Second Chance (Cold Springs Series Book 1) (10 page)

Sam watched as Ian’s expression changed from one of hurt to sheer anger. 

“Mike fell like a ton of bricks. I guess he had an aneurism explode in his brain or something.  That’s what I was later told.  The punch I threw wouldn’t have killed a normal person.  Anyway, I went up for ten years on manslaughter charges but got parole for good behavior.”

“Couldn’t the police have listened to your side of things?  You were defending your sister.”

“They tried to get second-degree murder because they said I’d intended to hurt him.  I had, just didn’t intend on killing him.” Ian’s expression suddenly masked to somewhere very far away.  The hands that he’d balled up into fists began trembling.

Sam reached for his hand and squeezed it.  “Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For telling me what happened.  I’m sorry.”

He pulled away and quickly stood.  His expression turned hard, cold, turned to someone she didn’t know.  “I don’t need pity.”

“I wasn’t—” She hadn’t meant to insult him.  She stood, set her soda can on the kitchen counter.  “I’d better go.”

“I’ll take you home.”

“It’s not far.  I can walk.”

Sam couldn’t have expected the next moment.  They were standing too close, and they bumped into each other. She looked at him, and he looked down at her.  The evening had been too stressful.  She should just back away, but she didn’t realize what he was doing until it was too late.

He bent toward her, and she stood up on her toes.  His hand cradled her jaw, his calloused thumb gently brushing over her lips.  The kiss was innocent enough, his lips barely brushing over hers.  Her heart tripped and beat nearly out of her chest.  She laid her palm on his cheek, feeling the stubble of his beard. 

Ian broke the kiss and stepped back.  “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“You say that all the time.”

“No, really—”  She didn’t know what else to say. She wondered about Ian’s life, wondered how many other times before he’d had to deal with rude comments and gossip about his past. Would he stay in Cold Springs?

The thought surprised her, but she really couldn’t imagine him being able to put up with small town minds and gossip for long. No one ever really was supposed to care what others thought of them, but how could one not? Especially when you were trying to build a new life.  Starting over would be so much easier in a town that didn’t share his past.

Sam didn’t want him to go. They were both a part of Cold Springs, and they could get through it together. Couldn’t they? The thought both surprised and scared her. Sam had never thought about the two of them together, as a team. It fit. It didn’t make sense most of the time, but it fit.

Ian gently rested a hand on her shoulder.  “C’mon.  I’ll take you home.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Sam was a bundle of nerves.  She told herself it was because tomorrow was opening day and today the health inspector was coming.  It had nothing to do with what happened with Ian Woods last night. 

Ian had kissed her, and her knees had gone weak.  She had no right feeling anything toward him.  He was an ex-convict who had murdered someone.

Murdered someone who had been harming his family.  His crime didn’t seem as bad as everyone made it out to be.  Everyone talked about how horrid he was, like he was this uncontrollable raging monster.  They didn’t talk about how he was protecting his sister.  No one spoke of how he was trying to defend her.

She drummed her fingers on the counter and tried to calm herself with deep breathing.  If this inspection did not go well, she was finished.

“Are you going to just stand there or do I get a cup of coffee?”

Absentmindedly, Sam poured Burt his coffee. 

“Ian used to be a lot more fun before he went to jail. Now he’s just a mess.”

Sam looked at him.  Burt’s expression told her that he had ulterior motives.  “Why are you telling me this?”

“I fixed his place up pretty nice, huh?”

Sam laughed.  “You don’t miss a trick, do you?”

“Not really.  All I’m saying is he has his problems.  Life won’t be easy with him, but he’s loyal.   He’ll stick by you.”

“I’m not marrying him.”

“Not now, but you never know.”  Sam didn’t miss the look of longing in Burt’s expression.  No doubt from missing Aunt Jean.  She and Burt had been inseparable.  Though they lived separately, they spent most days together.

She handed him one of the new menus.  “I had these redone.  What do you think?”

