Chapter 4 #2
She wasn’t ready to see her grandmother again after all this time. She was nervous, and unprepared, and she had no idea what she was going to say. She—
She was hungry. Her stomach growled, and her head faintly ached because she’d only had two cups of coffee before her flight, and Vanessa felt suddenly very sure that if she could get another cup of caffeine and something to eat, she’d feel much more ready to see her grandmother for the first time in so long.
She just needed a minute to adjust. To get her head on straight.
The town was so overwhelming and distracting that she couldn’t think if she’d seen a coffee shop or any bigger restaurant, but she had clearly seen a diner only a couple of blocks away from the toy store.
With that one firm landmark in mind, she hoisted her bag and clutched her suitcase a little tighter, and started hurrying down the sidewalk toward the Snowdrift Diner.
As she walked, she looked around, trying to take in the rest of the town a bit.
She passed by a sign for a Christmas tree farm, large pines fringing the outer fence that split around a mud and gravel path that wound back behind the main street and undoubtedly led to the larger farm.
She could see innumerable trees and what looked like smoke from a chimney, and another of those memories flitted back into her mind.
She thought she could remember going there when she was much younger, picking out a tree with her grandparents when her grandfather and her parents were still alive.
It was one of those ‘cut your own tree’ places, she recalled, and she remembered Mabel handing her hot apple cider while Grandpa chopped down the tree, Mabel ready with the netting to wrap around it so that they could load it onto the truck and take it back home.
Vanessa bit her lip, the memory fading as she stopped in front of the diner.
It was an old-fashioned log structure, with big windows and all of the lights and Christmas decorations creating festive, slightly organized chaos on the outside.
Inside, she could see dark green booths and an old-fashioned diner counter making a squared-off U shape in the center of the building.
Taking a deep breath, she stepped inside.
And the moment she did, that deep breath brought with it the scent of rich tomato, spices, gamey meat, and the clear smell of chili.
There was the smell of dark coffee too, and the interior of the diner was comfortably warm, inviting anyone who stepped inside to stay, eat, and thaw out.
There was a chalkboard sign behind the hostess stand with the day’s specials.
Breakfast All Day! was written at the top, with pumpkin French toast listed below it as the day’s breakfast special, and then underneath that, venison chili with maple cornbread for the lunch special.
Vanessa hadn’t eaten chili since she was a child, and she couldn’t recall if she’d ever had venison, but her stomach growled again at the thought of it.
The diner was also packed. The only seats available were at the counter, on the dark green stools that surrounded it, with absolutely no room for her to tuck her bags next to her.
Vanessa was just about to turn around and try something else, when a pretty thirty-something woman with her blonde hair tied up in a messy bun hurried up to her, wiping her hands on the short apron covering her jeans.
She was wearing a plaid shirt with the sleeves rolled up, and Vanessa assumed she must be a waitress.
“Sorry,” the woman chirped, with a bright smile. “We’re packed with the lunch rush. But we have a couple seats at the counter! I can get you whatever you’d like, just grab one—”
“I think I might go.” Vanessa managed a tiny smile in return, gesturing to her bags. “I have—”
“Oh, don’t worry about that! I can tuck them right back here.” The woman took the suitcase before Vanessa could say anything, rolling it behind the hostess stand and holding a hand out for her other bag.
“I don’t know if I want to leave—”
“They’ll be perfectly safe. Place like this, you could leave them on the sidewalk and they’d still be there when you came out. Grab yourself a seat, and I’ll be right over with some coffee. You do want coffee, right?”
Vanessa nodded, thrown off by the flood of hospitality and the small-town friendliness, just as she’d known she would be.
She couldn’t think of a reason to argue, exactly, so instead she found herself handing the bag over and going to the furthest seat that was empty at the counter, a couple of seats away from other customers.
She hung her purse up on a hook underneath, just as the friendly waitress—whose nametag said Patty, she saw now—came over with a pot of coffee and a bowl of single-serving pumpkin spice creamers.
“Here you go!” she said brightly as she filled a cream-colored mug with the diner’s logo on it with coffee.
The logo was a snowman holding his own cup, Vanessa saw, with a snowdrift behind him and the diner’s name above it in old-fashioned script.
“I’ll be back in a few minutes to see what you might want to eat.
” Patty slid a laminated menu toward Vanessa, and darted off.
Her appetite had fled. She took one of the single-serving creamers out of the bowl and opened it, dumping it into the coffee cup as she wondered if it had been a mistake to come to Fir Tree Grove.
She laughed inwardly as she opened another.
What was she thinking? Of course it had been a mistake.
All she had to do was look around the diner to see that she stuck out, but she didn’t want to, because she was sure they’d all be looking at her the way the taxi driver had.
Sure, she had passed some other people who looked like they were tourists, and Patty had been friendly, but she wasn’t a tourist. And pretty soon in a place like this, it would get out that Mabel’s granddaughter was home for the first time in years, the first time in her entire adult life, and everyone would definitely look at her like she stuck out.
Being a tourist was one thing, but being someone who was supposed to belong but looked like a tourist was another.
She had no business here. She should be back in San Francisco, doing her job, and not upsetting her boss.
