Taming Theresa (21 page)

"Okay, but we definitely do need to talk."
She closed the door behind her and walked with him to the
stairs.

The front room of the old mansion had been
converted to an ornate Victorian parlor with lace-topped round
tables for the breakfast service.

Denny hurried over and greeted them warmly as
if he were seeing them for the first time. "Good morning, good
morning! Please, sit where ever you'd like."

As soon as they seated themselves in the
empty dining room, Denny was there, pouring coffee into the dainty
china cups placed to their right. "Miss Buonadies, you are to be
congratulated! I heard the wedding was absolutely lovely, a
complete success. Everyone says the food at the reception was
superb. I trust you both had fun?"

"Thank you," Theresa answered. "We did."

Holding the coffee pot, Denny reached around,
fussing with the silverware. "Enjoyed yourselves last might, did
you?"

John snorted and reached for his coffee. "We
sure did. It was amazing, absolutely totally awesome. Amazing."

Denny looked up flustered. "At the wedding. I
mean, you enjoyed the wedding and the reception is what I meant to
say."

"Yes, I enjoyed myself immensely last night,"
John said meaningfully, looking directly into Theresa's eyes.

Blushing, she looked away and took a sip from
her cup. She set it down and reached for the cream pitcher.

Denny whisked a plate from the sideboard and
set it down between them with a proud little flourish. "Look at
what Danny has whipped up this morning! Pumpkin muffins, little
jack-o-lanterns. Aren't they simply adorable? Very spooky."

"How cute." said Theresa.

On the plate were half a dozen orange muffins
decorated with chocolate icing to look just like little carved
jack-o-lanterns. "Halloween is only three days away after all, and
Danny is very creative. Yes indeed, very creative!"

Giving him a weak smile, she told him, "Not
right now, thanks."

"They look good." John selected one and took
a bite. He handed the plate to Terry, and frowning, she set it
down.

They sipped their coffee.

"On the buffet today, we have some of our
signature Butter Pecan Granola made with real maple syrup. In
addition to these scary little devils," said Denny, indicating the
muffins with one hand, while waving the other toward the buffet
table. "We have our own sausage, eggs, and juices. We also have for
you this morning an absolutely scrumptious crumb cake. I'll be in
the kitchen for a few, giving Danny a hand with the clean up. Just
give a yell if you need anything. I'll be out to check on you
shortly." After this, Denny vanished into the kitchen.

Theresa spoke first. "Okay, about last night,
that wasn't me. I mean, I’m not the kind of person that...I hardly
know you!"

"Coffee and food first, talk later.
Remember?" He lowered his cup. "Besides, I don't care what kind of
person you think you are. You're fantastic. Last night was
fantastic. I've never before..."

"What do you mean, I'm fantastic?" Theresa
looked amazed.

“...and I know you’re ‘going commando’, and
it’s making me crazy.”

“That’s not my fault!” she hissed, looking
over her shoulder to see if anyone had overheard. “You broke my
thong!”

“You’re so hot. Let’s go back upstairs after
breakfast.”

“Forget about it!”

John sighed, "Never mind, I'm going to get
some of Denny's eggs and sausage. Can I get some for you?"

"I guess I'll get it myself, but I'm not
really hungry," she sighed.

In a minute, he was tucking into a plate of
scrambled eggs, sausage and crumb cake, while she sipped her
coffee.

"All right, now that you're eating, I need to
tell you something. Listen, last night. I don't do things like
that. I've never done anything like that," her voice broke.

John looked at her thoughtfully.

"No matter what happened, or what you think
happened last night, it's never happening again. We are not an
item, not dating, not in a relationship, not anything."

"Okay." John got up and went back to the
sideboard. Filling a plate, he slid it in front of Theresa as she
continued talking.

"I do not want or need a man in my life. I've
got no idea what came over me last night, but you can just forget
it." Picking up her fork, she began to eat.

"Sure." John took a bite and chewed
thoughtfully. "You're still mad about Tony. Forget him. He's not
worth it. By the way, I never got a chance to tell you what
happened to Tony last night. He wasn't so lucky."

"I told you, I don't want to talk about
him."

