Chapter 9
Bailey slowly straightened, grabbed her napkin, wiped her eyes, blew her nose and then picked up her fork. She couldn’t escape easily with her injured back. The effort to move quickly would cause her more damage. The only thing she could do was get through this. And she had to do it without examining his words. Because they hurt. Every word was like a sword to her heart. He didn’t understand—he didn’t really know what it was like to watch somebody you love die in front of you. She did, and she’d have done anything she could to stop it. But there was no stopping it. That incorrigible, encroaching, unforgiving death marched ever forward.
She looked up to find him holding a glass of water in front of her. She grabbed it and drank half of it down. She looked at the plate of food, and, although she was sick inside and out, she knew she needed this for energy. She stabbed a piece of broccoli and took a bite. That her mood made it taste like sawdust wasn’t the issue. Alfred had gone to a tremendous amount of work to make this meal for so many people. All she could do was realize that her problem with Dakota was not the same problem with everybody. They had done so much to keep her safe, and even now they were doing the best they could. She needed to grow up and get over herself.
She sat quietly for several moments and then raised her head and smiled at Alfred. “Alfred, you’re a genius.”
He gave her a fatherly smile. “I’m glad you’re enjoying it. Do you want seconds?”
She looked down at her plate and wondered if there was any room and then shook her head. “I don’t think I could get another bite down.”
“You might want to rethink that because I made cheesecake today.”
She let the corners of her mouth kick up. “Wow, cheesecake. Normally I’d be all over it, but I’m full.”
He leaned forward, a big grin on his face. “Even if it’s lemon curd?”
She stared at him in delight. “Really? Fresh lemons?”
“That’s the only way, my dear.”
She gave him a big fat smile. “Yes, please.”
With that, the rest of the table relaxed and settled into a more natural atmosphere.
Deliberately avoiding Dakota, she muttered out loud, “I’m sorry for my outburst. I do apparently have strong feelings about that subject.”
Several chuckles came around the table. “We all have strong feelings about something. You did what you could for your husband. That’s all that needs to be said.”
She nodded, picked up the water and finished the rest of it. Her plate was empty, but the others still ate. She desperately wanted a cup of coffee, like she’d had last time with sugar, but it was behind her, and she didn’t dare maneuver her sore body in that direction. She settled back to wait until everybody had finished eating.
She’d no sooner decided to relax and wait, when a hot cup of coffee arrived beside her. Dakota again—once more looking after her, seeing to her needs before she even noticed she had any. She gave a heavy sigh and muttered, “Sorry.”
In an equally low voice he said, “Never say you’re sorry. Your enemies won’t believe you, and your friends don’t need you to.”
She smiled. “That might be true, but it’s still nice to hear when you’ve done wrong. Or when you’ve been wronged.” She looked up at him and smiled. “Forgive me?”
He flashed a wicked grin at her. “Nothing to forgive. When you love, you love deeply, and that’s something we would all want.”
She nodded and stayed quiet for the rest of the meal. She thought back to all the years when she’d worked as a chef. She’d loved food, had loved cooking for crowds, but somewhere along the line she got soured on the super wealthy patrons and the snotty chef she had worked with and the owners who had become way too difficult and demanding. The stress of it had been excruciating. Then she’d been injured.
Rick had asked her to quit. While they were still dating, he’d seen how damaging it all had been to her. And because of that, she’d taken the monumental step of walking away from her career, from her education and her love of cooking. She spent a lot of time feeding Rick his favorite dishes, and she slowly learned to rejoice again in food as a passion.
But, after his death, she completely walked away from it again. All food tasted like sawdust, and all her efforts to cook or eat had been way too much.
As she stared at the table in front of her, she realized she hadn’t walked away as much as she stuffed it down deep inside. She could work at some place like this. She could do something like what Alfred did. Or work with somebody like Alfred. A place where the stress wasn’t hers alone, where the threat of being fired wasn’t constantly on her mind, where she wouldn’t have to work sixteen hours a day every day without a break.
She didn’t mind being a buyer. She dealt with restaurant food supplies, so it was certainly her field, but she’d chosen an isolated job because she didn’t have to reintegrate into society.
Going through what she’d gone through with her husband had meant stepping back from the world. Feeling isolated and alone as death marched to the end. Without a support group around her, she hadn’t known how to re-enter society again. She’d been living in the cold and didn’t know how to come back indoors.
