Page 6 of Remembering You
“Make that two cups… to go,” Jim said.
Elsa turned to fulfill our order, but paused, grinning. “I’ll throw in a couple chocolate croissants, too.”
Tilting my head in thought, I blinked, surprised. I’d never seen a waitress give away food before… not without having to check with the owner or manager first. “Do you own this place?”
“Not yet,” Elsa answered. “But I will. Jack never wanted to own a cafe,” she said, gesturing to a man behind the counter. He was a little older than the rest of us from what I could tell… well, maybe around Jim’s age, actually. He had reddish hair that was wavy and long and a well-maintained beard that probably kept him warm in these New England winters. “I’m saving up to buy the place from him.”
Jim snorted asking, “Jack’s gonna sell the place? Fat chance his mother will let her beloved cafe be sold to anyone outside of their family.”
Elsa’s gaze traveled to where Jack stood behind the counter and she gave a little sigh, her eyes glossing over. I knew that look well. Heck, probably any woman with a pulse knew that look. But Jim seemed clueless to whatever feelings Elsa had for this Jack guy. And if I had to guess? Jack was probably clueless to them, too.
“Well,” I said, “Thanks for the croissants. I’m not one to turn down free pastries.”
Elsa nodded and scurried away to procure our order. The chair creaked against Jim’s weight as he settled in across from me. “So, what brought you to Maple Grove’s residency program?” He paused again, glancing at my bags resting on the floor at our feet. “There must have been other artist residencies down in… Louisiana?”
A smile pressed through my mouth even though I was trying to cover it. I shook my head. “Nope. Not from the big easy, either,” I answered. Grabbing my vision board, I slid the rubber band off of it and unrolled it onto the table, breathing a sigh of relief when I saw that it only got wet around the edges. Nothing that wouldn’t dry in a couple hours.
I pointed to a brochure I had saved from the Maple Grove summer camp, sliding the board so that Jim could see it, too. “I used to come to Maple Grove every year for summer camp. Pretty much every summer from ages eight until sixteen were spent right here in town. Guess I just fell in love with it.”
How in the world had I come to this town every year for eight years and never seen this man? He was spectacular. I would have remembered bumping into him. Then again, our visits into town were limited while I was at camp. Mostly, we stayed out in the woods in our cabins and only came into town a couple of times to mail letters to our families and occasionally get a sweet treat at the ice cream parlor.
“You fell in love with Maple Grove?” Jim repeated as though he couldn’t quite believe what he was hearing.
“Well… yeah. You’re from here, so maybe you take it for granted. But, I couldn’t believe how gorgeous the New England summers were here. And the way the sun glinted off the lake during sunset. There was warmth in every human interaction I had. Whenever I arrived off the bus in Maple Grove… I felt like I was home.” I blinked, realizing I had just ranted on and on about the very town he had probably lived in his whole life. “You don’t love it here?”
Jim nodded. “Oh, I love it here. Can’t see myself wanting to settle down anywhere else in the world. It’s just… most people around here I grew up with spend most of their lives trying to escape it. Meeting someone who shares my love for Maple Grove is… well, it’s refreshing.” He glanced down at my board and laughed, pointing to a Polaroid I had snapped when I was sixteen, on my last summer camp trip here. “Is that the property out on Squam Lake?”
I grinned, nodding. “Yeah. It’s this little plot of land… I don’t know, maybe a couple of acres and I used to sneak off the grounds of camp and go sit there at night with my journal. I want to live there. Build a house there someday, right on the lake.”
A bemused grin lifted his face. “You do, huh?’
“Yep. It will happen… someday.”
Silence settled between us as he regarded me carefully. The silence was thick and heady and although not unwelcome, the moment of peace was like a conductor carrying any and all tension radiating between us. Jim licked his lips, his gaze unwaveringly settled onto mine and I knew… I knew he felt whatever it was between us, too.
“Jim!” A voice behind me exclaimed. When I turned over my shoulder I was met with a beautiful, leggy woman, dressed in a nursing uniform, walking over to us. She had chestnut brown shoulder-length hair that flipped out in a Farrah Fawcett type bob.
My stomach dropped as I watched her lean down, wrap her arms around Jim’s neck and kiss him quickly. Looking up, she noticed me and blinked through her surprise. And if I wasn’t mistaken, a glimmer of jealousy flickered across her dainty features. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize I was interrupting…”
“You’re not,” Jim said. “This is Marty, I found her fallen in a snowbank. She hurt her ankle and we were grabbing a coffee before coming to … well, coming to see you actually. Marty, this is Sheila. My girlfriend.”
“Marty…” Sheila said, her eyes narrowing in thought. “I have an intern starting tomorrow named Marty.”
What were the freaking chances? “Sheila Wright?” I asked and I could hear the squeak in my voice.
She nodded, her eyes widening. Of course my new intern director is the girlfriend of the guy I’m crushing on. I forced a grin despite my souring mood. “I’m Marty Vaughn, your intern.”
“Wow,” Sheila said. Her brittle smile finally fractured and split into a genuine grin. “What a small world, huh?” She shook my hand and then bent to have a look at my ankle. “Oh, my. That’s really swelling up.”
Wordlessly, Elsa dropped the two coffees and two croissants onto the table. A moment passed between Sheila and Elsa—something slightly hostile and it had me shifting uncomfortably in my seat.
“Well,” Sheila said, hopping off of Jim’s lap. “There’s no need for both Jim and I to go to the hospital with you. I was headed back to work soon anyway. Let me just grab a quick sandwich and I’ll take you to get that X-ray.”
“Thank you so much. Both of you.”
She gently squeezed my shoulder and offered another warm smile. “Of course.” Then, bouncing away, she ordered a sandwich from Jack. It seemed intentionally as though Elsa dipped into the back room as Sheila approached the counter.
“Are you staying at the residency center?” Jim asked.