"Yeah, I know, but there's one little thing
I've got to tell you. Hold on just a moment." He returned to the
buffet and came back with two bowls of granola, placing one at her
elbow.

"No damn it!" she hissed, "I hope I never see
him or hear about him ever again."

"Listen Theresa, this is funny." He put a
bowl of fruit salad between them and refilled their coffee. "Here,
try the cereal.”

"I can't eat. I'm not hungry."

"When I tell you this, you're going to love
it."

"Whatever," she said, taking a spoonful of
granola. "You know; this is really very good, with the pecans and
maple."

"You mind sharing that fruit with me?" He
reached and speared an apple slice. "Okay, last night around ten,
Jack asked me to go outside with him. Out in the parking lot, some
of the guys on the rescue squad, the police chief, and Vince were
all standing around looking in Tony's car. That tall guy who was
dancing with Diane all night was out there too."

She looked across at him, chewing and
gestured with her knife. "So what was wrong with the asshole's
car?"

John swallowed, laughing. "Nothing’s wrong
with the car. It was what was inside."

She paused with her spoon halfway to her
mouth. "And that was?"

"Tony passed out. Totally smashed, but here's
the funny part. He was completely naked, sprawled on the back seat
and all the windows were rolled down."

Theresa's eyes grew wide. "Naked? Yuck. What
happened?"

John moved his empty plate aside and reached
for the granola. "Vince thought it was more than him just drinking.
Maybe there was some drug use or something, because they couldn't
wake him up."

"Oh my god."

"Hey. You're right. This granola is good. I
gotta find out how they make this."

Theresa looked over at the half-filled
canister. "A lot of B & B's will share some of their secrets as
long as you give them credit."

"Really? I'll ask. Anyway, nobody wanted to
deal with a naked guy, so the guys called an ambulance to come get
him. I gotta tell you, your boyfriend is one weird dude. He was all
sprawled out with his feet draped over the front seat. And get
this, somebody wrote, 'I'm a loser' on his stomach with red
lipstick or something. It looked...well it looked pretty
funny."

"For the last time, Tony is not my boyfriend!
I don't even like him." She put her coffee cup down and John got up
and brought the pot over.

"I thought you were engaged to him," he said
refilling her cup.

"Oh my god, what a mistake." She rubbed her
forehead.

"You're telling me."

"His parents are close to my parents. Their
families came from the same village in Italy. I thought my dad
hired him because he wanted us to be married."

John's head went up. "Your dad's that
old-fashioned?"

"No, I'm just that stupid." She let out a
breath. "Tony couldn't find a job, so Daddy hired him."

"I see. Well, Vince and the chief had the
guys take him to the hospital for evaluation. Temperatures were
probably in the fifties, and with all the windows down, it must
have been cold out there. He did look funny sprawled out on the
back seat, buck-naked.

"Serves Tony right," she giggled. "I wonder
who did that to him?" Then she looked past John to the doorway.

"Oh my god. Oh no. It's my parents," she
moaned throwing down her spoon with a clatter. "I can't believe
this."

"Is everything all right here?" Denny
appeared from nowhere, hovering over them, a fresh pot of coffee in
hand."

"We're good," said John. "Could you clear
this and leave the coffee?"

"Yes, of course." Denny looked anxious and
shifted nervously. "We don't usually serve this late and here are
two more guests. I need to check with Danny and see what we still
have."

"Thanks, whatever it is, I'm sure it'll be
fine. Please, if there's any extra charge, put it on my bill."

Smiling, Denny rushed to greet the Buonadies,
smoothing his ruffled apron. "Well well. Good morning. Please sit
wherever you’d like. Are we ready for some coffee?"

"We are," said Dominick as they advanced into
the room.

John rose, smiling. "It's good to see you,
please join us." He pulled out a chair for Rose.

"Thank you, John. This is so nice," said Rose
as he helped her with her chair.

John looked up at the inscrutable expression
on the older man's stony face. Theresa's father looked directly at
him, dark eyes boring holes right through his head. Is he angry?
Who knows?

"Thank you, John. Now, sit, sit." Rose
insisted, and then leaned over and whispered to Theresa, eyebrows
raised, "Such manners. He knows just what to do."

