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Alex closed the menu with a decisive snap, as if there were nothing on the list of options that remotely tempted him. “I’ll just have the special.”
“Sure. Coming right up.” Given the fact that she’d unlocked the door only moments before Alex made his appearance, Kate wasn’t quite sure what the special of the day was.
Grady O’Rourke, the former military cook her father had hired when Kate was in first grade, took charge of the daily menu changes. When Kate had taken over the café, she and Grady had amicably divided the kitchen duties. Grady claimed the griddle, Kate the stove.
She ducked around the counter. “I need a special, Grady.”
“You got it.” The man’s off-key whistle accompanied the sizzle of butter in the cast-iron skillet.
Kate began to fill the dessert case with slices of the pies she’d made the night before, all too aware that a pair of jade-green eyes tracked her every movement.
“Order up, katydid,” Grady bellowed.
Kate winced, hoping Alex hadn’t heard the cook call her by the affectionate nickname he’d bestowed on her when she was six years old.
“Thanks.” Kate grabbed the steaming plate on the pass-through and felt the blood drain from her face. “Grady?” The word came out in a squeak.
“Problem?”
“No…no problem.” If a person didn’t count the six-foot-tall, two-hundred-pound problem sitting at a booth in the back. “I don’t think you’ve made this before.”
“Nope.” A smile bisected the grizzled face. “But mark my words. It’ll be a big hit.”
“I’m sure it will,” Kate said faintly.
Most days, Grady’s “special” came from a list of what he liked to call his “tried and trues.” Steak and potatoes. Blueberry pancakes. Ham and cheese omelets.
Why, oh why, couldn’t this have been one of those days?
Show no fear. Kate gave herself an internal pep talk as she breezed back to Alex’s booth. “Here you go. Enjoy!”
His gaze dropped to the plate and bounced back up again. “What is this?”
“The special.” Kate wished it hadn’t come out sounding like a question.
Alex arched a brow.
In retaliation, Kate lifted her chin. “It’s…a delicious blend of meat and potatoes with a hint of spice.”
“I see,” Alex said softly. “And does this delicious blend of meat and potatoes happen to have a name?”
Yes, it did. And he was going to make her say it.
“It’s…hash.” Kate pushed the word through gritted teeth.
The perfectly sculpted lips—Kate felt a trickle of horror that she noticed they were perfectly sculpted—curled at the edges.
“That’s what I thought…katydid.”
Organized chaos.
It was the only description that Alex could come up with to describe what he was seeing. Although it was possible that the word organized was too generous.
Total chaos would probably be more accurate.
He got dizzy just watching Kate Nichols in motion.
The woman fairly crackled with energy, making him wonder if the red curls poking out from beneath the floral bandana she wore doubled as some kind of power source.
In the space of half an hour, Kate had greeted each customer who came through the door by name. Paused to hug the blond, waiflike teenager who’d joined forces with her during the breakfast rush as if they were long-lost sisters. She’d even plucked a cranky toddler out of a portable highchair and balanced him on one slender hip while she rang up receipts so his weary young parents had an opportunity to finish their breakfast in peace.
Alex’s blood pressure spiked when Kate joined a group of men at their table to referee a lively discussion about the number of potholes on Oak Street.
Kate’s relaxed posture and easy laughter made him grit his teeth.
Didn’t she realize how dangerous it was to get that close to people? To let them get that close to you?
His parents had learned a lesson on setting boundaries the hard way. Abby had been six years old when a disgruntled hotel employee abducted her. The police had found her a few days later, frightened but otherwise unharmed. The family physician who’d examined Abby had reassured them that her memory of the ordeal would fade in time.
Alex, who’d been a freshman in high school, hadn’t been as lucky.
The three days Abby went missing remained etched in his mind. So had the days that followed her safe return. Their parents enrolled them in private school. His and Abby’s lives became governed by a set of rules that formed a barrier around them as impenetrable as the walls surrounding the Porter estate.
It was one of the reasons Alex had become so protective of his sister over the years. They’d lost their parents—he wasn’t about to lose the only remaining member of his family.
Kate might not realize it, but she was asking for trouble. Her smile was too friendly. Too engaging…
“Would you like a refill?”
Alex looked up and silently amended his opinion. Kate’s smile was engaging unless it was directed at him. Then it cooled to the temperature of day-old coffee. But he hadn’t come to Mirror Lake to make friends—he’d come walk his baby sister down the aisle. And to make sure there were no unexpected bumps along the way. From what he’d witnessed so far, putting Kate Nichols in charge of something as important as Abby’s wedding reception would guarantee more bumps than Oak Street had potholes.
“No thanks.”
“You’re ready for the bill?”
“Not yet.” With two simple words, Alex managed to extinguish the hopeful look in those clover-green eyes.
“All right.” He could almost see her silently counting to five…no, ten. For some reason, Alex found a perverse satisfaction in knowing he got under her skin, too.
“Kate?” The teenage waitress sidled up. “Mr. Dinsman ordered the biscuits and gravy,” she whispered.
“Absolutely not, Missy.” Kate shook her head, setting the corkscrew curls into motion. “I know what his cholesterol is. The only thing on the menu for Mr. Dinsman is a bowl of oatmeal.”
The waitress chewed on her lower lip. “He said that if you make him eat oatmeal, he won’t leave a tip.”
“Well, here’s a tip for him,” Kate said tartly. “If he wants to clog his arteries, he should stay home and make his own breakfast.”
Missy glanced at the portly man who sat a few tables away, glowering in their direction. “Do I have to tell him that?”
“No, sprinkle some fresh blueberries on the oatmeal and tell him there’s no charge.” Kate winked at her. “That’ll make the fiber go down easier.”
“Okay.” Missy grinned before darting away.
