She opened her email and saw that her agent had sent her a flight ticket and a travel itinerary. She looked at the itinerary curiously and frowned a little when she saw that her destination was a town called Rosewood Beach.
Rosewood Beach? She’d never even heard of it. She didn’t even know what state it was in. A quick Google search revealed that the town was in Connecticut, and that it was filled with quaint little shops and homes that looked as though they’d all been built before World War II.
She hadn’t been expecting their film to be shot in a place that small. She let go of her ideas of a beachside resort with a sigh.
She looked up and let her eyes trace fondly over the beautiful beach. The sky and the water both had a vibrancy to themthat looked photoshopped. She didn’t feel ready to go to some basically-antique seaside town that probably smelled of clams and fishermen’s musty old boats.
It’s going to be quite the change after all this beauty,she thought regretfully. She’d been looking forward to finishing filming the movie, but now she was feeling reluctant to leave the tropics and travel to somewhere plain and mundane.
She sighed, reflecting that such was the nature of show business. Nothing lasted, whether it was good or bad.
She slipped her phone into her bag and picked it up. The next thing on her agenda was to return to her trailer and get out of her costume. Then she would have to get what rest she could before she started her long journey across the globe to Rosewood Beach.
Tom Norris leaned back and stretched, letting out a long groan that made him sound like some kind of good-natured bear. His back wasn’t what it used to be, that was for sure. Maybe it was time to bite the bullet and buy himself a pair of those supportive shoes that Allison was always raving about.
Around him, the air was filled with sizzling sounds and the appetizing aromas of fried garlic, onion, and cheese. He took a deep breath, thinking to himself with a smile that he was creating magic, as he did every day. The kind of magic that went hand in hand with real life and made it better.
He wiped his greasy hands on a towel and picked up the water bottle that he had resting in a corner of the kitchen counter. He took a long, refreshing drink. The kitchen was always a little too warm, even though they had the windows open at the moment, letting in a cool spring breeze.
He caught sight of himself in a decorative antique mirror that was hanging on the wall and chuckled. His salt and pepper hair needed a trim, that was without question. He used his fingers to comb it back a little and then almost laughed out loud when he thought to himself that he looked like he was trying to be a movie star or something, with his hair all slicked back like that. His deep-set blue eyes twinkled back at him, crinkling at the corners with merriment.
“You ready for the dinner rush?” Allison, one of the other cooks at The Lighthouse Grill, asked him with a grin.
He and Allison were great friends. Cooking with someone day in and day out was a bonding experience, even though at the very beginning—so many years ago now—they had butted heads about how to do things. Tom had gone to a prestigious culinary school, and he’d been sure that what he’d been taught was the best practice in every case. Allison had soon proved him wrong, though, since her background of working in a family diner as a teenager had prepared her for how to handle a truly hectic rush. Together they’d figured out how to speed up their cooking without cutting corners on taste or quality, and they’d become a dream team.
“Oh, sure. I’ve been eyeing those day-old brownies in the refrigerator. Once it’s all over, you want to eat some brownie sundaes with me?”
“Deal,” Allison said. “But only after we’ve eaten real food. I’m already hungry and it’s only five o’clock.”
“Eat an apple or something,” he told her.
“Apples always make me more hungry,” she complained.
He laughed, shaking his head. “You’re a lost cause. We just have to tighten our belts and push through until we can dig into something greasy and delicious.”
“A tuna melt,” Allison said, her tone somewhat dreamy.
They both grinned at each other and went back to work. Tom was so used to preparing all of the menu items at The Lighthouse Grill that he could have made most of them in his sleep. He didn’t let that make him complacent, however. He was always trying to add new twists to the dishes that he served the regulars of the pub. He always got the permission of the owners before doing anything drastic, but Vivian Owens and her daughter Julia, who helped manage the restaurant, were happy to let him experiment. Vivian had told him many times that she trusted his judgement.
He smiled to himself as he sprinkled spices into a saucepan, where he was just bringing a new sauce that he’d been concocting to a boil. He turned it down and inhaled the creamy, spicy aroma that wafted up at him. He felt a tiny shiver in his spine when he smelled it, a sure sign that he’d hit on something excellent again. He felt grateful that Vivian let him experiment like this. Frank Owens, who had owned the pub with his wife Vivian before passing away, had been kind and energetic and a great man to work for, but he hadn’t put the same amount of trust into Tom that Vivian did.
The Owens are such great people,he thought, turning to his cutting board and beginning to attack an onion with his knife.I’m so glad I ended up here instead of some high-end restaurant in the city.
When he’d first graduated from culinary school, he’d expected himself to end up somewhere like that. That’s what his friends were doing, and it seemed like the logical choice. After all, the paychecks were impressive, and the prestige was no laughing matter. But he’d accepted an invitation from his grandmother to stay with her in her cottage in Rosewood Beach the summer after graduating. He’d decided to pick up a summer job at a new restaurant in town, The Lighthouse Grill, and he’d never looked back.
Rosewood Beach had completely captured his heart, and he’d soon realized that simple, small-town life was perfect for him. He knew he didn’t need a big paycheck as long as he had enough money to live comfortably, surrounded by people that he truly cared about.
Besides,he thought as he added a dollop of peanut butter to the stir-fry he was making,working here allows me to be creative. I would never have this much freedom if I worked in one of the big-name restaurants somewhere.
He finished the stir-fry and dished it out into a couple of plates. “Order up!” he bellowed good-naturedly, and a moment later, Alexis Bennett appeared, with her baby Cash strapped to her back.
“Smells awesome, Tom,” she said, picking up the plates and loading them onto a tray.
Tom made a happy face at Cash, who gurgled and wiggled his feet ecstatically. “How’s the little mascot holding up?”
Alexis laughed. When her baby had first been born, she’d taken a break from waitressing, but once he was older, she’d adopted the method of waitressing with him strapped to her back. Customers and employees alike adored the arrangement, since Cash was as cute as a button and always entertaining. Personally, Tom thought it put Alexis on a level with Wonder Woman, but she always seemed to have plenty of energy. Alexis was one of the Owens siblings, and she loved The Lighthouse Grill as much as they all did.
“He’s happy as a clam,” Alexis said, wiggling her back a little, which made Cash giggle. She laughed with him and then disappeared again. There was no time to stay and chat when a dinner rush was going on.
