Love In a Bottle, Part 2

Maxie turned and looked out of the window. Customers were lining up outside waiting for her to open. She suddenly panicked that she may not have purchased enough fish.

                Michael picked up on her anxiety and calmly said, “I knew this was going to happen. People do not pass up all you can eat, so I increased your order.”

                Maxie gave him a small smile. He always knew what to do. Hiring him was a blessing and even though she had doubts at times because his cooking was very gourmet, he was always the savior in the end.

                “Well I guess we better get busy, so we can invite our guests in. I will greet them as they walk in. I want plates on trays for the waitresses and everything ready in twenty minutes. So, I guess you better get to frying,” she said with a tease.

                Everything started off great. Salads with, various dressings were placed on the tables, and plates of food were being set on trays as Maxie unlocked the door and greeted guests. All ages of guests were arriving as the restaurant filled up.  More guests were standing outside waiting to be seated for a platet. Everyone was polite as they ate and waited in line. Maxie found it hard to work the cash register and continue to greet guests. This was a dream come true for her. Although, she did find herself looking at each man in his thirties wondering if he wrote the letter in the bottle.

                Closing was later than usual that night to accommodate everyone waiting. There was just enough fish left that she sent plate with Lacey over to her father, knowing that he probably wouldn’t eat it. With the busy night, that was the first chance she had to send Lacey over. When Lacey arrived back, Maxie and the staff fixed their plates and sat down around table to eat.

                “I want to thank everyone for making this night go smoothly. I want to try this again. I think it worked out. Also, since we are all together, I want to have a small meeting while we eat. We have a big job coming up. We are going to have to close the restaurant for an entire day maybe two days. I only know we are having a wedding here and catering the reception. I won’t have the details for a few days, but everyone will have to work.”

                Lacey looked down because she knew she wouldn’t be able to attend. She knew about the wedding because she’s a bridesmaid. Guilt swelled up in her because she wanted to be loyal to Maxie, but Nicole was a good friend to her.

                Michael spoke up, “I know you’re talking about Zach and Nicole’s wedding. There may be a small problem. I’m the best man, and Lacey is one of the bridesmaids.”

                “Oh boy,” Maxie replied with a heavy sigh. “Just how big do you think this wedding is going to be?”

                “No one knows yet. Nicole’s mom is keeping everyone in the dark, like they are celebrities,” Lacey replied sadly as placed her thin muscular arms on the table. Her dark brown eyes showed signs of being tired.

                Maxie looked away from Lacey. “Well everyone eat and let’s get everything cleaned up. I’ll bring in a temporary chef from the school and hire some temporary wait staff. I’m assuming everyone here is friends or related to this family and will need to attend the wedding.”

                Maxie thought to herself, I bet Nicole planned it this way to see if I would fail. Maxie never did like her because Nicole always made her feel insecure. She tried to shake the feeling for years, but she felt very beneath her. It didn’t help that Nicole was a user and good at dictating things, instead of asking.

                Michael and Maxie were the last ones left after everything was cleaned up.  Michael walked Maxie to her car. He was right on her tail. When Maxie turned to thank him, they were face to face. She could feel his hot breath on her face. Her stomach started to twitch. She wanted him to kiss her.

                “Thank you, Michael, for all of your help and a great night,” she said softly as she licked her lips.

                “You’re welcome Miss Maxie. I love working for you.”

                “Good, because you are the best chef ever.”

                She leaned to unlock her door. When she pulled her key out, their hands grazed as he reached to open it for her. She got in and he shut the door and gave a small wave.  

                A year ago, Maxie was supposed to get married. Two weeks before the wedding her fiancé was killed by a drunk driver. She threw herself into the restaurant and didn’t think about moving on until she found the letter in the bottle. Michael made her heart flutter, but she never considered anything until now.

                When Maxie got home, she found her father in his recliner asleep with an empty plate on his lap. Sam, her black cat was laying on the back of the recliner. Maxie reached for the plate with one hand and scratched Sam on top of his head with the other.

