since that takes some serious skills. I’ll see what I can do, though. You two have a seat and I’ll set you up.”
“You don’t have to serve us. I can help.” It seemed strange to let Sue fuss over her when they were basically fellow employees now.
“Suit yourself,” she said as she fired up the griddle. “There’s juice and milk in the refrigerator or coffee if you want it.”
Eliza settled Maddie on one of the stools around the huge granite-topped island that dominated the kitchen space, found silverware for both of them in a drawer Sue indicated and then poured her a small glass of milk and another of juice.
“Aidan said you might be staying,” Sue said after a moment.
Eliza flashed a look at Maddie and saw she wasn’t paying them any attention.
“Did he?” she asked, trying for a casual, noncommittal tone. The whole job offer seemed so perfect, she still couldn’t quite believe it was real.
“You would be saving my hide if you take him up on his offer, I’ll tell you that much. Twenty guests, coming in just over a week and I’ve not even had time to decorate yet. You wouldn’t believe how crazy the last three months have been, trying to make the house ready for guests. I never thought we would make it before the holidays but when Aidan sets his mind to something, nothing can sway him. Even from his hospital bed, he would call me with suggestions for this and that.”
“Hospital bed?”
Sue looked horrified for a moment but quickly hid her reaction behind a cough. “Er. Forget I said that. No hospital bed for him. He’s healthy as a horse. Why, he’s healthier than some horses I know.”
Was he? Eliza thought of those lines that looked fairly new around his mouth and the way his shirt the night before had looked a size too large. Had he been ill? And if so, why couldn’t Sue just tell her? Why the big secrecy about it?
“I’ve met Aidan’s family a time or two,” the older woman went on quickly, as if trying not so subtly to change the subject, “and you’ll never meet a nicer bunch. Every last one of them.”
She decided not to press her about their employer’s health, for now. It wasn’t her business, anyway. “That’s good.”
“They’re just regular folk. I know you’ll like them.”
“That will make the job a little easier.” She sipped at her coffee as Sue flipped the pancakes on the griddle.
“As nice as they are, just thinking about a whole week of preparing three meals a day for twenty people—and then having to run the rest of the house on top of that—wears me right out. I don’t mind the cooking, it’s the rest of it that is a struggle. If you can handle all the details of throwing a big old-fashioned house party, you’ll be a real lifesaver, darlin’. For me and for Aidan.”
She had wondered if he were inventing a job merely to make amends for the accident the day before. Listening to Sue, she wondered if her services might genuinely be needed at Snow Angel Cove.
“If I agree to the job, where would Maddie and I stay? I didn’t have the chance to ask Aidan last night. I certainly don’t want to continue taking up one of the guest suites. By the sound of it, he will need all the space he can find for his family.”
“Don’t you worry about that. We’ve got the perfect space for you and your little one.” She pointed to a hallway. “Matter of fact, it’s right through there. Cook’s quarters.”
“But you’re the cook.”
“This cook likes to lay her head next to my husband’s—I guess I’m funny that way—and he likes to stay close to his horses. We’re in a cozy little house just off the barn that used to be the foreman’s cottage, which means the cook’s quarters are completely available for you and Maddie. It couldn’t be more perfect. After you finish breakfast, we’ll go take a look and see if the rooms might work for you.”
Sue was right. So far this job offer seemed made to order for her particular circumstances, she thought, as she and Maddie ate the hearty breakfast—complete with pancakes that were so perfectly heart-shaped, Eliza didn’t know how she ever again would have the guts to make her own paltry attempts.
Maddie chattered away about her other favorite foods and other delicious pancakes she had tried, which led to a conversation about the berry pancakes she had eaten when the two of them had driven to the Oregon Coast during the summer and how she had chased a hermit crab around the beach and had looked at tide pools and touched a starfish.
Eliza would have tried to divert her attention in some way but Sue seemed to enjoy whatever conversational detour Maddie meandered down, watching her with a kind, indulgent expression.
When they both had finished breakfast, Sue took their plates and loaded them into one of two gleaming stainless-steel dishwashers Eliza could see.
“Should we go take a look at the cook’s quarters?” she asked.
She nodded and slid away from the table. Sue led the way to a door just down the hall from the kitchen. As Eliza looked around at the comfortable space with twin beds, a basic but well-equipped bathroom and even a sitting room, she had to fight the inappropriate urge to laugh.
Call her a pessimist, but she had to wonder about what fine print she must be missing. The position seemed almost too good to be true—a jaw-dropping salary, a beautiful home in which to spend the holidays and the ideal apartment for her and Maddie. It was better, even, than the slightly larger but more outdated space they would have shared at the Lake Haven Inn.
Who would have guessed that being hit by a car might turn out to be a lucky break?
She was still shaking her head at that irony when she saw movement outside the window and spotted Aidan, bundled up against the cold, heading for the outside door that led into the mudroom.
He stomped his boots off on the mat outside the door and brushed snow from his coat, then pulled off a wildly colored knit hat, leaving his dark hair sticking up in tufts. Oddly, seeing him like this, slightly wild and tousled, made him seem somehow more human and approachable than the carefully groomed executive who appeared on the business magazine covers.
“What do you think?” Sue asked.
She thought the man was too darn gorgeous for his own good. Or hers.
“It should work very nicely,” she managed to answer.
“You and the little one will have all your meals with the rest of us, of course, so you needn’t worry about having a kitchen of your own. As you can see, you’ve got a microwave and a little refrigerator in here. If you have something special you’d like to fix in the kitchen, of course you would be welcome to. I’ll also set aside space in one of the refrigerators for you to keep things of your own that might not fit in here.”
“Great. I appreciate that.”
“When we have a minute, I’ll sit down with you and find out a few favorite foods you and Maddie might enjoy.”
“That’s not really necessary. We can eat anything. But thank you.”
They headed back out into the mudroom, to
