Serena's Choice - Coastal Romance Series (6 page)

“
Can I take you out to dinner
tonight? To say goodbye?”

Serena wasn’t sure if she
wanted to do that, but Jeff had been so kind coming to Luna Bay that
she felt she should let him take her out. A final goodbye.

“
Okay,” she said.

When she opened the door to Jeff,
he said, “It feels weird to pick you up at your apartment.” They
had always met each other at Bridgewater’s after Serena got off
work. They would go out to a club, then back to her apartment where
they made their way directly to Serena’s bed. Jeff would stay for a
little while, long enough for intimacy, before he left. That bed
would be gone from her life forever the next day.

Instead of going to a loud club
or packed restaurant, Jeff drove a few blocks over to a small and
intimate pizzeria. A yeasty smell greeted Serena as they opened the
door, a smell that used to permeate Rossetti’s back when they still
made their own bread. Serena definitely planned to start that
tradition back at the diner. The waitress seated them at a table with
a red-checkered tablecloth and a wine bottle with a lit candle in the
center. The voice of Frank Sinatra filled the restaurant, but not too
loudly.

“
This is different,” Serena
said.

“
I wanted to be able to talk,”
Jeff said. Loud clubs had definitely not been conducive to
conversation.

Jeff ordered a bottle of red
wine. He filled their glasses and handed one to Serena. He talked
about his grandmother and the food she cooked for him. He told Serena
about his trip to Italy, to the Callabra region of his heritage,
after he graduated from high school.

Serena told Jeff about the herbs
and vegetables her mother grew. She told him about leaving Luna Bay
to attend culinary school. She even told him about Tony. She wondered
aloud if she had been living someone else’s dream and not her own.

Jeff listened attentively. He
asked her questions about Luna Bay, Tony, her mother, culinary
school. He seemed to really want to know the answers. Their “dates”
had never included personal conversation. Serena didn’t know what
to make of it.

At her apartment door, Serena
invited Jeff in for a glass of wine.

“
I’m afraid I’ve packed all
the glasses, so it’ll just be plastic cups,” she said.

They sat on Serena’s
living-room-in-a-box couch and sipped the wine from the plastic cups.
It was the first time they had ever sat on her couch; they always
made a beeline for the bed. Serena felt awkward again, not knowing
how to deal with this new Jeff.

Jeff took her hand. “How are
you doing?” he asked.

“
I’m okay,” she said taking
a drink of wine. “Doing okay.”

He pulled her to him and started
to kiss her.

“
Is this okay?” he asked.
He’d never asked before if it was all right to kiss her. They’d
kissed many times. She’d kissed him back and then they’d had sex.
Why was he asking if it was okay now?

She nodded, suddenly feeling
vulnerable. “It’s okay,” she said.

He kissed her again and it was
gentle and not urgent and hurried like his late-night kisses had been
on their dates before. He wrapped her in his arms and she accepted
his embrace as they kissed. After a few minutes, Serena led Jeff to
her bed, made up for the last time, and they made love. For the first
time, they made love. It was slow and tender, with deep kisses and
loving strokes. Jeff didn’t jump up and leave when it was over,
like he always had before. He stayed. He held Serena close all night
as they slept.

When she woke up, Jeff was in the
living room with two Styrofoam containers of breakfast from a nearby
diner. Two large cups of coffee sat on the coffee table.

“
You were still sleeping, so I
decided to get you breakfast,” Jeff said, motioning to her to sit
down.

Who was this person?

“
Thank you,” she said,
sitting on the couch and opening the container. They ate the eggs,
bacon, and biscuit without saying much. When they were finished, Jeff
said, “Can I help you do anything here?”

“
I think I’ve got it under
control,” she said. “Goodwill should have already been here. When
they’re gone, I’ll vacuum the floors and leave.”

The doorbell rang while Serena
was talking and it was Goodwill. Serena showed them the furniture and
boxes to take. While the two men moved the stuff out to the truck,
Jeff moved Serena’s boxes to her car. It didn’t take long for
Goodwill to finish. Serena vacuumed the floors and put the vacuum
cleaner in her car. She was finished. It was time to get on the road
to Luna Bay.

Jeff stood by Serena’s car with
her.

“
Do you think I could come
visit you sometime?” he asked.

“
I’d like that,” Serena
said. She was a little amazed to think that she really would like
that.

She kissed Jeff goodbye and got
in her car, ready for the highway. Ready for Luna Bay.

Chapter
Five

During her first week back
permanently in Luna Bay and Rossetti’s, Serena studied the diner.
She looked at the menu, she looked at the staff. She didn’t want to
jump in and start changing things without thinking about it. But she
knew one thing for sure. Rossetti’s would start making its own
bread again.

The sheriff’s daughter,
Brittany, started working before Serena had returned to Luna Bay.
Nonna had her making salads. That was pretty easy. Hard to go wrong
there. Brittany had a tattoo on her forearm and wore several studs
and earrings in her ears. She had a blue streak through her dark
hair. She looked like a lot of young people Serena had seen. But she
was determined not to judge Brittany and discount her. Every person
was an individual with individual values, no matter their age or
cultural orientation.

Serena was going to put Brittany
to the test. She asked the girl to help her get the bread oven clean
and operational. She motioned to the oven in the corner when she
spoke. Brittany looked over at the oven.

“
Is that what that is?” she
asked. “I didn’t know what that thing was.”

“
It’s a bread oven. We used
to make our own breads here, and I want to start doing that again.”

Brittany walked over to the oven
and stood in front of it, looking at it.

“
I can tell it’s been a long
time since it’s been used,” she said.

