Hometown Reunion. Pam Andrews

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СКАЧАТЬ her slip away, but he squelched the impulse. It had been nearly ten years since he’d last seen her. He remembered her question and gave the shortest possible answer.

      “I have my own contracting business, but most of the time, I’m the only employee.”

      “Somehow I didn’t expect…”

      She trailed off, uncertain how much she should say, but he could guess. She hadn’t expected him to stay in Apple Grove.

      Some things were best left unsaid.

      “You look good, Lori.” It sounded lame, but it was all he could think of saying.

      What a feeble compliment, he thought. She looked terrific. Her dark brown eyes sparkled. Her cheeks were rosy, and her thick chestnut curls were spilling out of a ponytail, the way they had in high school. He’d been a fool not to tell her how he’d felt about her back then, but the gulf between them had been too wide. He didn’t want to think about how different his life might be if he hadn’t been constrained by her strong faith, one he couldn’t share.

      “Daddy, we’re going to be late!”

      Joey impatiently tugged on his pant leg. If there was one thing his son hated, it was being late.

      “We’re on our way to the dentist,” Scott explained. “It’s been nice seeing you, Lori. I hope you enjoy your time here.”

      “Thanks, Scott. It is good to be back.”

      As soon as Joey was settled into his car seat, Scott started thinking of all the questions he should have asked. But maybe it was for the best. He and Lori had taken different forks in the road. He had too much on his plate to torment himself with what might have been.

      

      Lori spent the time before her aunt came home from school organizing the cheerful second-floor bedroom that had always been her home away from home, but her mind wasn’t on the task of unpacking. She’d been so surprised at seeing Scott again that she hadn’t asked any of the things she wanted to know. Had he married someone she knew? Did they have other children? Why did Scott decide to stay in Apple Grove? Surely he could have found better opportunities in a larger town.

      She couldn’t get him out of her mind as she filled drawers lined with tissue paper and hung the rest of her clothes in the closet. He’d never been what high school girls called cute, but his clear blue eyes and high cheekbones made his face memorable. Now, at twenty-nine, two years older than her, he had a brooding quality that made her want to know if everything was well with him.

      She went through her unpacking absentmindedly, her thoughts focused on the brief meeting with Scott. It didn’t take her long to finish, since she’d never been a person to accumulate a lot of possessions or a large wardrobe. She’d brought her chef’s knives, still in the trunk of her car, and a good supply of work clothes, but it hadn’t been worthwhile to move her well-worn secondhand furniture from the suburban Chicago apartment she’d been sharing with a friend. She’d offered first choice to her recently married ex-roommate and donated the rest to a charity shop.

      When she’d done all that could be done, she sat on the edge of the bed and caught a glimpse of her image in the full-length gilt-framed mirror mounted on the wall. The face that looked back at her was weary. Her dark brown eyes were shadowed, and her chestnut mane had grown into an untamed mass of curls. She hadn’t bothered with makeup since that awful day when she’d rashly walked out of Arcadia, the posh Chicago restaurant where she’d been working.

      Maybe she’d set her sights too high, but she’d been thrilled when she was hired by Gardner Knolls as an apprentice chef at one of his three Windy City restaurants. She’d expected to start at the bottom, and that meant doing all the menial chores, from chopping vegetables to taking inventory in the freezer.

      The trouble was, she’d started at the bottom and stayed at the bottom, while chefs with less talent were regularly promoted. When Adrian, a klutzy young man of meager talent and four years her junior, was given charge of the luncheon service, she realized that the head chef would never let her realize her potential. He had trained in Paris and looked down his nose at her small town Iowa origins, sneering at her for winning county-fair blue ribbons.

      She didn’t regret quitting on the spot, but now the question was, should she say yes to the job offer she had? It might be hard to find anything better since she wasn’t likely to get a good reference after walking out without giving notice. But could she afford to stay in Chicago without a roommate to share expenses?

      Lori wanted to consider the new job offer calmly and logically, but it was her nature to crave the rush of excitement that came with being pushed to the maximum. It was what she loved most about being a chef, creating wonderful dishes under pressure. She felt at loose ends, and neither her aunt nor her parents could help her find her way. Only the Lord could give her the guidance she so badly needed.

      “Dear Lord,” she prayed, sitting on the edge of the bed, with her head bowed, “help me to forgive those who have wronged me and to accept responsibility for my own bad decisions. Please show me a way to serve You and use the talents You’ve given me. I thank You for having so richly blessed my life.”

      She squeezed her hands together, willing herself to find forgiveness in her heart for the way the head chef had treated her, but it was exceedingly hard. There was a void in her heart, and she’d let it fill up with anger.

      Maybe a short stay in Apple Grove would give her time to put things in perspective. She needed to recover not only her self-confidence but her commitment to excel in her career. She loved making people happy with cuisine that was not only wonderful tasting but good for them, as well.

      Her thoughts strayed to her chance meeting with Scott. No one had been more eager to leave town than he had, yet he’d stayed and was raising a son here. Sometimes life was a puzzle, and she didn’t begin to have all the answers.

      

      By the time Aunt Bess got home from school, Lori had showered and dressed in white walking shorts and a bright peach tank top. It was warm for May, and she was glad to change out of her jeans and polo shirt.

      “My, don’t you look sweet,” Bess said when she saw her niece. “But you didn’t need to change for Carl and me.”

      “Carl?”

      “Oh, I’ve been so excited about you being here, I forgot to tell you. We’re meeting Carl Mitchell at the café after dinner to go over some things that need doing. He promised the electricity would be on by then. Guess we should be able to rely on him since he worked for the power company for forty-two years before he retired. Now he has plenty of free time to help get the café back on track.”

      “So he’s one of the twenty-four people who bought the café?”

      It boggled her mind that so many people had banded together to reopen the Highway Café after it had been closed for over a year. When it looked as if no one would buy it, her aunt had spearheaded a campaign to have a committee buy it. The town was suffering without a place where people could congregate and get a good meal.

      “Him, me and twenty-two others,” her aunt said with a soft chuckle. “But don’t worry. None of us know beans about running a restaurant. We’ll do things your way.”

      “I hope you’ve told your committee that I’ll only be here a little while, just long enough to get things started СКАЧАТЬ