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“It… it has crossed my mind in the last twenty-four hours. Just drive my car up to you,” I admitted. “I’d have to get another hotel along the way, but I made good money at the restaurant, so I could do that. I have a bit saved up, though…” my voice trailed off as I thought of all of the money I’d spent on a wedding that would never happen. The phrase ‘nonrefundable deposit’ echoed through my brain.
As if reading my mind, Bailey interrupted my thoughts. “You’ve always been smart with your money. But with wedding expenses, it might get tight to make the move. I can definitely ask around and see if I can help you find a job up here.”
“Yeah. That would be amazing. I’ve never lived somewhere so… peaceful. I think I need that right now,” I admitted. “Chicago’s too loud and busy to properly move on from this. Especially since the woman Mark was cheating with was a coworker… but that’s neither here nor there.”
“Hey! I just remembered! I think I’ve got the perfect opportunity for you, then.” Bailey’s voice sounded suddenly very excited. “There’s a fishing lodge out here, and with fishing season coming up, they need another cook. The one they had just quit on them without any notice.”
“Well I can’t quite say I would never do that.” Working as the head pastry chef at an upscale restaurant in Chicago was definitely an amazing job. Working at a fishing lodge wasn’t exactly comparable. And yet, I needed a job. “Is there any chance I could interview while I’m in Chicago? That’s a lot of money to spend on just an interview to head out to Idaho… especially so far north.”
“I’ll ask the owner about it,” Bailey said. “I can’t guarantee you anything but know that my place is an option if you truly just want to get away. I won’t make you pay for anything if we agree you’ll only be here for a certain time, but if you are looking to move to Waterfront, a roommate to split costs would be nice.”
“Thank you, Bailey.”
“Anything for a friend, Laurel.”
I could almost hear the smile in Bailey’s voice. It put a little bit of a smile on my face, too. After all, she was being a great friend. Much better than Janelle had ever been to me, at least.
“Now, is that all you called for, or is there something more I can do? I woke up a little late today and have to head out the door in about ten minutes here for a doctor’s appointment up in Coeur d’Alene,” Bailey said. “That’s the one downside of living in such a small town. All the good doctors are in the bigger cities.”
I laughed a little. That did sound like it would be a pain to deal with, but I was glad that I didn’t have any troubles like that.
“No. I just wanted to… call and vent, I guess,” I admitted. “If I’m honest, I just wanted to know if you had the room to let me stay for a day or two while I thought about how to put my life back together. I love my parents, but I don’t want to move back to Nebraska for this.”
Bailey laughed now.
“Fair enough. Well, I’ll let you know what I find out about the interview. If you get a call from an Idaho number that’s not me, assume the conversation went well on my end.”
“Of course. Thanks, Bailey.”
We hung up, and I felt a little lighter.
At the very least, I was moving on with my life. Just because Mark had wanted to get it on with Janelle didn’t mean that I had to remain here in Chicago. With the interest of this job, I decided to sit down and make sure that I could afford to move out to Idaho. That was quite the drive, at least twenty-six hours according to the GPS.
That’d be at least two nights in a hotel if I wanted to be smart about the drive, which I did. If I got this job, I might even need to consider taking a flight and paying someone to drive my car up so that I could start right away.
There were so many new things to consider.
Chapter four
Luke
The next day, I drove my truck out to the small grocery store in town. They were owned by a local family and had been for six generations. They were all incredibly proud of the fact that most of the things in Waterfront were family-owned or operated. I could see why. It wasn’t often that there was still a family-owned grocery store like this in a town. I think there were still a few in the southern part of Idaho, but not having grown up here, I wouldn’t have known.
The lodge had enough food in the kitchen to make some simple sandwiches, which is really all that Moroni had been asked to make while the off-season was here, but I wanted something a little more complex tonight than ham and cheese on a hoagie bun. Not much more complicated, but enough that it required me going out to get other ingredients. I was going to have hot dogs tonight.
And, I’d make them on one of the grills we had outside. Rick planned to join me. As the only two in the lodge right now, I figured we didn’t need many hot dogs, so I found one of the smallest packs that matched up with the buns.
This meant we had eight hot dogs to eat between the two of us. I headed for the condiment aisle, because there was no ketchup or mustard or anything at the lodge. At least, not yet. This was more common for the middle of summer when the weather was incredible and warm enough to make the grilling not as much a chore as something enjoyable.
As I walked up the aisle, grabbing the condiments I wanted on my hot dogs and looking for relish for Rick, I found myself in sync with one of the locals from town: Bailey Rosenthal.
“Hi, Bailey,” I said before turning back to frown at the relish options. I couldn’t remember if Rick preferred sweet relish or dill relish.
Bailey stayed standing next to me, and I glanced at her beside me.
Bailey had a look about her today that made her look intent on speaking to me. I groaned inwardly.
I hope she says her piece and leaves me be; I have other errands to run after getting these back to the lodge, I thought uncomfortably. With Moroni gone, my mind was a jolting tornado of things I needed to remember to do. The top of the list was ‘Find New Cook,’ but it wasn’t like I was going to find that in the ketchup aisle.
