Chapter 14
Fourteen
HEIDI
Nervous did not begin to touch on what Heidi was feeling inside. Her hands were trembling. She’d woken up at the crack of dawn to do a practice run at the café… and it was almost ‘Go’ time with one massive problem.
She wasn’t sure she could handle this.
It was one thing to clean, another to bake or wait on customers, but it was really hammering it home that she was only one person…
taking on more than three jobs. Sure, she could ask Mimi for a little help, but the woman was frail and had given up the café because it was too much physically.
How in the world was Heidi going to be open for business seven days a week, from seven in the morning until four in the afternoon…
and still get here early enough to bake, stay after hours to clean, stock, do the books, and then do it all over again the next morning?
Cooking? Yes.
Dealing with customers? Yes.
Logistics? – That was a ‘hard No’ obviously.
“Okay, okay,” Heidi whispered aloud to herself, trying to calculate just how early she was going to have to arrive in order to start frying up ‘Grandma Inez’s Donuts’ – the special of the café…
and it wasn’t pretty. They had to be mixed, rise, cut and fried – and that was one batch.
“If I start a batch every hour – on the hour – then I should have about…”
Her thoughts were interrupted by a chime at the door causing her to look up – and hesitate. Jack was walking in with a curvy, gorgeous blonde beside him, who made her see red.
“We’re closed!” Heidi snapped hotly. “Get out – especially with her!” and then paused, looking at the blonde’s shocked expression. “No offense, lady, but you should really take a good long look at your buddy, because he’s my man and…”
“Sweetheart?” Jack interrupted her tirade, holding up both hands in surrender and smiling proudly. “It’s not what you think and…”
“You don’t know what I’m thinking… you… you…”
“Turd?” he volunteered, and the blonde woman beside him grinned in delight.
“Pretty sure we both know what you’re thinking – and it’s wrong. No offense, but Jack used to put bubble gum in my hair.”
“That’s sweet,” Heidi shot back sarcastically, interrupting her. “Fan-freakin’-adorable, I tell ya’. Sharing is caring, huh?”
“Annnd,” the woman continued smoothly, crossing her arms under her ample bosom, “I wouldn’t date Jack if he were the last man on earth. It feels almost incestuous. He’s like a brother and… well, ick. Sorry, Jack.”
“Don’t apologize, Becky Sue,” Jack retorted bluntly. “Ain’t no way – ain’t no how.”
Heidi’s mouth dropped open as comprehension clicked – and she pointed. “That’s the infamous Becky Sue that I keep hearing about?”
Becky Sue’s face darkened as she unfurled her arms, putting one hand on her hip, letting it stick out in her tight blue jeans.
“Look, lady, Jack said you were nice and wouldn’t judge – but this comes off as awfully ‘judgey’ to me.
If I wanted someone to look down their beak at me, I’d shake what my mama gave me down the middle of town.
I need a job, but I refuse to beg anyone for anything ever again.
I might be a single mom, which makes half of the town folk get the vapors when I walk into a room, but I do have an iota of dignity - and a child to feed. What’s it gonna be?”
Heidi’s eyes darted to Jack’s, saw his slow nod, and she looked back at Becky Sue – immediately grasping at this unexpected gift of help when she’d been panicking moments ago.
“You’re right,” Heidi said quickly, dusting her hands off on her apron.
“I was just surprised because, well, I know what it’s like to start over and I was… ”
“Having flashbacks?” Becky Sue volunteered, relaxing her stance and walking up to shake her hand. “PTSD? I get it – that’s usually a monthly thing like my period, unfortunately.”
“You’ve been starting a new job monthly?” Heidi whispered nervously, glancing at Jack once again, who shoved both of his hands in his pockets, rocking back on his heels, and looking away. Oh, they were gonna talk about this the moment Becky Sue was out of range.
“Kids get sick, babysitters quit, people believe juicy gossip, and I can’t help it if their butt-ugly husbands gawk at me.” Becky Sue began tersely, grabbing a nearby apron off the hook. “Can I start immediately? I’m a hard worker and…”
“Now?”
Heidi didn’t mean to yelp it – and the look on Becky Sue’s face was stricken as she nodded.
“Look, some people have family or friends they can rely on for help, but I’m not quite so fortunate.
