Whistlin' Dixie in a Nor'easter by Lisa Patton

Author:Lisa Patton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: St. Martin's Press

Alice spotted Peter first. She and Virginia were returning from their walk when she saw him stepping out of his truck. They were beside themselves when they barged back inside the apartment.

“Who is that guy that just came in the restaurant door before us?” Alice ran right up to me with Virginia at her heels.

Since Mary Jule, my daughters, and I were hiding from Rolf and Helga in the apartment I wasn’t sure which guy she was talking about. It could have been Pierre, Rolf, or Peter. They hadn’t met any of them yet.

“Was he young or old?”

“Youngish,” Alice said.

“Blond hair, kinda tall?”

“Yeah, that’s the guy,” Virginia said.

“Black truck?”

“Yes, Leelee, yes! Who is he?” Alice demanded to know.

“My new sous-chef.”

“That’s Peter. You have got to be kidding. Why didn’t you tell us he was drop-dead gorgeous?”

“I don’t know. Is he?”

“Naw, he’s ugly,” Virginia said.

“I guess he’s cute, but I’ve always been attracted to dark-headed guys. I was just glad to notice he has good hygiene,” I said.

“I wanna see him,” said Mary Jule. “Come on, Fiery, introduce us.”

“No, I don’t want to see Rolf ’til I have to and if I take y’all in the kitchen, I’ll have to talk to him. Besides, Helga could show up at any moment and I wanna avoid her as long as possible.”

“Oh, come on, you scaredy-cat. What are you so afraid of? We’ll be right with you,” Alice said.

“Okay. But let’s at least wait ’til Rolf has had a chance to get acquainted with Peter. I don’t want to be the one to introduce the two of them.”

Peter seemed confident to me, and perfectly capable of taking care of himself. I was sure his self-introduction to Rolf would go well and the two of them would ease on through the transition. They are both professionals, I thought. Ed had already broken the news to the Schloygins so there really was no need for me to say a word.

Twenty minutes was all my friends would give me. Knowing I had to face the kitchen people eventually, I white-knuckled it and with the other three trailing behind I crept out to the commercial kitchen for introductions.

“Hi, Peter,” I said, and shyly waved at him from the door. My friends more or less pushed me from behind into the room.

He looked up from the veal stock he was preparing and smiled. “Well, hello there, Leelee.”

“Hi, Rolf,” I said, and waved at him, too.

“Hello,” Rolf mumbled. No other comment. Thank God.

“Everyone, these are my best friends from home. Alice, Virginia, and Mary Jule. They’ve come to help me out.”

All of my friends politely waved and said, “Hi.”

Peter smiled again and simply said, “Hi, best friends.”

Rolf was busy at the cutting board, slicing fillets. He said hello but never looked up again.

Alice went straight up to Peter and started chatting his head off. “Are you married, Peter?” I could have strangled her.

“Nope, not married.”

Alice kept on. “Is that right? How about children, do you have any kids?”

“No children.”

“That’s good.

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