Searching For Jenna novel Chapter 48

One of the waitresses who had been working at the restaurant when Elliot left almost nine months ago came out to wait on them. "Oh my God, Elliot! You look great!"

Elliot stood and hugged the woman. "Thank you, Rachel. You look great too," Elliot said giving her an appreciative once over. She was beautiful. A short, curvy brunette with long wavy hair and dark brown eyes.

Rachel punched Elliot in the arm. "Don't even look at me like that now. I tried forever to get you to go out with me but you were hooked on some chick that broke your heart. I've got a boyfriend now."

Snapping his fingers, Elliot said, "Dang it! The one that got away."

"That's right," Rachel laughed. "You had your chance." She turned to his mother. "I hear you're this handsome fella's dead mother."

Darlene laughed at the young woman's comical expression. "That would be me." She put her arm around Terry, "His father's still dead, this is my fiance? Terry, and I'm Darlene."

Rachel put her arm around Elliot's waist. "Good looking family. Glad you came by the see us. Alonzo put your appetizer order in. I'm here to take your drink and meal order if you're ready."

Elliot and Terry ordered beer and Darlene had Sprite. She wasn't allowed to have alcohol while she was on her pain meds. Some of the other staff who had worked with Elliot came out to say, "hi," through the course of their meal, including Russo himself.

"You know, you can always come back to work for me," Russo told Elliot. "You were a great understudy."

"Thanks, Chef Russo," Elliot said delighted with the compliment from the gruff older man. "I'll keep that in mind. Right now I'm still figuring out what I'm going to do next, but I will definitely take the offer under consideration."

"Good," Russo said with his thick New York accent. "It was nice to meet you," he said to Darlene and Terry giving them a slight bow and salute.

"Wow," Darlene said. "You made quite a few friends here."

"Yeah," Elliot agreed. "I liked it here, but I liked working for Sandy better. I was the head chef and made the decisions about most of the entrees we offered."

"Does Sandy still have the restaurant?" Darlene asked.

"Yes. I talked to her last month. Jason is trying so hard to keep up, but he's still learning a lot of cooking techniques," Elliot said.

"Are we going to meet her this trip?" Darlene asked.

"I was planning on it," Elliot said. "I thought we'd go down to Morehead the day after tomorrow. I talked to the farmer who I was renting the trailer from, and he said we could stay out there if we wanted to. It's in the middle of nowhere, but I loved it. It was so quiet and peaceful." Elliot sipped his beer and then added, "And I thought we'd stop in Farmers on the way back and visit Cara's mom and grandparents."

"That's a wonderful plan," Darlene said. "I'd love to see Caroline and Cara." Darlene reached over and took Elliot's hand when his expression turned sad. "I'm so sorry about how things have been between the two of you."

Elliot nodded. "Yes. Won't that be amazing?"

Terry squeezed Darlene's hand and reached for Elliot's. When Elliot took his hand, he looked at the two of them and said, "You will never have to worry about that with me."

"Elliot!" Sandy cried when he walked into the restaurant. She went to him and wrapped him in a tight hug, and then punched him in the arm. "Why didn't you call me and tell me you were coming by?"

"I wanted to surprise you," Elliot said.

"Well, you did that," Sandy said. "And who are these lovely people with you?"

"Sandy, this..." Elliot paused and looked around at the people in the room suspiciously.

"It's all clear," Sandy said. "The FBI sweep cleared out a lot of undesirables, and the citizens have run off the rest."

Elliot nodded. "This is my mother, Darlene and her fiance? Terry. Mom, Terry, this is Sandy."

Sandy hugged both of them, surprising Darlene and Terry. "Any family of Elliot's is family to me. I hope you all are here to eat."