                “Well boy, do we wake dad up, or let him sleep in this old chair tonight?”

                He let out a soft meow. Maxie smiled and said, “I think so too, let him sleep in the chair.”

                She took the plate into the kitchen, then walked down the long dark hallway to her room. She slipped off her shoes and walked barefoot across her tan plush carpet to her queen size bed. She pulled back her pink comforter and sat on the bed to unzip the back of her dress. She slipped it off and remembered the note. She put on her pajama pants and a sweatshirt. She pulled open the drawer on the white end table next to her bed and pulled out a pen and paper.

                Dear Love in a bottle,

I found your letter. I am twenty-eight years old and single. I live in the village. I would love to know more about you.

                Signed,

                Single woman in the village

                Maxie rolled up the note, placed it in the bottle, and replaced the cork with dot showing. She left to go back to the ocean. When she arrived at the exact spot, she threw the bottle in the ocean next to the rocks.

                She jogged back to the house because the ground was cold on her bare feet. She didn’t think to put on some shoes when she left the house.

Love in a Bottle Part One

Waves crashed against the large rocks on the sandy beach. The sky was cloudy; the air was cool. Maxie was walking along the beach on the cool brisk day thinking about how her restaurant wasn’t doing well, and she was trying to think of ideas to bring in more business. Thinking outside of the box was not her forte. She hired the top chef that graduated from a nearby culinary school. Michael, had great new ideas. She wondered if his ideas were too upscale for the small village of Pinsk, a village of fisherman and lumberman.

                She placed her hands in the pockets on the front of her red hoodie. Her short bobbed, dark hair was blown around her face by the strong wind. She knew she shouldn’t be walking the beach with the strong winds and a storm coming in, but it was where she got her best ideas. The sound of the ocean calmed her mind enough to think.

                The wind came up hard and blew sand into her eyes. She tried to wipe it out, but that caused her eyes to burn. She knew she couldn’t use the ocean to cleanse eyes because it was salt water. Tears started to roll and that helped.

                Just as she reached up with her hand to wipe the tears from her face she saw a bottle on the beach. Inside of the bottle was note. She had always heard of the bottles with notes found, but she herself had never discovered one before. She jogged over the bottle and picked it up. It was wet on the outside and slick, so she rolled it up and down on her black sweats, and then rubbed her hands on her sweats.

                She carefully pulled the cork from the bottle and unrolled the paper. The person who wrote the letter had very good penmanship. The ink was slightly smeared from the dampness of the bottle, but it was very readable, and the person took great care to write the letter.  

                I hope a young woman finds this letter. I am looking for love. I live in the village and I’m a lumberman. I work long hard hours and sometimes I’m gone for days at a time when I have to haul the logs to another state. I have not had much luck at love. The women I have dated have never understood the love for my job.

                I am thirty years old. I have no children and when I’m not working, I stay within the four walls I call home. Since I am a single man, I have no need for much. I would like to write to someone. If you would like to write me, please place a note in the bottle and place in the ocean in the same spot you found this bottle. I hope it will return to me. I have placed a green dot in permanent marker on top of the cork. Please place the cork back in the bottle so I can see the green dot and know it is my bottle.

Signed,

Love in a bottle

                Maxie was single herself and didn’t have a dating life outside of her restaurant and caring for her father who had cancer. In her short twenty-eight years of life she has managed to open the business of her dreams and buy a home for her and her father.  She walked back to her beach house that overlooked the ocean with the bottle in her hand. She scratched the outside edge of the bottle with her perfectly manicured pink nails. She wondered if ‘love in a bottle’ had ever been in her restaurant. She didn’t know everyone in the village because some of the people were tourists that came in the summer. Once winter started to set in, they left to go south. Sometimes it was hard to tell who was an actual villager and who was a tourist.

