Heaven Beside You Read online

Chapter 4

  The cook at Ida’s Diner was her staunchest defender. Her greatest protector. The best friend a girl could have. Cass wanted to fall through the floor. Maybe there was still time to shove Jason back to the truck and hot rod right back up the mountain. Paul was a trial by fire.

  Spatula in hand, he stepped out of the kitchen and took a long, simmering look at Jason. “Ida, I believe we are in the presence of greatness,” he announced. “Do you know who this is?”

  Ida shook her head and none of her Day Glo orange dyed hair moved.

  “This is Mr. Jason Callisto, lead guitar player in the band Touchstone, which I believe is up for a Grammy for Best Album this very minute.” Paul drew a deep breath. “Well, I’ll just have to make something special.” He disappeared into the kitchen. Then he poked his head out the kitchen door and narrowed his gaze on Cass. “You’re wearing your peacoat.”

  “Yes.” She shouldn’t have worn the coat. Everybody else in town might think she’d dressed nice today, but Paul knew what the coat meant and why she hadn’t worn it since she’d gotten back to Potterville. “What about it?”

  “It just looks nice,” he said. Then he grinned. “I know exactly what to make for this kind of special occasion.”

  Ida looked Jason over again. “Well, you’ll have to have a good seat then. Sit here out of the draft.” She gestured them to a booth toward the back. “Would you like a cup of coffee? I’m sorry, I don’t have none of that cap-pu-ccino.”

  “Coffee will be great.” Jason smiled. As soon as Ida had walked away, he leaned across the table and whispered, “She’s playing up the down home thing, isn’t she?”

  A note of panic had come through in his voice. The town could be like Deliverance in the wrong frame of mind. She nodded and tried to look comforting. “The tourists eat it up. She has a cappuccino machine at home and she can certainly pronounce it.”

  “Local color?”

  “Comes free with the food.”

  “So what can we expect from lunch?”

  “If at any time you’ve stated a favorite food in a magazine and Paul has the supplies, he’ll make the best you’ve ever had. He’s really too good to be here.”

  “Why is he?”

  “He was my neighbor in New York and when I came back home, he followed. He can make an old pair of leather tennis shoes taste like filet mignon.” Cass glanced at the kitchen door. Paul’s cooking had saved her on many dreary days. “He hides a world class chef under that short-order cook’s apron. You see the old gas station next door?” Jason followed her pointing finger and nodded. “It’s used for outdoor seating in the summer. They put the doors up and set tables on the lot and in the mechanics’ bays. People even come in from other towns to eat here because of Paul. They have to hire waiters and bussers during the season.”

  “Thinkin’ about hiring a girl to seat people, too,” Ida added, pouring coffee into their mugs. Cassie’s had her name on it. Jason’s had a black bear. He examined it. “Like it?” Ida said. “I’ve got one for everybody in town. See?” She gestured to a cabinet next to the register. It was full, floor to ceiling.

  “More local color?”

  “We like our local color and we wouldn’t have it at all if it weren’t for Cassie.”

  “Oh, Ida, I didn’t—”

  “Sure you did.” Ida hushed her with one hand while focusing on Jason. “She’s a real find, our Cassie is. So talented, and yet here she is, saving our little town from extinction.”

  “I didn’t—”

  “If she hadn’t come home and brought us Paul, why, I think it’d be me and old Ben at the post office and a couple of others left. She came back home, bought that abandoned campground and started having ideas people travel thousands of miles for.” Ida leaned toward Jason. “We had a couple here last summer all the way from Germany. Why, they could have gone to Disney World and they didn’t. And she’s so pretty, too. Cassie, I haven’t seen you in that coat before. Is it new?”

  “No,” she muttered. An amused smile played around Jason’s lush mouth, but she felt as though she were on an auction block. “Are you getting any business from the ski resort?” she asked to distract Ida.

