Love Starts with Elle(103)

Rice: “We need some sort of payment, Caroline. Look, I know Jones didn’t leave y’all in good shape, but can we see something?”

Me: “I understand, Mr. Dooley. I’ll get a payment to you this week. But we need corn and shrimp or the Frogmore Café is without Frogmore Stew.”

“I know you’re doing all you can to juggle things, Caroline.” Andy whacks an onion in two.

The soft bite of my biscuit melts in my mouth. “Unfortunately, there’s more debt to juggle than credit.”

In the aftermath of kind and compassionate Jones McDermott’s death, I discovered a hard truth: he was a horrible businessman. As a result, I’ve learned how to tap dance around due dates, how to stretch imaginary dollars.

“Any word from the lawyer?” Andy asks, turning to the stove, pouring eggs into a hot skillet.

I’m going to write “Nope” across my forehead and point to it when people ask, “Any word from the lawyer?”

“Nothing new.”

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Andy leans over the prep table toward me. “Mercy Bea is hoping Jones left the place to her?” He grabs a handful of diced veggies and sprinkles them on the cooking eggs.

“Why would she want this place?” I gesture to the dingy white kitchen walls and cheap linoleum floor. “It’s a money pit, in need of some serious loving. The old girl needs an owner with deep, generous pockets.”

“Mercy Bea or the Café?”

Brushing biscuit crumbs from the corner of my lips, I laugh softly and head for the dining room. “You’re bad, Andy.”

A guttural um-um-um vibrates from the cook’s immense chest. “This money pit is putting food on my table, paying the bills. Gloria’s been out of work for over a month now on account of her back. I need this job. I’m believing God has a plan.”

The cook’s confidence makes me pause at the kitchen door. “If there is such a thing as an all-knowing, all-seeing All Mighty, He might have a plan for the Café. But Jones? I’m not so sure.”

Andy’s large shoulders roll as he laughs. “Guess you’re right about Jones. Yes sirree. But the wife and I are praying, Caroline.”

“You do that. I’ll wish upon a star.”