Down Home and Deadly

for him made about as much sense to me as trying to bring back a bad migraine once it was gone.
    She carefully placed the checker back in its original place on the board and looked up at me. “For closure for the kids. And for me, too, really. If we get married, Elliott would like to adopt them, and I’d like that , too. Even though I feel sure we could get it approved on grounds of abandonment, I’d rather have Travis’s permission.”
    I shook my head. “My gut is saying that finding Travis is a terrible idea, Carly. In this case, I can’t think of any better advice than to let sleeping dogs lie.” Or in Travis’s case, let lying dogs sleep, but I didn’t say that out loud. “What does Elliott think?”
    She bit her lower lip and pushed her curls back from her face. “He agrees with you.”
    I didn’t know what to say. Nobody likes to feel ganged up on. “So how’s the hiring process going?”
    She grimaced to let me know she knew what I was doing, but picked up the new subject. “Pretty good. I kept Arnie to wash dishes but hired a new guy, too. Same with the cook. Of course , most of the new staff isn’t starting until after the g rand o pening , since Harvey and Alice are going to help out with that. Hard to believe those two were doing half the cooking and dishwashing themselves.”
    I idly moved a black checker. “They don’t have kids,” I reminded her. “The twins and Zac would be disappointed if you turned into a workaholic.”
    She laughed and slid a red checker forward one space. “The twins might be. But now that he’s a senior, Zac thinks he doesn’t need his mama anymore.”
    “Is he going to work here after school?” I moved another checker.
    She nodded as she responded with a move of her own. “I’ll have some part - time hours for him. Most of the waitresses stayed on, though. And I hired Marco as a waiter.”
    I smiled. “Oh good. He always impressed me with his work ethic at the gym . He’s punctual and never goofs off.”
    “I hired him already. You can stop the streaming reference message.”
    “Did you call Lisa about him?” I asked as I considered my next move.
    “Didn’t think I needed to with you here,” Carly said, edging her checker close to being able to jump mine. “Especially since he was honest about her firing him.”
    I frowned and pushed my black playing piece out of harm’s way. “Did he say what reason she gave?”
    Carly shook her head and countered with another move. “Just said she fired him for no good reason.”
    “Sounds like her.” With Lisa on my mind, I shoved my checker hard without really thinking.
    Carly reached across, jumped over two of my checkers, and scooped them up.
    “Wait a minute!” I protested. “I wasn’t paying attention.”
    “When you play on my porch, you should always pay attention,” she said facetiously. “Welcome to the Down Home Diner.”
    *****
    “Jenna.”
    I spun around with the dishcloth still in my hand.
    Carly, her dark hair curling around her sweaty face, beamed at me from the kitchen window. “Can you snag the garbage when you’re done?”
    “Sure. Why not?” I wiped the crumbs from the counter into my hand and waggled my fingers over the trash can. Across the room, Harvey patiently showed Marco how to clean the salad bar at the close of the day. I pushed the kitchen door open with my shoulder. “Carly, if success can be measured by garbage, I’d say your grand opening was a resounding triumph.”
    Carly looked up from stirring a large pot of tomorrow’s soup of the day she already had simmering over the burner. “You think so?”
    I washed my hands at the stainless steel double sink .
    “She’s right.” Alice reached across Carly and salted the soup. “ Harvey took it out not twenty minutes ago.”
    Carly put her hand on Alice ’s. “I already salted it.”
    “I know you did, honey, but just not enough for bean soup. Beans absorb salt like little sponges.” Hearty shakes of salt punctuated each word.
    Carly tossed me a pleading look over her shoulder. That old saying about too many cooks spoiling the broth was definitely proving true during this transition period of old diner owner to new.
    I gathered the handles of the black plastic bag and cleared my throat. “ Alice , thanks to that last rush of police officers we had an hour ago, most of the pie is gone. But there are a few pieces left in each pan. What do you do with those?”
    Alice glanced out at the pie counter.