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Talk about an inefficient setup. No wonder there was a two-hour wait for a table on the weekends. “The servers cook the food?”
“Just the pancakes.”
Interesting. Juliette switched her attention away from the kitchen to her menu. As Aaron promised, the restaurant had a variety of options. Since the place was called a pancake parlor, pancakes seemed the logical choice. “How does this work?” Several different pancake batters were listed along with numerous things you could have added to them.
Aaron added milk and sugar to the coffee their server set down along with a tray containing several maple products. “You can pick three different pancake batters or just one. Up to you. Then you choose up to three different add-ins. Our server will cook three pancakes and bring them out. When you’re just about done with the first three, she’ll bring out the rest. It’s why the servers make the pancakes instead of the back kitchen.”
“What are you having?”
“Gingerbread with walnuts, cornmeal with blueberries, and oatmeal with coconut. I’m also getting a side of bacon and roasted potatoes. The pancakes aren’t huge.”
Yeah, she’d never finish six pancakes and two sides.
In the end, Juliette ordered four buttermilk pancakes, two with blueberries and two with walnuts, and the special pancake of the day, which consisted of bananas added to an oatmeal batter. She ordered a side of potatoes as well after Aaron promised to finish whatever food she couldn’t.
She watched Brandy, their server, as she walked away and stopped at another table before going to the kitchen. Rather than start cooking like her counterparts around her, Brandy looked in Aaron’s direction again. While talking their order, the woman hadn’t been able to keep her eyes off him.
Look all you want, but he’s with me. “What time did you get up this morning?”
“Three.”
No wonder he’d had a travel mug of coffee with him in the truck. “And how long did you work after I left last night?” She’d kissed him goodnight and driven back to her cottage around nine.
“For about two hours.”
“Four hours of sleep. Why would you do that? We could’ve come here some weekend.”
Reaching across the table, he took her hands. “I wanted to surprise you.”
“You could have surprised me on Saturday and got a few more hours of sleep.”
Moving his thumbs across her palms, Aaron met her eyes as the rest of the room disappeared. “I couldn’t wait until then to have a whole day alone with you.”
If people didn’t surround them, she would have leaned across the table and kissed him. With kissing off the table for the moment, she smiled.
When Brandy set down their order, he released her hands.
“Can I bring you anything else?” the server asked after she refilled Aaron’s coffee.
Although Brandy spoke to him, he held Juliette’s gaze. “I have everything I need here, thanks.”
The words shot past her heart and plunged into her soul.
Following breakfast, they headed into the town of Lincoln and visited first the Basin located in Franconia Notch State Park. They stayed there watching the Pemigewasset River rush into the giant pothole-like formation that had existed for more than ten thousand years. Only when others joined them did they leave and drive to the next location on Aaron’s itinerary.
Curt had mentioned the Flume Gorge, located in the same state park, while telling her about a day trip he’d taken with Taylor and her niece in the fall. She’d never considered taking the time to visit herself. The attraction itself didn’t open until May, however, individuals could hike along the Ridge Path regardless of the month. And that was what they did. While more challenging than the walks she’d been taking through the campground, she loved every minute of it and looked forward to more hikes in the future.
Even after their hike, Aaron hadn’t been done with surprises. After a leisurely drive along the Kancamagus Highway, they stopped at his favorite spot, a small parking area with a covered gazebo and an unobstructed view of the mountains. While she enjoyed her surroundings, Aaron covered the bed of his truck with blankets and laid out a late-afternoon picnic. Usually, when she ate outside, she did so on the deck of her cousin’s beach house or under a tent with cloth napkins on the table. And those meals often consisted of filet mignon, not turkey and cheese sandwiches and potato chips. Even still, she’d never enjoyed a meal outside more. And it was all due to the man sitting next to her and, not surprisingly, yawning.
“Tomorrow, I’ll call and make reservations for the three of us at Adventure Park this weekend,” Aaron said, opening a thermos of coffee he’d packed. “Would you rather go on Saturday or Sunday?”
Although she’d suggested they take Tiegan to the indoor skydiving and surfing place weeks ago, they hadn’t gotten around to it yet. “Whatever. It doesn’t matter to me.”
“I’ll—” A yawn interrupted hi
m, and he rubbed his eyes. “—try for Saturday.”
“I think we should go.”