Alex had to ask. He just had to. “You know a customer’s cholesterol level?”
“It’s a small town—and a very small café.” Kate sounded proud of the fact rather than apologetic.
“Kate!” A man with a flowing white beard and brows that resembled an unclipped hedge waved a folder stuffed full of papers at her. “When you have a minute, can you look over the minutes from the last city council meeting?”
Kate didn’t seem at all surprised by the request. “I’ll be right there, Mayor Dodd.”
“You should hire more help.” Alex had to raise his voice a notch to make himself heard over the steady hum of conversation.
The watercolor pink lips compressed. “I appreciate your concern—” judging from her tone, Alex doubted that was true “—but I do all right.”
“Really?” He watched a gray-haired man shuffle around the cash register and select a tall parfait glass from the shelf. “Maybe if you had more help, your customers wouldn’t be forced to sneak behind the counter to make their own food.”
Kate followed the direction of his gaze and Alex heard a soft but audible chirp of dismay.
“Excuse me.” She shot away, the tails of her canvas apron streaming behind her like kite ribbons.
A trio of women trundled past Alex in a cloud of perfume, the scents clashing like the instruments in an amateur marching band. They crowded around into the booth next to his and began to pull out their knitting.
Knitting.
The dining area reminded him of a noisy family gathering. A limp copy of the local newspaper passed from table to table as if following some kind of prearranged system. Children hung over the backs of the booths and people roamed around the room, chatting or blatantly eavesdropping on the conversations going on around them.
He couldn’t help but compare the Grapevine to the restaurants in his hotels. Soft background music. A well-trained wait staff who’d memorized the selections on the menu but remained blissfully unaware of a customer’s cholesterol level. High-backed leather booths that provided peace, quiet and…
“Good morning.” Abby slipped into a chair across from him.
Anonymity.
“How did you find me?”
His sister didn’t look at all intimidated by his scowl. “Someone called me and said you were here, scaring the customers.”
Alex had a hunch he knew who’d called. But when had she found the time between taking orders, babysitting crabby toddlers and refereeing that lively debate over who was responsible for repairing the potholes on Oak Street?
“I’m not scaring anyone. I’m having breakfast.”
“Yes.” Abby cleared her throat. “That’s why it’s a little strange that you ended up here, given the fact that your sister runs a bed-and-breakfast.”
“I got into town a little early—” Four days, he thought he heard Abby say under her breath. “And I didn’t want to disturb you.”
“Since when?”
Alex ignored that as he got a bead on Kate again. Instead of shooing the elderly man back to his table, she had retreated to the kitchen, leaving him alone with the blender. An accident—and a lawsuit—waiting to happen.
“Come on. I’m taking you back to the inn.” Abby stood up. “And leave Kate a big tip. I’m sure she earned it.”
“I already did. I told her that she needed to hire more help.” Alex left the money he owed on the table and rose to his feet.
“Really?” Abby shook her head. “I’m surprised you lived to tell about it.”
Alex remembered the spark of emerald fire in Kate’s eyes and clamped down on a smile. “There were witnesses.”
“Leave Kate alone,” his sister commanded. “She doesn’t need your advice. She took over the café when she was twenty years old. Most people that age are still trying to figure out what to do with their lives.”
“She tries to be in three different places at once.” He’d almost suffered an attack of vertigo just watching her.
“Kate has everything under control.” Abby tucked her arm through his and herded him out the door with impressive speed. “You of all people should appreciate the quality.”
He ignored that, too. “Under control? If that were true, her customers wouldn’t have to make their own food.”
Abby frowned. “What are you talking about?”
“The man behind the counter. I saw him making a milkshake.”
Understanding dawned in Abby’s eyes.
“It was probably Arthur Lundy,” she explained. “His wife, Marsha, died last year and now he’s in the early stages of Alzheimer’s. According to Kate, they grew up in Mirror Lake. He proposed to Marsha right there at the soda fountain while they shared a milkshake.
“Some days Mr. Lundy comes into the café and he doesn’t seem to remember that she’s gone. He’ll go behind the counter to make a milkshake and ask for two straws. Kate doesn’t mind.”
His sister’s tone suggested that he shouldn’t, either.
“This is a business, not a home,” Alex said, capping off some unidentifiable emotion that bubbled to the surface of his conscience. “It’s a mistake to let the customers do as they please. She’s responsible if one of them gets hurt.”
“Kate looks at people like Mr. Lundy as more than just a customer.”
Alex’s lips twisted.
“That’s mistake number two.”
Chapter Three
Mission accomplished.
With a satisfied smile, Kate tacked down the last string of white lights along the roofline of the gazebo. When Quinn and Abby returned from their final premarital counseling session with Matthew Wilde, the pastor at Church of the Pines, they would discover the garden area transformed into a wonderland of fragrant blooms and twinkling lights.
She scooted away from the edge of the roof, careful not to look at the ten-foot drop to the flagstone patio below. Kate didn’t particularly care for heights but decorating for the reception was a labor of love for her friends. And because stringing lights around the gazebo had been her idea to begin with, she didn’t think it was fair to ask someone else to put them up.
Hammer tucked under her arm, Kate swung a foot onto the top rung of the ladder. A sudden commotion had her twisting around just in time to see Mulligan and Lady, Quinn and Abby’s dogs, race around the corner of the lodge. Both animals were linked together by the long rope clamped between their jaws. And they were heading in her direction.
Kate swiftly calculated destination, speed and distance and threw herself back onto the roof. A split second later, Lady ducked under the ladder while Mulligan veered to the right. The rope went through the middle. It was Kate’s foot, however, that connected with the top of the ladder, which teetered back and forth before it hit the ground with an impressive crash.
Leaving her stranded.
