A statuesque woman with a head of wild blond curls approaches our table, and Seth rises from his seat to greet her. She's wearing a white chef's jacket over a pair of worn jeans.
"Seth! It's so good to see you," she says, enveloping him in a hug.
She's wearing shoe boots that raise her to at least six feet, and she carries her height proudly. When they embrace, I'm not getting a flirtatious vibe, just two old friends seeing each other again.
Seth remains standing, hands in his pockets. "I heard you moved back to Foster's Creek, but I didn't believe it."
She grins and shrugs her shoulders. "Andrew and Marietta opened this place and needed a pastry chef. It was good timing for me to come back."
Seth gestures toward me. "This is Andie Fiarello. Her father is marrying Renata."
Savannah's eyes widen in surprise. "Wow, that's great news! So nice to meet you, Andie."
She takes my hand in her warm grip.
"Likewise," I say.
"Andrew is going to be bummed he missed you," she tells Seth. "I guess you heard about baby number three?"
"I did," Seth says. "Every time I turn around, they've got another one."
Savannah laughs. "It does seem that way."
Our waiter arrives with our tray of food, and Savannah steps aside.
"Let me get out of the way so y'all can enjoy your meal. I'll send out some desserts later."
I give her a grateful wave, hoping she plans to send something chocolatey. "Thanks so much."
Seth says goodbye to her and takes his seat again. "Savannah and Andrew's wife Marietta are twins. Completely different women though."
"How so?"
"Marietta couldn't wait to settle down, and Savannah ran out of Foster's Creek as fast as she could. Moved to Paris for a while, then San Francisco. Never thought she'd come back."
"She seems nice."
"She is. And she's funny, kind of quirky like you. I think you two would be good friends."
"If I were staying here.”
Seth puts his napkin on his lap and doesn't respond to the reminder that I'm leaving soon.
My first bite of peaches on a bed of freshly picked greens topped with a sprinkle of goat cheese and crushed pistachios tells me that this is going to be a meal to remember.
"I can't believe food like this is being served next door to a gas station where you can buy fishing bait," I say, after I've devoured my salad and a slice of fried green tomato with garlic aioli. "You should talk to your friends about buying cheese from Renata."
Seth gently bumps my knee with his under the table. "Great idea. I'll get in touch with Andrew about it."
Even that small touch sends my pulse racing. We're having a lovely evening, but I'm already mentally fast-forwarding to the end of the night when I get to see him naked.
Conversation at dinner has been easy, as we talk about our friends and our pasts. He laughs about fact that I ran for class president my senior year, just to depose the popular girl who was the incumbent. I find out he was ROTC, which comes as no surprise.
"Did you always want to be in the military?" I ask.
"Not really," he says. "When I graduated, Renata and James had one son in college and another one other headed there. I knew they couldn't afford to help me with tuition, and I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life anyway. The military seemed like a good way to earn money for school while I figured out what I wanted to do. My mom wouldn't have wanted me to join the military, but I didn't have many other options."
"Why would she have opposed it?" I ask.