Denny hovered, pouring coffee. "Please, help
yourselves to the buffet."

"Theresa. Honey, I didn't know you were
staying here with us last night. I thought you were going back to
the farm." Rose eyed the wrinkled dress critically. "Oh, I can see
you didn't intend to stay here. And John’s here too.” She pursed
her lips. “How nice! What a lovely surprise. Isn't this wonderful,
Dom? We can have breakfast with Theresa and John."

"Yes. Very nice." Dom looked him in the eye.
"Could I speak with you privately, John? Later?"

"Wasn't it a beautiful wedding?" Rose beamed.
"Victoria and Jack made such a gorgeous bride and groom and they
looked so happy together."

John nodded to Dominick. "All right," he
answered hesitantly.

Rose leaned over and lightly touched his arm.
"John, Honey, I saw you two out there dancing together. You and my
Theresa looked like you were having a very good time. A beau-ti-ful
couple."

Theresa rolled her eyes. "Ma! Stop it all
ready."

"I did think you should take it easy with
that sprained ankle. Did you hurt yourself?"

"I'm fine Ma." She threw a pleading look at
her father, who smiled back and shrugged in response, before
turning his gaze back on John, without the smile.

Holy crap. This is not good. What do I say to
Theresa's old man? He couldn't possibly know what we did last
night. Could he? He slid the plate of jack-o-lantern muffins toward
Dominick.

"Care for a pumpkin muffin, Mr.
Buonadies?"

Dominick picked up a muffin and examined it
thoughtfully. "Uh huh, these would be for Halloween I suppose," he
said before setting it down and sliding the plate towards his
wife.

Rose picked up one of the muffins. "These are
adorable! Did you see these, Theresa? Very spooky."

John decided he didn't like the way Theresa's
father was watching him. How do I get out of this situation? Rose
Buonadies was chattering away about the wedding, but Dominick only
stared at him as he sipped his coffee.

"I'll get you a plate Dom," said Rose. "Come
with me, Theresa. We'll get a little something for your father and
John."

Theresa followed Rose to the buffet, leaving
John alone with her father. He turned and smiled at the older
man.

"John, I'm glad we ran into you this morning.
We need to talk. I need to ask a favor of you." Dominick paused, as
he settled his cup back in the saucer.

Oh God! He knows. What room were they in last
night? We couldn't have made that much noise did we? Shit, he's
going to ask me if I'm diddling his daughter. I just know it.

"Theresa is going to stay here, in Pippin's
Grove, for at least a week or so. Just while her cousin is on the
honeymoon, you understand. She'll look after the house; feed the
cats, that kind of thing. The fact is, John, I'm worried about
her."

Dominick glanced over his shoulder at Theresa
and her mother. "You see, there's been...well there's been a little
trouble at one of my restaurants. You are aware of what happened to
her ex-fiancé last night?"

"Well." He hesitated. "Are you referring to
the little incident out in the parking lot behind the tavern?"

Dominick nodded. "Your friend, Officer
Cangelosi tells me this morning they found more than just alcohol
in Tony's blood stream. He was drugged. It is one of the substances
usually referred to as a date rape drug. I doubt very much, that
anyone was thinking of raping Tony DePalma." With this, a ghost of
a smile tugged at the corners of Dominick's mouth.

John began to relax. Maybe the man wasn't
going to ask who'd slept where last night. "So, what is it you want
me to do?"

"I would ask only that you keep an eye on
Theresa and the farmhouse this week. In fact, if you wouldn't mind
terribly much, I'd feel even better if you were to stay with
Theresa, at the farm. Just to look after things. Would you do that
for me, as a favor?

"Of course I will."

I don't trust Mr. DePalma. I've an idea he is
up here looking for something he's lost, and he believes perhaps
Theresa has it. That's only a hunch, but I don't trust him around
my daughter. You're a nice young man. Already you have, shall we
say, some incentive of your own to look after Theresa. Am I
correct?"

“Uh, yes sir. I’d be happy to do that for
you,” he answered.

“Thank you, John,” said Dominick. He looked
up and smiled. “Here come the ladies. Then it is all settled.”

Butter Pecan Granola - Gluten Free