Leave No Scone Unturned Read online

  “From what little I know about post-traumatic stress disorder, sufferers can have hallucinations.” Dani put her hand on Ivy’s shoulder.

  “Actually, PTSD sufferers tend to have flashbacks where they temporarily lose connection with their present situation and are transported back in time to a traumatic event. It’s sort of like a daydream, but not a nice one.” Ivy rolled her eyes at Dani. “And I very much doubt Deuce was in a situation where he was battling zombies.”

  Dani glanced at her watch and said, “We’ll have to talk about this later. Right now, we need to load the rest of the samples and get over to the quad. I didn’t pay all that money to rent a space for the Orientation Promenade and not be there when it starts.” Frowning, she muttered, “Especially not with the recent personal chef cancellations I’ve had, not to mention the catering jobs that I bid on that didn’t come through.”

  “Gotcha.” Ivy patted Dani’s arm. “I didn’t realize that business was slow.”

  “Not exactly slow.” Dani sighed. “It’s probably just dropped off because of the pause between summer school and the fall semester.” She lifted her chin. “We’re busy this week and I’m sure it will pick up once classes are in full swing.”

  “That’s right.” Ivy linked her arm with Dani’s. “And to make sure our lunch-to-go service is front and center throughout the week, Tippi, Starr, and I will walk through the crowds wearing sandwich boards and handing out flyers.”

  “That would be great! I should have thought of that myself.” Dani squeezed Ivy’s arm. “Will Starr and Tippi go for that?”

  Ivy shrugged. “If they balk, I’ll just remind them that with fewer lunch-to-go meals to prepare during the break between summer and fall classes and no catering jobs last week, we all owe you hours.”

  “Awesome!” The weight that had been on Dani’s chest since the personal chef cancellations eased a little. “Now, let’s get going.”

  Ivy and Dani hurriedly packed up the remaining food and hopped into the van. The mansion was less than a mile from the NU campus, and although the streets were congested with parents delivering their offspring to college for the first time, Dani made it to the parking lot in ten minutes. Thankful that an assigned parking place had been included in the price of the booth, she and Ivy quickly unloaded the van onto a pair of rolling carts.

  The midday heat made it hard to move fast. And even when Dani slowed her pace, a drop of perspiration rolled down her forehead and into her eye, momentarily blinding her.

  Blinking away the sting, Dani noticed that the university had installed a temporary fake wooden path down the middle of the quad. Evidently, they didn’t want the grass completely trashed by all the students and parents walking among the stalls.

  As Dani and Ivy pushed their carts down the walkway looking for the location of the Chef-to-Go booth, Dani inspected the tables and stands along the way. Every organization from the swing choir to the nudist club was represented, all hoping to lure freshmen and transfer students into joining their groups.

  Together with the organizations vying for the newbies’ attention, merchants like Dani were trying to temp the students to part with their money. A lot of businesses depended on the college crowd to keep their books in the black.

  Dani stopped, pulled the letter of instructions from her pocket, and rechecked her assigned space number. Yep. It was 165 all right, and she was right in front of it. Her three hundred and fifty dollars had gotten her a four-foot folding table covered in a white cloth, a couple of chairs, and a bright-blue awning.

  Thankful she’d decided to pay an extra fifty bucks for the canopy—the glaring sun would have been brutal without any shade—she gestured to Ivy and said, “This is us.”

  “Not a bad spot.” Ivy looked around, beaming at the two fraternity brothers proudly wearing their letters in the booth to her right and the trio of guys representing the intramural soccer league to her left.

  Dani snickered. “Yeah. I picked it just for your enjoyment.”

  She squatted in front of her cart, searching for the white banner printed with her business name and logo—a red chef’s hat. Once she located it, she unfolded the sign and began attaching it to the front of the table using the Velcro tabs glued to the back of the plastic.

  When Dani noticed that Ivy was just standing still and exchanging smiles with the occupants of their neighboring booths, she poked her and said, “Set up the collapsible easels. Put the pictures of the lunches we offer on one and the poster with the information regarding availability, location, and price of our lunch-to-goes on the other.”