She’d been right about how bad cell service was, and she was sure that was the only reason she hadn’t already had multiple calls from Russell.
“Would you like some coffee with your cream?” A deep male voice cut through her thoughts, and Vanessa jolted, blinking as she looked down at the small pile of creamers in front of her.
She’d dumped six of them into the eight-ounce cup of coffee.
It was a pale tan color now, and she couldn’t believe she’d been so lost in thought that she hadn’t even noticed.
She looked up, blinking again as she was immediately startled by the man standing in front of her.
He was remarkably handsome, tall with thick dark brown hair and a wide smile that softened his otherwise strong, chiseled face.
He had a scruff of dark stubble on his jaw, and he was wearing a forest green and black plaid shirt, with an apron over it.
Vanessa assumed he must be a waiter. Probably come to take her order, which she still hadn’t even thought about.
She wasn’t sure she was hungry any longer, although she knew she should eat.
The muffin she’d picked apart at the airport early that morning definitely didn’t count as breakfast. But her stomach was so tied up in knots that she didn’t know how she was going to eat anything, much less chili.
“Sorry,” she said, unsure exactly as to why she was apologizing. “I was a bit preoccupied.”
“You certainly seemed to be.” The man grinned at her, amusement coloring his voice as he topped off her coffee, adding a bit more to the cup. “Wanna talk about it?”
Vanessa frowned at him. “This isn’t a bar,” she said primly, glancing back down at the menu. It was all the kind of food she would expect from a place like this.
Breakfast platters of eggs and bacon, or sausages and toast, pancakes that promised to be stacked high and served with maple syrup.
Fish and chips, meatloaf with mashed potatoes, an elk burger with goat cheese and pepper jam, a regular burger that could be ordered classic or “Western” style with barbecue sauce, cheddar cheese, or an onion ring, a hot roast beef sandwich with juice for dipping, and—she guessed because of the season—a “Pilgrim” sandwich with local turkey, homemade stuffing, fresh cranberry sauce, cream cheese and a side of gravy.
There was one salad listed, almost as an afterthought, and the promise of green beans on the side for the meatloaf and the Pilgrim sandwich. But overall, she thought, it was nothing like what she was used to eating, and all food that made her jeans feel tight just reading through it.
She certainly wasn’t going to be able to eat any of it with the way she felt right then.
“You’re sitting at my bar, basically.” The man was still standing there, that grin on his face, and Vanessa realized she’d gotten distracted again. “This diner is my place.”
Oh. She felt her cheeks heat slightly, and she hoped he didn’t notice.
“So what’s worrying you anyway?” He set the coffeepot down. “No one should have that look on their face this close to Christmas.”
Vanessa waved her hand dismissively. “It’s nothing,” she said quickly. “Anyway, I don’t even know your name, so I don’t know how I could start telling you all about my business.”
“It’s Jackson.” The merriment in his eyes only brightened, making it all the more evident that they were a soft, rich brown.
Warm, almost soothing. “And if you don’t want to pour out all your troubles over a cup of delicious pumpkin spice cream with a dash of coffee, won’t you at least tell me what you’re doing here?
I know I haven’t seen you around before. ”
Something in her chest jolted a little at the idea that he thought he would notice her if she had been. She shrugged the feeling off, reaching for her cup of coffee to take a sip. Jackson was right, there was too much cream in it.
“I’m here to see my grandmother,” she told him. “Mabel Stewart. I haven’t seen her in forever, so I thought I’d come out for a visit.”
Jackson chuckled, topping off her coffee again as soon as she set the cup back down. It was starting to look like a more reasonable color.
“Stalling?” he asked with that same grin, and Vanessa frowned, feeling a flash of annoyance that he’d pinged her so quickly. She’d hoped it wouldn’t be that obvious.
She reached for her cup instead, taking a long drink without answering, and as soon as she set it down, he filled it up once more with a grin.
She couldn’t help but think he was trying to tell her that it was fine for her to sit there as long as she wanted, until she was done stalling, which felt odd.
She was used to restaurants with servers that would be pointedly annoyed if you didn’t order at least appetizers within a reasonable time frame.
Even coffee shops in San Francisco didn’t like loitering unless you kept ordering coffee, and something to nibble on besides.
All she’d done was sip at a cup of plain coffee.
“How long will you be in town?” Jackson asked, and she frowned again.
“Not long,” she said firmly. “I’m needed back home. In San Francisco. My boss won’t know what to do with himself if I’m gone for too long.”
“I believe that.” Jackson eyed her for a moment longer.
“Well, however long or short your stay, you know where to get unlimited coffee.” He raised the pot in her direction and then turned toward an older man on the other side of the bar who was tapping his mug against the laminate, and ambled in that direction.
“Thank you!” Vanessa called after him, unable to help the smile that spread over her face. Unlimited coffee was a way to perk up her mood, that was for certain. And the fact that it was being served by such an attractive man didn’t hurt either.
She finished the cup, and let out a sigh. There was no way she was going to eat until she got this first conversation with her grandmother over with, so she might as well go, she decided. She left a ten-dollar bill on the counter for her coffee and tip, and then got up, going to collect her things.
It was time to face the inevitable.