Inn Love (chapters 12-14)

Chapter Twelve
      Back at the Michaels’s house, Valentina and Ellie were making dinner. Alec had brought in his tool box and was fixing some odds and ends around the house. Nothing that was in need of serious fixing, but things that were a pain, like a lose curtain rod, sticky doorknob, and a squeaky closet door. Things that busy women like the Michaels’s might not get around to dealing with because they just didn’t have the time. Anders had set the table and gone outside to brush as much dust out of his hair as he could. Now he was wandering around the house looking at family photographs. There were probably a hundred snapshots of Ellie growing up scattered on nearly every surface or wall space available. There was also a black and white photograph of Fae and her husband on their wedding day. Mr. Michaels was very handsome, wearing glasses with thick black frames, while Fae’s hair was long and looked to be light in colour, though it was difficult to tell in a black and white photograph. All of a sudden, it occurred to him that Fae had the same last name as Jane, which wasn’t right since Jane had been married.
      “Ellie,” he called into the kitchen.
      “Yeh?” she responded, sounding very much like some teenagers he’d seen hanging out at the mall. She was getting older by the minute and Jane was going to have her hands full with this girl.
      “Do your grandma and mom have the same last name?” he asked.
      “Yep. Mom never changed hers when she got married,” the girl responded. “My name is hyphenated, Michaels-Jenkins. My dad’s name was Tom Jenkins.”
      So, she hadn’t changed her name when she’d married. Interesting. He kind of liked that about her, liked that she wanted to keep her own identity. He wondered if Meredith would do the same when he married her. Then he stopped himself and realized they had never even discussed it once, so it wasn’t a good idea to go off imagining things like that. Ellie came over from the kitchen and pointed to a picture of her Dad, so Anders could see.
      “Here’s my dad, with his motorcycle. He got into an accident and died. I was just little,” she looked at the picture sadly. “I don’t really remember him much.”
      Anders wasn’t sure what to say but thought he should offer acknowledgement, “you have his eyes,” he said. The girl gazed at the picture for a bit and nodded.
      “Thanks,” she said, and went back into the kitchen. Anders followed, his mouth watering at the delicious smell coming from the pot Valentina was tenderly caring for on the stove.
      “Yum,” his stomach grumbled. “That smells almost good enough to eat.” Ellie sat at the kitchen table and Anders joined her, noticing a large binder labelled Ellie’s Cookie Creations in the centre of the table.
      “My wife sure knows how to cook, don’t you babe?” Alec came in and replaced a screwdriver in his toolbox, tucked it by the door, and took a seat at the table on the other side of Ellie.
      “Yes, I do,” Valentina said smiling, “Ellie, every woman must know how to cook. It is important to keep your husband happy. What is the saying, ‘the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach? It is very true.”
      “I can’t cook,” Ellie said, her eyes cast downward.
      “Sure, you can,” Anders said, jumping in. “I had one of your mud puddle cookies and it was delicious. And look here,” he pointed to the binder on the table, “here is an entire binder of cookie recipes you created.”
      “I created the recipes, but I didn’t bake the cookies,” Ellie said, adopting the teenage tone again. “Those are two totally different things.”
      “Well, I tell you what, I will teach you how to cook so all the boys will fall in love with you,” Valentina said. Ellie’s eyes lit up but were overshadowed by doubt.
      “If you can convince my mom to let me cook, then I would love to take lessons from you,” Ellie said, sounding doubtful. “She never lets me do anything on my own.”
      “We can convince her, I know it,” Valentina said and winked.
      Anders looked through the binder on the table, amazed at the number of cookie recipes there were inside the covers.
      “Where did you come up with all these ideas?” he asked, and his stomach growled again when he landed on a recipe for oatmeal, cinnamon, macadamia cookies.
      “I dream most of them,” Ellie said, “or, I sometimes see something on T.V. that gives me an idea, like my carrot-cake-zucchini cookies with cream cheese and pecan frosting. I got the idea from a cooking show where the chef was making ratatouille.” Anders noticed how her smile began to grow as she talked about the recipes. “I have two more binders like that one full of recipes. I just can’t seem to stop coming up with ideas.”
