Chapter 4 #3
The pureed spinach sauce looked like Eugene had shoved Oscar the Grouch into a blender. I put my napkin on my lap and cut the egg. Bright orange yolk spilled onto the plate, cutting the sea of green Grouch in half.
Nick picked up one of the pieces of bacon that was stacked high on his plate.
He jabbed it into the yolk and spooned a bit of the green stuff onto it.
When he bit into it, his eyes rolled backward in his head.
“Oh my god.” He finished the rest of the piece of crispy bacon in two bites.
He picked up his knife and fork and cut into the Swamp Monster, and I followed suit. “This is incredible.”
“Eugene loves to experiment and I haven’t seen him get it wrong yet.”
“This needs to be on your menu.” Nick finished the first Quorkie.
Laughing, I shook my head. “GJ hasn’t changed the menu in thirty years, she’s not about to add a Swamp Monster under the Quiche Lorraine.”
Nick dabbed the corner of his mouth with the napkin. “At first I wasn’t too sure about the name, but now I can’t think of anything else you could call this masterpiece.” He finished the second Quorkie and set to work devouring the stack of bacon.
“Speak of the devil,” I muttered under my breath.
Nick turned in his chair and then raised his hand to wave at GJ. My grandma had short white hair, blue eyes, and freakishly muscular arms. The woman could do twenty pull-ups back in the day and last year on her eighty-second birthday, she did two. I could barely eke out one on a good day.
“Mr. Tinsel. I see you found the dining room. How is your breakfast?” Her eyes glanced to the plate. “Or should I ask, what was your breakfast?”
“It was one of Eugene’s experiments.” I spoke before Nick could tell GJ that her kitchen had served a dish called a Swamp Monster.
“Evie.” GJ put her hand on her hips. “You know how I feel about serving new things to guests.”
Nick spoke first. “GJ. It’s the best thing I’ve ever eaten. I will have it every day I’m here—if I can.” His smile lit up his face. GJ’s too. “I think that you should call it the Valley Sunrise.”
GJ looked like she was considering it. “That’s got a nice ring to it.
” She tapped her lip with her index finger.
“No. The menu was perfected by my mom and I see no need to change it. But…” She patted Nick on the shoulder.
“I’ll tell Eugene that the new goalie can have the, what did you call it? The Valley Sunrise, any time he likes.”
She shook her finger at me. “You know better, Evie.” She picked up one of my braids and smiled.
“Your hair looks beautiful today, sweetheart. It goes perfectly with the breakfast uniform.” She turned to face Nick.
“Can you believe that Evie wants to get rid of these cute outfits? What do you think?”
“Me?” Nick pointed to himself with his fork.
“Yes. You.” GJ cackled. “Do you like the uniforms? Or would you prefer…” She paused. “Black shirts and boring black slacks.” She didn’t hide her disdain for my monochromatic suggestion.
Nick cleared his throat and held up both his hands like he was in a stickup. “GJ. The only uniform I’m qualified to have an opinion on is the Bobcats’. I’d say whatever the waitress is most comfortable wearing is the best uniform.”
“Very diplomatic, Mr. Tinsel.” GJ rolled her eyes. “Be sure to tell Coach Coalman that I said hi,” she said and disappeared into the kitchen, only to stick her head out the door. “Evie. Why is Eugene polishing forks?”
“That’s my cue.” I stood and cleared our plates. “I hope that this was enough protein to sustain you for your practice today.”
“It was perfect.” He finished his coffee and stood. “Thank you for joining me for breakfast, it’s been a long time since I’ve gone out for breakfast with someone.”
“Technically, we’re not out. This is home.” I scooped up his napkin.
“It was nice to have company.” Nick’s smile seemed sad.
Then I remembered that he was alone—at Christmas—and wasn’t shy about vocalizing his hatred for the season.
Whatever made him feel so strongly about the holidays wasn’t my business, but there wasn’t any reason for him to hate Chance Rapids.
He was about to be a small-town celebrity.
