Leo
The first weekend of serving food at Lake Ridge went better than I’d expected.
I figured people would show up, given it was a small town and they’d want to support a local business, but they truly showed up. The place had been packed all weekend with people who either wanted to go out for dinner or a place to socialize, dance, and play games.
As much adrenaline as I felt in the kitchen, being out on the floor boosted me, too. Running food and meeting more of the town’s residents let me see how Lake Ridge came to life. We weren’t serving food on Sundays, but maybe that should change once there was a bigger staff.
I’d believed Wes when he first said we could turn this into something special. After one weekend, I was sold on the vision he had. There really was something here, and I’d do what I could to help him move toward it while I was here.
I wasn’t entirely sure how that would work. Typically, when you were looking for a new job, you weren’t advertising that to your current boss, but…this felt different. I wanted to believe that Wes would understand and appreciate the honesty.
For now, though, Ray and I had Sundays off.
After completing a run on one of the nature paths this morning, I was heading to Maple Bluffs to visit Mom and see what needed to be done at her house.
Luckily, my car had arrived just in time.
When I first moved out west, I’d made the drive, stopping along the way during the more than two thousand miles of travel.
I stretched the trip out a week, which allowed me to stop in towns I otherwise never would’ve visited.
I stopped in pubs, taverns, and restaurants.
The move to Golden Falls had a quicker turnaround, which meant it made more sense to have my car shipped.
I hadn’t needed my car much in town since the apartment was a few blocks away from the bar and past that was a small grocery store.
Golden Falls was similar to Maple Bluffs in that they were both small towns surrounded by nature.
While Golden Falls centered around Lake Golden, Maple Bluffs was along the river.
It was smaller than Golden Falls and didn’t attract as many tourists, but visitors still flocked to town, especially in the fall for apple picking, the pumpkin patch, and to sample the iconic maple syrup.
The drive was about an hour, which meant there was no avoiding calling Colin to finally fill him in on my recent life changes.
Once I got on the highway, I hit the voice button on my steering wheel and said, “Call Colin.”
The phone rang twice before he picked up.
“Leo?” he answered, and it probably didn’t shine a good light that he was answering my phone call with a question, surprised I was calling in the first place.
“Hey, man. Got a few?” I asked.
“Uh, yeah. Give me a sec,” Colin said, and I heard a clang on the other end of the line, like he was setting down a set of weights.
“You at the gym? I can call back later,” I offered.
“Yeah, but it’s not a big deal. I was finishing up my lift anyway and about to pack up. What’s up?”
“Realized we haven’t talked in a while. Wanted to see how you were doing and also tell you that I’m not in Portland anymore.”
“Wait, you moved? What—when did you do that? I didn’t even know you wanted to move. I was just out there, and you didn’t say anything.”
I wanted to tell Colin that there hadn’t been much time for us to talk during his visit, but I held my tongue. At the time, I didn’t know anything about the job or the move. I thought I’d secured the promotion I’d all but been promised to get—only for it to fall through my fingers.
“It all happened pretty fast,” I admitted. “Things didn’t work out like I thought they would at my old job.”
“You didn’t get the promotion?” Colin cut in. So, maybe he had been listening.
“No, I didn’t. And, actually, around that same time I got a call for a different gig. A head chef role at a small town bar and grill.”
My grip on the steering wheel tightened, and my pulse kicked up a notch. Why was I so fucking nervous to tell him I was in Golden Falls?
“No shit, really? That’s awesome. Where are you then?”
“I’m in”—I cleared my throat—“I’m in Golden Falls working at Lake Ridge.”
Silence filled the line, and when Colin didn’t say anything, I added, “I’m going down to see Mom today, actually.”
“Wait, you’re in Golden Falls, like the one in Wisconsin? The one where…” Colin trailed off, and I wondered if he was going to bring her up. “I thought you didn’t want to be in a small town?”
“That’s the one,” I confirmed, leaning my head back against the car’s headrest as I focused on the open road.
“I didn’t think I wanted to either, but I needed something different, and the job is a good step to the next thing.
Maybe back to Portland or Chicago. Or a completely new city.
This’ll help me get to where I want to be. ”
“So, it’s temporary?” Colin asked, skeptically.