Burt reviewed it like he was reading War and Peace.  After about thirty minutes, he blurted, “Where’s the eggs Benedict?”

“I took it out.”

“And the sausage gravy over biscuits?”

“Gone.”

“Why?”

“I wanted to keep things simple.  At least for now.” 

Burt pierced her with a critical glare.  “Ian can cook, you know.  He’s working every odd job he can find and none of it’s steady.  You could hire him.”

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because…” Why not was a good question. Maybe…

Chrissy burst through the door.  “Good morning, everyone!”

“Good morning, Chrissy.”  Sam stepped toward her.  She had asked Chrissy to start today, as a practice run to show her the ropes.  She had a feeling Martha wouldn’t need any practice.  “Welcome to your first day.”

“I’m really excited.”

“You look nice today, Chrissy.”  Burt spun around in his seat. 

Sam motioned her behind the counter.  “I’ll show you where everything is and where you can put your purse.  I have the inspector due here any minute.”

Sam had no more than shown Chrissy around when as if on cue, a tiny man came through the door that Chrissy had failed to shut.  He was dressed in a navy blue workman’s uniform with the name “Tom” embroidered on the lapel. 

Sam approached him.  “Hello, I’m Samantha Stone.”

He pulled a clipboard from the briefcase that he carried and took her outstretched hand.  “Tom Long, Jefferson County health inspector.”

“Nice to meet you.  Well…this is the diner.”

“And the kitchen is…?”

“Back here.”  She headed to the kitchen, the inspector following. 

“Nervous?”

“A little.”  She laughed.  “Tomorrow’s opening day.  This is my first attempt at running a business.”

Immediately, Sam regretted her big mouth.  Now he would know she was a fraud.  So stupid!

“You know about New York State’s point system, correct?”

“I don’t.”

The inspector sighed.   “New York has a point system.  Zero to thirteen is an A.  Fourteen to twenty-five is a B, and twenty-eight or higher is a C.”

“C is bad?”

He looked at her as if she’d sprouted horns.  “C is bad.”

Sam watched as he ran two fingers across the counter and wrote something down on his clip-boarded papers.

“Is something wrong?”

“This is a 5C.”  He pointed to the wooden cutting board on the counter.

“A what?”

“Contact with a surface area with unwashed material.”

“Well…”  No, this was not happening.  “What if I throw it out?”

“See that you do.”

He went to the cooler and took a thermometer out from his shirt pocket.  He set it in the cooler, waited, then took it out and examined it.  “Your temperature is off one degree.  You need to have this forty-one degrees or below.”  More writing on the clipboard.

Sam felt like she was going to throw up.  “Will I still be able to open tomorrow?”

“Yes, but you’ll need to get that fixed right away.”

Sam breathed a sigh of relief.  Maybe she’d get through this with no problems. 

She wouldn’t have guessed what happened next would’ve occurred in a million years.  What could have been the largest rat she’d ever seen scurried across the kitchen directly in front of the inspector.  Chance scurried after it, catching it in his mouth.

“Oh my God!”  The inspector jumped three feet.

Sam caught Chance in her arms, and with the rat still in the kitten’s mouth, threw them both out the back door. 

“I’m so sorry.” She had no idea how the cat had gotten in.  She’d purposely double checked and made sure Chance was securely shut upstairs in the apartment.  She’d been so certain she had shut the apartment door…at least she thought she had. Maybe because she was so hurried and stressed today she had forgotten.

The inspector was writing so fast, he could run out of ink in no time.  “This is a 4K violation.  Condition five is rat infestation.  Condition four zero is live animals in an establishment.  You, madam, will not be opening tomorrow.”

Sam couldn’t believe what was happening.  “Isn’t there some way around this?”

“How about money?”  Burt was standing behind him.  He held a handful of bills. “Two thousand should keep your trap shut.”

The inspector stared.  Sam stared.  Chrissy was frozen like a statue. 

“Burt, no.”   A 5C, a 4K rat infestation violation, now Burt was bribing the inspector.  What next?  A night in jail?

