no idea what it’s like to live in a small town.
” She glanced toward the front window, which had a pretty great view of the main downtown area.
“And I’ve never been to the mountains, so I guess this is a great place to be stuck for a little while. ”
It was on the tip of his tongue to suggest that she stay as long as she wanted because Sweetbriar Ridge was pretty much the greatest place to live, but he thought it might be a bit much.
Although…as great as the summer was here because the weather was relatively mild, the fall was truly the most spectacular because of the foliage.
But then…with the ski resort re-opening, it was a guarantee that the winter was going to be great, so…
Yeah. He was going to hold off on recommending how long she should stay. Instead he went with, “I think you’ll enjoy it. There’s a certain charm to everything and it’s a lot more peaceful than any city I’ve ever visited.”
With a non-committal sound, she stood and looked around. “I think we’ve made good progress here today, don’t you?”
“We?” he asked with amusement. “This was all you. I was just sitting here taking up space making calls.”
“Important calls,” she corrected. “Which reminds me, we should have heard back from the guy with the radiator by now. Maybe you should call him again?”
Actually, Devin didn’t need to call him again. The guy had the radiator, but it was in a car and had to be pulled and inspected before he could send it. “Um…it’s getting late in the day; I’ll touch base with him in the morning.”
She glanced at the clock and frowned. “Hmm…it is 4:30 already. What time do you close?”
“We lock up at five, but by the time we get done talking and attempting to clean up a bit, it’s closer to six.”
“Speaking of attempting to clean up, I think we need to talk about the bathroom.”
Groaning, he knew what she was going to say. “Um…yeah. It gets a thorough cleaning once a week, and we always make sure everything’s stocked, but…”
“But you’re not doing a great job if you think that’s been thoroughly cleaned, Devin. I get that you probably don’t get a lot of requests to use the women’s restroom, but it really should be a little…um…maybe a little less…gross.”
“Gross?” he asked in shock. “You seriously think the bathroom is gross?”
Standing, she took him by the hand and led him back to the ladies’ room. When she pushed the door open, he felt super awkward and tried to pull back. “Stop being a baby. No one’s in here.”
With a huff, he agreed, and then came to a halt. “Um…I’m not seeing a problem.”
MacKenzie’s eyes went wide. “You’re joking, right? This whole room needs to be hosed down with bleach!”
“O-kay…I’ll see who’s turn it is to clean it this week and…”
Now it was her turn to huff. “Whatever you’re shopping for after work, add cleaning supplies to it and I’ll clean this up tomorrow.”
“Hey, now,” he argued. “That wasn’t part of our deal. I hired you to work the front desk, not clean toilets.”
“To be fair, it’s one toilet, and considering I’m the one that’s going to be using this space the most over the next week, I’d rather not cringe every time I come in here.”
“MacKenzie…”
“Look, I’ll be coming in with you early in the morning, and I’m sure you don’t have a lot of customers at that hour. I’ll bang it out first thing. It won’t interfere with my time at the desk. I promise.”
“That’s not the point.”
She stomped her foot and let out a small growl of frustration.
“We’re not talking about this anymore,” she announced as she walked out of the room and Devin was more than happy to follow.
When they got back to the front desk, she surprised him by smiling.
“Why don’t you go do whatever it is you have to do until it’s time to go? I think I can handle things up here.”
“Are you sure?”
“Devin, we close up in less than thirty minutes and you’re only a few feet away if I really need help. Don’t worry. I’ve got this.”
He knew she was right, but felt bad leaving her by herself.
Although…maybe she needed some time to herself since they’d been nearly inseparable ever since he found her on the side of the road yesterday.
With a curt nod, he agreed. “Okay then. I’ll be out in the garage if you need me.”
But he already knew she wouldn’t.
“I seriously can’t thank you enough.”
“Would you stop?” Devin said with a laugh. “I told you it wasn’t a big deal.”
“Maybe not to you, but to me, it’s huge. So…thank you. Again.”
When the shop closed, they moved all of her personal belongings from the Mustang to his truck. But as they were walking out to his truck, a small group of people stopped and stared.
At her.
And it was weird.
As soon as they were in the truck, she had politely requested to not go shopping with him and luckily, he agreed. So he drove her back to his place, where she wrote up a list of things she needed and tried to give him the cash to cover it.
