Alaskan Holiday
Page 24

I shared a smile with Palmer. “I’ll mention it to Chef Anton and see what I can do.”
“You look wonderful,” Palmer said, his voice dipping close to a whisper.
I knew his compliment was a slight exaggeration. Working in a hot kitchen, I knew I resembled a piece of overcooked broccoli. Far be it from me to complain; I knew Palmer was really saying that he’d missed me and was happy to see me, no matter what I looked like. It was how I felt about him, too.
“What about me, Josie?” Jack demanded. “Don’t I look good? I trimmed my beard. Got on a new shirt, too.” He tucked his thumbs under his red suspenders and extended them away from his chest while he rocked back on his heels. “This is about as dressed up as I get.”
“You’re a sight for sore eyes,” I said, leaning forward and kissing his cheek. “I’m ecstatic to see you both.” I wanted to toss my arms around Palmer and kiss him senseless. That, however, was sure to be frowned upon in public while I was still on the clock.
Lizzy sauntered by, and from the look she sent me, I knew she was seeking an introduction.
“Would either of you gentlemen care for dessert?” she asked, eyeing Palmer.
“Dessert?” Jack’s face lit up as bright as the lights on the Christmas tree.
“You don’t need to ask Jack twice,” I said as she handed out the smaller dessert menus. “Lizzy, these are my friends Jack and Palmer from Ponder, Alaska. I worked there before coming to Chez Anton.”
“Is it true what they say about men from Alaska?” Lizzy asked, blatantly flirtatious.
“I wouldn’t know,” Palmer said, practically ignoring her.
I could have kissed him right smack on the lips. Just the way he looked at me told Lizzy he had no interest in her.
Jack read over the dessert menu. “Can I order more than one?”
“You can order as many as you’d like,” I told him, so happy to see him I would gladly have delivered every item on the menu if he asked me. “Dessert is my treat.” I’d have Chef Anton deduct the cost from my paycheck.
“Can you join us for coffee?” Palmer asked.
Reluctantly I glanced over my shoulder toward the kitchen, although I couldn’t see anything from where I stood. “I…I can’t,” I said regretfully. “I wish I could, but I’m needed in the kitchen.”
“What time do you finish?”
“Late,” Lizzy answered for me. “Josie is almost always the first to arrive and the last to leave.”
Palmer frowned. “What about Chef Anton?” He directed the question to me.
“He isn’t as involved as I’d assumed he would be.” Another understatement.
“Get out early tonight, then,” Palmer prompted.
More than anything, I wished I could. “I’d like nothing better, but the kitchen crew relies on me.”
Jack finished giving Lizzy his dessert order and sat back down. He’d asked for three: the maple bread pudding with espresso butter sauce, the dark chocolate/sea salt caramel square, and apple cake with walnut crunch.
“What about you?” Lizzy asked Palmer, with her most alluring voice.
Apparently, she hadn’t gotten the hint.
“Nothing, thanks.” His eyes held mine. “How late is late?”
“Eleven. Sometimes later,” I told him.
“That will have to do,” Palmer said.
Jack yawned. “You two will have to meet without me. I’m dog-tired after that flight.”
“We could see each other in the morning if you’d rather,” I offered Palmer, knowing he must be tired, too. I hoped he would refuse my proposal, even though I felt I had to make it despite how eager I was to spend time with him.
“He can’t,” Jack answered for Palmer.
“You can’t?” I repeated, shocked.
“I leave in the morning,” Palmer told me.
CHAPTER 13
Josie
“You’re leaving?” I didn’t say anything more, for fear I’d burst into tears. Having Palmer here in Seattle was everything I’d wished for. Everything I’d dreamed of. I learned that Palmer had arrived in town that very day, and if I’d understood Jack correctly, Palmer was turning around and flying out the next day. My heart felt like it was going down in flames.
“Yes, my flight leaves in the morning,” Palmer confirmed.
“But…but so soon?” Having seen him for only this short amount of time was unfair and cruel. I’d sensed something was wrong for the last couple weeks. I’d asked him, and Palmer had repeatedly made excuses for our short conversations and the terse text messages.
I felt anxious to talk things over, but this wasn’t the time or the place.
“I’m sorry, Josie. I need to deliver the sword to Gettysburg.”
“Of course,” I said, doing a poor job of hiding my disappointment.
Lizzy delivered Jack’s three desserts and then whispered urgently in my ear, “Chef Anton wants you back in the kitchen.”
After weeks of being subjected to the chef’s temper tantrums, I suddenly couldn’t care less what he wanted, what he demanded. He could take a flying leap into a steaming pile of cow dung as far as I was concerned. My dreams of a big career move, of working with this renowned chef, weren’t working for me. This job was nothing like what I’d been led to believe. I stood, unable to move, struggling not to grab on to Palmer and not to beg him to stay in Seattle.
“Chef isn’t happy,” Lizzy whispered as she stepped away from the table.
“Tough,” I whispered back. If this was all the time I would have with Palmer, I wasn’t wasting a single second. My heart ached with everything I wanted to tell him, with all the things I wanted to say, and now I was being cheated of that.
“He’s coming back, you know,” Jack announced, digging into the bread pudding first and then taking a bite out of the apple cake before shifting to the third dessert.
I looked at Palmer. “You are?”
“I’ll be back in three days.”
“Three days?” I repeated.
“It takes all day to fly across the country, then one day in Pennsylvania, and another to fly back to the West Coast.”
Relieved to hear that he wasn’t taking any more time than necessary and was coming back to me, I asked, “You finished the sword?” He’d mentioned his work on it, but lately he’d been using that as an excuse to cut our conversations short.
He nodded and looked pleased with himself. “It turned out even better than I hoped.”
“I knew it would.” I remembered how frustrated he’d been when he’d discovered the crack before I’d left Ponder. “Then you’ll be back?” That would only leave a few days before Christmas. “Can you stay for Christmas?” I blurted out. “You could meet my mother and I’ll cook a wonderful dinner for all of us and—”
“You want me to spend Christmas with you?”
“More than anything,” I nearly shouted, and I immediately lowered my voice, not wanting to appear overly eager. “Please say you’ll stay.”
He hesitated, and for one heart-wrenching moment, I thought he would refuse. I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to hide my reaction if he did.
Palmer’s look grew thoughtful, as though he wasn’t sure. “I didn’t intend to stay more than a couple days. I’ve already got plane reservations to return to Alaska.”
“I’m sure they can be changed.”
“I can stay for Christmas,” Jack volunteered readily. “What are you planning to cook? The traditional prime rib dinner is fine with me, although I have a hankering for turkey and stuffing, if that’s in the offering.”
I barely heard him.
“And I’m not that fond of ham,” Jack continued, “but if that’s what you decide you want to serve, I won’t complain. You might already have guessed this, but I’m not picky when it comes to food.” Jack looked at me and then at Palmer. “You did invite me to stay, didn’t you, Josie?”
“Of course, Jack.”