Gifted Connections 3

We all laughed once more and somehow, I thought that Marcel would pick up a Nicholas Sparks novel just to prove most of us wrong. I could imagine the lean, built black man as a magazine reader but never a novel reader. He went a mile a minute. I couldn’t imagine him sitting still long enough to read a book.

“Okay, so it sounds like we have a game plan,” Jace stated. “I’ll finish the schedules and email the whole team.”

***

“It’s a good thing we have another team relieving us at noon,” Jaxson stated as he unloaded his laptop.

I opened up my banana nut muffin and took a bite of it. “I know,” I rolled my eyes. “Just as long as we’re buying food and drinks, I don’t understand why they have a four-hour rule.”

There were signs posted everywhere that, even if you were a paying customer, you couldn’t use one of their tables or couches for more than four hours. The coffee shop was really cute, and I loved the smell of the coffee grounds and warm pastries. I didn’t see this as a mission. I was getting my school work done and still able to see if I could spot the woman who gave birth to me. We had taken up residence on their oversized leather sofa. It had the perfect vantage point of the door.

“I’m okay with that,” Kade shrugged as he took a drink of his hot tea. He didn’t have a taste for coffee yet. “Can we go snowboarding after this?” he asked hopefully.

“I don’t see why not,” Jaxson nodded as he started his laptop.

“I might skip out today,” I said with a rueful smile. Every bone in my body was protesting from yesterdays ‘abuse’ and I still hadn’t checked out the hot tub. If I was left alone for long enough, I might even be able to finish Drake’s Christmas present.

Remy had his housekeeper send us the binders and note card boxes Drake had kept his hand-written recipes in at his house. I know he had started a new binder, but I thought he would like his old recipes accessible as well. I had been meticulously separating his recipes according to categories and sub categories. I was typing them out, and then I had until the end of the week to have it digitally sent to a company that promised to have a hard-bound copy for me by Christmas.

“Are you sure? It sounded like a lot of people were heading back there today. Who knows the next time we get a paid vacation?” Jaxson laughed.

“I doubt we’ll be leaving anytime soon,” I said skeptically. “I’ll go tomorrow.” I promised him.

“Will you try out the snowboards?” Jaxson asked hopefully.

I thought about it for a second. “Sure,” I shrugged. Might as well make the most of this experience while we were here. Who knew when we would have another opportunity to pretend we led a normal life and vacations could be a thing?

I noticed I started to tense and jump every time the bell above the door rang. I started to feel restless when she didn’t enter or anyone that looked like her. It looked like a lot of colleges were on winter break, though, due to the heavy traffic of young college aged students I saw. They came in groups, and very few of them lingered.

Only two tables besides our couch seemed to be occupied for most of the day. It wasn’t until the fiftieth or so customer that I finally had to put my work books away. I had made good headway into my assignments, and I couldn’t focus on it any longer.

I pulled out Drake’s binders and notecard boxes and opened up the files I had for each of the categories. I started to type in one of the recipes, making sure to carefully input all the ingredients and amount in correctly.

“Whatcha working on?” Jaxson asked as he leaned forward in his seat.

“None ya,” I joked as I smiled, trying vainly to shield him from my computer screen. I had already let Remy in on the surprise but I doubted Jaxson could keep the secret.

“Are those Drake’s recipes?” Jaxson asked mystified.

I sighed. “Yes, and please don’t tell him I have them.”

Jaxson picked up one of the notecards and squinted at the writing. “How can you even read this? It’s all chicken scratch. Why are you typing it all up?”

I laughed as I picked up his notebook filled with notes. “Like you can talk,” I said as I pointed at his own

handwriting. “You have the penmanship of a fourth grader.”

“At least you can read it,” he said in mock disgruntlement. “Why are you evading my other question?”

I groaned before standing up. “If you must know, it’s his Christmas present. Can you please keep a lid on this secret? Not everyone likes to ruin their surprises. Now I’m going to grab a drink. Do you guys want anything?”

Kade rubbed his stomach. “Can I have a bagel with cream cheese and a soda?”

I smiled, not surprised he wanted to eat again. “Sure can.”

“I’m great at keeping secrets if I have to,” Jaxson said sullenly. “Can I have another cup of coffee and a bagel as well?”

“What kind?” I asked. “Please do keep this one secret.”