                She was sad because she wanted to go back and immediately write a letter, but the restaurant was going to open soon and the supper rush would be filing in. Lately the rush had only been about twenty customers. She was trying an all you can eat fish night, with the hopes of drawing a larger crowd. Michael wasn’t happy about the all you can eat special, because he indicated if it got busy he might not be able to keep up. Maxie advised him the fish was not to be gourmet, just good old fashioned fried fish. The potato salad was made earlier in the day and placed in the walk-in refrigerator. Fresh cut french fries were ready to go in the fryer.

                Maxie walked up the red stained wooden step of her deck that wrapped around her two-story home. She opened the glass French doors covered in antique white lace shears. Her father, Nick, was sitting in the recliner drinking a glass of water. She noticed as he put the glass down on the end table his hands were shaking. Her heart went out to him as she watched. The chemotherapy was playing a toll on his health, just as hard as the cancer. She noticed each time he had a chemo treatment he became weaker.

                He looked over at her with his pale blue eyes that was showing weakness, but still had enough strength to glow for her. “Hi sweetheart. Was your walk good?” he asked.

                “Yes. No new ideas, but I found a bottle with a letter in it?”

                “Oh?”

                “Some lumberman is looking to exchange letters. I think I’m going to write to him. Writing is harmless, and he doesn’t have my address since we will exchange letters through this bottle.”

                “I think you should. It might help to take your mind off me and the restaurant.”

                Maxie gave him a slight smile, “I have to get ready to go to the restaurant. Do you want me to have Lacey bring you over a plate?”

                “No, not tonight. I’m not feeling very well after my treatment today,” he replied in a weak voice.

                “I can tell. I’ll have her bring you by some juice.”

                “That’s sound good.”

                Maxie hurried and put on a bright red form fitting dress. She walked over to her walk-in closet, knelt on the floor, and lifted the wooden she rack up. She picked up a pair of black high heels and put them on. Before leaving she stopped to give her father a kiss on the forehead.

                Her truck awaited her in the driveway. She found living in the Northwest part of the country, snowfall could be heavy. She invested in a four-wheel drive in case she needed to take her father to the emergency room. He would never allow an ambulance to come get him because he said he’s dying and that was a waste of money.

                As she pulled up to the restaurant, she saw through the windows that Michael was preparing the tables. He was placing fresh flowers on each table and arranging the salt and pepper shakers around the flowers. Maxie wanted fresh flowers on each table daily. She had a contract with the local flower shop to deliver them.

                A couple of years ago she purchased an older home in the village and renovated it into a restaurant. She left it with a worn look, thinking it would be appealing to the tourists. It had worked.

                Just as Maxie reached the door, she heard a woman’s whiney voice. She cringed because she knew who it was, Nicole, the town drama queen. She recently got engaged to Zachary. Both came from upper class families. They inherited old money. Nicole’s grandmother had owned a chain of restaurants that she sold when she could no longer run them, and Zachary’s family had passed down the boat rental business over the last hundred years.

                “Maxie! Maxie! I need you!” Nicole yelled out of breath as she ran toward the restaurant.

                “What Nicole? What could you possibly need from me?”

                Nicole ran her hand through her blonde ponytail, then she twisted it around her thin fingers as she sternly replied, “I need you to cater my wedding in two months.”

                “Seriously Nicole? I’m trying to run a business that is a restaurant, not a catering business.”

                “So, restaurants cater, and we like your food. Plus, we wanted to keep the business local.”

                “What do you mean local?”

                “Well, my parents wanted all the food catered in by someone who specializes in weddings. Zach and I didn’t. We wanted to give you the business because your food is good, and we have known you for so long.”

                “Nicole, you don’t know me. You have never even acknowledged me before, except to pay for a meal and then you have treated me as if I was beneath you.”

                “I’m sorry, Maxie, but I’m in a bind.”

                “Oh well now, this is getting interesting,” Maxie replied as she gave Nicole a smug smile. She looked Nicole up and down and was surprised she wasn’t wearing something decent, and wasn’t trying to show her thin tanned body off.  “Let me guess, it’s not that you want to keep your catering local, it’s that you couldn’t find someone in short notice, and I bet you’re pregnant, because you moved the wedding up several months, oh and you don’t want anyone to know you’re pregnant.”