  “Will do.” Ivy flipped her long blond hair over her shoulder, shot the frat boys a take-no-prisoners smile, and got to work.

  While Ivy put up the signs, Dani fanned flyers across the tabletop. She paused. Should she place the baskets of promotional items out now or wait until they got back with the samples?

  She eyed the huge swarm of students behind the strip of yellow tape waiting for the starting horn to sound. Definitely wait.

  “Let’s go get the food.” Dani worried her bottom lip. “But we have to hurry. If we don’t make it here before they let the kids in, we’ll never get through the crowd with the carts.”

  Ivy followed Dani’s gaze and said, “Lead on. I’m right behind you.”

  They made a speedy round-trip and were placing platters of samples on their table by the time the beginning buzzer was sounded. As the students surged forward, the noise level was off the charts and the odor of so many sweaty bodies pressed together was enough to make a gym rat faint.

  The Chef-to-Go booth was one of the few serving food and lines quickly formed. Ivy was kept busy replenishing the trays of tasty treats as they disappeared down the hungry mouths of the students, while over the excited voices of the crowd surrounding them, Dani explained the details of the lunch plan to each new group that made it to the front of the queue.

  When the mob finally thinned to an occasional straggler and the frat guys once again began to vie with the soccer players for Ivy’s attention, Dani hid her smile. It had only been a few months since her young friend had tried to bargain her academic talent for a chance to observe how a popular girl attracted the opposite sex.

  While Dani admired Ivy’s mathematical genius, her own understanding of math having stopped once the alphabet decided to get involved, she was glad to see her friend had become more socially adept. Ivy had always been beautiful, with long, blond hair, baby-blue eyes, and a bubbly personality. However, having skipped two grades, the nineteen-year-old college senior had always been one of the youngest in her class, which resulted in a certain naïveté about the whole dating scene. Dani wasn’t sure if Ivy actually learned the art of flirtation from the other girl, or if she’d just gained the necessary confidence to open herself up to the possibilities.

  While Ivy chatted with the boys, Dani glanced at her watch. Officially, they had another thirty minutes, but it was clear that there wouldn’t be many more students coming down the walkway. Making an executive decision not to wait, she started to pack up.

  As Dani began placing the remaining flyers in a box, the woman who had been working the table across from the Chef-to-Go booth approached her and said, “Hi. Four hours of smelling all your wonderful samples has made me ravenous. I’ve been drooling over your food all afternoon.”

  “There’s not much left, but feel free to try it.” Dani held out her hand. “I’m Danielle Sloan, owner, chef, and chief bottle washer.”

  “I’m Hilary Newcastle, owner, stylist, and chief shampooer of Holy Snips.” The attractive thirtysomething brunette grinned and shook Dani’s hand.

  “Is that the salon in the old Lutheran church?” Dani asked.

  Tippi had mentioned having her hair cut and highlighted there. She’d been impressed with both the stylist and the reasonable prices. Dani had thought about stopping by herself, but with Tippi
’s wealthy upbringing, her idea of what was reasonable and Dani’s were usually pretty far apart.

  “It is.” Hilary nabbed an oatmeal carmelita sample and, before popping it into her mouth, added, “The university sold it to me about four years ago. With it being on the edge of college grounds, it’s the perfect site to appeal to students and staff.”

  “I know what you mean. Location is so important for a successful business.” Dani took down one of the posters and started folding its easel. “I run my company from a place that’s nearly smack-dab in the middle between the student apartments and the campus.”

  “Well, I’d be willing to walk farther than that if these cookie things are any indication of what you serve.” Hilary picked up a napkin and wiped her fingers, then grabbed a tiny paper cup full of broccoli-and-cashew slaw. After she finished eating the salad, she asked, “How did you nab such a good setting?”

