Chapter THIRTEEN
Later, when Ross stepped into the waiting room, he had a towel wrapped around his neck, and his face was still flushed from the exercise.
“How was it?”
she asked him, turning off her reader, sliding it into her bag, and standing.
“Like Margo warned, torture. But it’s all good. The few weeks following surgery and what you do to get back into shape determine what a full recovery will look like.”
They went outside, and as Melissa helped him into the car, he turned to her. “Can you do me a big favor?”
“Sure, what is it?”
“I know how important healthy food is. And I’ve had a lot of food delivered to my house. But what I want right now is a drive-through hamburger and fries. I don’t care which restaurant it is. Can we do that?”
Melissa laughed. “What makes you think I don’t enjoy a double-double burger now and then? Though I must admit, no one makes better fries than Fins.”
“The treat’s on me,”
said Ross, pulling his legs into the car.
She closed his door and climbed into the car, already hungry.
###
Later, Ross turned to her as they sat in her car eating their lunch. “You’re such a good sport, Melissa. Thanks for doing this.”
“No problem. In return, I need to ask you something. My first date with Dirk went well. Or so I thought. But he hasn’t called to set up a second date.”
A look of surprise crossed Ross’s face. “Haven’t you heard? Dirk’s uncle has some sort of health issue and can’t work. Dirk has been covering for him while getting his orthodontist practice going. No one has seen or heard from him in days. I guess he’s working like crazy to keep everything going smoothly.”
“I must have missed the news. No one at Jake’s has mentioned it, but then, I haven’t been to Jake’s in a while. Sometimes, I feel so left out.”
“I get how you must feel, but believe me, his not calling has nothing to do with you. Just circumstances. The only reason I know is that I had to cancel my appointment with him.”
“Oh, good. I thought it had something to do with me,”
said Melissa, feeling her stress ease.
Ross studied her. “You’ve been holding out on me. You never mentioned you were a state champion for the high school softball team. What’s up with that?”
Melissa shrugged. “It seems silly compared to your career.”
“You underestimate yourself, Melissa. I bet the boys in high school were crazy about you.”
“A couple,”
Melissa admitted. “But it never went anywhere. High school is tough for some of us. It certainly didn’t help me. I was the tall tomboy with no fashion sense at all.”
“Well, things have and can change,”
said Ross. He crumbled up the paper bag that had held their lunch. “If you drive by the bin, I can pitch this inside.”
“Deal,”
said Melissa, relieved their conversation had ended.
###
At home, Melissa texted a message to Dirk. “Sorry to hear about your uncle. Anything I can do?”
About an hour later, she received a reply. “Working hard. Will call when I can. Thanks.”
Feeling much better, Melissa headed to work.
###
It was a slow Wednesday night, so Melissa encouraged her father to take the evening off. He worked as hard or even harder than she, and as August was nearing the mid-point, fatigue was setting in for all of them at the restaurant.
As Melissa cooked and kept the kitchen organized, she didn’t have time to think about her personal life. Being the head chef was like being a conductor of an orchestra. It was her job to shout the orders to the staff and to make sure food was being cooked to time the arrival at the pass together. Each person at a table had to receive their meal at the same time. The hot items had to be hot, and the cold ones had to be cold. Tasting occasionally to make sure the blend of seasonings and flavors was right was also part of her job. It was tricky cooking fish. If not carefully watched, it could quickly go from raw to overdone.
When the evening rush was over, Melissa was ready to step outside for a breath of fresh air. Standing by the kitchen door, she saw storm clouds rolling in. If the forecasters were right, they were due for some thunderstorms, which would, hopefully, clear out some of the humidity. She patted her forehead with her handkerchief, loving the cooler air outside the kitchen.
Staring up at the roiling sky, she hurried to get everything cleaned up. No matter how messy the kitchen might become, every night, it was cleaned until spotless. Keeping a kitchen in order was part of being a good chef.
Inside, the staff had begun the process. “Thanks, everyone,”
she said, picking up a spatula to scrape off the residue from the grate of the indoor grill.
With everyone as anxious as she to beat the storm home, they made quick work of it. By the time they were done, her mother was closing the door on the last customer.
“I’ll help vacuum in the morning,”
said Melissa to her. “Why don’t you go home? There’s a storm coming. They said it could be a wicked one.”
“Thanks, sweetheart. I think I will,”
her mother said.
Melissa walked out of the restaurant with her, checked the sky, and dashed to her car, hoping to make it home in time.
###
In the middle of the night, Melissa’s cell phone chimed. She stirred in bed, annoyed. Who would be calling her at such an early hour? She grabbed her cell. “Hello.”
“It’s Dad. You had better get to town as quickly as you can. Fins is on fire.”