      “Wow, three binders,” Anders was impressed. He wondered if there was something other than selling the cookies at the café they could do with the recipes. Maybe, there was a way they could do something to help the Michaels out of the jam they were in?
      “Boy, I hope your mom and grandma get back soon,” Alec said. “I’m starved.”

Chapter Thirteen
Four hours later, Fae and Jane were home again. It was dark, and they were starving, having only had some snacks from the vending machine to tide them over. The caféteria in the small country hospital they went to was, of course, closed by the time they made it through triage. Alec and Valentina were no where to be found. Fae phoned the house when Jane went for a CAT scan, realizing they probably wouldn’t be home any time soon, giving instructions to Valentina on Ellie’s bedtime routine and told the gang to go ahead and eat. Fae also remembered to phone Iris, who had had the day off, to fill her in on the disaster at the café. 
The Brookstone’s truck was no where to be seen when Jane and Fae pulled their van into the drive. A dim light glowed in the front window, but otherwise the house was quiet. A slight fear gripped Jane’s heart, beating in time with the throbbing of her head, which had luckily only been a terrible goose egg and headache, according to the doctor. What if the Brookstone’s had left Ellie all alone? Hurriedly she threw off her seatbelt, grabbed her purse and ran as fast as her sore head would let her, up to the front door. Not wanting to wait for her mother who had the keys, Jane found the plastic rock hide-a-key in the garden, bursting through the front door as the lock gave way to the key’s click. 
Feeling somewhat frantic, throwing her purse down on the nearest surface, she scanned the room. There, fast asleep on the couch was Anders. Still wearing Tom’s t-shirt, he was stretched awkwardly across their chesterfield, one foot resting on the floor, the other hanging over the arm of the couch, his dress slacks riding up slightly, exposing his muscular calf. He looked as peaceful as a child, all the lines of his face at rest, arms wrapped around one of Ellie’s stuffed animals, draped in the old pink and yellow afghan Jane kept folded nearby for rainy afternoons when she might get the chance to read a book. Admittedly, that had not happened for months because she was always at the café, or with Ellie. Jane felt her stomach lurch, a mixture of hunger pangs, terror over losing the café, and something familiar she felt at having a man asleep in her house, sent her on a retreat to Ellie’s room. 
There she found her daughter, curled under her cloud-patterned quilt, the glow in the dark stars on her ceiling shining away, lighting the way for her daughter’s dreams. Jane was glad to see Ellie’s walker within easy reach for her daughter, in case she needed to get up in the night. Jane bent to kiss her daughter’s forehead. 
“Mom?” Ellie turned sleepily toward Jane, “are you O.K.? Do you have a concussion?”
“I’m fine sweetie,” Jane said, simultaneously stroking Ellie’s hair and lightly rubbing her goose egg. “Just a bang to the head. The doctor says I’m supposed to rest for a couple days and drink plenty of water.” Jane was unsure how plenty of water would help, other than washing down the super-strength pain killers he gave her for the headache. “Did you have an alright night with the Brookstones?” 
Through a yawn, Ellie responded excitedly, “Yes I did. Valentina showed me how to make garlic bread. It was cool. She let me drizzle the olive oil. And she made really yummy pasta with meat sauce. Alec fixed the squeaky door hinges, and Anders read me a bedtime story, even though I’m too old for that kinda stuff.” Ellie pretended to pout, but Jane could tell that her daughter liked the attention. Her own heart panged painfully at the thought of all the nights Ellie missed since Tom’s death that she could have been sharing bedtime stories with her father. Jane shoved the feelings aside, trying to sound much more chipper than she was feeling. 
“Where are Valentina and Alec now?” Jane asked, wondering if they had driven all the way back to the city.