“I guess?” From his questioning, I felt like I was missing something, but I couldn’t figure out what. What wasn’t he saying?
“Eliza lives in Golden Falls.”
“I realized that,” I admitted with an awkward laugh. “I knew she was from here but had no idea she lived here. She…she has her yoga studio up here and is bartending at Lake Ridge.”
“I know,” Colin clipped, and it didn’t feel like this conversation was going to end well. At least everything was out in the open.
Colin and I hadn’t talked about Eliza in the last three years, but we had talked about her a few times when he was dating her.
He’d accuse me of flirting with her, and I’d tell him that I was just making conversation.
Because I truly was. Neither of us crossed any lines when she was with Colin—I’d never do that to someone I cared about.
As soon as Eliza and Colin started dating, I’d pushed away any of my initial attraction.
I’d make conversation with Eliza the times we were all together, because I genuinely liked talking to her.
It was easy. I wanted to get to know my brother’s girlfriend, but I didn’t think Colin was ever able to move past the fact that I hadn’t been able to look away from Eliza that night in the bar when we both first saw her.
More silence filled the line.
“What aren’t you saying, Colin?” I asked, my words coming out sharper than intended.
“I just find it interesting that your new job is in the same town my ex lives in, at the same bar she works at.”
I sighed heavily. “I don’t know what you want me to say, Colin. I didn’t know she was here. We see each other at work, and that’s that. You broke up three years ago. What does it matter?”
Mentioning that Eliza wasn’t interested in getting back together with him would only make things worse, so I held my tongue. At the rate this conversation was going, it also wouldn’t be a good idea for me to ask why he’d called her.
“She broke up with me,” Colin said.
“I know. That’s what I just said.”
“No, you said we broke up, which is technically true, but it was more like she broke up with me.” He scoffed.
“She kept me at arm’s length the whole year we were together.
We never talked about anything meaningful.
Took her forever to tell me about her parents.
I introduced her to Mom pretty early on, but she never took me home. She’s—”
“Don’t finish that fucking sentence, Colin.”
Whatever he was going to say wasn’t going to be good, and I’d heard enough. I also wanted to believe that whatever he was going to say, he’d ultimately regret, and as frustrated as I was with him, I didn’t want that.
A small part of me could understand part of his frustration. But what I was mostly focusing on was what Colin was missing. That Eliza didn’t feel comfortable enough to open up to him emotionally, and that wasn’t on Eliza. She was protecting herself.
Colin let out a heavy sigh. “Fuck.”
Maybe that regret was coming sooner than I thought.
“I should get going. Tell Mom hi from me. I’ll give her a call later this week. Bye.”
Colin didn’t give me a chance to say anything else before he hung up the call, for good reason. With how tightly my jaw had been clenched, I wasn’t even sure what was going to come out of my mouth.
It was for the best neither of us would have to find out.
“You made it,” Mom said with a full smile as I got out of the car. She pulled her navy-blue cardigan tighter as a chill swept in.
“Hey, Mom.” I pulled her into a hug. “Good to see you. Did you get your hair cut recently?” Her brown hair looked shorter than usual, hitting just below her chin.
Mom touched her hair as she pulled back, nodding. “A few weeks ago. It’d been too long since I’d been in the salon last, and I finally found some time.”
When I took another look at her, I noticed that even though her smile was bright and there was cheerfulness in her voice, her eyes looked tired.
My mom had always enjoyed going to the salon, and even though it was a simple thing, it was one of those visits that she didn’t miss.
She scheduled her appointments in advance and kept them, saying it was her “me time.” The fact that it’d been a while since she’d gone made me think things had been busier for her than she let on.
“Your grandparents picked which retirement community they’ll be moving to.
One in Arizona. I think it’ll be good for them.
Get away before the weather gets cold again.
” Mom filled me in as we walked up her driveway.
She’d just gotten back from my grandparents’ house and had a round of boxes still in her car to donate.
“The weather is just starting to warm up—don’t remind me that it’ll get cold again,” I joked. “But that’s great, Mom. What do you think about your house?” I tipped my chin. “Still thinking about selling?”
Mom lived in a white ranch-style home with red shutters and windows that offered all the views you could image of the lot. It was a beautiful location—one that I’d come to appreciate more as I got older.
