Chapter 2

© Copyright 2006 by Elizabeth Delayne



“Here’s the recipes Norm wants you to choose from.”

Setting down her purse, Jenny took the papers from her producer and perched on the edge of the chair. “He’s already emailed me the ones he’s picked.”

“I think these are for next week.”

“Out of ... five? I get a choice?” The event was so rare Jenny simply stared at the top recipe.

“That’s what he said.”

“You mean ... seriously?”

Angie laughed. “You might not think a lot of him when you see how difficult those recipes are.”

“Difficult?” Jenny muttered as she began to flip through the pages, scanned each one. She frowned over the instructions. “Oh–Norm must be having a good laugh. Or mental crisi. How about ... what’s that show where the chef’s compete with things like squid and eel? Look at this ... you have to use the whole souffle process. Do you know how hard it is to make a souffle?”

“And what your chances of your success are? If you mess it up, you’ll make half of Atlanta feel better about their own cooking.”

“And the other half?”

Angie laughed. “If they’re not laughing with you, they’ll still get a good laugh. If they even watch your show anyway.”

“Thanks.” Jenny shook her head as she scanned over the next recipe. “Whatever happened to chocolate cake?”

“You mastered chocolate cake last year.”

“I wouldn’t call it mastered. Edible–slightly. Of course, with enough store bought icing, a piece of paper is edible.”

“Oh, I almost forgot.” Angie turned from the dressing table with a vase of roses in her hand. “These came for you Thursday.”

“Thursday?” Jenny took the flowers and breathed in the scent. “Whatever happened to letting me know?”

“You’ve never been interested in gifts before.”

“A girl should always be interested in flowers–especially Roses.” Jenny dropped down on the chair and bounced in the cushions before she opened the card. “Oh–“

“What, something interesting?”

“Yeah,” she leaned up n the edge of her seat. “‘To a dazzling display. The points are in your favor. Would love to get together for a cross examination.’ And he left a phone number.”

“What points?”

“An old debate term. It’s from Kevin Damron. He went to high school with us.”

”Kevin Damron? The name sounds familiar.”

“You know tall, handsome ... debater, a few years ahead of us. I think he even made class president or some other ostentatious award, liked the attention ... high school hot shot. Even you should have known him.”

“You were always attracted to the smart ones ... was he that tall, dark headed guy you fell over your own two feet for your, what ... Freshman year?”

“That’s the one.”

“What’s he doing sending you roses over a decade too late?”

She shrugged and leaned back, carelessly setting the vase on the side table. “Oh, we ran into each other at the grocery store.”

Angie leaned back and laughed. “You should write a book about the people you meet and the things that happen to you in the grocery store. Does he know about–well, if he contacted you here, I guess he does. How’s he doing?”

“He’s in town because his grandmother died, I guess ... but he looks good.”

Angie glanced at the roses. “Good enough to accept that date?”

Jenny laughed. “Good enough that I’m sure he has enough dates, and wouldn’t consider this one of them ... and if I accept it, it will be for old time sake. We were ... partners once upon a time.”

“And if I remembered correctly, he dumped you for–“ Angie sighed when her phone went off and answered it. Suddenly she was in business mode, leaving Jenny alone in the green room and alone with her thoughts.

Jenny reached over, lifted the vase of roses. Kevin Damron.

Did she dare?

* * *

“You watched her on TV every morning this week.”

“She was on when I was working out.”

“Mmm-hmm,” Cassidy pointed to herself. “I’m just pregnant. I’m not blind.”

“Yeah, but you’re wanting to read too much into this. We were friends once.”

Kevin adjusted his tie for the third time, then reached behind him for his coat–that wasn’t there. He pivoted and found his sister watching him, holding the coat over her folded arms.

“Once,” Cassidy agreed. “You’re putting a lot of attention in this for a non-date.”

“You never know. She might be able to get me a job somewhere.”

“At the station? Jennifer Morton’s a fumbling cook,” Cassidy snorted. “What? You think she’s going to get you a job fumbling legal-ease?”

“I think I could handle it without fumbling,” he pulled his cell phone out, double checked the power and the setting. “She’s also the debate coach at the high school, if you were right to start with. She mght have some connections with the firms in town. I just don’t know if spouting legal-ease is what I want. I would still be moving up the chain to partner if it was.”

He held out his hand for his coat, but she kept it tucked in her arms. “You’re wearing a suit. Mark didn’t wear a suit until our third date ... and then it was his dress uniform.”

“Mark’s a good guy, but he’s lacking a little fashionable sense. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t have liked to get all decked up in some sparkly dress.”

“If you can get Jennifer Morton in a sparkly dress you better bring her back by here.”

He laughed. “I promise.”

“And besides ... Mark was my boyfriend, which would imply a date ... and you told me you weren’t going on a date.”

He sighed, reached out, tweaked her nose, then walked out of his bedroom forcing her to follow with his coat. He reached the kitchen and picked up her purse, digging into it without apology. He checked her cell phone, her charge, and hit the speed dial for number one.

His own phone rang seconds later.

“We’re going to a nice restaurant. You dress for the part in a nice restaurant.”

“Dress for the ... job you want, not for the ... um, job you have?”

“I don’t have a job so ... that would be correct. And not having a job makes me a little ... not on the top of the dating pool, I would suspect.”

