She walked into Orene’s, surprised to hear Natalie’s voice coming from the kitchen. And even more welcoming, the smell of bacon.
“Good morning.” Sheila poked her head around the corner. “I didn’t see your car, Natalie.”
Natalie and Randy were at the table, and Orene was at the stove pushing bacon across the biggest cast-iron skillet Sheila had ever seen.
“We walked over,” Randy said.
It was kind of nice how walkable things were here. “Your kitchen always has the best smells,” Sheila said, answering a text. “Sorry. The office.”
“I thought you left the team in charge,” Natalie said.
“I did.”
“Then why are they blowing up your phone?”
“It’s fine. No biggie,” Sheila insisted, tucking her phone in her back pocket.
“Thank you. I hope you’re hungry.” Orene looked up from the pan. “You slept in late this morning.”
“No. Actually, I just got back. I went over to the firehouse to check on the Jacob family.”
“That was nice of you. I bet they were surprised.”
“I couldn’t stop thinking about them. I can’t imagine experiencing what they just went through.”
“I hope none of us ever has to,” Orene said. “Let me get you something to eat.”
“I’m not hungry. I’ll just have coffee if there’s any left.”
“Fresh pot just finished brewing.” Orene waved her spatula at the end of the counter. “Everyone eats. House rules.”
Sheila’s phone sounded again. She answered a text and then sat next to Natalie. No words were necessary between them, and the sentiment was crystal clear. Orene had a lot of rules.
Randy said, “I’m personally hoping for your grits and hoop cheese to go with that bacon.”
“I’ve got you covered,” said Orene. “Eggs too. Got to have plenty of protein for the first meal of the day.”
“She was low-carb before keto was cool,” Natalie said.
“Sounds like it.” Sheila poured a cup of coffee and sat at the table.
“Don’t even know what keto really is, but I know how to keep my family fed.” Orene scooped out crispy slices of thick bacon on a paper grocery bag. The grease made Sheila’s stomach queasy. She was more of a one-meal-a-day gal most of the time. Even then, she ate mostly salads, and maybe fish or chicken. Never anything fried.
But when Orene set that big plate of crispy bacon on the table, Sheila couldn’t keep herself from grabbing a piece, and it was so good she ate a second before Orene got the eggs on the table.
“So I was thinking.” Sheila nibbled the bacon. “I know we need to finish planning for the Christmas tree decorating, but do you think once we get that done that we might be able to shop for the Jacob family?”
“Absolutely.” Natalie already had a pen and paper in front of her. “Orene was just saying Doris should have a whole punch list made up this morning.”
“I got it from her while I was visiting.” Sheila spread out the photocopy on the table. “They are going to need a lot of help. Doris is having trouble finding a place that can take in the whole family.”
Orene turned her back to the counter. “I’ve been thinking about that too. I think it would be better if we didn’t have to split them up, especially here at Christmas. I could let them take over the living room and two bedrooms, but it’ll be tight with the Christmas stuff taking up most of the space already. There’s no room for three more adults and four children on top of everything else.”
“I could always go back home,” Sheila said. “It would give you more room here for them.”
“No.” It was an emphatic no, and loud, with all three of them shouting at once.
“Okay. I’m not going anywhere,” Sheila said, shrinking back. Besides, she was kind of looking forward to having a friendly date with the cute fire chief while she was in town.
