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On my way!
Bailey returned to the lodge a few moments after I showed up in the entry hall to wait for her.
“I forgot to drop a few things off for Laurel,” Bailey said to explain her abrupt reappearance as she met me at the door. “Luke, what do you think of Laurel so far?”
“As long as she can do the job, I think she’ll be a wonderful fit,” Mr. Delaney said without looking up from what he was doing at the front desk.
There was a gruff tone to his voice, as if he didn’t really care what I did in the kitchen.
The way he’d said ’wonderful’ sounded almost sarcastic.
I hadn’t even suggested particularly fancy meals. I just wanted a clean kitchen with a basic stocked pantry with enough appliances to make my own cakes and casseroles. It’s not like I was asking for the moon. Just because I thought it would be better to have more intricate meals than cold-cut sandwiches and subs didn’t mean that it was going to be on par with a restaurant where one was expected to pay an absurd amount for a tiny amount of food.
“Well, while I’m getting settled in, Bailey, why don’t we go for a drive around town? I could use a little bit of a refresher on what’s here and what’s new since I last came to see you,” I said, nudging her back out the door.
We walked out of the lodge. She looked at me with the keys in her hand.
“Any particular places you want to visit? Anything you need to buy for your room? Bailey raised an eyebrow.
“I just want to see the town, Bailey. We don’t need to buy anything else right now,” I replied. “Besides, I don’t think that I could afford what I want right now.”
“What do you want?” Bailey asked.
“A decent kitchen,” I chuckled. “I figured that the lodge’s kitchen would be a place that made me feel welcome. I’ve always felt most at home in kitchens, but this,” my hand waved around the unseen lodge kitchen. “It’s a mess. It makes me miss my kitchen back at Mark’s apartment even more.”
I turned to face Bailey as she drove. “Did you know that Mark decided to take all my kitchen stuff and trash them? I wanted to get them when I went back for my stuff, since I like to cook for myself at home, but he’d literally dropped all of them from a top floor window before sweeping the pieces into a pile by the dumpster.” I sighed as I shook my head. “I thought I’d feel better once I got back into a kitchen, but now…” my voice trailed away.
Bailey waited a moment to see if I would continue. When I didn’t, she changed the subject in an attempt to distract the memories. “Let’s get your head cleared. What happened on the tour? I’ve only seen you act like this when you’ve been extremely irritated because… he didn’t tell you that he doesn’t run a good restaurant, did he?”
I shook my head.
“He said that people don’t need snail and string bean a la mode. As if vanilla ice cream would go well with either of those items!” I couldn’t hold back a scoff now. “Who does he think he is, trying to tell me how to use my craft like that? Is it so wrong that I think people would enjoy some chicken a la penne or some salmon filet every once in a while?”
Bailey laughed a little.
“To be fair, I think he just needs to try your cooking,” she said. “You interviewed over the phone, and part of the reason he likes to do interviews in person is because then he gets to see your skills in the kitchen. I guess he thought my recommendation was good enough. Maybe I should have specified that you have skills that his last chef didn’t have.”
“What happened to his last chef, anyway?” I wasn’t usually so curious about the predecessors of my jobs, but this time, I couldn’t help myself.
“I’m not exactly sure what the reasons behind it were, but he quit,” Bailey replied. “Luke wouldn’t tell me much about the circumstances other than that he knew this was coming but wished it had come after the season so that he had the entire off-season to prepare for this and hire a chef. Luke’s a pretty private person. He doesn’t really volunteer a lot of information.”
“I see…”
We arrived in town by now, and it looked much like I remembered it. Perhaps it all had a fresh coat of paint, but it was much as it had been the last time I was here.
“Well, here’s Waterfront,” Bailey said. “I don’t think there’s much that’s changed. We’re still a one grocery store town, though I know that some places are starting to deliver to us that didn’t when you originally were here last time to visit me. That’s been nice to get in on, but there’s still quite a bit left to be desired if you want the big city life.”
“I should probably be in Boise if that’s the life I want, huh?” I couldn’t help but laugh a little. “And instead, I’m here in Waterfront trying to make a new life with a job that I’m now suddenly not so sure is going to be a good fit.”
“Don’t tell me you plan to leave so soon,” Bailey said.
“Of course not! I just… think this lodge needs to be updated a little, is all,” I replied. “Though I know that’s not my place, I have seen the reviews online. Looked them up while I was waiting for my flight earlier today. There are quite a few people who aren’t happy with the small selection of food and wished that their rooms had kitchen so that they could have some larger, more elaborate meals or so that they could at least eat to their tastes. I think what Mr. Delaney is forgetting is that there are people who don’t actually enjoy a simple sandwich for lunch and dinner every single day, even if the people who fish do.”
“What do you mean?”
“His main audience might be those coming to fish here,” I continued, “but they have families that come with them. That doesn’t mean the family likes what’s served here, even if the fisher likes simple meals.” Laurel’s voice dropped to mimic Luke Delaney’s deep baritone on the last two words.
Bailey chuckled at the imitation.