  “Precious little. Those people don’t mix with us. Least it brought a couple of jobs. Which wouldn’t be here at all if it weren’t for you. They could have opened up in any of these valleys around here, but since we have you here we have the infrastructure to support that kind of tourism.” Ida slid into the booth beside her. “Did you hear Maddy and Spencer Wegman are thinking about opening a bed and breakfast in the old funeral home?”

  Jason flinched. Cass had heard the rumor, but hadn’t reflected on how strange a B&B in a former funeral home sounded. However, as long as Ida wasn’t trying to sell her, Cassie wanted to keep the conversation headed that way. “What have you heard?”

  “They’re serious enough to talk to Paul about breakfasts.”

  “To do what? He doesn’t have time to cook breakfast for them.”

  “They want him to teach Maddy how to cook like he does.”

  Cass put her hand over her mouth. The whole town was getting delusions of grandeur. “But Maddy can’t boil water in a microwave.” She turned to Jason. “We all joke about the Wegman Diet. If Maddy does the cooking, their guests will have to survive on toast and cold cereal.”

  Ida snorted. “Toast? You want Maddy burning the town down, trying to operate a toaster?”

  “What did Paul tell them?”

  “I told them to hire someone,” Paul said, grinning, as he appeared at their table. “Junie Keyes is a very good short order cook and her mother is the best baker in town. That kind of talent doesn’t skip a generation. Tapas.” He set the loaded plate in the center of the table, turned on one heel and strode back into the kitchen.

  Tiny triangles of Melba toast bearing combinations of cheese, olives and sardines were arranged across it. Hopefully they didn’t spell anything from the other side of the table. “I think it’s going to be Spanish.”

  Jason picked up one of the tapas and popped it in his mouth. “Great. I like Spanish.”

  Ida labored to her feet. “I should get to my other customers. People talk if I start favoring one over another, even if he is a cute young stud.” She pinched Jason’s cheek before strolling away from the table.

  The floor really could open up anytime. Cass put her hand over her face. “I’m sorry. She’s just like that.”

  Jason shrugged. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. She slips out of character occasionally though.”

  “No, it’s all the same character. Ida has owned this diner for thirty years and before that waited tables for the last owner. He died the year after I was born. They say she could have gone to college with a full ride scholarship, but she wanted to stay here. When the mines petered out and the logging went west this place started to die, but Ida refused to let go.”

  “But you came along and saved it.”

  “I didn’t save it.” How could he think this was anything but corny? But he didn’t sound like he was being sarcastic. “I was in the right place at the right time. I just used what was here.”

  Under the table, Jason slid his foot across hers and hooked it around her ankle. “You were the one to do it.”

  His touch and the admiration in his tone made her tense. “I’m trying to disprove what they say about New York.” Could he hear that she was nearly breathless because of the way he made her feel?

  “Which is?” He traveled up the back of her calf with his foot, creating ripples of pleasure.

  “If you can’t make it there, you can’t make it anywhere.” That wasn’t it. Dammit, she couldn’t even summon up a tired cliche. Her distracted, sluggish brain kept telling her yeah, yeah, but Jason’s touching us. “Or is it the other way around?”

  “You couldn’t make it in New York?” His voice had dropped into a husky tone.

  “I’m here, aren’t I?” Where had all the
air gone? There used to be air here. She licked her lips. Jason’s eyes followed the motion, which only increased her distraction. Every resolve she’d decided on last night melted under his steady assault. About now, she’d do anything he wanted. Including hang out all her dirty laundry for his inspection because he’d kept his wits enough to ask questions.

  “What were you trying to do in New York?”

  “Cassie, honey. What are you doing here?” her mother said, standing beside their table.

  Jason’s foot vanished.

  Cass glared at her mother with a look that said you know exactly what I’m doing here. She smiled. “Having lunch. And here you are, saving us a trip.”

  “A trip?” Mom asked.

  “A trip?” Jason echoed.

  “We were going to stop at the house before we went back up the mountain. How did you know we were here?”

  Paul walked out of the kitchen with two bowls. “White chili. The beans are canned unfortunately,” he informed them. “If you had called me ahead of time, missy, I could have done it right. I’ll get two more bowls for Shirl and Andy.”