I need a job. I need the money. I need a freakin’ break…
so if you want someone to clean toilets, mop floors, shine shoes, or suck-up to paying customers – I’m your girl – just please, please don’t fire me for at least two weeks so I can afford diapers. ”
Oh man…
“You can’t quit on me,” Heidi said nervously, glancing at Jack, who was now watching her proudly. “We might disagree or argue, but I need someone who can be dependable or…oomph!”
Heidi grunted as Becky Sue grabbed her in the tightest of hugs, whispering repeatedly ‘Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!’ She looked at Jack helplessly and saw him give her a slow wink before gesturing with his finger and thumb to call him later.
She lifted a hand to wave at him, still encapsulated by Becky Sue’s hug that was like hugging an anaconda – or an octopus.
“You don’t know what this means to me…”
Oh gosh, was she crying? Heidi thought brokenly as her own eyes began to sting.
“Hey, hey… no bawling, okay? You’ll make me cry, and then we won’t get anything done.
Tell me about your child. Let’s get to know each other while we make up a few more batches of dough to have ready for the grand opening. ”
Becky Sue yanked away, smiling tearfully and nodding. “For the Jamboree you’re sponsoring – sure thing!”
“Huh? Wait – I’m sponsoring something…?” Heidi turned in disbelief toward the café door – only to see Jack shut it firmly behind him.
Coward, she thought in disbelief, and then hesitated, realizing Jack had secretly arranged all of this - just like the cell phone tower and counter help from Becky Sue.
How could you be upset with someone when they are going out of their way to help you, by any means possible?
You can’t…
“Jack told me that the new café in Fate was the main food vendor at the Jamboree tomorrow night and…” Becky Sue was a chatty little thing when she was happy, but Heidi wasn’t alone – at all. Not here at the café, not in her personal life, and never again.
Jack had her back without Heidi ever having to ask for help.
Suddenly, a smile touched her face as she saw him peer through the glass, checking on her as if he was worried she might be upset – because he cared, she realized.
Turning back toward Becky Sue, who was still talking and peering in some of the containers, already learning her way around the counter and kitchen area of the café, Heidi cleared her throat.
“Becky Sue, tell me everything you can about yourself, your baby, this town, the Jamboree. I think I need to know a little more about my new home,” Heidi asked, chuckled in amazement and warmth. No, what she was feeling was so far from ‘alone’ or ‘upset’ that it was staggering.
She might be falling in love.
Hours later, Heidi couldn’t wipe the smile off her face.
Becky Sue was a gem of a person, and they had so much in common.
The two women hit it right off, spent hours talking, and cutting up together while working.
Becky Sue was going to take the morning shifts because she had someone who could watch her daughter and was stunned to learn that the plumber who had worked on the café was the father of Becky Sue’s child – but had refused to marry her.
Oh yes, gossip ran rampant in town, except Becky Sue refused to repeat any of it unless it was indeed a fact she could back up.
The woman didn’t gossip, didn’t take any flak, and certainly didn’t take any breaks…
she was a machine that looked like a cover girl who should be posing on the front of a magazine instead of grasping at straws to make ends meet in this small town.
She locked up the café, dropped Becky Sue off at the end of a gravel driveway on her way back to Mimi’s, and it was several minutes before she could call Jack. There was something so wonderful about hearing him answer the phone – and on the first ring, like he was waiting for her to call him.
“How did it go?” he asked pointedly in greeting, his voice warm and gentle. There was no beating around the bush, but it wasn’t confrontational either. She laughed and didn’t hold back.
“Well, I’ll be honest – at first I was super upset that you dumped someone in my lap but…”
“But?”
“She’s a sweetheart,” Heidi admitted, smiling. “And I really appreciate the help with things because while I’m stubborn…”
“But gorgeous,” he volunteered, making her nearly melt in the driver’s seat as she pulled up in front of Mimi’s little house… and saw Jack on the front porch nearby – waiting.
“I can admit that things are better, easier, when I’m not alone,” she murmured softly, looking at him from the driver’s seat of her Volkswagen.
“That sounds like an invitation,” he said softly, “And I might have dinner ready for my hard-working girlfriend.”
“What about Mimi?” she hesitated, feeling guilty because she had been gone all day long. “Shouldn’t I go check on her?”
“I already did,” he replied. “She knows you’re coming over and would probably shoo you out the door.”
“I see.”
“Do I need to come get you out of that car so I can show you what I did today?” he chuckled intimately. “Don’t make me throw you over my shoulder, woman. I’ll do it.”