Idle Hours (7 page)

“You let me know and I’ll save you a seat.”

Lia looked away with the cutest pink color in her cheeks. “I just might do that.”

“See that you do,” he said as her bobber disappeared beneath the water. “But first let’s see if you can land that trout you got on the line.”

Lia did catch that trout along with a few other things: four good-sized catfish, a perch, and Ben’s heart.

Taking her home was the hardest part of the trip. When she declined his offer to clean the fish, he knew it was time to go.

“Thank you.” She offered him a sly smile. “Same time next Wednesday.”

“Sure.” Ben took three steps toward the truck then jogged back. “Lia, I don’t believe I’ve met anyone quite like you before.”

“Likewise, Ben.”

“Well, good night, then.” For a minute he thought she might respond, but instead she ducked her head and disappeared inside, leaving the screen door to close behind her.

The next week and the week after, Ben felt like he’d rather pull his eye teeth than walk her to the door after their fishing trips. Still, he held back and played the gentleman. Something about Lia Stephanos had him thinking he needed to watch his ways and move slow.

After all, the Lord had been mentioning to him that He might think she was just the kind of fish he ought to land; that she might be the one for him. And that kind of news set a man back a few paces.

It also made him a might curious as to how the Heavenly Father was going to pull off such an improbable feat.

* * *

Three weeks later, Lia returned home from her meeting with realtor to find her mother sound asleep, the remote in her hand. Lia clicked off the television and gently shook her mother.

“Hey there, sweetie,” Mother said as she roused. “Ready to start cooking?”

“In more ways than one.” In response to Mother’s raised eyebrow, Lia knelt beside her. “Mother, how would you like to stay awhile after your cast comes off? I haven’t gotten around to fixing up the guest room in any fashion other than functional, so you’d have free reign to do with it as you saw fit.”

“Well, now, I don’t know.” She sat up and patted her hair into submission. “What did you have in mind?”

“A restaurant. With a view.” Lia pulled the envelope from her purse and handed it to her mother. “I bought the bait shop. The one on the lake. I’m opening a restaurant.” She shook her head. “No, that’s not right.
We
are opening a restaurant. By the end of the year. If you’re agreeable to it, that is. You see, I was hoping you’d agree to do the cooking. Or at least supervise the cooking.”

She waited for Mother to comment. To Lia’s surprise, her mother began to cry. “Are you serious, honey?”
“I am.” Lia climbed onto the sofa to settle beside her mother. “What do you think?”

Mother set the envelope aside and swiped at her eyes with the backs of her hands. “I think I’d better get busy. If we’re going to open a restaurant by the end of the year, we can’t be sitting on our duffs.”

“Hold on now, Mother. It’s not as simple as all that.”

“Well of course it is.” She shrugged. “Of course there are menus to plan and dishes to test out. And of course we will want to make decisions on decor, although I don’t think anything too fancy would work in that setting, do you?” She paused long enough to give Lia a hug. “You have made an old woman happy. I never thought….” She straightened and smiled. “Oh, look at me. I’m a mess. Where is my handkerchief? We have work to do and I’m sitting here crying like a baby.”

“Remember you can’t say a word until after the fishing tournament at the end of July. I promised Ben Corbin.”

Her mother waved away the warning with a sweep of her hand. “You don’t have to worry about me. No one will know a thing about this.” She moved to settle at the table and then opened her notebook.
 

“What are you doing? I thought you’d decided what we were having for dinner.”
 

“Oh,” she said with a grin. “I have. No time like the present to begin planning dishes for . . .” She shook her head. “What are we going to call it, dear?”

Lia looked up at the print of Victorian ladies idling on the beach that now hung over the mantle. “I was thinking about naming it Idle Hours.”

“Like the painting. Perfect.” She rose to hobble over to reach for the phone book.

“What are you doing?”
“Never you mind. Why don’t you check the mail? I’ll start assembling ingredients for the cake then we can start on supper.”

By the time Lia returned from the mailbox, her mother had begun to sift out the dry ingredients. They fell into a preparation rhythm based on years of culinary practice, and the cake as well as dinner, was soon done.
 

Mother looked up from the platter of pork chops. “Set the table, would you dear?”

