woman’s voice said. “That’s the pretty little chef from the food truck thingy over at Tangle Valley. You know, the one they hired on once Jack Wilder passed?”
Well, well. Gabriella knew the voice. It belonged to Thelma McDougall, one of the four little old ladies who made up the gossip squad in the town of Whisper Wall, Oregon, nicknamed the Old Biddies. They were equal parts charming and trouble, wrapped up in a bundle of girl power. Gabriella adored and feared them. The rest of the town seemed to agree.
“Oh, my, yes. I forget her name, but I always call her the pretty one out there. Just a real looker,” Maude Berkland, another Biddy, said in her recognizable vibrato. Gabriella kept her back to them, not wanting to interrupt their fun even if they were way too loud to be discreet. There were only a handful of tables in the café. Surely, they knew she could hear them. Right? You’d never know it, though, and this wasn’t exactly unusual. She ran into them most any morning she dropped by the Biscuit. This was apparently their morning gathering spot, where over coffee and fresh-baked bakery items they discussed the ins and outs of whoever passed through the shop.
“From what I hear,” Janet, another Biddy, informed the table, “she’s from some big Italian family from the Northeast. No husband. Likes the ladies.”
“Nothing wrong with that,” Birdie said sweetly. All four Biddies, present and accounted for. “I used to like a lady here and there in my day.”
“Oh, you did not,” Maude said, making a scoffing noise from the back of her throat. “You’re just trying to show off again. You’re always doing that under the pretense of playing coy. You’re not the coolest one here, Birdie.”
“Well, I just might be,” Birdie said sweetly. “You don’t know.”
Gabriella smothered a grin and waited patiently for her order.
“I like the food she makes in that truck a whole lot,” Janet said to the other Biddies. “Gonna mosey over and see if she’s making that homemade pasta with the killer sauce at lunch. The kind with that fresh cheese on top. I’m a sad little addict for cheese. All kinds. My doctor has opinions, but I just don’t care.”
“Get me some wine while you’re there,” Maude commanded. “I like the red kind. Three bottles should do it.”
Clementine showed up with the greasy white bag containing Gabriella’s order from heaven. Gabriella held it up and felt herself beam. “Now my morning can start right. See you soon, Clem.”
“I’m betting on the day after tomorrow. You can’t stay away long,” Clem said with a grin and went to work stocking the pastry display case that showed off a variety of muffins, breads, and even a few cake doughnuts. None of those compared to the wonder of their biscuits, however. Those things put them on the map for good reason. Sweet Lord.
As Gabriella passed the Biddies, she offered a wiggle of four fingers. “Sausage rigatoni, arancini, roasted mushroom ravioli, and a prosciutto and goat cheese salad. All on the lunch menu today. Plenty of that special cheese you like, too, Ms. Janet. Come out and see me.”
The Biddies practically glowed at the invitation, chattering back over one another.
“Sounds marvelous.”
“Good to see your beautiful face, sweetheart.”
“My mouth is watering at that list.”
“I need some of that special cheese.”
With warm biscuits and bacon in her bag and a skip in her step, Gabriella hopped in her forest-green Jeep Wrangler and drove home to Tangle Valley Vineyard, quite possibly the most beautiful place on Earth, to start her workday. It would begin with food prep. Until the restaurant she would oversee as executive chef was ready to open, she worked out of Jolene, her trusty bright blue food truck, with the mission of feeding the patrons of the vineyard as they stopped in for a tasting, tour, or wine purchase. Business at her truck had been booming, and she was thrilled she’d made the move to Oregon when she’d been offered the position at the soon-to-be restaurant.
This morning, she followed the winding road past the quaint sign announcing the vineyard until she sat at the top of the hill that overlooked the expanse of land below. It was springtime, and that meant everything was taking a big stretch and waking up from the winter slumber. Greens, yellows, and pinks popped all around, temperatures were beginning to rise, and everything had a fresh, new feeling. There was a buzz in the air, and