  “Nearly a year ago, out of the blue, I inherited a bed-and-breakfast from a woman named Geraldine Cook.” Dani shook her head. “She was my late grandmother’s sorority sister, and they’d made some kind of deal to look out for each other’s families.”

  “Wow!” Hilary’s eyes widened. “How lucky can you get?”

  “Actually, it was like the stars all aligned for me because I was unemployed at the time.” Dani shook her head again. “A few weeks before I found out about Mrs. Cook’s bequest, I had resigned my position in the human resources department of Homeland Insurance. When I received that unexpected windfall, I decided that instead of looking for a new job, I’d take advantage of it and try to have the life that I always wanted.”

  “If you always wanted to be a chef,” Hilary asked, “why didn’t you before?”

  “If my father hadn’t insisted that I go to college, I would have attended culinary school, but—” Oops! She didn’t want to talk about her dad so she hurriedly said, “I moved into the partly renovated mansion as soon as the will was settled and started my food company. It took more courage than I knew I had to give up the idea of a steady salary, good benefits, and a nice pension to take a chance on living out my dream, but I’ve never regretted putting away my suits and heels and turning my back on the corporate world.”

  “Good for you.” Hilary smiled. “I felt the same way.”

  “You mean when you opened your own salon?”

  “Uh-huh.” Hilary tilted her head. “You know, you’ve got really gorgeous hair. I can tell your dark amber-blond color is natural, but how about the curls?”

  “It’s all me.” Dani touched her ponytail. “I’m not crazy about the curls, but I don’t have the time or income to get the expensive cuts I used to get that allowed me to style it any other way.”

  “Maybe we can work out some kind of barter system.” Hilary browsed the remaining samples. “My daughter, Crystal, is turning six this coming Saturday and I’d love to have help with her party. If you waive your usual fee to cook and serve, I’ll give you eight free haircuts.”

  “I don’t know.” Dani tucked the easel and poster away and started dismantling the table’s banner. “I’m pretty busy this week and—”

  “I’ll throw in one special occasion shampoo, blowout, and style,” Hilary bargained. “Good anytime for the next year and a half.”

  “No offense.” Dani folded the banner and put it on the rolling cart’s bottom shelf. “What if I don’t like how you cut my hair?”

  “Fine,” Hilary huffed. “I’ll do a demo cut for you tomorrow.”

  “How many are you expecting at your daughter’s party?” Dani asked, tempted by Hilary’s offer.

  It would be so nice to get a really good cut again. And if she ever went out on an important date, it’d be terrific to have someone style her hair for her.

  An image of Spencer dressed in a perfectly tailored black suit escorting her into a fancy Chicago restaurant flashed through Dani’s mind. She sighed and shoved that fantasy away. His continued absence made it pretty darn clear that he had no interest in pursuing any kind of relationship with her beyond the one forced on them because of her connection with his niece.

  “Thirty-two. No, wait, thirty-four including me and my daughter,” Hilary answered quickly, as if she could tell Dani was weakening. “Twenty-two kids and twelve adults.”

  “Wow! You must have a lot of family in the area.” Dani had been expecting about a third of that number, or maybe half at the most.

  “No. It’s just me and my daughter, but she has a big heart and didn’t want to leave out any of her classmates,” Hilary said with a fond expression.

  “How about your daughter’s father?” Dani wanted to make sure the count was correct.

  “He’s not a part of our lives.” Hilary stared into space, her gaze inscrutable, then she winked and said, “We’re better off without him. Husbands are like lawn mowers. They’re hard to start, give off noxious fumes, and half the time they don’t work.”

  “I’ve never been married so I wouldn’t know.” Dani’s cheeks quivered as she tried to keep back the laughter, but a giggle escaped. And then another and another until she finally gained control and continued, “Not that you don’t make it sound attractive.”

  “Thanks.” Hilary smiled smugly. “If I save one woman from making the same mistake as I did, it’s worth it.”

  Deciding it was time to change the subject, Dani asked, “What were you thinking of serving?” Then, afraid the woman’s plans might be too elaborate, she added, “Or I could give you a suggestion based on the theme if you’ve chosen something already.”

