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.”