After several minutes of light arguing, he’d finally accepted it and left.
While he was gone, MacKenzie had taken a shower because all the work she did made her feel gross.
Then she did her best to organize all her stuff in the guest room without looking like she was completely making herself at home.
By the time Devin got back, she felt like she had all her essentials set up where she needed them and quickly went to help him unload the groceries.
And now, as they were putting everything away, she couldn’t help but keep thanking him.
“I know you said it wasn’t a big deal and you don’t want me to keep saying thank you, so how about I make dinner for us?”
Devin’s eyes went a little wide. “Um…”
“I know how to cook, if that’s what you’re worried about,” she quickly interrupted. “And I see that your kitchen is impressively stocked. With all the stuff you just bought and what you already have, I can whip us up a quick batch of chicken parm with spaghetti.”
If possible, his eyes went even wider. “Really? Isn’t it kind of late for that? I just figured we’d have some pasta and maybe a salad. I don’t expect you to cook something crazy for us.”
Unable to help herself, she laughed. “It’s not really fancy and I can have everything ready in thirty minutes. Why don’t you grab a shower, and I’ll get dinner started.”
“MacKenzie, I…”
“Oh, my God! Stop arguing with me!” she said with another laugh. “I get that you’re the guy who likes to take care of everything and everyone, but…can you please just let me do this?” When he didn’t respond right away, she added, “Please?”
“Thank you,” he said gruffly, before turning and leaving the room.
Rubbing her hands together, MacKenzie got to work.
Cooking was something she always loved to do–which was fortunate because after her mother left, she realized she needed to learn since her father was completely helpless in the kitchen.
She wasn’t like some highly skilled chef, but she knew how to take simple ingredients and turn them into something delicious.
Like jarred marinara sauce.
Normally she would have preferred to make her sauce from scratch, but she knew how to doctor the jarred stuff up to make it taste homemade.
The oven was preheating, the pot of water was heating up, and she was egging and breading the chicken cutlets in preparation to fry them up.
Devin’s kitchen really was impressive–not only in what he stocked in his pantry, but in overall layout and design.
From what she could tell, it was newly renovated.
The counters were granite, the appliances were stainless steel, the stove was gas and the oven was convection and all looked to be top of the line.
“This is way better than eating crappy food and sleeping in my car,” she murmured as she cooked. Once the chicken was in the oven and the pasta was boiling, she set the small kitchen table and cleaned up after herself. And thanks to the dishwasher, that part was a breeze.
She was getting ready to drain the pasta a few minutes later when Devin walked back into the room. His dark hair was damp and he smelled fresh and clean and completely yummy.
And with that thought, she immediately went back to stirring the spaghetti.
“Wow, it smells great in here,” he commented as he came to stand beside her. “And I can’t believe you cleaned up as you went! Normally it looks like a bomb went off in here when I cook.”
“My dad was like that too,” she told him. “Sometimes I get lazy, but considering this isn’t my kitchen, I figured I’d better behave myself.” And with a wink, she stepped away to check on the chicken.
“How about some wine?” he asked. “It’s not something I drink very often, but I have a bottle here that I think would go great with dinner.”
“That sounds heavenly! I can’t remember the last time I sat down to a nice meal with a glass of wine while feeling this relaxed.”
Together they moved around the kitchen–Devin pouring the wine and then draining the pasta while MacKenzie took the tray of food from the oven. She made their plates and then he placed them on the table. When they were both seated, he picked up his glass and smiled at her.
“Here’s to a great day. At least…I hope you think it was a great day. You accomplished a lot.”
MacKenzie had to agree. Picking up her glass, she tapped it on his and grinned. “It was. Thank you.”
After taking a sip of wine, they each dug into their meal.
“Holy crap, MacKenzie! This is amazing!” he gushed. “I’ve bought that jarred sauce like a hundred times and it’s never tasted like this!”
“Well…I’ve learned how to jazz things up,” she explained. “I’m glad you like it.”
“Like it? I think I’m in love!”
She felt her face heat up and focused on her plate. Gently, she cleared her throat. “So, um…do you think you’ll be able to start on the Mustang tomorrow?”