Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Vivian opened the door of the storage closet at the pub and let out a sigh. Stacks upon stacks of food supplies stuffed the shelves. There were bottles of sauce ingredients, cans of baking ingredients, and bags of flour and sugar and salt, along with bins filled with root vegetables. She noted that they still had several bags of the coffee they’d decided not to use anymore, and she sighed again.
It had been a long, busy day at the pub, and even though Alexis and Julia had tried to convince her to go home as soon as The Lighthouse Grill had closed, she’d insisted on staying to do the inventory. It hadn’t been done for a week, and the last person to do it had been one of their teenage employees. She had an itchy feeling that it was off, and she wanted to make sure to do it accurately, especially because they were nearing the time of the month when they ordered deliveries of many of their bulk products.
I may have promised the girls I’d go home right after this, she thought, but I have a feeling I’m going to be here for quite a while. I guess reading and drinking tea in bed will have to wait.
She started to look over their stock of jelly packets and was dismayed to find that they had significantly more than what her teenage employee had jotted down when taking the inventory.
“Are some of these expired?” she muttered, nervously checking the dates on the packets at the back of the stacks.
They weren’t, and for a moment she stood in the storage room, puzzling over how the number on the page could be so far off from the actual number of packets they had. Finally, she realized with a huff of amusement that the teenager had only been counting the boxes of jelly packets, not doing the math to add up the total number of individual packets.
She shook her head, pulling her phone out of her pocket and quickly calculating the correct amount. She made a mental note to not let anyone besides herself do the inventory unless she could be sure that they’d been properly trained.
She continued her work, moving product by product. Much of their stock had been miscounted, and she was dismayed to find that they were dangerously low on bags of salt. It was something they needed not only for cooking, but also for the salt shakers that were placed on every table. She made herself a note to go to the general store the next day so that she could pick up a few extra bags of salt right away.
This is going to take me a while, she thought with a sigh, glancing at her watch. Oh well. The life of a restaurant manager is hardly a glamorous one. Sometimes it means being stuck in a closet at nine p.m.
She chuckled to herself as she continued to work. She kept up a steady pace as she continued to count the stock. It was something she’d done countless times, and she was able to do it at a fairly impressive speed.
After she’d been working for about half an hour, she paused, listening intently. She thought she’d heard a faint knocking sound, but she wondered if it had been her imagination or maybe the pipes making odd noises.
She heard the knocking sound again, a little louder this time. Frowning with surprise, she left the storage closet and made her way to the front doors of the pub.
“Terrence!” she exclaimed in surprise when she saw the health inspector standing there. He waved to her through the glass of the front doors, and she hurried to unlock them. “What are you doing here?” she gasped with surprise. “You know we’re closed, don’t you?”
“I know.” He smiled. “But I saw that the lights were still on, and I figured that you might still be here.”
“Is there something wrong?” she asked, feeling worried. Her mind jumped to concerns that he had seen something wrong with the pub, and he was there to inform her that they were violating a health code of some kind.
“No, not at all.” He grinned and held up a tote bag. “I brought more coffee for you to try. A light roast this time.”
She burst out laughing, and he smiled at her a bit sheepishly. “Terrence,” she said, “you realize it’s nine p.m., don’t you?”
He chuckled a bit awkwardly. “I just wanted to make sure that you have it for tomorrow morning. I know that other stuff I brought you didn’t work out, so I thought you could sample this tomorrow instead of drinking your regular coffee at home. These blends are more on the mild side. I thought about what you said about diner coffee needing to have a more, shall we say ‘polite’ taste. And I picked these out.”
“A ‘polite’ taste?” She laughed again, delighted by the way he’d put it. “That’s a good way of describing it. I’d love to sample these blends. Thank you, Terrence. And you know what—I’m here for at least another half hour anyway. Our inventory is a bit of a mess, and I want to make sure to get it all straight before I go home tonight. Why not drink some coffee?”
He smiled, the corners of his mustache curving upward in an almost playful expression. “If you don’t mind, I can stay and drink some with you.”
“Sure.” She smiled at him. “That would be nice.”
She held the door open wider for him, and he stepped inside the pub.
“Still smells deliciously of dinner in here,” he said, inhaling the wonderful aromas that lingered in the dining room.
“It does at that.” She glanced over at him as she relocked the front doors. “Are you hungry? We’ve got some leftovers in the refrigerator.”
