“Maybe you can come over and have dinner with us while you’re here,” Jeff said as he came around the counter again, walking with Jamie towards the door.
“What?Can Sarah cook now?”Jamie asked, stopping in his tracks.
“Hell no.I do all the cooking.”Jeff chuckled.“Sarah is a wonderful woman.Great mom.Works hard.But cooking is not a skill she has.Terrible in fact.”
Jamie couldn’t help but laugh.“Even Mamaw gave up on trying to teach that girl to cook.”
“I am sooo glad you told me that.”Jeff laughed heartily.“I can’t wait to hold that one over her head.”
“Oh, great.Now I’ll be in for it.”Jamie said as he opened the door.“Thanks, Jeff.”He stopped.“It was nice to see you, and I mean that.”
Jamie noticed that Jeff didn’t let the door shut until he’d driven off.That was so strange.I never would have expected that at all.And he’s married to Sarah.Never saw that coming.I now know why she never told me.
Chapter Thirteen
Jamie had stopped bythe largest grocery store in town.He was glad to see that it had been remodeled and upscaled as well.It was good to know that he could get good cheeses and a wide selection of sausage when he needed them.He’d lucked out and got some really good quality Andouille sausage, a key ingredient for his shrimp and grits.
He hurried up his shopping, keeping in mind that he had raw shrimp in the car and the day was warm.Not really hot as yet since it was still just springtime, but too warm to leave raw proteins in the car.
As he pulled in behind the diner, he saw Salzy using a power washer on the steps to the garage apartment.He was on the bottom step, having worked from the top down.They each waved as Jamie hauled the groceries into the diner.Setting everything down on the biscuit table, he glanced at the wall clock.It was just passed two thirty.
Jamie put everything away, making sure that the shrimp were okay and on a new bed of ice in a strainer.He made sure that everything he needed for the staff dinner was placed together, and he put aHands Off!sign on the trays.
Closing the walk-in behind him, he noticed that the kitchen was set up for dinner service.He looked out at the dining room, and it was also ready, but no one was around.The back door had been locked, which wasn’t all that unusual.The dining room was dark, and the closed sign on the front door.He knew the kitchen staff would be back about three thirty, and the waitresses would be back later to be open by five.
He went out back to see Salzy hauling the pressure washer into the garage.Jamie could see that both sets of stairs had been washed and six treads had been replaced.Two up to the garage apartment and four on the stairs to his place.His place?Where did that come from?
“Whew,” Salzy said.He lifted the bottom of his T-shirt to wipe his face.Jamie got a quick look at his Salzy’s tight stomach and the dark trail of hair from his navel to where it disappeared behind the top of his jeans.“That was a job.”
Jamie smiled.“I bet it was.Looks like that pressure washer is heavy.”
“It’s not too bad until you try and keep it balanced so it doesn’t pull you down the stairs.It vibrates pretty good.”
Jamie nodded.“I see you got those treads replaced.”
“It took me longer to find the circular saw than it actually did to fit them in place.I screwed them in instead of nailing.”He shook his head slowly.“Gonna have to clean out that garage.Can’t find anything in there.”