Until Dakota. He hadn’t given her a choice. He dragged her kicking and screaming into this world she found herself. It was foreign. But just like the other world had been foreign and she’d slowly gotten used to it, she could get used to this one too. Only she had no reason to stay here and being here meant putting them all in danger. And that was the sad truth. Yet she needed to find a purpose in her life again. In a way getting out of debt had been a big one. She’d skimped and saved, and she put every penny against Rick’s medical debts. Thankfully selling off their assets had gone a long way to knocking it down before he died. Now that she was clear, she was homeless. Where did she go from here?
“Thoughts?” Dakota asked.
“Just wondering what I’m supposed to do with my life now.”
“You take care of the present,” he said. “The future will take care of itself.”
She smiled. “That sounds like an adage my grandfather would’ve said.”
“Who was he?” Sienna asked from several seats away.
“He was an old shoemaker when the profession still existed,” she said with a smile. “He was full of sayings like that.”
*
Dakota enjoyed listening to her talk about her grandfather. She rambled on at an easy pace, telling stories of how he had raised his grandkids. Her parents had died young, leaving her and her baby brother. Her brother died of cancer when she was a young teen. If it hadn’t been for her grandfather, she wouldn’t have survived that either. Dakota was amazed at how often bad luck or tragedy seemed to follow some people. She was due for some good times. She might not believe that such a thing was possible, but he knew this crap life didn’t last forever. He’d lost good friends in the military. Healing took time, but it did happen. One never forgot, but it became easier.
When Alfred brought out a huge cheesecake and set it down almost in front of her, she giggled with delight. “You weren’t kidding. Lemon curd cheesecake.” Immediately she launched into a discussion about what kinds of cheesecake she had tried to make before.
“I think by now,” Alfred said with a smile, “I’ve tried every citrus there is.”
“I’ve never tried grapefruit. Always wanted to.”
Alfred looked thoughtful. “You know? I’m not sure I ever tried that either. I wonder if that would work.”
She gave him a wicked glance. “If you have any, we could make one together tomorrow.”
He grinned a smile that went from cheek to cheek as the two both realized they were kindred souls. And maybe this was a good thing.
The cheesecake was quickly cut and dispersed among the group at the large table. Considering there were so many of them, the pieces were being fought over. Bailey took a small piece.
But at the first bite she closed her eyes and sank back in joy. “Alfred, you’re a magician in the kitchen.”
He chuckled but was obviously pleased, a nice rosy color came to his cheeks.
Dakota had never seen Alfred like this. And from the look in Ice and Levi’s expressions, they hadn’t either. The people here may be a strong family unit, but they had to remember not to take for granted any of the work any of them did. He took a bite of the cheesecake and stopped in shock at the explosion of flavor. “That’s curd?”
Bailey chuckled. “That is lemon curd in cheesecake form. And it’s divine.”
With those words, Dakota dug into his piece and enjoyed it to the last bite. “You’re right. That was spectacular.” He sat back and rubbed his stomach. “That was an awesome meal, Alfred.”
As people stood and collected the dishes like a well-oiled army, they headed into the kitchen to clean up.
Dakota noticed the tiredness on Alfred’s face. He frowned. “Alfred, it’s time you got some help in the kitchen.”
Alfred shrugged. “There hasn’t been any need until now.”
“What he means is, he’s refused until now,” Ice said. “But it’s past time. It’s a huge workload for just him.”
Beside him Bailey popped up, looking way too agile, considering the stitches in her back. “I can help him for the next few days.”
“No. Not with those stitches in your back, young lady.”
She glared at him. “As long as I don’t have to do any of the bending or heavy lifting, there’s no reason I can’t stand—or sit—at the island and do prep work.”
He frowned and shook his head. “Better that you do nothing but lie in bed and relax.”
She snickered at that. “I wouldn’t know what to do with myself. I’ve been a workaholic since I was a child. That won’t change now.” And she collected the dishes around them, then carefully turned and gave the entire stack to Dakota.
He raised his eyebrows but didn’t say a word and carried them into the kitchen.
In the background, he could hear Alfred squabbling with Ice over letting Bailey work in the kitchen.
