6. Chapter 6
I t had been a little over two weeks since she’d agreed to Chet’s scheme, and she hated to admit it, but she didn’t hate it.
She enjoyed being with the girls, and Chet was very appreciative and respectful of her time.
He’d even moved his cleaning service from Wednesday to Monday, so she would come home to a clean house.
It was her day off, and he knew if she saw any chores that needed doing, his little Energizer bunny —his words, not hers—wouldn’t rest until they were done.
On the previous Mondays, the slow cooker had been working its magic when they’d walked in the door.
Chet had even left a list of afternoon snack ideas on the refrigerator, so she didn’t need to think about that.
“Your only job is to keep them safe,” he’d said.
But he’d forgotten to warn her to guard her heart.
Ava and Piper had quickly become two of her favorite people.
Before Chet’s crazy proposal, Nelie had struggled with her Mondays off.
But now being with the girls gave her a purpose, and she made better use of her time, like scheduling a long overdue lunch with her friend, Josie.
Without a deadline, Nelie was a procrastinator in her personal life.
Her logic was twisted, but to get her poop in a group, she needed to be needed. And the girls needed her.
But that was the Monday routine. On this snowy Thursday afternoon, she was in the Galley’s kitchen handing plates to Ava, who’d just finished her homework, intending to show her how to prep the side salads while Piper sat in the corner practicing her spelling.
“Hi, sunny,” Gus said, smacking his hunter orange wool cap against his thigh, dislodging the snow that had settled there.
He ambled toward her—slower than usual, and Nelie wondered if his arthritis was acting up again—and dropped a kiss on her cheek.
He smelled of Old Spice and his bright eyes hinted at trouble.
Nelie went on alert. “Thought I’d come check on you and meet the urchins I’ve heard so much about.
” Nelie relaxed. Her dad had a soft spot for kids, so of course he’d want to meet them, just as long as he didn’t expect to keep them as grandchildren.
“We’re not urchins,” Piper said. “Are we?”
“Nah. On closer inspection, you’re more like pixies.”
“Girls, this is my father, Mr. Peterson. Dad, this is Ava and Piper. Chet’s girls.” The girls shook his outstretched hand, and he nodded his approval, sniffling at the end.
“Are you getting a cold?” Nelie asked, frowning. She didn’t need him bringing a cold into her kitchen, not when she already had a line cook out with one.
“Just been a while since you said Dad.” He gave her a sweet smile.
“Guess my habit of calling you Gus at work slips into my life outside of here”—she shrugged—“I’ll do better.”
“Hard to do when work becomes your life.”
Nelie rolled her eyes. Gus knew how much work the Galley took. He shouldn’t be surprised at the amount of time she invested in its continued success. Gus had no one to blame but himself.
“Aren’t you old to be a dad?” Piper asked, staring up at him. Ava elbowed her, and Piper’s exaggerated oof filled the air.
“Our dad’s old too, so shush,” Ava said. Gus laughed and wiped his eyes.
“Oh, Nelie-girl. These two will keep you on your toes.” He picked up one of Nelie’s frosted cookies.
The ice castle company had placed a large order—oversized, decorated, snowflake cookies—for their concession stand.
“These look too pretty to eat. I’d better test one to make sure it tastes okay. ” He winked at the girls.
“We already did, and they are yummy!” Piper said, tossing her hands in the air and twirling. Gus broke his cookie into four pieces to share.
“And Ava, your dad’s not old. He’s just the right age. I was a bit younger than him when we adopted Nelie.”
“Gus is actually my great-uncle. He and my mom adopted me when my parents died,” Nelie said at Piper’s confused expression.
Piper’s eyes filled with tears. “They died?”
Nelie perched on a chair and pulled Piper into her lap. The little girl smelled like strawberries, smelling better than anything coming out of the kitchen. “It was an accident. Right after I was born. I never knew them.”
“Her parents were coming to the hospital to get her—”
“I thought they were leaving,” Nelie said as Gus continued.
“And a truck ran a red light and hit their car.” I thought it was night, and they’d hit a tree.
“Why were you in the hospital?” Ava asked, standing next to Nelie and rubbing her shoulder, as if the accident was fresh and not a forty-year-old event she had no memory of.
“She had a hard time breathing, but boy, could she cry.” The girls giggled. I thought it was jaundice.
“Anyway, once we heard about the accident, we drove to Chicago and picked up our little girl.”