  “Oh, we didn’t mean to interrupt,” her mom, Shirl, said, sitting next to Cass. “We just decided to come out for lunch.” Mom patted her leg and started her interrogation. “So, Mr. Callisto, how are you enjoying your stay?”

  Dad sat next to Jason and grimaced at Cass. Hi, swee’pea, he mouthed. The idea to ambush them here had been Mom’s. Her father was usually an unwilling participant.

  Paul reappeared with two more bowls and set them in front of her parents before vanishing again.

  “Very well so far. Once I found the place.” Jason smiled at Mom and frowned at Cass almost at the same time.

  “It is a bit hidden up there,” her mother replied. “There’s a sign at the foot of the mountain, but it blew over in the storm we had over Thanksgiving and there’s no point in putting it back up until spring. Did you enjoy your supper?”

  “Yes, I did. Your daughter is an excellent cook. She must have learned from you.”

  Jason’s foot brushed against hers again. Apparently being interrogated by her mother didn’t bother him much.

  “Oh, you,” Mom said, blushing. “Maybe you can come around sometime while you’re here and find out.”

  “I’ll be sure to fit that in.” Jason gave her mom a jokey faux come-hither look

  Cass searched for the sarcasm in his comment, but found none. He shifted her foot so it sat on top of his. Then he leaned forward. His fingertips brushed her knees.

  “Oh, you kidder.” Cass’s mom blushed deeper.

  Jason slid his fingers around her knees and hooked behind them. Cass jumped at the shock of him touching such a sensitive place. Her mother looked at her.

  Cass smiled, trying to process the electric touch of Jason’s fingers with the familiar diner and her mother sitting next to her, somehow unaware despite her extrasensory perception. This went a little beyond Jason maybe but maybe not flirting with her and straight into liking pina coladas and making love at midnight. Ida really needed to check her furnace. It was getting mighty hot in here and nobody else seemed to notice. Cass shrugged off her coat, shifting at the same time, but not dislodging Jason’s fingers. She didn’t want to lose them, but him touching her right in front of her parents felt a little too naughty.

  “My little girl does run a nice place up there, doesn’t she?” Shirl leaned across the table toward Jason, still seeming unaware anything was amiss. Her ESP must be broken. “Do you know, when Cassie first came home and bought that place she organized the whole town to help her?”

  “Mom.”

  Jason sat back, pulling his fingers away from her knees. “Really? She’s quite an entrepreneur.”

  Cass shifted again, sorry he’d moved his fingers. She put a hand to her cheek to see if she was blushing, but couldn’t tell. Hopefully if she was, her parents would attribute it to what they were doing and not guess that Jason had done something. Then he twisted his foot around her ankle again.

  “She did,” Mom said. “Why, she took all of that creative energy of hers and came up with all sorts of things. That old campground used to bring in a few dozen families over the summers but it closed up years ago. Cassie wanted to have a full-service campground and make sure her campers had something to do when they weren’t lookin’ at the trees. She talked to the church about holding programs in their hall and then to Sue down at the travel agency about putting together a newsletter for the events, so people would know. A couple of the other businesses in town joined in, offering special things for tourists.”

  “Like box lunches on the hikes,” Ida added from the counter, the incorrigible eavesdropper.

  “Just like that. Even the school is participating now,” Mom continued.

  “The school is participating?” Cass asked. This should alarm her but she didn’t know how to carry on any coherent conversation with Jason playing footsie with her under the table. He gave her a sly little smile.

  “I nudged them a little,” Mom said.

  “You nudged them how much?” Jason’s other foot joined the dance, cradling her left foot between both of his. He seemed so good at this. A chill she couldn’t attribute to the cold passed through her. He’d practiced this. He was famous and he’d seduced far more experienced women than her.

  “Just a little.” Her mother preened. “I know how you want to build that new building next summer so you’ll need to be booked solid all summer, and if you have lots of events going on, you’ll be booked.”

