Chapter 2
Josie Wells
I had six eggs on the stovetop, and four of them were set to come out within a matter of seconds. I saw Carly come up behind me. She had a man with her. I couldn't see him fully, but I could see enough to know there was a tall, thin-ish masculine presence next to her.
"I've got four eggs about to come out of the pot. I'll be with you in just a second."
"Thank you," Carly said, answering for him. "And Maggie's here. Her ticket's not up yet, but you might as well go ahead and drop two more."
"Got it," I said with a nod.
"Oh, and Scott said he loves your eggs as much as Audrey's."
"Aw, that's sweet," I replied, concentrating on placing an egg on one of the plates that was ready to go. I had to be careful about my every movement, or that perfect yolk would pop prematurely.
Carly waited while I plated a few more eggs, and then she took two plates back to the front with her. I could hear her calling out to Cal that she had this order and was headed up front with it.
I wiped my hands and turned to regard that stranger.
He was young and handsome, and I made eye contact with his light eyes for only a brief second before shifting my gaze back to the stove.
Oof. Those eyes. They were something. They weren't blue or green, but they were light.
Were they yellow? They were definitely warm-toned.
I didn't take the time to stare or even think about it.
I didn't have time to notice guys in that way, anyway.
Not that he would have noticed me. I was a wreck.
It was a busy Friday, and I was doing all I could to keep up at this restaurant.
But Carly had gotten my attention when she mentioned money. I was saving up to buy some nice headphones, and I felt bad using the money from my jobs to go to that. Carly had said that this man was willing to pay money to share this kitchen with me for a little while tomorrow.
Cal came around the corner, cutting in front of the guy and putting two more plates and four paper cups on the table under the heat lamp. The gentleman stepped back to give him room. I waited for Cal to walk off before I spoke to him.
"I have to concentrate over here," I said to the guy. "But Carly said you wanted to pay extra to sit back here and have breakfast at Luna's table."
"Yes, that would be great," he said.
"Is it tomorrow?" I asked.
"Yes."
"What time, how many people, how long are you staying, and how much are you willing to pay?"
"Uh, n-nine A-M, for an hour or so. And there are just two of us. How much were you thinking?"
Honestly, I was not looking forward to dealing with people being back here with me. I had gotten better at the job, but it still took a lot of concentration for me, which was exhausting.
"A hundred dollars on top of whatever you spend on breakfast."
"Fine," he said, agreeing way too easily.
I glanced at him when he said that. I was wearing a serious expression, and so was he. He shrugged and smiled a little. Goodness, he was handsome.
"So, can we do it?"
"I’m not your server," I said, turning around to tend to my eggs. "We don't have servers. You see how it is here. You pay and get your drinks at the front. I'll walk over there and set the food in front of you, but that's all I can promise—especially on a Saturday."
"That's okay," he agreed.
"You can't talk to me or anything."
"We won't. Can I talk to him at full volume, though? He's a little hard of hearing. Will we bother you?"
"No," I said, easily.
The truth was that they would probably bother me, but I could get over it for a hundred dollars.
"Okay, so we'll be here at nine, and plan on staying for about an hour."
I glanced at him and nodded. Our eyes met for the briefest of seconds before I looked toward the stove again. There was a possibility I would never see him again. He might think twice about paying a hundred dollars to sit and eat a five-dollar protein cup. I wouldn't blame him if he did.
"That sounds good, I'll be here and see you then," I said, even though I had my doubts.
"Thank you so much. I'm Alex, by the way. Alex Stockton."
"Josie," I said, without looking at him.
"Josey Wales?"
"Yes," I answered dryly. "Only not spelled the same."
"You're kidding."
"No, I'm not. I wish I were."
"That's a great name. Why do you wish you were kidding?"
"Because my mom hates it. She's never let my dad live it down."
"How does your mom hate it? Isn't she the one who named you that?"
