Second Chance at the Orchard Inn, page 23
“No?”
“No. You scare me too. You and me. Us. I’m scared of getting close to you again. Scared of getting hurt.” He shook his head to keep her from speaking. “I know I never told you that I was heartbroken, too, when you left after school, but I was. I knew I’d made a mistake almost as soon as I did it. I wanted you back. But I couldn’t…I had no right to keep you from your dreams. Your plans for culinary school, and after. I couldn’t stand in the way of that, especially not after what I’d done. So I let you go, but I should’ve told you I still loved you. And being with you lately, spending all this time together, realizing all those feelings are still there—I’ve been so happy. But I was like a scared kid again. Because I still love you, Aurora. I don’t know that I ever stopped loving you.”
Aurora’s heart longed to hold him, to tell him it was okay, she felt the same, but she waited for him to finish.
“I talked to my dad, at the hospital, and I realized that fear, fear of failing, of disappointing my dad, and then fear of losing him, it’s kept me from the best things in my life. It’s stopping me from doing what I really want.”
Her heart soared, high above the kitchen. Even high above the Orchard Inn. It’s what she’d longed to hear ten years ago. Two days ago. Two minutes ago.
“And what do you really want?” she dared to ask.
Jude smiled, his blue eyes like the deepest, warmest ocean. “You, silly. I want you.” He took her hands in his. “I want to be with you, open a restaurant with you, make plans and dream big dreams with you. I love you, Aurora.”
She swallowed hard against the knot in her throat, the swell of emotions threatening to overwhelm her. “I love you too,” she managed.
Jude kissed her.
Hard and fast, sweeping her up against him and holding on to her like he was holding on for life.
“I’m not going to cry,” he muttered against her hair.
The big softie.
“That’s okay, because I think I am.” Truth was, she was a big softie too.
After a long moment, he leaned back to study her face. “I want to open that restaurant. I’m going to open that restaurant.” He spoke with full confidence and all the authority in the world. “And I’d love to have you as the chef. I want to support you in your dreams and help make them come true. I never want to lose you again and I know I screwed up. Maybe I lost your trust and you might want to go back to L.A., but that doesn’t matter. This is still how I feel, and I owe it to myself and to you, to tell you the truth. To put it all out there on the line.”
Aurora smiled, her cheeks tired from smiling and crying and the flurry of emotions that’d swirled around her all day.
“I’m so happy to hear you say that,” she said. “But I can’t be your chef.”
His face fell, those deep eyes sorrowful. “You can’t?”
“No. Because I realized something, too, just in the last twenty-four hours. I don’t want to be anyone’s chef or employee. I want my own restaurant, or least equal partnership in it.”
His sad eyes crinkled at the corners. “I’m listening.”
Aurora cleared her throat. “I could be your partner.”
A smile broke out across his face as he swept her up again with a whoop. “I love that idea. Yes!”
She couldn’t say another word for the next minute, while he spun her around the room, dropping tiny kisses onto her cheeks.
“This is the best idea anyone’s ever had,” he claimed.
Aurora giggled until her sides hurt. “Put me down before you hurt yourself.”
Once she was back on her feet, she took his hands in hers. “I’ll find a way to pull together my part of the investment. I don’t know how, exactly, but I believe in myself. I know I can do it. And obviously I’ll put in the sweat equity. I’m ready for my own place, and I can prove it.”
Jude glowed, radiating like he’d just won a million dollars. “I know you are, and I know you can. Let’s do it. Let’s make our dreams come true.”
He kissed her again, so deeply and slowly that she almost forgot about her pie.
“Oh my gosh!” Aurora jumped away from him and hurried to the oven.
The latticework crust on top was just starting to golden. “Whew. Needs a few more minutes.”
“Is that the contest winner?” Jude asked.
“It’s the trial run. I’ll bake the real one right before the jamboree. By the way, what’s in the basket?” She nodded toward the counter.