  “Lots of events?” Between trying not to think about what Jason was doing and how he’d gotten so good at it, she needed to cling to the subject at hand with both clenched fists.

  “Well, some.” Her mom bit her lip and looked at the table. “You haven’t been to Sue’s yet?”

  “No. Am I going to be surprised?”

  Mom gave her a smile, eyes sparkling. “Well, you might.”

  “Is it going to be a good surprise or a bad surprise?” Cass asked.

  Shirl stared into her bowl. “I didn’t know you could make chili without tomatoes. I wonder if Paul will give me the recipe.”

  Her dad snorted then gave Cass an apologetic look. Well, there was the answer. When she’d been growing up he’d often said, “Nothing stops your mother when she gets a-going. Best just to get out of the way.” Jason seemed to share her mother’s determination, judging by the expertise with which he manipulated her foot under the table. She was the goal, and whether she wanted it or not, his determination raised her body temperature.

  Cass looked at the table. She had never even managed a nightmare this bad. Exactly how much worse could this get?

  “Hello, Cassie,” Melinda said. Crap.

  She met Jason’s eyes. He was watching her. She dragged her gaze away and ended up looking at her mother, who also observed her, but for a different reason. Her ESP must have kicked in. Her father consumed his chili like Paul might take it away before he finished. By the time Cass got to the end of the table, Melinda was shuffling from foot to foot, wringing her hands.

  Cass thought her head might explode. “Hi.”

  “Everything okay?” Melinda bit her lip.

  Okay? Unlikely. She couldn’t imagine what she looked like, but her mother shifted like a toddler with a hand still in the cookie jar and her father wouldn’t take his eyes off the chili bowl. Ida had a world-winning smirk on her face, while Jason grinned like the cat who’d found the cream. “Sure. Great.”

  “Oh.” The well-worn crease in Melinda’s forehead deepened as she continued. “Dan will be happy to hear that. He said he didn’t see you over Christmas. He thought you were mad at him.”

  Cass looked across the table for some confirmation of the insanity of her situation and found Jason, part of the insanity, still watching her. He moved his feet, reminding her that he still had her foot. She turned back to Melinda before her head did explode. “I’m sorry.
I did miss him over his break. I had to get back up the mountain early because I had a winter guest coming. Melinda, this is my guest. Jason, this is Melinda Pierce. Her son Dan works for me in the summer.”

  “A pleasure.” Melinda nodded and turned back to Cass. She had bigger fish to fry than meeting the visiting rock star. “So you’re not mad at him?”

  “Why would I be mad at him?” At the moment, she couldn’t even remember what Dan looked like, let alone what he might have done to make her angry.

  “He just really likes that job and wants to come back next summer.”

  “Isn’t Dan graduating this spring?” Ida asked.

  “He is, but he does want to have one more summer at the campground before he gets a real job.” Melinda looked like she might start pleading if Cass didn’t say something quick.

  Paul came out of the kitchen bearing a tray of dishes. “Hello, Melinda. Are you joining the party?” He set the tray on a neighboring table.

  “No, I—”

  “She wants to know if Dan still has a job at the campground this summer,” Ida explained.

  “Of course he does, if that’s what he wants. Isn’t that right, Cassie?” Paul put a plate in front of her. Tamales, beans, salsa and ramekins of corn pudding.

  “Of course.” When had she lost control of her business? Her mother ran it, Paul ran it, and now the local school system, with her mother’s encouragement, seemed poised to take a cut of the operations. She just showed up May first and smiled for six months. This must be how it felt to live in a soap opera. Someone handed out script pages and the actors did their thing.

  “Besides, Melinda, if she’s a good girl, she might need somebody to run the place full time,” Paul said, serving plates to Jason then Cass’s parents.

  “What?” she nearly squeaked. Did they think she was going to run away with Jason? That idea appealed, even if it was complete fantasy.

  Jason was watching her with a less devilish expression than a moment ago. And, he’d stopped dandling her foot. He still had more control over it than she did, but wasn’t wielding that power now.

  He smiled at her and gestured with his fork. “It’s good,” he murmured.