“No, I’m quite all right, thank you. I ate dinner not too long ago.”
“What did you have?” she asked him cheerfully as they walked across the dining room together.
“I’m not much of a cook,” he admitted. “But when you can purchase frozen, ready-made meatballs, pasta sauce, and noodles, it’s not too hard to make one heck of a meal.”
She laughed. “You’re right. What brand of meatballs did you buy?”
They continued to chat in a friendly manner until they reached the kitchen doors.
“I know you have a rule about customers not touching your coffee machine,” he teased, “but how about I make us the coffee while you finish your work?”
Her eyes twinkled at him. “I think that would be very nice. I guess I can let my rule slide this once.”
“Perfect. You go ahead and finish your inventory work, and I’ll make us some coffee.”
Vivian smiled at him before walking through the kitchen doors. As she went back to the storage closet to continue her work on the inventory, she thought to herself how remarkably comfortable she felt with Terrence. He wasn’t someone she knew all that well, and yet the fact that he was about to make coffee in her coffee maker without her supervision didn’t bother her in the slightest.
I guess it’s because he’s the health inspector, she thought with a chuckle. I trust him to be respectable and reliable. And I have to admit, we get along very well.
She began to hum a little as she worked in the storage closet. She enjoyed knowing that she had a friend there in the pub with her. She was looking forward to trying the coffee he’d brought with him, and she liked the idea of having company. Even though Terrence was too far away to talk to, it felt pleasant to know that she wasn’t alone anymore.
In not too long, she got the inventory nearly finished and decided to take a break. With a sigh of satisfaction, she clicked her pen shut and turned out the light in the storage closet. She made her way back out into the dining room, where the air was filled with the alluring, rich aroma of coffee.
“Oh my, that smells heavenly,” she breathed as she stepped out of the kitchen.
To her surprise, Terrence had lined up several mugs of coffee on the pub’s counter.
“Are we expecting a party?” she asked with a laugh.
He shook his head, looking pleased with himself. “No, I thought I would brew a little of each kind of coffee I brought. Those are the four bags of coffee, and those four mugs are for you.”
“I get to sample all of them at once, huh? Which one is which?”
He shook his head. “I’m not telling you that. You have to guess, based on what you can taste. You can read the descriptions of the coffees on the bags and try to figure out what kind each one is.”
She felt delighted. Not only was she about to get some much-needed caffeine, but she got to play a little game as well. “This is just like a cupping experience.”
He grinned at her. “Yes, it is. You were able to identify characteristics of the coffee I gave you before so easily. I wanted to see if you can guess which blend is which.”
“Ha! I’m up for the challenge, I think.” She picked up the nearest mug of coffee and took a careful sip. A smooth, lightly nutty flavor splashed across her tongue. “Mm, that’s wonderful. I wonder what flavor it is.”
“Here are your options.” He gestured at the bags dramatically, an act so unexpectedly playful that she burst out laughing. “Should I read you the descriptions of each roast?”
“Yes please.” She let out another laugh as she took a sip of the next mug of coffee.
Terrence read aloud the descriptions of the coffees, and she listened intently. Her adrenaline was twirling around inside her, the way it did whenever she played a game she particularly enjoyed. She sipped the rest of the coffee types as she listened, and by the time Terrence was done reading, she felt she was ready to make her guesses.
“This is the Ethiopian coffee,” she guessed, tapping the first mug. “This one is the morning blend. This one is the Maple Leaf brand, and this one is the Sunny Side Up brand.”
She turned to Terrence triumphantly, sure she was right, but he was shaking his head.
“I can’t believe it,” she said, incredulous. She took another sip of the Maple Leaf brand, because it was her favorite and she wanted more coffee. “I was sure I was right.”
“I can’t believe it either,” he said, still shaking his head. “You are right. You got every one of them right.”
She burst out laughing and jogged around for a few seconds in a victory dance. The corners of Terrence’s mustache curved up in amusement as he watched her.
“Did you cheat?” he asked her. “Were you peeking through the doorway? Or are you just a mind reader?”
“Nope.” She bowed. She hadn’t felt that giddy in years—seldom since she was a teenager. “I’m just that good.”
They both started laughing again.
“But which is your favorite?” Terrence asked.
“The Maple Leaf brand,” she said, holding up the mug she was still sipping from. “It’s the best combination of flavorful and ‘polite,’ as you put it.”