The inspector snatched the money from Burt’s hand, filled out another form and handed it over to her.  “Best of luck on your opening day tomorrow.”

And with that he packed up his briefcase and left.

Chrissy sat down at the counter.  “That was so wrong.  He just took the money.  It was like something out of a movie.”

“Burt, I can’t let you bribe… Who walks around with two thousand dollars in their pocket?  Who does that?”

Burt just grinned.

“No, really.  In New York they’d kill you for that.”

“This ain’t New York.”

“Burt, I can’t let you do this.”

“It’s already done.”

Sam didn’t know what to say.  “I’ll pay you back.”

“You open tomorrow, right?”

Sam got Burt another cup of coffee.  “Right.”

“You hire Ian as your cook, and put Jean’s eggs Benedict and sausage gravy back on the menu, and we’re even.”

~ * ~

Sam spent the remainder of the day preparing for tomorrow’s opening day.  She let Chrissy go home after explaining the ropes for tomorrow to her.  She was just about to head upstairs and nuke a frozen dinner when Ian Woods knocked on her door.

She held the door for him.  “Hi.”

“Hi.”

He stood in the diner like a giant towering over her.  His clothes were covered with white paint, and his jeans were torn.  “I came over to talk to you about what happened last night.”

His voice was soft, rugged, and one hundred percent sexy.

“There’s no need.  Your past is not my concern.”

“No, I wanted to tell you.  And I wanted to thank you for listening.  It feels good, you know?  To let it out, especially to someone I trust.”

“You trust me?”  Warmth coiled in the pit of her stomach.  She’d never really given trust much thought, but coming from Ian Woods, after everything he’d been through, trust from him was certainly something rare and she felt honored that he gave it to her.

He was standing too close, and she had the incredible urge to wrap her arms around his neck and kiss him until he was dizzy.  Heat rose to her cheeks as they stood there staring at each other.  This was all too much, too intense, and she wasn’t ready for any of it.

“Would you like a job?” she blurted.  “I mean, to work with me, for me.  Here.  I need a cook, and Burt says you can cook.” It wasn’t a lie. Martha had called her and informed her that she had thought things over and wouldn’t work the same shift as Chrissy. Which meant that Sam would need another cook since no one had ever answered her ad for a full time one.

Ian smiled.  He didn’t answer right away but was silent for so long she expected him to say no.  “I learned to cook in prison.”

She didn’t know if he expected a response from her.  “If you don’t take the job, I’ll owe Burt two thousand dollars.”

“Why?”

“It’s a long story,” she answered.  

“Well, we wouldn’t want to be beholden to Burt.”  Ian flashed her an infectious smile.  “I can start tomorrow.  Do you want to have dinner with me tonight?  I was going to grill burgers, nothing fancy.”

This wasn’t a good idea.  Everything in her told her to decline.  She had no business spending any more time with him than necessary.  He was bad news, and now he was her employee.

No, that first part wasn’t true.  He wasn’t bad news.  He was a friend who had an unfortunate thing happen to him, and he had been defending his family.  However, now they had an employer employee relationship. 

“Sounds good.”  She headed toward the stairs.  “I’ll get my jacket.”

~ * ~

Ian couldn’t believe Sam was coming over to his apartment again, any more than he could believe she’d offered him a job.  He could certainly squeeze in the odd jobs he was working around the diner’s hours. He didn’t anticipate his construction business being a going concern for some time.

Things were looking up.  Things were also getting complicated.  He shouldn’t have asked Sam to dinner, and now as she rode in the passenger seat of his truck, the reality of things were sinking in.  He’d told her that he trusted her.  And he did.  Trust was something that prison had taught him to never give away. 

He could fall for her very easily.

The thought shocked him.  He didn’t need this complication in his life.  He remembered everything his P.O. had said upon his release from prison.  Keep your nose clean. Don’t get involved.  With anything or anybody.  Stay a loner.  Keep close to family but stay away from romantic relationships, and you’ll have a better chance of making it on the outside.