“You’d be surprised.”

He held out his hand, and this time she turned over his coat. He handed her phone. “Use this if you feel the slightest twinge.”

She laughed and followed him to the door. “Really, I’d rather not. I’d like this kid to stay in place another three months. Besides, if I call you, it will break your date.”

She laughed when he turned around, the warning clear in his eyes.

She held up the phone in a parting wave. “The slightest twinge. Promise. I’ll be fine.”

Then Cassidy shut the door behind him.

* * *

“Expecting a call?”

Kevin looked up guiltily. “No–I ... my sister. She’s pregnant. Her husband’s over in Iraq, so I’ve been staying around ... keeping close.”

“How far along is she?”

“Six months ... seven? I forget. She has about three more to go–that I know. Her husband’s supposed to be back in less than two.”

“What does he do?”

“He’s a pilot. Over there for 180 days.”

“Six months. So he’s missed most of the pregnancy.”

“About. I almost did. She was staying with Gran ... I’m just afraid the stress of the funeral and all of that will get to her ... affect the baby.”

“She’s probably stronger then she looks.”

“She’s the strongest person I know ...” he glanced at his phone again. She reached over, took his hand, and said a quick, silent prayer as she looked directly into his eyes.

Protect his sister, the baby and her husband. Keep them all safe and bring them back together. Give Kevin that peace.

Then she took the cell phone from him and set it between them.

“Now, you know that I know, that you’re waiting for your sister to call. And you don’t have to worry about checking.”

“Thanks.”

“So you took a leave from your job to stay close to your sister? That’s sweet.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t take a leave, I simply left ... because I didn’t want the job anymore. When Gran died, I came home. I hadn’t been home to see her in more then a year. She’d raised us, you know.”

“No ... but I knew y’all were close.”

“We were. She was the best. Always sought the best, even gave us grandmother-like moments, even when we didn’t deserve them,” he grinned. “She was fierce most of the time ... she was strong. But she was great.”

He fell silent for a moment, his eyes sliding over to stare at his phone. “Anyway, I came home, realized that ... questioned what had kept me away and realized it wasn’t worth it. Too late, but a realization none-the-less. I went back, finished out what I needed to, handed over the rest of my case load and came home to stay. If there are a few loose ends here and there, they’ll have to be taken care of when Mark comes home.”

“The husband.”

“Yeah. Neither one of us has the connections around here that we once did. It’s amazing how much this place has changed.”

“Look–if you need to go, I can drop in on her, or stay with her. I’m still on summer vacation.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“And if you’re looking to get into law, I have a few connections.”

“I don’t know what I’m looking to get into. Speaking of which, Cassidy–that’s my sister–she said you were coaching the debate team.”

“That’s the real job. English, debate, speech.”

“Then, why the television?”

She shrugged. Who doesn’t want to be on television?”

“You don’t seem ... I don’t know, all star-like over it.”

“I’m grateful ... It helps with the bills and it’s fun. Gives me some entertainment –takes away most of my summer and a few precious moments during the school year, but it’s not something solid. A couple hundred dedicated fans shift to the newest syndicated show and you’re out.” She laughed. “Besides–you’ve seen the show. t’s not easy putting yourself up with something you’re terrible at for people to see on TV.”

“I guess not. So why do it?”

“Why–you want the job?” she shook her head. “Two years ago, the boss brought in is niece, Leah, for one of the field positions at the station. My friend Angie called me–“

”Angie Dunally?”

“You remember her. She’s Stanton now.”

He shrugged. “I’m good with names and faces. She was your friend.”

“Yeah–so Angie called me. Leah was ... communication isn’t her forte. I would come in, go over her lines with her, work with her on rhetoric and basic skills, and get a little money. I started an internship program with the high school. I still supervise that as part of my day job...”

“Then one day Leah didn’t show up to work. She just, disappeared, never to return. They had this cook come in to demonstrate making crapes throughout the morning show. And suddenly, I was on air, with an apron and spatula.”

“I can’t cook, I told them. Neither could Leah, I was reminded. Besides, I wasn’t supposed to cook, I was just supposed to assist. It was a fiasco,” she leaned back in her seat and laughed. “It was terrible. The crew finally gave up keeping it clean. I was so nervous I ended up flipping the crape toward the camera, got flour all over my face and my hair and the floor–handed him the wrong thing, called things the wrong thing. If the chef hadn’t of had a good sense of humor about the situation, he would have walked off. I wouldn’t have blamed him. Instead he only encouraged it.”

“But people loved you.”

“The fan mail started pouring in. Soon, I had a weekly spot on the morning news show ... then my own local cooking show along with it. Chefs from around the country, local celebrities wanted to come in and help me out. It’s been really cool. I don’t think it will last ... I don’t think I want it to last. But I’m enjoying the ride as I go.”

He stared at the phone for a moment then looked back up at her. “It just goes to show that the best things aren’t always the things you plan.”

She shrugged. There was something in his eyes that told her he’d said it more for his own benefit then hers. Maybe it was his sister, or the fact that he gave up it all to deal with it all ... or maybe it was his grandmother, or the job ... or something else entirely.

“I guess not.”


HEY! and don't forget to e-mail me if you have a comment!




Return to Over A Flame Table of Contents

Cybergrace Banner Exchange 2000