“If you need more caffeine but aren’t ready for Muriel’s special coffee, there’s a great shop on the main street called Sugar Peaks Café.
There’s also a brewpub that’s got our local craft beer on tap, and if you need a place to go out at night, the Last Chance Tavern is where it’s at.
But be warned, it’s super small town in there…
and you might not want to go on Tuesday. Or maybe that’s your thing.”
I could hear myself rambling. After breakfast and a conversation that flowed like the glacier-fed river that ran through the heart of Chance Rapids, my attraction to Nick was growing, and it was scary as hell.
“What happens on Tuesday?” Nick stood.
“Amateur hour. What’s the PC term? Exotic dancing.”
Nick blinked. “That’s not what I was expecting.” He chuckled. “I’m sure that hour is quite entertaining, but that’s not really my thing.”
He could’ve been saying that for my benefit, after all, what guy doesn’t like looking at naked women. My ex certainly did.
The kitchen door banged against the wall and Eugene stuck his head out. “Evie. Come quickly. GJ needs your help with something.” There was panic in his voice. “I have to run to get a wrench.”
Thankful for the excuse to step away from the awkward conversation, I pointed to the kitchen with my thumb. “Gotta go. Get out there and see some of the town. You just might like it here.” I jogged to the kitchen, but realized I wasn’t alone.
Nick’s hand pressed the door open above my head. “It sounds important,” he explained, and the two of us burst into the fluorescent lights of the Snowy Peaks kitchen.
“In here.” GJ’s voice came from the dish pit.
We rushed in. GJ was lying on the floor beneath the industrial dishwasher. “I was trying to clean out the trap and forgot to turn off the water. If I let go of this, we’ll have a flood. Pass me that bucket and turn that lever.” She jutted her chin at the water shutoff.
Nick was on it. “Geez.” He grunted as he turned off the water. “That was on there tight.” I held the bucket under the pipe and Nick shimmied in between me and GJ. “You can let go now.” He held on with one hand and patted GJ’s with the other.
“I’ve got the wrench.” Eugene skidded into the dish pit, holding up the tool. “Wait, you were able to turn the shutoff with your bare hand? That’s impressive.”
Nick snapped the fingers of his free hand. “Pass me the wrench.”
Eugene placed the tool in his extended hand. Nick let the water drain, cleared the trap, put everything back, and tightened it all. “You’re going to need to get something for these joins here, or else this is going to start leaking.
“I can get Edward to fix that up.” GJ wiped her hands on a tea towel. “Thank you, Nick. That could’ve been disastrous.”
“GJ. Next time, come and get me before you do something like that,” I said.
“No.” Nick took the tea towel from GJ’s extended hands and wiped his on it. “You come and get me the next time you do something like that. If you get the contact cement from the hardware store I’ll fix the connections for you.
“I won’t have that.” GJ repossessed the tea towel, spun it a couple of times, and then, to my shock, snapped it at Nick’s butt. He yelped and rubbed the spot on his jeans pocket. “You get to practice and focus on stopping pucks, leave the plumbing stuff to us.”
“All right, all right.” Nick smiled. “I’ll focus on hockey.”
“Good.” GJ slung the towel over her shoulder and returned to tidying up the dish pit.
I walked Nick to the lobby. “Thanks for all of your help today.”
He smiled. “Let’s just say I have a soft spot for old people. I’ll see you later.”
“Nick.” I stopped him just as he was about to leave. “I’m sorry about the tea towel thing. That was so inappropriate. She’s just…”
He grinned and rubbed his very round, very muscular hockey player ass. “She’d have a great slap shot. My sister used to do that to me when we were washing the dishes. It must be a girl thing.”
I wanted to ask him more about his sister, but reminded myself that Nick Tinsel wasn’t my friend, he was a guest. A guest who, in one day, had rescued me from walking in a blizzard, and then saved the inn from a plumbing disaster.
A guest who made my heart leap into my throat, and I couldn’t have that.