Tornado

Ryder stayed for a while. After dinner, we sat on the couch with the wine and talked about our families. I thought after the kiss it would be weird but it was the exact opposite. He held my hand as we talked.

“So, do you have siblings?” I asked, hoping he’d answer this time.

“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I have a little sister. Her name is Amy. She’s great. It was her who insisted I take the job here.” He went to rub his neck but remembered about the burn. “You see, she’s schizophrenic and bipolar.”

I squeezed his hand. “I’m so sorry.”

He laced our fingers. “Thanks but she’s in good hands with my parents.”

“Any brothers?”

He looked out the window. “I did,” he mumbled. “He committed suicide five years ago.”

I gasped quietly. No wonder he didn’t want to talk about his family! I put my wine glass on the table and put my head on his chest.

“I’m really sorry, Ryder,” I whispered.

“Thanks,” he whispered back. “He left a note but it didn’t make much sense. That’s not too uncommon for suicide notes, though.”

“Let’s talk about something else,” I said. “I don’t want you to be sad. What’s your cat’s name?”

“Her name is Spaz,” he answered with a bit of a laugh. “She’s a black and brown Maine Coon.”

“Those cats are beautiful. But I bet she sheds.”

He chuckled and I smiled at the vibrations through his chest. “Not really, but they’re long haired so you have to brush them a lot. Some of them you even have to trim around where they go because the hair gets too long. Thankfully, Spaz hasn’t had that problem yet.”

“How old is she?”

“A little over a year,” he answered and I felt his arm move as he took a drink of wine. “Why don’t you have any pets?”

“They don’t allow them here,” I said in disappointment.

“Well, that’s just rude,” he said and we both laughed. “What kind of pet would you have?”

“Probably a cat, too,” I said. “Like you said, they’re low maintenance and I wouldn’t have the time for a dog.”

I closed my eyes and focused on his breathing.

“I’m glad you’re doing better,” he whispered suddenly. “I was worried about you for a while there.”

“The restaurant means so much to me. When I thought it was gone forever…. It was like losing a best friend.”

“Gah, my neck is burning,” he laughed.

“Do you want a cold rag?”

He looked at his watch. “Oh wow.”

“What?”

He showed me the watch. “It’s almost 11.”

I laughed. “Time flies when you’re having fun.”

We stood up and I walked him to the door. He bit his lip nervously but leaned forward and pecked my lips gently. I smiled at him.

“Hey, when it comes time, I can help with the construction of the restaurant if you’d like.”

My jaw dropped. “You’d do that?”

“Of course.”

I grinned. “Thanks. I’ll let you know when we start.”

He smiled back and I got lost in those chocolate pools. I opened the door and he left after another kiss on the cheek. I closed the door with a silly smile and texted Lisa to let her know I was done and she could harass me as soon as she wanted. She called me two minutes later.

“So how’d it go?”

“Really, really well,” I answered, sitting back down on the couch and smiling.

“I guess it’s a good thing we cancelled last minute, then.”

I laughed. “Yeah, I guess so. Did you see him on the news?”

“Man, she was so pissed at him!”

“I know!”

We talked for another hour until I got too tired.

“You’re falling asleep on me, aren’t you?”

I chuckled. “I’ll see you at the restaurant tomorrow. We’re clearing it up.”

“I’m so excited we’re going to rebuild it!”

“It’ll be hard work but so worth it in the end.”

“I can’t believe Jamie ditched us!”

I sighed. “I know. But we’re a family.”

She yawned. “Well, I’ll see you at 9.”

“Good night.”

I hung up and got into bed, remembering when Jamie came to the restaurant site.

It was two days after the tornado hit and we were all looking at how much work it would take to clear it. She was furious when she saw it. At first she tried to blame me but they all jumped on her after they saw the look on my face. I was still a mess. We then told her we wanted to clean it up and rebuild it, she told us we were on our own. Personally, I thought she didn’t even want it. She wouldn’t let us use the name, though, so I’ve been brainstorming on different names.

-

It was humid the next morning so I put my hair up in a ponytail. I wore a pair of my more worn out jeans and a loose fitting shirt. I figured there was no point wearing anything fancy. When I got there, there were more people than just the staff. A few of our regulars were there, too.

“What’s going on?” I asked, frowning.

“Word spread about Jamie,” Lisa told me and I sighed.

One of the regulars, Heath, walked up. He was young and worked at United Reach, too.

“This restaurant was a great fixture in the neighborhood,” he said. “We’re here to help.”

I smiled, really touched. “Thank you, everyone! Today we’re doing clean up.”

Heath pulled me to the side. “Hey, I was wondering if you’d like to go on a date tomorrow.”

“Thanks, but I don’t have the time,” I said politely.

“Well, how about when you do have time?”

“I don’t think so,” I declined. “I have to get to work.”

I hurried off. I didn’t know Heath very well but I did know that he was a player. For the next three hours, we all pulled the rubble off of the site. We put the bricks to the far side of the parking lot. One of our regulars who was a brick layer said he’d look at them to see if we could reuse any. I wasn’t sure I liked the idea; what if we had another one come through? He assured me that he would put cement and steel in the wall as well.

On the other side of the parking lot, we put all the things in the restaurant that survived. We had ten tables make it but only one stove. I was disappointed. There was no point keeping it. It was the one that didn’t work very well. Someone had donated a dumpster for the food. It killed me having to throw out so much meat but it had spoiled. The vegetables and fruits that had survived we donated to people who had been hurt in the tornado.

A few caterers came by for lunch with sandwiches and potato chips. Their support really touched me. I hadn’t realized how many people who liked our food.

“So, will it still be Mama’s Southern Cookin’?” one of the regulars asked.

I shook my head. “We’ll still be serving southern food, though.”

“Any ideas on a new name?” another asked.

“Not yet. But I’m doing some brainstorming.”

We had to stop around 5 when it started getting hot. Everyone gathered in the parking lot, waiting to hear instructions from me.

“Thank you all for coming today,” I said loudly. “Your support means a lot to us. Tomorrow we’ll be starting at the same time. Hopefully, we’ll continue to be on schedule. If that’s the case then we’ll be doing the construction next week.” Everyone clapped. “Thank you again for your support. See you tomorrow if you can come!”

People began to disperse and I stretched. Unfortunately, Heath stayed behind.

“Well, let’s go get dinner,” he said with a smile, grabbing my elbow.

“Thanks but I have stuff to do,” I muttered.

“Oh come on. You can do it tomorrow.”

I sighed. “Heath, I’m flattered but not interested. I’m sorry.”

He was about to speak when a car pulled up beside us. I was relieved when Zachary and Ryder got out. Ryder held my hand and kissed my temple.

“Heath, what are you doing here?” Zachary asked.

Heath was glaring at Ryder and I. He threw the spade on the ground.

“Good luck with your restaurant,” he snapped and walked off.

I sighed heavily and shook my head.

“What are you guys doing here?” I asked.

“We thought we’d take you to the Bricktown Brewery,” Ryder said.

“I’m all sweaty,” I said, lifting up my arms.

“You look fine to me,” Zachary laughed.

I smiled. “All right. Let’s go.”