Summer In Stanton (Stanton Falls #3) (5 page)

“Oh come on.  You
cannot expect me to walk in, smell this and not get a taste.”

“I can too.”

“Well then you better
stay here the whole time.”

Miss Celia chimed in.
 

“Honey, you better
listen to him.  Go ahead and give him a spoon of your good stuff because
if you don’t he will be in every pot the second you turn you back.
 Believe me, I know, and my food wasn’t ever as good as this.”

“Fine.  At least
wash your hands.”

He headed toward the
kitchen sink and she shouted at him.  

“What are you doing!
 Not in the kitchen sink.  You are such a man.  Never mind.
 Open your big mouth before I change my mind.”

Connor smiled as she
grabbed one of the biscuits and broke it in half, dipping it into the gravy from
the roast.  When she placed it in his mouth, he couldn’t believe how good
it was.  

“Mmm.  Mmm.
 Mmmhmmm.”

“I take it you approve.”

“Do I approve?  I
only have one thing to say.  I am going to wash up
right now
and I expect
some of that to be on a plate or a bowl or saucer or something by the time I
get back.”

Connor didn’t even wait
for a response.  He ran to his room and took the quickest shower he’d
probably ever taken in his life.  All the while he kept thinking how much
he completely misjudged her in so many ways.  He was more glad than ever
that she had stayed and it wasn’t just because of the food.  She was
interesting.

“No.  I’m sorry
Tessa but you are not going to ever be able to leave.”

“Stop exaggerating
Libby.”

“I am not exaggerating.
 Tell her Ms. Celia.”

“I have to agree.
 Maybe my job is at stake but with the way you cook, I don’t even know if
I wanna set foot in this kitchen again.  I mean this strawberry shortcake
is to die for.”

“Thanks.  It’s m-”

The two smiling women
interrupted her at the same time.  

“Mom’s recipe.  We
know.”

“I guess I’ve mentioned
that a few times.”

Ms. Celia pushed her
plate forward, cleaned of crumbs.  The only proof that there had been a
dessert on the plate were the small streaks of strawberry goo that she hadn’t
sopped up with bits of cake.  At a glance, even that would have looked
like part of the dish’s colorful design.

“Yes.  But there’s
nothing wrong with a girl that idolizes her mother.  That’s what makes you
so strange to me.”

“Now I’m strange?
 I thought you southerners were supposed to be politer to your guests.”

“Whatever.  I know
your feelings aren’t hurt so easily.  What I mean is, and no offense to
your fancy job in New York, but I don’t believe that I have ever met someone
who was such a natural in the kitchen.  And you enjoy it so much.
 Why didn’t you do something like cooking.”

“She is so right Tessa.
 I know we barely know you but we can both see how happy you are doing
this.”

“You both sound like my
father.  What do you think I should do?  Leave everything I know in
New York and come on staff here.  Thanks but no thanks.  Besides, I’d
be putting Ms. Celia out of a job.”

“Oh don’t worry about
me.  I can sacrifice it for food this good.  Plus, I’ll never be as
good of a cook as you.”

“Yeah, good pitch.
 Maybe you two should be the marketing reps.  Regardless, this is
just a leisure trip for me.”

“It was worth a shot.
 Either way, you are here for a decent amount of time still.  You
need to enter this shortcake recipe for the strawberry festival this weekend.”

“Not my thing really.
 I’m just an amateur cook.”

“Who has cooked the best
meals this kitchen has ever seen, and we have had trained cooks working here
before.”

“You guys really think
my cake is that good?”

“Better.  Don’t
take our word for it.  You should let Connor taste this.”

“Oh I don’t know.
 Connor and I got off on the wrong foot.  Up until yesterday, I had
the feeling he was avoiding me.”

Ms. Celia chuckled.
 

“Pay that boy no mind.
 He’s a good guy.”

Libby added her two
cents.

“Cute too.”

“Is that so?  I
hadn’t noticed.”

Tessa blushed as the two
women continued to push her.   

***

Connor always enjoyed the
Strawberry Festival that the town hosted every year.  It was an all-day
event that was more than just the prerequisite picking of strawberries that
some imagined.  Activities ranged from the Emerson’s Ranch providing horse
rides, to a few actual fair rides and games.  For Connor, the desert
contest was always the highlight of the night.  People from all over the
county came to participate so Connor couldn’t believe that the woman that won
it all was staying in his house.  

Even more unbelievable
was the fact that he hadn’t tasted the winning cake at all.  He wasn’t
judging this year so he didn’t automatically get a slice and she must have only
made one because he’d made sure to check out the kitchen on a daily basis since
she’d been there.  No snack, meat, or desert had made it past him.  

Still he was happy that
she had won.  More so, he was happy that she seemed to be having a great
time.  

He was saw her head off
the stage and he wanted to go over and congratulate her but for what seemed
like the one hundredth time that day, he found himself boxed in by Jemma again.
 

Not again.  

Connor had nothing
against Jemma.  She just wasn’t his type.  He didn’t know why.
 She was nice, pretty, and smart.  He just wasn’t into her but he
wasn’t heartless.  He tried his best to be nice about it, but she seemed
to not be able to get a hint.  Normally, he would have talked to her for a
little bit before ending the conversation, but Tessa was getting away and he
really wanted to talk to her in a different setting than just the house all the
time.  He was going to have to be a little more curt than normal with
Jemma this time.  

“Hi Connor.  Want
to maybe take a walk?   It’s a pretty night out.”