"Yes, but that was before she knew it was a Clint Eastwood character. My dad didn't tell her about the movie when he came up with the name. I was five months old when somebody gave her the news."
"So she did like it, but she stopped liking it when you were five months old?"
"Exactly," I said.
"That's too bad. I love that name. How do you spell it?"
"The normal way," I said.
"Which is how?"
"Not like the movie. Mine's J-O-S-I-E-W-E-L-L-S," I said, without looking at him.
"Well, for what it's worth, I absolutely love meeting a real-life Josie Wells. That movie's amazing. I studied it because of what I'm doing—making a Western of my own, a short series. That's what my meeting's about tomorrow."
"That's great," I said, dropping two more eggs each into their pot and remembering to focus. "I'm not the regular chef back here, so I have to concentrate. I'm sorry. It's cool that you're in a movie."
"Thanks, Josie. I'll show myself out, and I'll see you tomorrow morning."
"Sounds good," I replied, cracking another egg.
***
My life was so full that every day seemed twice as long as it used to. The days also seemed to blur together, which made for some surreal moments, both in dreams and in my waking hours. I used to be a full-time student with a part-time job.
I used to live on campus in a small apartment with a roommate, sleeping and studying in a tiny bedroom that my parents paid for.
My life as I knew it had been put on pause when I dropped everything and ran to Montana to be by my sister's side.
A month ago, I left Colorado and came to Montana to help my sister through a tragedy in her life.
I thought I would be back at school after a week or so, but instead, I had to finish the school year via Zoom, videos, and lots of help from my classmates and friends. My professors were kind about working with me, and I finished the term with good grades even though I couldn't physically be there.
Since I had been in Montana, I had been working my sister's two jobs and one of my own.
The third job had been a recent addition, and honestly, I didn't need it financially.
I only took it to be out of the house at night and force my sister back into some of her old responsibilities.
I knew we couldn't continue this lifestyle forever, and she had to start getting out of bed and getting better so that she could take back her life.
In the meantime, I was working long hours and learning a hundred new things a day, and it all seemed like a big blur most of the time.
I was normally never this brave or adventurous, but Audrey had forced my hand. I knew my sister needed me, but I was naturally timid and thoughtful, and selfishly, I could not wait to get back to my life in Colorado.
"Hey, Josie, that guy's here," Carly said, coming around the corner to stand at my plating area with him the following morning.
"Thank you," I said. "These are done for table three, if you want to take them."
"Gotcha. And I'll send those men back. He already ordered. I just told them to wait up there for a second so I could make sure you're… oh, it looks nice back here. You got it ready for them. Where'd you put Luna's toys?"
I pointed to my left, and I saw her look down and notice where I had stashed Luna's toys.
"Are there just two of them?" I asked.
"Yeah, it's the guy from yesterday and an older gentleman."
"Luna's being dropped off at eleven, so I hope they're done by then."
"Yeah, of course, it's only nine, and you told them an hour. That guy's nice. He's really thankful you're letting him come back here. He already tipped us twenty dollars on his breakfast."
"That was nice," I said out loud, even though what crossed my mind was hoping he didn't take that twenty out of the hundred he had promised me. I had gotten to work early to clean and prepare that area.
"I'm sending them back," she said.
I turned up my music a little and braced myself, knowing they would be coming back to my area any second.
I turned and smiled at the guy when I heard him coming my way. I had seven eggs on the stovetop at the moment, and a smile and a nudge of the head was the best I could do.
Just then, I saw the ticket for that gentleman's order come through. Carly had marked it with a note about the table, so I knew it was their ticket.
I was aware of them in the space next to me. I couldn't see them, but I could hear them talking. The wall was enough to keep us out of each other's sight, but the room was small, and there was just no way I would turn my music up loud enough to drown them out.
"Did that young lady say she was going to seat us in the poacher's room?" the old man asked.
"Yes, their chef was nice enough to let us sit back here while she's poaching eggs."