“Sure.” Lia reached stacked up two sets of plates then opened the silverware drawer.
 

“One more, honey,” Mother said. “We’ve got company coming.”

“Company?”

She glanced out the window over the sink. “Oh look, there he is now.”
“He?”
 
Lia joined her mother at the window in time to see a familiar vehicle approaching. “Did you call Ben while I was at the mailbox and then conveniently decide not to tell me?”

Her mother affected an innocent expression. “Lia Stephanos, I don’t know what you are accusing me of, but have you ever considered that I might have forgotten to mention that Mr. Corbin would be dining with us?”

She stared her mother down then tossed the dish towel into the sink. “No,” she said as she scooted into her room to change out of her flour-dusted clothing. “You have not forgotten a thing since you were born. At least not unless it was convenient to do so.”

Mother’s chuckle followed her down the hall. Frantically digging in her poorly organized bathroom for the brush, Lia paused. “What am I doing? It’s just Ben from the bait shop.”

The Idle Hours, she corrected. If only she could tell the world about their new project.
 

The front door opened and closed amid the sound of voices. Ben was here.

Lia stepped into her closet to throw on an I Love New York t-shirt then thought better of it and settled for a tailored shirt in soft blue. She checked her reflection and spotted flour on her jeans. Those were added to the laundry pile, and she donned a slim-fitting pair of pink jeans and a matching top.

Business like loafers were tried on then cast aside. Finally she slipped into a pair of pink sneakers and stepped out of the closet.
 

She almost made it to the door before noticing the stray hairs escaping her ponytail. “Ponytails aren’t for women your age anyway,” she said as she removed the clasp and began brushing out her hair.
 

“Lia, dear, are you all right?” her mother called.

“I’m fine. Be right out.”

Perhaps a ponytail would do after all. She jammed her hair back into some semblance of order and dropped the brush into the drawer. A touch of clear lip gloss and the slightest dash of cologne and she dashed out into the hall.

Slowing to a more casual pace, Lia rounded the corner into the living area with what she hoped would be a welcoming smile. She spied Mother perched on the edge of the wicker rocker engaged in conversation with Ben.

Rather than a bait shop owner, Ben looked more like a cowboy fresh off the range, except for the fact that his boots seemed to have a nice shine on them and his jeans wore a crease down the front that could only be attributed to a woman’s attention to detail or heavy starch from the dry cleaners.
 

Funny how she had the odd thought that she hoped she might run into him at the dry cleaners.

“Well now, there you are,” Mother said. “Come and entertain our guest, Lia. I need to check the pork chops.”

“Smells good, ma’am,” Ben said.

“Thank you, young man,” Mother called.

Lia pasted on a smile and tugged at the hem of her shirt as she settled on the opposite end of the sofa. “Hello, Ben.”

He leaned toward her. “You didn’t know I was coming, did you?”

“Honestly?” When he nodded, she continued. “I didn’t.” She paused. “But truthfully, I am glad you’re here. Mother’s a wonderful cook. When you taste her pork chops you’ll see why I . . ”

She caught a whiff of something and wrinkled her nose. That didn’t smell like well-cooked pork chops. It smelled more like burned pork chops.

“Would you excuse me?” Lia dashed to the oven and threw open the door. Inside the pork chops wore black on top and bright pink underneath. She looked up at the oven setting. “Mother, since when do you broil your pork chops?”

“Oh my,” her mother said. “Looks like I’ve ruined our dinner party.”

Something in the way Mother seemed so calm didn’t set right. While no cook made a perfect meal every time, Lia was hard pressed to remember when Cordelia Stephanos had burned anything, least of all the oven baked pork chops she’d been making practically since girlhood.

Lia gave her a sideways stare. “Mother, what’s going on?”

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ben had fallen victim to his share of matchmaking, but never had a decent pork chop been sacrificed in his honor. At least he had his answer about whether the younger of the Stephanos women was in on the setup.
 

Lia Stephanos obviously didn’t know what her mother had in mind, but the fact she seemed so unhappy about it once she’d figured it out didn’t set well. Still, she did seem at a loss for words.