“They went back to the café,” Ellie said, yawning again. “Alec said they would check out what work needed to be done in the morning and that they would camp out near the river for the night. They always carry a tent and sleeping bags with them wherever they go. Isn’t that cool?”
Jane’s eyebrows rose up a bit, causing a sharp pain in her brain. “It is cool,” she said, but she was more surprised that they went back to the café so late in the evening. They didn’t even know her and yet they had sacrificed their entire day to helping her out. “Go back to sleep now sweetie, you’ve got school in the morning.”
“Good night mom, I love you”, Ellie said through another yawn. 
Jane left her daughter with another kiss, pulling the door closed behind her. Back in the kitchen she found her mother, and a note from Alec explaining they had gone back to the café to do some clean up. 
Anders stayed to watch Ellie, they were having fun looking through her cookie creation binders. He was waiting for you to return to have dinner, which is in the oven. 
Hope your head is feeling better,
A & V
Jane looked up from the note to meet her mother’s gaze. Her mother gave her a small smile and shrug. Fae couldn’t believe how nice the Brookstones were either. Jane rose from the table, holding her head onto her body, and went to the living room to wake Anders while her mother got out some plates. He was still asleep, his jaw flexing in some dream time movements. She saw some plaster dust still clinging to the edges of his hair and found herself reaching out to brush it away. Her long fingers grazed the side of his face and the hair at his temple. His eyes fluttered open at her touch and for a moment, their eyes locked. Anders felt a momentary confusion as to where he was and why his foot was asleep, but the face before him was one he would know anywhere, even if there was a large purple-black bump currently residing on it. 
“Hi,” he said.
“Hi,” she said back. “You read Ellie a bedtime story?” she said, taking a step back, even though she already missed the feel of his skin under her fingertips. She held one hand on her head, while the other rested on her hip. Anders wasn’t sure if this was a gesture of annoyance at having read to Ellie, or if it was a way to keep herself together because of the pain in her head. 
“I did,” he said. “We had a fun time; her recipes are really great.” He said, a genuine smile spreading across his face as he sat up. Realizing he was cuddling a pink stuffed lion, he practically threw it down next to him. Jane laughed. That was the first time he’d heard her laugh, and even though it was at his expense, he knew he’d always want to hear her do it again. 
“Ellie told me her lion would keep me company until you got back,” he trailed off a bit.
“She must like you,” Jane said, “that lion is her favourite.” She turned and gestured for him to follow her to the kitchen. 
Fae set out plates of pasta with the garlic bread on a platter in the centre of the table. For herself and Anders she poured red wine. 
“Can’t I have some wine?” Jane complained, “I certainly could use it after the day I had.” She grimaced as her mother plonked the jar of pills the doctor gave her and a glass of water down next to her plate. 
“No, you may not have some wine, take your pain killers and eat your dinner. I’m sure those babies will do you in well enough without the help of alcohol.” Fae was stern but kind with her words. 
“A little wine won’t hurt Mom,” Jane said sounding more like a teenager than Ellie did lately, “these pills probably won’t do anything.”
Anders smirked into his noodles, enjoying the interaction between mother and daughter. Chewing the delicious bite he took, taking a mental note to tell Valentina that she was an excellent cook the next time he saw her, he asked Jane how she was feeling.
“I’ve been better, but no concussion,” she said, then threw back the pills and took a large gulp of water to get them down. 
Anders smiled softly, reaching over to touch her hand, “I’m glad”. Their eyes locked a moment more and Fae turned away pretending to dry a glass to give them some privacy. 
They all tucked into their meals, starving from the emotional toll brought on by the day. Jane started to get drowsy by the end of her meal, her pain killers in full effect, resulting in Fae ushering her to the bathroom to brush her teeth and then tucking her in bed. Something she hadn’t done since Jane was close to Ellie’s age. 
“You can sleep on the chesterfield”, Fae said to Ander’s back as he washed up the dishes. “There is an extra toothbrush for you on the bathroom counter.”
Anders dutifully brushed his teeth and returned to the crammed quarters on the couch, cuddling the pink lion again after he was sure Fae was asleep. 