“Oh. That.” His voice was flat, no inflection. “Well. I brought you something. It’s not a gift. I wanted it to be a gift, but it’s— I think I did something wrong.”
“What is it?”
She opened one end of the picnic basket to find a pie inside.
His lemon icebox pie.
“Aw, you baked! Kind of.”
“I destroyed it. I tried a bite of it and…”
Aurora pulled the pie from the basket and got a knife. “It looks okay. Can’t be that bad.”
“Trust me, it’s worse.”
She cut a small slice and placed it on a plate. Carefully, she tried a bite.
The tartness hit her salivary glands like a Mack truck. “Oh!” She puckered, swallowing it down. “That’s…” She reached for a glass of water. “That’s lemon pie all right.”
“See?” He groaned. “I might kill someone with that pie!”
“How much lemon zest did you use?”
“Um…” He scrunched his brow. “I thought it called for lemon juice.”
“Oh no.” Aurora pushed the pie to the side. “That…we’re going to forget about that. I have a better recipe for you anyway. A honey-lavender custard.”
“Yeah?” He stepped closer again, sweeping her hair back from her shoulders. “I like both of those things.”
“So do I,” she said. “And I’ll even show you how to make it as soon as mine is done.”
“You’d do that for me? The competition?”
Aurora raised up on her tiptoes, wrapping her arms around his neck before kissing him gently on the lips. “What’s a little competition between partners?”
Chapter 24
The morning of the jamboree, Jude drove Aurora, her destined-to-win pie, and his honorable mention to the grounds where the annual event was held. He parked them as close as he could and escorted her toward the baking contest tent.
“You got this in the bag.” He squeezed her close, carrying both of their pies in his picnic basket.
“Why am I nervous? This shouldn’t make me nervous.”
“Because deep down you’re as competitive as Beth, but you try to deny it. Relax though, no way anyone can beat your pie.”
“I don’t know, there are some folks here who have been cooking for a lot of years.”
Jude brushed off the thought as blasphemy. He didn’t care what anyone else brought to the table. Aurora was taking home that trophy.
They passed the rodeo area, finding Cece, Beth, and Sawyer.
“Hey.” Sawyer shook Jude’s free hand and gave Aurora a hug. “Y’all headed to the big contest?”
With an arched brow, Aurora asked, “The big contest?”
“Yeah, apparently it’s all the buzz today. Big baking contest, they’ve got a publisher here as one of the judges. Winner might get in a cookbook.”
Aurora tensed next to him. “That’s right. In the tornado that’s been my life lately, I forgot all about a publisher judging the contest.”
“What have you got to worry about?” Jude asked. “You’re a pro. I’m the one entering a serious contest with no clue how to bake.”
She patted his arm. “I helped you. You’ll be fine. I’m nervous though. That’s a serious judge.”
“You guys coming?” Jude asked the others.
“Wouldn’t miss it.” Cece grinned, staring back and forth between him and Aurora.
They made their way to the contest area, weaving through pockets of people, when a blur of brown and speckled white whizzed past Jude’s peripheral.
“Dog!” Cece blurted.
“Well, hello.” Aurora stopped in her tracks, blocked by an eagerly nudging, waggling nub-tailed German pointer. “It’s Roscoe.” She reached down to scratch his ears, much to Roscoe’s delight.
Roscoe’s leash lay stretched out on the ground behind him.
“Did you escape Mrs. Watterson again?” Jude asked the dog.
Cece scratched him on the shoulders. “Is this the baby chicken dog?”
“This would be him,” Aurora answered.
“Roscoe made you talk to me that day.”
Aurora rolled her eyes. “He did not make me talk to you. I was going to talk to you.”
Jude scoffed before laughing. “Sure. You were all kinds of chatty.”
“Okay fine. Roscoe broke the ice.”
“Thank you, Roscoe.” Jude patted him on the head.