                “I’m not responding to that! Can you help me or not?”

                “Sure, I’ll help. I wouldn’t miss this circus for the world. Get me a menu in two days so I can be sure to get the food ordered. I can’t quote you a price until I know what you want for food. Oh, and the wine list. Don’t forget that. I guess I can order you some grape juice or something since you can’t drink.”

                “Maxie, that’s not funny. I’ll get lists to you. My mother already has the menu planned. I’ll bring it by the restaurant tomorrow after breakfast.”

                Nicole turned and left. Maxie watched, amazed that Nicole could still look amazing dressed in pajama bottoms, and a sweatshirt. Her body glided perfectly as she walked swinging her thin arms. She could have easily been a model.

                Suddenly Nicole turned around, smiled, cocked her head to one side in a flirtatious way and gently said, “Oh by the way, we need to have the wedding at your restaurant and the reception. We want the rustic look your restaurant can offer. We also need your staff to serve and decorate.” She turned before Maxie could say a word.

                She wanted a way to expand business Maybe this was a way God was leading her. If all went well she would have referrals, but Nicole was drama and it had to be her way or the highway. No mistakes could be made. Maxie knew she would have to make a list of all the things that needed to be done.

                Michael walked up to her. His white chef’s uniform was neatly pressed and looked brand new. He had his black neck tie perfectly tied and centered in his neck. No strands of his jet black hair escaped the hair net he was wearing. His muscular featured face always carried a smile and his hazel eyes held a gleam. He made Maxie’s heart pound fast when she encountered him. He was not only an amazing chef, he was the most handsome man she had ever seen.

                “Good evening Miss Maxie. I have the fish fryer heating up and the tables almost set up. The waitresses are in the back preparing dishes of sauce for the fish. All of the dressings for the salads are made.”

                “Thank you, Michael. We need to talk after closing tonight. We have a huge project that was just dropped in my lap. Tonight, the waitresses will have to conduct all of the clean-up so we can meet. Let them know I will pay extra for taking on the extra task.”

                “Yes, ma’am. Is everything alright ma’am?”

                “Oh yes, Michael. I just have a lot on my mind. Bring me the silverware and napkins and I will place them on the tables.”

                “Miss Maxie, look out the window.”

Pictures Are Stories

There is a saying I have heard throughout my life, a picture paints a thousand words. I’ve also heard that a picture never lies. I don’t think that saying rings true today with the technology we have. A picture now can be manipulated in so many ways.

As a little girl, I loved to look at the old black and white photos of my family. My grandparents had an old dresser in their basement. The top drawer held those old photos. My mom now has those photos and I still look through them when I’m with her. Thanks to my iPhone, I take pictures of those pictures.

In the last few years my mom has gained more photos from family members who have passed on. I’m grateful for those photos because I get to see a little bit of my history. Some of them have stories, while others, my mom has written down who they are.

My grandma used to say to me, write something on the back of the picture. She always wanted the age, grade, and school of the kids’ school pictures. Now I understand why. Although with technology, photos now have narratives with them.

People post all over social media and write a story about the picture. I sure do. Maybe that will be the way we track out history someday. Who knows, maybe Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and whatever else social media out there, is a new tracking device when we become a part of our family’s history.

Back to a picture paints a thousand words, or a picture never lies. I believe that to be true in the photos of the past. Many of the photos don’t tell the story behind the picture. Such as the one my great great grandmother had taken of her in front of a car. Even though the story isn’t with the picture, it does tell a story.

I can see the picture was taken in the early 1900’s. Her stockings are crumpling around her feet. Was the picture taken on her farm? Was it at a family dinner? Maybe even church. What I do know is, I see a lot of myself in her. It’s kind of eerie that generations later, I can still see a resemblance of myself in her. What do you see when you look at this picture? Do you see a story in it?