She was here. Finally.
“Hey, Clay. I didn’t get your number.”
Distracted by the sight of her and the scent of the food, he said the first thing that popped into his mind, “That doesn’t smell like meatloaf.”
She laughed. “You must have a very good sense of smell.”
“I do. Cinnamon, vanilla, and nuts… pecans, I think.”
“Very good. I thought I’d use you as a guinea pig. This is the final recipe for our new cinnamon rolls. If you could eat just one...”
“One? I’m an inactive Marine. I’m used to MRE’s. Properly seasoned cardboard tastes good to me.” He inhaled deeply. “Those smell incredible.”
She extended the casserole dish to him. “Careful. They’re still a little warm.”
“Do you have time to join me? I have electricity, which means I have coffee.”
“No pot hanging over an open campfire?” she teased.
“I can do that if you like. I can also do French press. And I can grill meat, but that is the sum total of my culinary repertoire. If we’re ever on the run from the law, I can keep you fed and caffeinated.”
“Good to know,” she said, glancing at her watch. “I wouldn’t mind a cup of coffee.”
“The interior is still pretty rough. I’m sealing the sides to avoid adding drywall and hiding the natural wood, but I’ve got the floor repaired, sanded, and sealed.”
“See, that’s the difference between being a chef and not. I’d have redone the kitchen first.”
“Yeah, but you actually need those things to cook. I have a fridge and a microwave. After that, I’m lost.” Clay ushered her into the cabin. For its age, it was almost spacious.
“Looks like you roughed in for a bathroom,” she said as she looked around.
“Yeah. I thought about making bedrooms, but figured the cabin wasn’t a place I could easily raise a family, so I opted to leave it open. If the bath is private, it’ll at least let air flow better.”
“Oh my god. Is that an antique fridge or a reproduction?”
He grinned. “An antique. It was in the basement of the main house. Took me a while to get it working. Not much of a freezer, but I like the looks and it gets really cold.”
She set the casserole dish on the counter and removed the towel. The scent of warm cinnamon rolls filled the cabin. After grabbing two small, mismatched plates, she served the rolls then turned back toward the slab of live-edge wood propped up by two sawhorses that served as a make-shift countertop.
“An antique fridge and a fancy Keurig?”
“What can I say? Coffee is important and I’m eclectic.”
“Are you going to buy an antique stove too?”
“I’ve been thinking about it. I’d love to go really old school and do wood-fired.”
She shook her head. “I understand the romanticism of that, but as a cook and baker, it’s too hard to control the temperature.
“What’s your preference?”
“Gas is best, but hard to come by out here and expensive to put in. I could live with a top-of-the-line electric stove.”
“Good to know. Why don’t you sit down, and I’ll get the coffee? There’s real cream in the fridge and sugar on the table.”
Serena opened the fridge. “I love this! Want some butter? For a guy who doesn’t cook, you have great ingredients.”
“That I mostly just eat.”
She rolled her eyes. “Well, Wes said he was fine with us doing a kind of meal service set-up for you. We thought if it worked well, we might offer it to others. Do you just want meatloaf? I could put together a package to give you some variety.”
“A variety is good.” He sat at the table and started in on the cinnamon rolls without delay. After several large bites, he wiped his mouth and said, “However many of these you’re planning to make, double it. These suckers are delicious. They won’t last an hour.”
“I’m glad you like them.” She looked around and a thought occurred to her. “So why go to all the trouble to renovate this place?”
He considered giving her his pat answer, that he needed time to decompress, but decided she deserved the truth. Clay had known from the moment he’d seen her in the river that she was his bonded spirit. Because he had to keep that secret from her for the moment, he was determined to keep no others.
“I usually tell people that I need to decompress from being in the Marines, and that’s a small part of it. But even if I didn’t, I’d still be doing it.” He shifted in his seat but continued. “My mother loved this place. She often came here in her darkest hours. My father is a real bastard and has been for a long time. I think she stayed with him because she wasn’t willing to let him have Koyama'. The ranch was her legacy to pass on to her sons.”
“She talked to you about this?”
He shook his head. “No. She kept her troubles a secret… or at least she thought she did, but we knew. We used to take turns following her out here, so we knew she was safe.” He smiled, warming from the memory. “I remember the day my big brothers told me and added me to the short list of her protectors.”
“Mara said you took her body from the graveyard?”
“Yeah. My mother hated closed spaces. She thought funerals and modern burial practices were abhorrent. I couldn’t see sealing her in a dark coffin in an even darker mausoleum for eternity. So, I got her out and buried her not far from here. Now she can watch over us and the land.”
“You loved her very much.”
He nodded. “I did. I wanted to make this place into something she would have wanted, a place she could have come to, a homey retreat. I’d like to settle down. Here at first, then if we decide to have kids, we can build something bigger and keep this as our own little get away.”
“And have you picked out his mystery woman you’re planning this future with?”
“Yes. I knew she was the one the first time I saw her. She was dancing in a stream.” Serena blushed. “My first thought was that she could be a water nymph. My second was that my mother would have loved her. That’s how I knew.”
He watched confusion and concern cloud her beautiful features.
When he’d returned to his base in the Middle East, Clay had surprised his CO by turning in his papers. He’d planned to re-up not only for another tour, but for another four-year stint, but he hadn’t been able to get Serena out of his mind.
Thinking about her had led to some on-line research. He’d found her cover design business and found it fascinating. Her ‘About Me’ feature was straight forward and informative, talking about training as a paralegal and then her graphic design business. She’d been candid about being fired and why and feeling the need for a break from all she’d done before.
She’d ended up in Monterey at some upscale winery, picking grapes. He liked that she wasn’t afraid of hard work or getting her hands dirty. She’d entered a contest to re-design the label for Earthly Spirits’ wines and won. The new label was, in his opinion, a vast improvement and comparing the old to the new showcased her talent.
After her stint at the winery, she’d trained at a prestigious cooking school, which had led her to Looking Glass Falls and applying her creative talents to upscaling simple diner fare. At some point, she’d gone back to her romance book covers and that business seemed to be growing.