“Mom always said they lived in Grand Forks.” Nelie needed to get this story back on track. He’d told the story all wrong, and she didn’t like it.
“What’d I say?”
“You said Chicago.”
“Did I?”—Gus scratched his head—“Not sure where that came from. But getting you was the greatest gift Stella and I ever had.” Nelie looked at Gus.
His memory was slipping, but he rarely got old facts wrong, just new ones, like the STOP sign at the bottom of the hill.
Although she’d once heard Gus say her parents’ car had hit a patch of ice, but her birthday was in May.
She’d never questioned it, but… Should she call his doctor for an appointment?
Making it won’t guarantee he’ll keep it, plus he’ll pitch a fit in the meantime.
Nelie didn’t want a confrontation yet, but in the meantime, she’d track his memory slips in the Notes app on her phone.
“Well, I just wanted to stop in and meet these two pixies. Best get out of your hair now.”
“Or you could stay and help?” Nelie asked. Gus raised his bushy eyebrows. “Ava finished her homework, and we were going to do some salad prep. And Piper is working on her spelling. She signed up for the elementary spelling bee in March.”
“Well, I was never very good at making pretty salads, so I’ll help Piper with the spelling, if that’s okay with you?” Piper nodded eagerly.
Gus settled at the table with Piper, and Ava followed Nelie into the walk-in cooler.
Once they’d gathered the food, Nelie placed prepared lettuce on several plates and then showed Ava how to finish them with a scattering of carrot shreds, a few red onion rings, several tomatoes, some quartered cucumber slices, and a spoonful of sunflower seeds.
She wondered if her mom had felt this way when she’d taught Nelie how to prep the side salads.
Nelie was usually frazzled as the dinner rush approached, but working with Ava was nice.
She smiled, remembering the ruckus Gus had caused when they’d added green salads to the menu.
He’d thought coleslaw was all they needed.
It was easy to make and didn’t go bad quickly, unlike the perishable salads.
He thought it was an expensive experiment, but Stella had changed his mind, like she usually did.
“Nelie, I like being in the kitchen with you.” Ava smiled at her.
“I do, too,” Nelie said, but it was more about being with Ava than being in the kitchen, prepping the salads.
She didn’t mind the kitchen work or the business end of running a restaurant and bar, but she didn’t love it either.
Not like she loved doing the baking and making cakes for friends.
She’s never gotten an order for cookies before, and she hoped the business from the ice castle might lead to more baking opportunities.
“Alright,”—Nelie pulled a stack of empty salad plates toward them—“let’s get these done.
Your dad should be here soon.” Nelie’s traitorous heart raced at the thought of seeing him. Stupid heart!
C het paused at the entrance. The kitchen was a symphony of knives slicing against cutting boards, pans sliding across stove burners, an oven door slamming, water running into the large industrial sink, voices murmuring and a few rising.
It was organized chaos and its conductor, or ringmaster now, was in the back with her silvery blonde head leaning close to Ava’s.
He unzipped his jacket as heat flooded his face, not because of the steam wafting out of the nearby pots, but because last night’s dream still lingered in his body.
The dream of being tangled in the sheets with Nelie.
It was so vivid; it had driven him out of his bed at four o’clock to the couch where he’d read until it was time to wake the girls.
The dream had aroused him too much to go back to sleep.
He wanted Nelie, and he wanted the girls to be happy and secure. From the way Ava beamed up at her, he thought he could have it all, but Piper’s kissing friends comment reminded him he needed to tread carefully.
Chet didn’t want to spook Nelie or his girls.
He needed to play it smart, play it for the long-game, and make sure they were all on the same team.
If Nelie couldn’t love the girls as hers or if the girls couldn’t accept her as a mother, it would be game over.
Everyone needed to be all-in on the new family he wanted to build, the one with Nelie in it.
Chet would never again be a weekend dad.
It would be Heather’s turn at part-time parenthood, assuming she came back from Australia, and if she didn’t like it, she’d have a fight on her hands. Chet wouldn’t back down again.
“All right, monkeys, let’s pack it up and get out of Nelie’s hair,” he said, moving toward them and clapping his hands.
“We’re not monkeys. We’re pixies, right Mr. Peterson?” Piper said.
“Smart pixies, too. Can’t believe the words this little one knows how to spell.” Gus patted Piper’s shoulder, and she smiled at him, basking in his praise. Chet nodded at Gus. He hadn’t included Gus in his family picture, but he should have. He was Nelie’s father.