Cece picked up the leash. “Y’all are so weird. I’ll take him back to Mrs. Watterson.”
“Bye, Roscoe.” Aurora waved. “Are we weird?” she asked as they kept walking.
Jude shrugged, scanning above the crowd for the right tent. “Maybe. But I’d be weird with you any day.”
Aurora smiled up at him. “Me too.”
He spotted the pie contest tent, and they found it filled with people and excited chatter.
“Looks like Sawyer was right, this is the place to be.”
Jenna found them, rushing up with Wyatt in his wrap. “I can’t wait to see how you two do. There are thirty entries. Thirty.”
Jude’s mom was several steps behind Jenna, Bonnie and Meredith with her.
“Aurora.” His mom opened her arms as they approached, hugging Aurora. “Jude told me how you helped him with that pitiful pie of his. Thank you for making the farm look good.”
He’d told her more than that; he’d also said they’d talked about the restaurant and their plans. Maybe she’d play it cool though.
“And he told me you two are going to be partners in opening a restaurant on the farm. John and I are so excited to see it come to life.”
Nope. Not playing it cool at all.
“That’s the plan.” Aurora smiled. “How is Mr. Jones?”
“He’s doing very well.” His mom sighed. “He wanted to be here, but he still tires really easily. The doctors said while he heals up from the stents, he has to stay close to home. Then, he’ll be able to get out and about more and more.”
“Well, please tell Mr. Jones I’ll bring him by some of my best rabbit food next week. I’m determined to find a plant-based meal he loves as much as country-fried steak.”
Linda laughed. “From your lips to the Lord’s ears. And you know, at some point, you’re going to have to stop calling him Mr. Jones.”
Aurora smiled. “I promise I’ll try.”
“Y’all better get your pies to the check-in guy.” Bonnie pointed to a table with a stern-looking sort holding a clipboard.
“I’ll go with you,” Meredith said with a smile. “I want to find out how one becomes a judge of these things.”
Jude and Aurora entered their pies and received pieces of paper with their entry numbers. Now all they could do was wait.
Meredith and Bonnie busied themselves interviewing the various contest admins about how one got involved in such a gig. Beth, Sawyer, and Cece joined them just as the judges got seated and, one by one, slices of pie were presented to them.
There were five judges in all, and Jude tried to determine which one was the big-shot publisher.
“Have they tried yours yet?” A tall man approached Aurora, a petite, familiar-looking blonde beside him.
“Hey!” Aurora hugged them both, and a lightbulb went on for Jude.
That was Aurora’s mom.
“Jude, you know my mom, and this is her boyfriend, Lyle.”
“I almost didn’t recognize you,” Jude admitted, hugging her mom. She looked younger than she had ten years ago. “Nice to meet you,” he told Lyle.
“Your mom told me you’re staying in town,” Lyle said, his happiness evident. “And you’re going to open a restaurant. That’s awesome!”
“Thank you.” Aurora’s cheeks deepened in color. “This is my business partner and…” She looked at him, a giant question mark looming.
Jude nodded, not quite satisfied with that introduction either. He didn’t want to be her business partner first, boyfriend second. There was nothing like the present to make it official.
“Boyfriend,” Jude said. “Boyfriend and business partner.”
Cece grinned from ear to ear. “Yeah, you are.”
Aurora’s color deepened even more.
“I wanted to talk to you about the restaurant later too,” Lyle said. “Your mom mentioned start-up money and maybe an angel investor or some seed money to back you as partner?”
Aurora blinked. “Yeah, I want to contribute my share. I have some savings and Cece has found one investor already, but I’m still figuring out the rest.”
“Good.” Lyle nodded. “Let’s talk. I was once a start-up myself and now I have my own contractor company. I might be interested in making an investment.”
She beamed. “Really? That’d be…yes! Let’s talk.”
“Oh my gosh.” Cece elbowed Jude, hard. “I think that’s your pie.”