Merk walked over and patted Dakota on the back. “Nice choice.”
Dakota looked at him in surprise, but Merk was already on his way out of the room.
Rhodes chuckled. “Very good choice.” And then he walked out.
Dakota had a good idea what was going on, but they were wrong. He was just helping a woman he’d accidentally hit.
Sienna stood beside Dakota, snickering. “You have no clue what’s going on, do you?”
He glanced at her. “It’s not like that.”
She gave him a warm smile. “It’s one of the unique things about this place. Somebody else always knows before the man does.” And then she too turned and walked out.
Frowning, he rinsed the dishes and loaded them into the commercial-size dishwasher. Little pots and pans remained, but they had a second dishwasher for those. Alfred, although he was still in the dining room, liked to put away the food himself.
By the time Dakota returned to the dining room to get another load, the table was already cleaned off. Alfred and Bailey had moved into a discussion of puddings.
“I do like making puddings with cream cheese,” Bailey said.
“It makes it very rich.”
She nodded. “Where I come from, that type of dessert is served in small elegant-looking portions.”
Dakota leaned against a wall and watched, fascinated as she came to life, sitting right beside Alfred. Ice and Levi sat on the other end, studying the pair. Dakota didn’t quite know where to go or what to do. He glanced at Levi, seeing the surprise in his face too.
Dakota grabbed a cup of coffee and sat down between the two groups. He didn’t have any claim on Bailey, but he wanted to make sure she didn’t stay up late. Besides, Alfred also looked tired, yet Dakota hated to remind him there was food to be put away. “Alfred, do you want me to deal with the leftovers?”
Alfred glanced at Dakota in surprise. “Oh, dear. I’ll do that now.” He hopped up from the table and walked around to the kitchen. On his heels was Bailey. As the two of them kept up the chatter in the kitchen, Dakota stood in the doorway and watched. Bailey quickly picked up on what Alfred was doing and got there before him, already saving the older man steps and movements. It said so much about who she was and how she had an innate sense about caring for people, whether her sick husband in the hospital or feeding large groups of people.
The others were right; she was a good choice. And he was an idiot because only now did he realize he was already seriously in trouble.
Ice walked up beside him, patted him on the back, and whispered, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen Alfred so invigorated.”
Dakota nodded. “Or Bailey.”
She gave a soft chuckle and said, “Something for us all to think about.” And she turned and walked out.
Dakota watched her leave, not sure what she meant by that.
Once the two were done putting away the food, Dakota told Alfred, “I’ll make sure she lies down now. She probably did too much as it is.”
Alfred shooed them away. “Go. Go lie down and rest.”
Bailey had to be pulled from the kitchen and led toward the elevator. “I’m not that tired,” she protested.
“Maybe not, but you’ve been up most of the day, moving around a lot of it. And your stitches probably need you to lie down again, okay?”
As they stood waiting for the elevator, Ice walked over to them. “Before you go, we should look at the bandage.”
With a wince, Bailey obediently nodded and followed Ice downstairs to the medical clinic. There she stretched out on the bed and, although uncomfortable with some of her movements, she was no longer crying out in agony.
Ice lifted her shirt up her back and carefully took off the bandage.
Dakota studied the slash across the center of her back. “It doesn’t look half bad,” he admitted. “Lucky for you, Bailey, it looks like you heal quickly.”
“Good. It’s hard to baby an injury like that.”
Ice carefully washed, cleaned and rebadged it.
By the time she was done, Bailey’s expression was no longer quite so complacent. Instead it was slightly green. He knew how she felt. Gently they got Bailey back on her feet. With a smile of thanks to Ice, he led Bailey to the elevator and upstairs to her room.
When she walked in, she whispered, “Okay, now I’m so ready to lie down.”
He quickly pulled back the bedding. “You need any help?”
She kicked off her shoes and whispered, “No thanks. I’m fine. Or I will be as soon as I’m horizontal again.”
He stood at the doorway, uncertain if he should leave or stay. He let out his held breath when she carefully stretched out on the bed with a groan of relief.
She waved her hand, shooing him away. “I’ll be fine.”
“It’s still early, so, if you wake up again, I’m right next door.”
“I hope I sleep right through until morning. It’ll likely take a bomb to wake me up otherwise.” She closed her eyes and, right in front of him, fell asleep.