Chapter Seven #2
“Yes, but only up until nine—and orders need to be in by eight forty-five—and depending on whether or not Mr. Diamato’s daughter has her homework done.” Elly grinned over her shoulder. “Pizza’s usually a nope on weeknights unless it’s summer.”
Elly turned on the overhead kitchen light as she went through the door. A metal-topped island ran down the center of the large, square room, and a double refrigerator stood by itself on a short wall. She opened it and stood there for a long moment before closing it.
“I don’t know about you, but Aunt April’s beef stew left over from the weekend isn’t appealing to me.
And I wouldn’t feed it to you anyway. It’s probably loaded with cholesterol and God knows what else.
” She added as she opened another door, “Aunt April is heavy on the beef and criminally light on whatever else turns beef into beef stew.”
Elly opened the door wide enough for Kit to see it was a pantry. “Well, we have four boxes of pasta and several jars of sauce.” She turned to Kit. “Would pantry spaghetti and sauce sans meatballs suit you?”
“Perfect.”
“And sorry there’s no salad fixings. Looks like someone is going to have to make a grocery run soon.”
“Where is the closest supermarket?”
“Supermarket?” Elly scoffed. “Probably in Augusta.”
“I hope you’re kidding.”
“Yeah, but not by much. Around here, we shop at the general store. They have pretty much everything you’d want. Maybe not eighty-seven varieties of pickles, but a good enough selection.”
Kit recalled having passed the building with the General Store sign across the front.
“I saw it when I drove into town earlier. It’s right down the street from Banks’s law office,” she said.
“Hard to miss it with that sign.” Elly opened a cupboard and took down a large pot, which she filled with water from the oversize sink. She set it on the stove and turned on a burner. “So, it must have been fun, having Maxine in the family. She was such a piece of work.”
“Actually, we never met.”
Elly’s eyes grew wide. “Seriously? You never met your aunt?”
Kit nodded. “She and my mom apparently fell out over something a long time ago. I didn’t even know my mother had a sister until Maxine passed away and I heard from Banks.”
“Wow. So your mother and Maxine didn’t speak to each other ever? Like, ever?” Elly stood still for a moment, as if trying to wrap her head around the concept.
“I don’t know about that for certain. Since my mother didn’t tell my sister or me about her, I have no way of knowing if they ever had contact. I have a feeling they were not in contact after my parents moved to Pennsylvania, but there’s no way to know since they’re both gone now.”
“Wow. That’s so odd. So unlike the Maxine I knew.” Elly shook her head.
“Let me guess. You worked at the camp.”
“I did. I lifeguarded the little kids from the time I was twelve until I started spending most of my summers on the water with my mom.”
“Oh, your mother has a boat?”
Elly laughed. “You could say that. Deep sea, you know, tuna, haddock, mackerel, cod, blues, striped bass, whatever is in season. When the fish aren’t running or the catch is skimpy, she takes out charters.”
It was Kit’s turn to be surprised. “Your mother is a fisherwoman?”
“Oh yeah. My grandfather was a fisherman all his life, and he used to take her out with him from the time she had sea legs. Later he took me, too. My mom always says she feels more at home on the water than she does on land. She loves the ocean. She’s already down near Rockland getting the boat out of dry dock. ”
“I don’t think I ever met anyone who fished professionally. That must be a really hard way to make a living.”
“Yeah, it has its moments, that’s for sure. I’ll work with her for the summer, once the semester is over. I’m taking college courses online and I’m halfway to my bachelor’s.” The touch of pride in her voice was unmistakable.
“What are you studying?”
“Marine biology. I’ll probably have to get a master’s degree if I want to get a really good job someday, but I figured I spent enough time on the water, I should find a way to make that count when it comes to working in the real world.”
“Not going to follow in your mother’s footsteps?”
“Not if I can help it. It’s too hard and you have no social life.
You are at the mercy of the weather and if the fish are running and where you drop your anchor on any given day.
From the time we set out on our first run of the season until we go into dry dock, I live like a nun.
I’m always too smelly to stop for a beer with friends after we take care of the catch and clean down the boat.
I go home thinking I’ll shower and change into something cute and head down to the Sea Breeze or one of the other local pubs, but once I get home and realize how tired I am, I just shower and fall asleep.
Plus your hands get all calloused and rough.
Ugh. Nope. Not the life for me. I’m working like a fiend to get my degree so I don’t have to do that. ”
“That’s a very impressive plan. Good for you.”
“Thanks. That’s why I work here in the offseason, to earn money for school. That plus my share of the haul at the end of the summer is paying for college.”
“So you’re here all the time?”
“I live here during the school year. I step in for my aunt from time to time when she’s traveling, like this week. But the inn isn’t busy this time of the year, so I can concentrate on school. I have a 4.0 average and I intend to keep it.”
“Good for you. Congratulations.”
“Thanks. I worked hard for it. Most of the time, it’s quiet here, so I can study or write papers.
I don’t mind playing innkeeper. I have a place to stay while I’m in school and she gets to travel when the mood strikes her.
She pays me well to inn-sit when she’s gone, plus I get free room and board.
Definitely a win-win for me.” Elly turned to the stove, where the water was beginning to boil.
“Time to put the pasta in. Dinner is approximately—” She turned the pasta box sideways to see the instructions. “Nine minutes away.”
Kit got up and opened the jar of sauce and Elly handed her a pot to pour it into. “What did you mean when you said it was odd that Maxine and my mother hadn’t been in touch?”
“Oh, Maxine loved everyone. She could get grumpy from time to time, but we all knew it didn’t mean anything. She was the kindest person I ever knew, and not a soul who ever met her would tell you different.”
Except, Kit thought, her own sister.
The meal was filling if uninspired, but Kit was happy to share it with Elly, who was chatty and lively and told tales of some of the stranger residents of Tolerance, past and present, and some of the stranger things that had turned up on their fishing lines.
When Kit felt herself close to nodding off, she got up and began rinsing the plates to stay awake.
Elly loaded them in the dishwasher, and after offering her thanks for dinner and the conversation, Kit made it back to her room with just enough time to pull on pajamas and fall into bed.
She was asleep before her brain completed its rundown of her first day in her mother’s hometown.