Jude checked his number and, yep. Pie number 12 was up.
The judges each took a bite or two, but he couldn’t tell a thing from their expressions.
“At least none of them spit it out,” he said.
“Oh, stop,” his mom said.
Jenna bounced Wyatt. “Yeah, have some faith.”
Aurora’s was up next. “Ugh, lucky number thirteen,” she said.
“Now this one, I have faith in.” Jude wrapped his arm around her. “It’s a winner. You’ll see.”
Almost an hour later, they all milled about, still waiting for the contest announcement.
Sawyer had gotten restless and already had gone to look at the horses and returned.
“I never thought I’d be this anxious about pie,” he said to Jude.
“Tell me about it.” Jude shifted on his feet.
Finally, someone tapped on a microphone.
“If we could have your attention, please. The judges have reached a decision.” The man with the clipboard had the mic and fumbled with the envelope. “The winner of this year’s Stonewall Peach JAMboree and Rodeo’s first annual pie contest is…contestant number thirteen! The lavender-peach pie!”
Aurora screamed.
Her family screamed. Jude’s family screamed. Everyone was clapping and hollering, like they were surprised.
He didn’t get it. He’d figured it was a foregone conclusion. This was Aurora after all.
Jude scooped her up into a hug. “Congratulations,” he said, kissing her on the temple. “I knew you’d win.”
She was shaking with excitement as she left him and went to get her trophy.
He stood there, grinning.
“You look like you knew she’d win,” the woman next to him said.
“I did. I know her cooking.”
“It was actually a close one though,” the lady said.
He turned toward her, shocked. “It was? How?”
“There was a custard that was divine, too, a lavender-honey.”
Jude chuckled. “Oh, that was hers, too, actually.”
The lady seemed alarmed. “It was?”
“No, no,” he backtracked. “It was my entry and my pie, but the original recipe was hers. Because I botched a lemon one completely.”
The lady hid a giggle behind her hand.
“Wait, you…you judged this.”
She nodded. “I did.” The lady held out her hand. “Madeline, with Beardsley Books.”
“Oh.” Realization dawned. “Oh.”
“I was going to talk to the creator of that pie about featuring a recipe in one of our books. But…considering she’s the mind behind both the first- and second-place pies, maybe we need to talk more.”
He didn’t care how he came across or what this Madeline person thought of him. Jude jumped at the opportunity. “You do. You definitely do! She’s an amazing chef. She does more than just pies too. In fact, she’s going to open a restaurant. Soon. And she’s catered events, and brought, like, I don’t know, nouveau southern cuisine to the West Coast. I think that’s what I read one time, and—”
The lady—Madeline—laughed again. “You certainly know a lot about her.”
“She’s my girlfriend,” he told her proudly.
Madeline nodded. “Then you could introduce us.”
“I could. I mean I would. I will. Let me get her. You stay right there. I mean, please. Don’t move.”
Jude rushed off, his heart pounding. A publisher wanted to talk to Aurora about her cooking. Her recipes. This could really happen.
No. This would happen.
No more fear or doubt. He and Aurora were together again, and nothing was going to stand in the way of their dreams.
“Hey.” He rushed up to her, kissing her congratulations on her win. “I have some good news,” he blurted.
“I know, I won.” She held up her little gold pie trophy.
“Yeah, but more than that.”
“Your face is all flushed, what’s going on?” She put her hand on his cheek.
“I need to introduce you to someone. You’re not going to believe it.”
“Okay?” She tilted her head, obviously baffled.
“But first, I love you.”
She pressed her lips to his. “I love you too.”
“I know,” he said, his heart about to explode. “Here’s to making our dreams come true.”
Epilogue
Six months later…
Aurora brushed off one of the outdoor tables and straightened the table setting.
The utensils weren’t crooked, but she couldn’t help herself. She wanted everything to be perfect for the soft opening.
“How many times are you going to fix that table?” Jude hugged her from behind.