Chapter Fourteen
The next day, Ellie woke up first. She made her way to the bathroom, washed up, got dressed, and went to the kitchen where Fae was warming a semi-stale lemon cranberry muffin she’d fished out of one of the bins they’d rescued from the café. Fae left to dress while Ellie ate. They were both being as quiet as possible, so that Jane would be able to rest and not to wake Anders. They were too late for Anders, who had left before sun up, folding the blanket and stacking the pillow and stuffed lion on top at the end of the couch. He’d left a note next to the lion:
Dear Jane, Fae, and Ellie,
I hope this note finds you feeling better Jane. I am off to the café to find Alec and do some more cleaning. I’ll be back to visit soon. 
Anders.
Shortly after breakfast, Fae trundled Ellie off to the bus stop, dressed in her work clothes, intending to help with as much clean up at the café as she could manage. They left Jane sleeping, covers pulled up to her chin. 
When Jane awoke several hours later, she was confused, and her head throbbed as she rolled away from the way too bright sun shining in the window. She squinted one eye open and saw the time on the clock said 12:37pm. Leaping out of bed from the sight of that number on the clock, she quickly sat back down as the blood rushed to her head. 
“Okay, so, go slowly”, she said to herself aloud, placing a hand on the side of her head to stop her brain from moving with the rotation of the earth. When she found her equilibrium again, she saw out of the corner of her eye a note from her daughter. 
Dear Mom,
Stay in bed today, doctor’s orders. 
xo
Ellie
The note was propped up on a tray laden with a bowl full of green grapes, next to a chocolate filled flaky pastry Jane recognized was one rescued from the café yesterday. A mug with pink and red hearts on it sat next to a thermos. Jane opened the lid to find it steaming with the smell of cinnamon tea. Her bottle of pain killers rounded out the little display. Envisioning Ellie preparing the tray with the help of her grandmother made her smile. Ellie was such a good daughter. Tom would be so proud of her, she thought to herself, fighting back the need to sob. If she started, she just might never stop; she sat up a little more. 
The tea smelled delicious and Jane found she felt hungry. First though, she needed the bathroom. Sleeping for more than 12 hours, her bladder was currently protesting. She stood up gingerly, shuffling her way down the hall. After finding relief, she studied herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mess, and the bruise on her forehead was still protruding out a good two inches from her face. It had changed slightly in colour over night, darkening to a blackish purple that clashed nicely with her freckles. Jane flipped some hair over the bruise to hide it from herself but winced when it landed on the lump. “Ouch”, she said, turning out the door, shuffling some more to the kitchen to grab a glass of water and another chocolate pastry, just in case. She peeked into the living room, expecting to see Anders there on the couch, but of course he wasn’t there. 
He was gone, along with Tom’s t-shirt, she assumed. Something inside her lurched and she couldn’t tell if it was because of her head or the memory of Tom’s t-shirt alive on someone as strapping and fine-looking as Anders. Though Alec had worn one of Tom’s t-shirts too, it was the sight of Anders she couldn’t get out of her head. He was handsome, very handsome. It was okay she admitted it to herself. She was still a living, breathing woman. Even if she never wanted another relationship again, she could still find a man attractive. Besides, this man, she knew, would destroy her business. After the collapse of her ceiling, she didn’t hold up much hope for Cutie Pies any longer. “What am I going to do?” she thought to herself, feeling a list inside herself once more, thinking about Ellie’s need for a new wheelchair, losing her business, paying bills… 
Her head throbbed as she quickly shuffled back to bed, where she opened the window and tucked herself in. She turned on the radio and found some soothing classical music station that didn’t make her head spin. Jane couldn’t remember the last time she was home in the middle of the day and despite the pressing circumstances life was handing her now, she hurt too much to worry about anything except lying there, listening to some woodwinds and the birds outside. Jane ate her breakfast, drank her tea, chasing down a couple more of those pain pills in the process, and promptly fell back asleep.