But that night wasn’t tonight, and it most likely wouldn’t be tomorrow night either. There was no way to know how long it would be until he finally won her over — if he ever did.
Chapter 17
The next morning bright and early, Cristie walked into the restaurant. She greeted everyone she passed, and went right into the kitchen.
“Morning, Richie! Morning Remi!”
“Morning,” they both replied.
“Richie, did Remi tell you about all the beautiful things we bought for his house?”
“No. No, he did not. You bought some beautiful things?” Richie asked, focusing on Remi.
“All I did was pay for it. Cristie picked them out,” Remi said, flipping several different items he had sizzling on the grill top.
“What’d you get, Cristie?” Richie asked.
“A new sectional sofa with recliners on each end. And another separate recliner, too. And some new wooden blinds, in a dark oak color to offset the light camel color of the new furniture. And we got some new curtains, white, so they’ll offset the dark oak blinds. And some new bath sheets for the bathrooms, and new shower curtains to match. And we got new bedding for the bedrooms, and place mats for the kitchen table, and new dishes and baking sheets and cookie sheets and a couple of pie plates and even new stemless wine glasses. I don’t think you saw those, Remi, I added them at the last minute. And I’m really excited about the new coffee mugs that come with the new dishes.”
“Sounds like y’all were busy,” Richie said, looking at Remi with his brows raised in question.
“We were, and then brought home takeout because it was late and we were tired,” Cristie said. ‘Oh, my gosh, it was so good.”
“It was good,” Remi agreed.
“Hmpf. Okay. Sounds like you’ll be all set up, now.”
“Seems like,” Remi said. He walked over to the coffee maker where a decanter he usually filled with coffee sat beneath the spout, steaming with the hot water and tea that had dripped into it. He took the coffee filter he’d used to hold the tea leaves when he’d run the hot water over them out of the top of the decanter and threw it and the tea leaves away. Then he reached for a pitcher he’d made a simple syrup in and filled a plastic quart bottle filled with ice one third of the way with the syrup, then added the hot mint tea. He put the top on the bottle, then walked over to Cristie, pausing along the way to pick up a paper bag that had been warming under the lights. “Here you go. Breakfast and your coffee.”
“Thanks,” Cristie said, holding up the plastic container and eyeing the drink inside it.
“Oh, I made you a different one to try. Here’s your original,” he said, going back and grabbing a second quart bottle and handing her that one, too.
“Thank you. That’s very thoughtful.”
“You’re welcome. I hope you like it.”
She smiled at them as she backed toward the door. “Oh, I forgot to tell you I got a text from the furniture store this morning. They’re going to deliver your furniture and your blinds and all tomorrow right before lunch. Your window sizes are some of the standard that they keep in stock, so the blinds are coming from the manufacturer today.”
“Awesome,” Remi said. The inflection in his voice was not exactly what one would think of to match the word awesome. It wasn’t negative, it was just kind of flat — just a word, not really an emotion.
“Oh, I didn’t think about it, but you’ll be here until later in the afternoon.”
“It’s okay, we’ll work it out,” Remi said.
“No, you know what? I’ll let Alex know I need tomorrow off. I’ll go over to your place and wait for the delivery and make sure they get it set up right and all.”
“You don’t have to do that, Cristie.”
“Yes, I do. Besides, how much would I win if I bet that you still have the bags we brought home last night, right exactly in the same place you dropped them.”
He grinned sheepishly. “Probably a lot.”
“I’ll get it all put away and all the old stuff out and moved to some of the guest homes.”
“Not all of it. I might need some of it, cooking stuff and glasses or something.”
“I’ll look through it and see.”