The house was close to the river and about a five-minute drive from town and the elementary school where my mom taught.
The backyard faced a forest full of pine trees.
For as long as I could remember, Mom had talked about how much she loved this house.
How when her and my dad were looking for their first home, she walked into this one and knew immediately.
Mom let out a sigh, her eyes scanning the exterior. “I don’t know,” she admitted. “It’s more than I need, that’s for sure. Some days I think it’d be nice to downsize, but then other days I want to stay.”
“I’m happy to help you with whatever you need as long as I’m here. I don’t know how long that’ll be for, but…at least a few months to start.”
“And that’s exactly why I don’t want you to feel like you have to help me whenever you come up. You’re in the area, and you should enjoy it, whether that’s visiting or enjoying your day off. Don’t worry about all this.” She waved her hand toward the house. “It’ll get done.”
I knew it’d get done eventually, but I could also see the clogged gutters and other needed maintenance from a mile away.
“Let’s walk around and see what needs to get done and see what we can get to today. I’d like to take care of your gutters today at least, especially since we’re supposed to get a good amount of rain the next couple of weeks. I can also drop the boxes off at donation on my way back to Golden Falls.”
“We’ll see,” Mom said cautiously, which I took as a yes. “Let’s start with walking around, and you can tell me all about the menu you created. Wasn’t this weekend the grand menu kickoff?” she asked, her eyes sparkling.
I let out a chuckle at her use of grand. “It was. The place was packed, and people seemed to really enjoy the food. It’s been nice to meet everyone, too.”
As Mom and I walked the perimeter of the house, I told her about the menu, the food, and the people in town I’d met so far.
Mom not-so-subtly asked about Eliza, what she’d been up to, and if we’d spent much time together.
I downplayed how much I saw her at work.
I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t want to give Mom the wrong idea.
As I filled her in on my week, I realized more had happened and it’d been busier than I expected.
“I’ve enjoyed it,” I admitted. “More than I thought. I think this’ll be good experience, because I like being the one creating the menu and talking with customers just as much as I like cooking.”
“That’s great. See where this takes you, but it sounds like a great stop,” Mom said as she pulled open the front door.
After doing a quick walk through of the interior, Mom and I sat at the kitchen table with a list full of projects that she’d written down on a notepad. We were taking a break for lunch and then planned to work on a few tasks outside before I drove back.
I turned the paper toward me, my eyes scanning what she’d written and what we’d discussed. “There’s…more here than I’d expected.”
“But there’s no rush in getting it done,” Mom reminded me again, and I wanted to tell her again that I knew that. But I also wanted to help her, and that was easier to do while I was in Golden Falls.
Ultimately, though, she was right. There wasn’t a rush, especially if Mom decided not to sell and stay here. Nothing that needed fixing seemed to be unsafe, although I wanted to get a contractor out here to be sure.
I felt Mom’s observant eyes on me, and that was never a good sign. I pushed the chair back and opened the fridge to see what I could make us for lunch.
“Nope. You sit back down. I’ll take care of lunch.” Mom shooed me away.
“Mom, it’s really not a problem. Let me prepare something for us.”
I towered over my Mom, but my height or age didn’t matter when she leveled me with a scowl. “Leo Rivers, you will sit down at that table and relax. End of discussion.”
It was the end of discussion that did it.
“Okay, okay,” I conceded, stepping away and sitting down. “I was just trying to help.”
Mom turned to face me, her expression softening.
“I know, and I greatly appreciate it. But it’s also okay for you to take a step back, to not always be helping and to also be enjoying.
Relaxing. To do things for yourself. You’ve spent a lot of time putting me and your brother first. Your career is cooking for others. I want your life to be for you.”
I watched in a trance as my mom pulled ingredients out from the fridge, her words playing on loop in my mind. Helping those close to me did feel like I was doing things for myself, but the way my mom had said it made it sound like I had it all wrong. Did I?
I liked making things easier for others, because it often made them happy, and I enjoyed making people happy, whether that was through food or other means. I liked to be useful.
My life was for me. The entire reason I was in Golden Falls was for me and to get to the next level of my career.
It wasn’t like I was holding back or not going after something I wanted.
At least that was what I kept telling myself.