“Jemma, I’m always
flattered by the things you say but you know I don’t feel that way about you.
 I really gotta go now.”

He walked off quickly in
Tessa’s direction, partly wanting to catch up with her before she went home and
partly to make sure he didn’t leave an opening that Jemma misunderstood.
 Luckily for him, Tessa looked like she saw him coming in her direction
because she, Libby, and Ms. Celia had stopped and were looking at him.  

“Hey.
 Congratulations.”

“I know.  Can you
believe it?”

“Well, before I ate your
food every day, no.  But now, how could I not believe it.  I didn’t
even know you were entering.  A slice would have been nice you know.”

“A slice?  Didn’t
you get the mini cake I baked for you?  I left it with you guys yesterday
didn’t . . .”  

He watched as she looked
around and chuckled under her breath.  

“Isn’t it funny how
those two just disappear at the most interesting of times?”

“Maybe so, but from my
vantage point, it just looks like you owe me a cake.”

“I’ll get on it
tomorrow.  I guess I can’t be too mad at them for eating the whole thing.
 It was their idea that I enter in the first place.  I never thought
I had a chance at winning.”

“I don’t know why not.
 Everything you cook is delicious even if I had to taste it myself to
believe it.”

“So you’re done underestimating
me huh?”

“Oh believe me, that
will never happen again.”

“Good.”

“Actually I was hoping
to catch you tonight to talk about that.  I never really took the chance
to apologize for all the assumptions I made about you.”

“I don’t know.  It
kind of sounds like you have done that multiple times.”

“Yeah, because I keep
assuming things about you based on my expectations.  That’s not right and
I’m sorry.”

“Well I did have my part
in it.  I could have been a little more understanding and less snooty at
our first meeting.  I just assumed you were going to try to swindle me out
of my money.  Maybe we just agree that we both are at fault and move on.”

“That, I can do.
 So, walk and talk with me?”

“You and me?  Are you
sure that’s okay with your girlfriend?”

Connor stopped and
looked at her.  

“I see what you mean.
 Yeah, now that you mention it I don’t think my girlfriend would take too
kindly to me leisurely strolling through the grass with a pretty girl on a clear
night like tonight.  I know I wouldn’t like it if the shoe were on the
other foot.  It’s too romantic, you know what I mean?”

“Kinda what I was
thinking.”

“Well here’s a line I
never thought I’d say but I guess it’s lucky for me that I don’t have one.”

“You don’t have one
what?  A girlfriend?”

“Right.”

“Really.  What
about the perfect blonde I saw you with earlier?”

“Blonde?”  Connor
crinkled his eyebrows. 

“About five eight.
 Summer dress and cowboy boots.  Come on Connor, you were just
talking to her a few minutes ago and she’s been swarming around you like a moth
to a flame all day long.  Maybe this will help you remember.”

Tessa started to giggle
playfully at Connor while curling her hair around her index finger and batting
her eyelashes.  

“Oh.  Well when you
put it like that, how could I not know who you were talking about.”

“So she’s not your
girlfriend.”

“Her?  No way.
 That’s Jemma.  She’s just a friend.”  

Connor didn’t want to get
full of himself but he could swear he just saw a little smile form on her
lips. 

“So you are saying that
there really is nothing between you two?”  

“Nope.”

“Oh.  I guess I
just assumed when you bought the flowers the other day and I saw her all over
you.  You know two plus two.”

“Good math but no.
 I don’t talk about this a lot but the flowers were for my parents’
grave.  I put fresh ones on the first Tuesday in every month.”

“Oh.  I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.
 You didn’t know.  Besides, I’m okay with it.  I know my parents
appreciate what I do and that’s all that matters so don’t go getting all
self-conscious about that.  So can we take that walk or what?”

“I think I’d like that.”

“Good.  So tell me
about you.  I mean besides the obvious that you are perfect in every way.”

Tessa scoffed.  

“Connor I already
promised to make you the cake.  You don’t have to lay it on so thick.”

“Not pouring it on thick
at all.  It’s funny but I remember that night I first met you.  I had
finished talking to the bank about a loan on the building and got denied.
 How does my day end?  With a cute little rich girl--or some
variation of what I called you--who I thought was too full of herself.
 Now I just think you’re being too humble.”

“So your opinion of me
changed so quickly?”

“Think about it.
 You come here on vacation from your job, and all you do is out cook all
the women who have been doing this for years.  I bet you’re the best at
what you do back home too.”

Her countenance changed
and he could tell that he’d broached a sore subject.  

“Well if by what I do
back home, you mean be unemployed, then yes you are right.  I am the best
person I know at it right now.”

“So you don’t have a job
to go back home to?”

“Not yet.  I mean
I’ll get one or start something of my own.  I’m still figuring that one
out but I got fired right before I came here.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”
 

“Don’t be.  It’s
the only reason I left.  For quite a while now, all the people who care
about me have taken turns telling me that I needed to take a break.  It
was finally forced upon me, and you know what?  From my little time here
so far, I’m starting to wonder what I’ve been missing.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.  Maybe it’s
the town or the people but there’s something special about Stanton Falls that
makes me want to enjoy life just like it is right here.  It’s a different
kind of living.  I don’t know . . . maybe fuller.  Like there’s a
point to it all.  I don’t feel like I had a lot of that in my life before.”
 

He looked into her eyes
and she stumbled over her words.  

“Listen to me just
babbling on.  You probably have no idea what I’m talking about.”

“Of course I know what
you mean.  I’ve been living here all my life.”