  “I’m doing a princess motif,” Hilary explained. “I rented a bouncy castle and ordered a cool smoke-breathing-dragon cake.” She paused. “Could you do a sort of medieval kind of lunch, but with food kids would like?”

  “Hmm.” Dani tapped her chin, then smiled. “How about flatbread pizza, a cheese and fruit platter, turkey drumsticks, and mini tarts?”

  “Perfect. And the kids will love eating with their hands.” Hilary frowned, then tilted her head and bargained, “If you’ll pick up all the food you’ll need, I’ll pay for it.”

  “Okay…” Dani drawled out the word, encouraging Hilary to explain.

  “The thing is”—Hilary’s olive cheeks turned pink—“I might have just a tiny bit of road rage when I get behind a shopping cart. I’ve been banned by two supermarkets.”

  “No.” Dani’s eyebrows rose. “What did you do?”

  “There may have been a few incidents of ramming people in my way.” Hilary smoothed the sleeves of her blouse and didn’t meet Dani’s eyes. “And the guy using the motorized cart was not handicapped. You should have seen how fast he jumped up and ran away when my cart clipped him.”

  “All righty then.” Having no real response to that statement, Dani moved on. “And, if I do cater your daughter’s party, I will definitely do the shopping.”

  “Great.” Hilary smiled serenely. “What time do you want to come in for your cut tomorrow?”

  Dani took out her phone and brought up her schedule. She had lunch-to-go to prepare, but the much lower numbers before classes started meant she’d be finished by twelve thirty. And although she was catering an orientation week dinner for the band, it wasn’t until six.

  “How about one thirty?” Dani suggested. “But I have to be back home no later than three.”

  “That’ll work.” Hilary snagged the one remaining mini beef sandwich, and as she returned to her table, she said, “See you tomorrow.”

  Waving, Dani started loading the dirty trays and plastic containers onto the second rolling cart. She opened her mouth to call Ivy over to help, but before she could speak, the girl’s phone chirped.

  Dani watched as Ivy slipped it from the pocket of her jeans and swiped the screen. Her young friend’s smile gave away the caller’s identity.

  Ivy looked at Dani, her eyes sparkling, and asked, “A
re we almost through here?”

  “Yep.” Dani gestured to the fully loaded carts. “You just need to help me get these to the van and you’re officially off duty.”

  “Awesome.” Ivy’s thumbs flew over her cell phone’s screen. “Laz asked if he can pick me up early for his family’s cocktail party at the library. He wants to introduce me to his parents before the speeches start.”

  Lazarus Hunter’s grandfather had provided the funds for NU’s new library and the ribbon cutting was that evening. With Laz and Ivy seeing each other, although neither of them admitted that they were anything other than friends, Dani had been hoping to get the catering contract for the event. She’d been disappointed when she’d lost it to a more established company, but considering how many other jobs she had scheduled for the week, it was probably better for her sanity that she hadn’t gotten the gig.

  “Meeting the parents, huh?” Dani teased. “That makes me totally believe you two aren’t dating.”

  “We aren’t,” Ivy protested.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Anyway.” Ivy rolled her eyes. “It’ll take me a while to get dressed since I still haven’t decided what to wear.”

  “Then we’d better shake a leg.” Dani scanned their booth, and once she was satisfied she hadn’t left anything behind, she grabbed one of the carts’ handles. Dani made sure Ivy was following her with the other cart before leading the way to the parking lot.

  It only took a few minutes to reach the van, load up, and head home. The streets were still crowded, but once again the mansion’s proximity to the campus paid off and they were pulling into the driveway while Ivy was still debating the merits of her blue-and-white-striped one-shoulder dress versus her pink strapless sheath for the grand-opening party at the library.

  As they brought everything into the kitchen, Ivy finally took a breath and Dani was able to voice her opinion. “I like them both, but the striped dress might be a little too quirky for the occasion.”