“The Maple Leaf brand, really?” He shook his head. “I think that’s the least flavorful out of all of them.” He picked up one of the mugs he’d set out for himself and took a sip. “I mean, it’s good, but a little on the bland side.”
“You must have gotten your own mugs mixed up,” she teased. “Here. Try mine.” She handed him her mug and he obeyed with a chuckle.
“Yup, still bland,” he said after he’d tasted it.
“Don’t ever pretend to be a coffee connoisseur ever again,” she told him. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
They continued to talk and laugh and argue good-naturedly over the coffees for a while. Vivian found all of the different roasts pleasant, but she stuck by her opinion that the Maple Leaf brand was the closest to what she was looking for.
Finally, Vivian glanced at her watch and uttered an exclamation of surprise. “My goodness, I had no idea it was this late. I’m usually in bed with a cup of tea and a book by this time. This is just like the time the vents acted up. Do you remember that? At Christmastime?”
“I do.” His eyes took on a faraway look. “I had some snowballs with me and we ate them together.”
“They were delicious,” she said, remembering the evening fondly. “But that night we really did need to be here—or at least, I did—but right now we’re only acting like we need to be here. There aren’t any kind of problems we need to watch over right now, but we seem to be finding reasons to stay up late, just like we did at Christmas.”
Terrence’s tone became more serious. “I wouldn’t mind if there was some kind of issue we had to wait for. That was a very pleasant evening, and so is this one. But I’m glad we get to do this without the vents having issues. I like spending time with you, Vivian.”
Vivian cleared her throat gently. Her heart was beating faster over his subtle inference that he was interested in her romantically. It was completely unexpected, and she had to reconsider his words several times before finally coming to the conclusion that there had been a romantic edge to his tone. She suddenly felt a bit fluttery, and she found herself glancing at Terrence as he continued to sip on one of his mugs of coffee.
She had never considered Terrence romantically before. She liked him a great deal, and she considered him to be a good friend, but his uptight ways had prevented her from being attracted to him, at least so far.
I don’t think I can really get around the fact that he’s so particular, she thought. I’m always worried he’s going to find something wrong with the pub. Wouldn’t that stress me out if I dated him?
At the thought of dating him, she felt her cheeks flush pink and she hurriedly looked away from the health inspector. She had to admit to herself that he wasn’t uptight all the time. He’d proved himself to be faithful and complimentary to the pub time and again, and even more than that, he had turned out to be unexpectedly charming. He had shown her a side, his tenderer side, which was so disarming…
“I should get going, I suppose.” Terrence smiled sweetly at Vivian as he began to load their empty mugs onto a tray. “Thanks for tasting the coffee with me.”
“You don’t have to do that,” she insisted, waving her hand at him to get him to stop cleaning up the mugs.
“No, no, I insist.” He shook his head. “My game, my cleanup. I’ll just take these into the kitchen.”
He carried the tray through the double doors that led into the kitchen, whistling as he went. She stood there for a few moments, staring at the doors and feeling unexpectedly skittish. She almost felt as though she didn’t know how to act around him anymore.
“Thank you so much for bringing the coffee,” she said when he returned from the kitchen. “And for making it such a fun experience. Now I can go ahead and order the pub’s coffee for the month, and we don’t have to keep using that inferior stuff.”
“You’re very welcome.” He smiled down at her in a way that she was starting to see as more gallant than friendly. How had she not noticed the way he’d been trying to be especially kind to her?
“Let me walk you to the door.” She glanced at him again as they crossed the dining room together. He was a handsome man, certainly. But could she really be interested in someone who spent his days being fussy, and was paid for it? Surely he’d gotten too much into the habit of looking for what was wrong with places—and maybe even people too.
“Have a good night, Vivian,” he told her at the door. His tone was so gentle and charming that her heart skipped a beat.
Maybe she shouldn’t be too quick to assume that he would be fussy in every area of life. That probably wasn’t fair in the slightest.
“You as well. Thanks again, Terrence.”
He hesitated for a moment, and then reached out and shook her hand. His grip was strong and firm, and she shook his hand back warmly.
“Goodnight.”
“Goodnight.”
Terrence left the pub, and she locked the door behind him. Once he was out of sight, she stood in the middle of her empty restaurant and stared into space, her head completely in a whirl.