He decided to put the poor woman out of her misery. “’Scuse me, ladies. What say we all hit the trail for the Saddle Up Steakhouse? I’m sure the cookin’ can’t hold a candle to what Miz Stephanos could whip up, but I sure hate to see two pretty women go hungry.”

“Oh, no,” Lia said. “I’ll just pull three steaks out of the freezer and-”

“Don’t be silly, dear,” her mama said. “The steakhouse sounds lovely. I’ll just go fetch my purse.” The older Stephanos woman brushed past, pausing long enough to squeeze his hand and offer an apology for her kitchen mishap.

He watched her disappear into a back bedroom then turned his attention to the younger of the pair. The one that set his heart to racing every time he thought of her.

“You coming with us, Lia?”

Her eyes narrowed and she got the cutest wrinkle between her eyebrows.
 

“You don’t have to, you know. I’m sure your mama and I’d have just as much fun without you.” He added a wink least she think he was serious.
 

Well that must have got her because off she went, leaving him with a smile and a thought that tonight just might be more interesting than he expected. He’d be willing to wager his truck and new boat that Mrs. Stephanos would be sending the two of them off without her.

* * *

“I’ll just grab my purse and meet you outside.” As she passed by her mother’s room, she noticed Mother sitting in the chair by the window, book in hand. “Mother? Something wrong?”

To her credit, Cordelia Stephanos always told the truth. Sometimes the full truth with all the details didn’t appear until much later, but that was Mother. Eventually you’d get the whole story.

Tonight, however, that story was written all over her guilty face.

“Well, you see, I came in here for my purse and what did I find but that book I was looking for?” Blue eyes looked up with too much sparkle not to be plotting something. “Darling, would you make my excuses to Mr. Corbin? I was just getting to the good part when I lost this book. Now that I’ve found it, I would really like to finish it.” She paused to offer a smile along with a wave of the novel. “You understand, don’t you?”

“Oh, believe me, I understand completely.” Lia stood at the door a moment longer then took a step backward. “However, it won’t work.”
 

“Sure it will,” Ben called. “Come on out here, Lia. This man’s getting’ hungry. ‘Sides, you and me got a business deal to celebrate. Let your mama alone so she can read.” He paused. “Miz Stephanos, can we bring you something back?”

“No thank you, young man. “Don’t worry about me. I put a Greek salad away for my supper.”

Lia gave her mother a look that said she’d be hearing more discussion later then she stepped into her room to gather her purse and a light sweater. Returning to the hallway, Lia paused to look in on her mother. Cordelia Stephanos sat at her writing desk studying paint and fabric samples. Obviously her novel wasn’t nearly as interesting as her plans for redecorating the bedroom to reflect her taste.

“Have a nice time, dear,” her mother said.
 

Lia sagged against the door frame. “Mother, you are
impossible
.”
 

She turned to offer a broad smile. “Yes, I am, but you love me anyway, don’t you darling?”
 

“Of course I do, but it amazes me that you knew all along that you were going to burn those pork chops.”
 

Mother merely shrugged and went back to her decorating. “A mother does what she must,” she said. “Some day you’ll understand.”

“If you’d told me, I wouldn’t have splurged on the good ones.” Lia walked back into the living area expecting to see her escort for the evening lounging on the sofa. Instead, he stood at the door.
 

“I’m sorry, Ben. You don’t have to go through with this. My mother-”

“Is a wonderful lady who recognizes she has a wonderful daughter.” Ben stepped out onto the porch and held the door open. “Now how ‘bout we do our talkin’ in the truck? I’m hungry.”

She allowed him to lead her to the truck then helped her in and jogged around to climb into the driver’s seat.

“I told you I was hungry,” he said as he stabbed the key into the ignition. “And that’s part of the reason I was in a hurry to leave.”

“Part of the reason?” Lia shook her head. “Dare I ask what the rest of it is?”

“Sure.” He cranked the engine and threw the truck into gear. “The rest of it’s simple. I wanted to get out of there before your mama changed her mind and went with us.”

* * *

His own Mama would have been proud. Ben remembered all his manners, including the right way to eat soup and the fact that a man stood when a lady excused herself to leave the table. While he never would lay claim to the title of gentleman, Lia Stephanos made him want to try.