“
You’re right,” Serena
said. “It’s been way too long.”

“
Are you sure it’s worth it?”
Brittany asked.

“
Let’s find out,” Serena
said.

For the remainder of the morning,
Brittany and Serena worked to clean the bread oven. Brittany didn’t
seem to be afraid of hard work. She put on rubber gloves and went to
work cleaning out the interior of the oven.

“
This is a mess,” she said
more than once. But she kept going. Then she took some steel wool and
worked on the outside of the oven. When she was finished, the bread
oven looked, if not like new, then close to it.

“
You did a good job, Brittany,”
Serena said.

“
Thanks,” she said shyly.

“
Would you like to help me make
the first bread that Rossetti’s has seen in a decade?”

Brittany brightened up. “I’ve
never made bread before,” she said.

“
That’s okay,” Serena
responded. “I’m going to teach you.”

Serena got out the big bowl from
under a cabinet. She washed it out because it hadn’t been used in
ten years. She put it on the counter and motioned for Brittany to
stand beside her.

“
This is yeast,” Serena said
to the girl as she poured it into the bowl. “It’s going to make
the bread rise and become bread.”

“
But the yeast needs something
to feed on,” Serena continued. “It needs something sweet. So I’m
going to add some honey.” She squeezed honey into the bowl and
added warm water. She stirred it around and put a towel on top of the
bowl.

“
We’ll let that sit for a few
minutes. Let it get good and yeasty.”

Brittany followed every movement
that Serena made.

“
That’s going to be bread?”
she asked.

“
Yes.”

A few minutes later, Serena
called Brittany back over to the big bowl. She showed her how to
measure the flour and told the girl to put it in the bowl. Serena
added salt.

“
Now stand there and stir that
around for about five minutes,” she instructed the girl. Brittany
did as she was told.

Serena had cleared a place on the
stainless steel counter and put flour down.

“
Dump that out here,” she
told Brittany.

“
Now you need to knead it,”
she said, laughing at her own joke. “Here, let me show you.”
Serena took the large ball of dough and placed it on the flour on the
counter. Serena began to knead the dough, pushing it with the heels
of her hand, then pulling it back with her fingers. Over and over,
she kneaded. The motions felt familiar and comforting.

“
I can do it,” Brittany said.
So Serena turned it over to her. She watched the girl and saw that
she could do it. She was doing it just right.

“
I think you’ve got a knack
for that, Brittany,” she said.

Brittany smiled but continued to
concentrate on her kneading. After a few minutes, Serena said, “Now
it’s time to put it in a bowl and let it rise. We’ll get back to
it in an hour or so.”

“
An hour?” Brittany said.

“
Yes, an hour. Maybe two. It’s
got to double in size. That’s how you make bread.”

“
You mean that’s going to
double in size?” Brittany said gesturing toward the bowl.

“
Yep. You’ll see. While we
wait, let’s check on the salads and the house dressing.”

Brittany followed Serena to the
refrigerated section of the kitchen.

“
Check and see if we’ve got
house dressing,” Serena instructed her.

Brittany opened the refrigerator
door and peered inside. She stood there a moment.

“
What does it look like?”
Brittany asked.

“
It should be in a big covered
bowl. Do you see that?”

“
No.”

“
Okay, then we’re making
house dressing next. Do you see lemons in there?”

Brittany reached inside the
refrigerator and pulled out several lemons.

Serena showed her how to make the
dressing. Brittany was a quick study and wanted to learn. Brittany
loved the feel of making food, and that was the mark of a good cook.
That was good, because Brittany was all they had right now.

They made the dressing, then the
salads. Jimmy and Olive came in about that time and proceeded to
start making the dinner menu items—boiling pasta, to be warmed back
up when there was an order, layering lasagna in pans, peeling shrimp,
and slicing lemons. Serena left Jimmy and Olive so she could tend to
the bread.

She motioned for Brittany to
follow her back to the bread-making area. When she lifted the towel
off the bowl of dough, Brittany gasped.

“
I can’t believe it’s
gotten so big,” she said, giggling.

Serena laughed. She liked
Brittany.

“
Now I want you to take your
fist like this,” she said holding up her fisted hand, “and punch
it as hard as you can into this dough.”

“
Really?”

“
Yes, really.”

Brittany made her small hand into
a fist and jammed it into the dough. It deflated like a flat tire.

“
Was it supposed to do that?”
the girl asked, concerned.

“
Sure was. That’s called
punching down the dough. Now we’re going to cut it into pieces and
make several loaves. Then we’re going to let them sit on the sheets
until they rise again.”

“
There sure is a lot of rising
with this stuff,” Brittany said.

Together, Serena and Brittany
divided the dough and shaped it into loaves, which they put on
several baking sheets. Serena put a towel over each sheet.

“
We’ll come back in an hour
and check on it. Can you turn the oven on in about forty-five minutes
so it can be warming up?”

Brittany nodded.

“
I’m going to let you work
with Jimmy and Olive until then, okay?”

Brittany nodded again and
followed Serena to where Jimmy was standing.

“
Teach her everything you
know,” Serena said to Jimmy with a laugh.

Jimmy laughed too. “Come on,
girl,” he said to Brittany. “You can help me with these
meatballs.”

Serena went back to the tiny
office and looked around. Things seemed to be in disarray and she
wondered how her grandmother had been handling all of the paperwork.
She sat at the desk and began to go through the papers. There were
receipts from vendors all over the desk and Serena began to gather
them and organize them. There was no computer. Serena decided that
would be the first thing to happen. She would move her own computer
into the office and set up systems for receipts and payments.