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Palmerstone Ridge. Kim Allen
Читать онлайн.Название Palmerstone Ridge
Год выпуска 0
isbn 9781922309983
Автор произведения Kim Allen
Жанр Зарубежная классика
Издательство Ingram
The cafe wasn’t crowded, but in the small space, five people felt like a crowd. Jeanette squeezed behind everyone with her bags of meat and tried to get to the kitchen unnoticed. ‘And everyone give it up for Joey who has finally shown up! Great to see you Joey!’ Bill boomed so that everyone knew she was there. ‘Were you having too much fun last night, Joey?’ Bill jeered with a cheeky sparkle in his eye
Jeanette was embarrassed again. She vanished into the kitchen quickly. She found Debbie feverishly making fresh sandwiches. ‘Oh, don’t mind him, dear.’ Debbie jeered and raised her voice a little, ‘He’s just jealous that the Redlegs are going to win!’
‘There is no way they are going to be able to stop Crawly from kicking a ton! Davyes may be good, but with both Knuckles and Spider-Long in the middle, the Legs are going to need a miracle to beat us!’ he called. ‘That’s 5 for the pie, 3 for the slice and 2 for the coffee, $10 please’ returning to his customers.
Debbie chuckled, ‘Arrgh, I love winding him up. The front of the shop looked nice, I heard it wasn’t the young Matthews boy that you helped off the veranda’
‘Seriously, how does everyone know about this?’ Jeanette was already in work mode, unpacking the meats into the cabinet, grabbing her apron. The cooker was in place and already warming up. ‘Mrs Hobbs from the bakery dropped off the bread when we opened. You know what she is like. Recons he was quite dashing, when he wasn't face down.’ Debbie was at the sandwich counter making more sandwiches for the front display. This was second nature to her and she was like an octopus moving so fast making them. Like any concerned parent, she wanted to know that Jeanette was safe.
Jeanette felt awkward and didn’t want to talk about it. Especially since she left Richard at her house and didn’t even see him this morning. ‘It was really weird, he’d made a huge mess on the front, it would have been horrible to clean up this morning and I couldn’t just leave him there, could I?’
‘No, you’re right.’ Debbie stopped making the sandwich and looked straight into Jeanette’s eyes, ‘But you didn’t answer my question’
Jeanette paused and went bright red and couldn’t help a big cheeky smile come across her face. ‘Arrrgh, I knew it!’ Debbie boomed, and a huge smile came across her face. Returning back to the next sandwich, she continued, ‘Now get into making some eggs. We’re doing breakfasts without eggs at the moment and that is ridiculous. Did you get more bacon?’ The busy day had begun.
It wasn’t until the main game kick off at 3pm before the kitchen in the cafe slowed down. Even then, she only managed to make it behind the counter where there were still plenty of customers that wanted something quick to munch on, and cold drinks were a premium.
As the clock crept up to 5pm, Bill slid up beside Jeanette, ‘You better take off, Joey. It’s been a big couple of days. Deb and I will look after the church crowd tomorrow. We’ll see you on Monday.’
She smiled back at him, ‘Thanks Bill,’ and she threw her arms around him then headed for the kitchen. ‘Hope the Blues win,’ she joked as she vanished behind the door.
‘Argh, by the sounds of it, they were down at three quarter time. And we haven’t heard much racket since then, so I’m not holding my breath,’ he muttered as he turned toward the next customer. Jeanette untied her apron and hung it back in the back room, before saying goodbye to Debbie and heading out the door.
‘Good job today, Joey.’ Debbie said as she squeezed Jeanette for a goodbye hug. ‘Everything was set up just right.’
‘Thanks, Deb. Only because you taught me well.’
‘Psst. We didn’t teach you anything, love. You’ve picked it up on your own. Now get out of here. I want to hear some more about this young puppy you have taken home on Monday!’ and Debbie let out a laugh, as Jeanette went red in the cheeks.
She was exhausted, but very excited to be heading home, not knowing what she would find when she got there. Would Richard even still be there? Even though she was exhausted, she found herself at a quick walk to get home.
As she stepped through the front door, the smell of a roast meal hit her. She took in a deep breath, and it smelt really good.
‘Well, seems he can do something,’ she muttered as she walks toward the kitchen. While he had been cooking, he had not cleaned up the kitchen. The dishes were all over the sink. She went out the back door and found that all the washing had been done and was hanging on the line. She even noticed that his white undergarments were on the line. A cheeky smile crossed her face, as she wondered what he would be wearing, and where could he be?
She went to the bedroom, and gently pushed open the door. She spied his feet hanging over the end of her bed. She followed his legs up over his calves, his toned thighs and up to, he had squeezed himself into a pair of her favorite panties. Her jaw fell agape. It was clear that she would not be able to wear those again. She quietly closed the bedroom door.
‘Best to let sleeping dogs lie,’ she said as headed back to the kitchen. She filled the kettle with water and put more wood in the stove. She grabbed a cup and put in some coffee before sitting down to wait for it to boil. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
She awoke from a hand shaking her shoulder. It took a moment before she realised she had fallen asleep, and it was Richard that had woken her. He took a step away from her. He was still wearing her panties, and that was all he was wearing. ‘Are you awake now?’ he asked.
Jeanette wasn’t sure if she was angry for being found asleep or embarrassed, but she exploded out of her chair and headed to the linen cupboard. There she found one of her biggest towels and took it back with her. Avoiding looking straight at him, she held the towel out with outstretched arms. ‘While you are in my house, I would appreciate it if you would cover yourself a little better,’ she feigned modesty.
Richard tilted his head a little to one side, with a cheeky one-sided grin. He looked at the towel, then looked up at Jeanette. He straightened his stance a little and held out his hands, as if to say, ‘What do I do with that?’
‘Oh, for Pete’s sake,’ Jeanette spat as she stepped up close to him, wrapping the towel around his waist and tucking the ends in. She could smell that he had showered and when she was up close to him, he smelt good. She stepped back to admire her work. Richard was looking down at her handy work. He looked up at her, with his arms still out, and the towel fell to his ankles. She let out a gasp in shock. How to fix this? She didn’t have any safety pins around, but she had an idea. Jeanette headed out the back door, toward the steel netting she was using to protect the tomatoes from the birds. She unravelled a short piece, flicked it back and forward and bent it into shape. It was a bit crude, but it should do the job of holding up a towel. She returned to Richard and fastened the towel with her new pin.
This time the towel held. He looked back up at her with that cheeky smile. ‘Nice work, but I was going to tell you that the washing was dry. Think I like what you have put me in a little better.’ Jeanette paused for a moment, and then just burst out laughing. Richard smiled and chuckled too.
Jeanette went and retrieved all the washing while Richard prepared the food. He then changed out of the towel, before serving up his masterful creation.
‘So where did you learn to cook like this, Mr Pilman?’ Jeanette asked as she laid out the cutlery onto the table
‘Please, just call me Ric, Mr Pilman was my Dad.’
‘Was?’
‘Yeah, he was drafted to the war,’ Richard took the carving knife and started to carve off slices of meat. ‘He was the one that got me into cooking. He was really great with a camp oven. But I’ve developed my own style since then.’ He took two slices and put them on a plate for Jeanette before putting three slices of meat on his plate.
‘My Dad