"All I'm saying is that they shouldn't call her a poacher," the old man grumbled. "Something else comes to mind when you say that."
"Well, I think their specialty is poaching eggs, so I'm sure they can call it whatever. I mean, and if you think about it… they did… poach the eggs… from the chickens."
It was the young man who said it; he was speaking quieter than the other man. I smiled at his joke because I had the same chain of thoughts the first time I heard Carly call me that. She was the only one who had ever said it.
I did my best to tune them out. Cal was off on Saturdays, and we had a weekend cook named Mark who came around the corner with plates and cups that had been prepared for me to add eggs, sauce, and any other finishing touches.
I tended to my cooking, and for a moment, it was so intense that I lost track of the conversation that was taking place in the room with me.
They spoke to each other. When I tuned into the conversation again, they were talking about the scenery in Montana.
It was the older man's first time there, and it sounded like the younger one was trying to sell him on the looks of it.
"I know it doesn't look just like Missouri, but from certain angles, it does.
The property has meadow views if we film facing away from the mountains.
I have the shots planned. I'll take you to the ranch this afternoon, and we can walk in the spots where we'll be filming so you can see it.
I'm pumped about it, though. I've gone through all the plans with my team so many times that I know what to expect once we all get here.
I'll do the story justice. I want you to know that's important to me. Did you read the script I sent?"
"No, I… I didn't. Your grandmother did."
I plated a few more eggs, concentrating intently as each of them came out of the pot. People came here for these poached eggs, and I had been shaking in my boots the whole time I was back here making them—going on five weeks.
My older sister had always been the one who found excitement in the unknown.
Not me. There were too many variables in cooking—too many chances for failure as a chef.
Audrey loved that kind of thing, though.
She was now a chef with a whole life in Montana.
I was a student who lived on campus and near my parents.
I had put everything into my grades and academia so that I could maintain a scholarship and get more of an education than we could afford.
I had been focused on that for so long that the thing with my sister made me feel like I was a plastic Little Tikes car that had been thrown into a Formula 1 race.
I had been forced into this, and my brain hadn't had time to—5, 4, 3, 2, and I took three more eggs out of their pots and plated them.
I stuck my head around the corner and waved at Mark rather than hollering at him like I would normally. Mark understood that I was trying not to disturb the men at the table, so he slipped into my area and retrieved the plates.
The restaurant was so busy that I had an easy time tuning out of their conversation.
Just then, Mark came back with the gentlemen's prepped plates and put them under the heat lamp.
Within seconds, their eggs were finished.
I prayed and held my breath as I placed the eggs onto the dish.
They were delicate and perfectly cooked, and I breathed a sigh of relief when I got the last one onto the plate without popping any of them.
I was convinced my sister was a complete adrenaline junkie because I held my breath and got a whole-body nervous reaction every time I plated a poached egg.
These seemed even more important since the gentlemen were right here next to me.
I gave the plates a once-over after I had put the finishing touches, and then I took them to the gentlemen who were sharing the room with me.
I placed one plate in front of each man.
"Hope you enjoy," I said, bowing a little as I retreated.
I had briefly made eye contact with each of them.
The older gentleman had a thick white mustache like a walrus, and the younger one was comically handsome.
I had to stifle a smile at the whole situation and the fact that I felt a bodily reaction when this guy stared at me.
I didn't have time to think about it because I had other orders to attend to.
"Excuse me, can I get some salt and black pepper?" It was the older man who said it, and I stopped in my tracks before I made it around the partition.
"Yes sir, I'll have someone bring you some in just a second."
I heard him mumble something back to me, but I was too busy to listen.
Mark was in the doorway with four protein cups, which he lined up under the heat lamp while I walked around the table.
"Could you hand that man some salt and pepper?" I asked, making eye contact with Mark and nudging my chin toward the guys who were sitting at the table.
He made a face like he didn't want to do it, and I made a face back at him, begging him to.