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They’d finished supper, and Griff had warmed water for washing the dishes up on the woodstove. She helped with the cleanup, and they put the leftovers in a covered container on the porch.
Then he’d heated water for her to have a sponge bath. There was no tub or any kind of container big enough to put water in for an actual bath.
He’d gone outside, saying he needed to walk around and check on things, while she sponged down quickly and emptied her dirty water.
She was dressed in the spare pants and flannel shirt when he came back in. He had socks that she could wear as well, and a spare pair of boots, although they were way too large.
She didn’t mind the oversized clothes. In fact, they were extremely comfortable and far better than the frilly pink dress which was thrown over the single chair in the bedroom.
She didn’t know if she’d have to wear it again, and she didn’t want to just let it lie in a heap on the floor. Still, she couldn’t imagine going back to that after putting the comfortable clothes on, even if she did have to roll up the pant legs and the arms of the flannel.
Working with Griff as they washed the dishes and put them away and cleaned up the meal and fixed the fire and heated water had been easy and intimate, a little different than working in the diner together.
Sometimes in the morning when they were both there before it opened, they had that easy camaraderie where no words were necessary.
This was different though, because they weren’t expecting to have a mad rush of patrons, there was no pressure to get the food just right, and there was just a relaxed atmosphere that made her wish that she could do this forever.
With Griff.
She couldn’t imagine doing it with anyone else.
Now, she was sitting on the couch, which was definitely not long enough for Griff to sleep on, while he sat on a chair that he pulled over beside her. His feet were propped up on the small handmade coffee table that sat in front of the couch.
“The woodstove should keep the bedroom decently warm, as long as you leave your door open. That’s why I put the woodstove against the wall right beside the door. The flue goes out and up the bedroom, and that, along with the heat that travels in from the stove, usually keeps it nice and warm.”
“I won’t shut the door. I definitely want to be as warm as possible, although the blanket on the bed looked nice and snuggly.”
She hadn’t sat down on the bed, and she didn’t know how soft it was, but as tired as she felt, she figured she could sleep pretty much anywhere right now.
The only problem was, she really didn’t want to get up and go to bed. She liked sitting here with Griff.
Maybe if she started talking to him, they’d stay longer. Although, Griff had never been a very talkative person.
“Why did you stay?”
“That first day?” he asked, and she was surprised that he knew exactly what she meant. She wasn’t sure how to phrase it exactly, but she hadn’t needed to worry. He got her. The funny thing about it was, he always had. From the very beginning.
“Yeah.”
He was quiet for a few minutes, and she wondered if maybe he wasn’t going to answer. They hadn’t talked about too much personal stuff as they worked together. Griff was always focused on helping the diner out, trying out new recipes, and figuring out what folks would enjoy.
She had always bustled around, cleaning and doing dishes and arranging things and making sure the decorations were as good as she could make them. She loved decorating for the changing seasons and trying to make the restaurant as cozy and inviting as she could.
In hindsight, they worked well together, because they focused on different areas and they had different strengths.
“It was because of you,” he finally said, sounding like it had been obvious.
“Me?” She tried to think of what she had done. “I didn’t ask you to stay.”
“Maybe that’s part of the reason I did. You didn’t ask. But you obviously needed someone. You didn’t have a cook, didn’t have a waitress, didn’t have anything except yourself.”
It was true. She was struggling to do it all, having used most of her meager savings to purchase the building and get her first supplies.
“So you just pitied me?” She figured as much.
“I admired you.” He paused, and she thought maybe that was all he was going to say, but she didn’t understand. There was nothing about her to admire. She was struggling so hard and didn’t have a clue of how to make anything successful. She hadn’t realized what she was getting into, even though she worked at a diner for almost ten years. Waitressing, cooking, doing it all.
All except the owning part. Which was a lot different than she expected. A lot harder. There was more red tape, more taxes, more fees the government imposed than she had ever imagined. She thought the diner owners were raking in money, and she didn’t realize how much money had to go out for all the things that were necessary to run it.
