Second Chance at the Orchard Inn, page 24
“I need something to keep my hands busy.”
“Well in that case.” Jude turned her around and wrapped her in his arms.
“What if people hate it?”
He rested his chin on her head. “Would you stop? No one is going to hate it. You’re an excellent chef, the author of your own cookbook—”
Aurora squealed, still trying to accept that reality. She’d landed a cookbook deal with Madeline and Beardsley Books, with an option for more if sales went well.
“And my dad loves your plant-based dishes. That right there is the highest praise ever bestowed upon a chef. John Jones willingly eats plant-based food.”
Aurora laughed. “Very true. I’m glad we added more options for vegans and heart patients who need to eat rabbit food.”
“That lentil soup with saffron? I think he’ll eat that every day this winter.”
Jude dropped a kiss on her forehead and began walking them backward.
“What are you doing?”
“Turning on one of these heat torch thingies. It might get chilly out here as the sun goes down.”
He adjusted the flame to mid-height.
“You think it’s okay, opening up in the winter?”
“I think it’s perfect. Holiday season. People are all out and about, shopping and too tired to cook dinner. I predict we’ll have a great month.”
“I hope so.”
Jenna stepped outside to join them. “Max finally got that last beer tapped. He wanted me to let you know.”
In the midst of all their restaurant prep, Max had come to Jude and laid everything out on the table. He couldn’t work on the rig anymore.
Jude had filled her in later that day over a glass of mead.
Max hated being away from Jenna and Wyatt, he saw how hard his absence was on both of them, but he worried about finances and wanted to support his family.
Jude immediately hired him at the farm.
“My dad is retiring, and I need more hands on deck,” he’d said. “With the restaurant opening, there’s going to be more hours of work than we have people.”
“Count me in,” Max had replied. “And not for nothing, but I bartended for the few years I tried college and after. Before I hit the rigs. So, you know, if you need a hand there.”
Turned out, Max was a whiz at plumbing and pipework. He helped outfit the place under the guidance of Lyle, who had stepped in as their contractor and gotten the barn up to code in record time, allowing Aurora and Jude to focus on the business and food side of things.
“Okay, I’m all done with the bathroom lighting.” Lyle joined them, adjusting his tool belt. “Nothing like the last minute.”
“Thank you so much.” Aurora hugged him.
“No worries. It’s all in the family, right?”
Between Lyle, Aurora’s savings, Cece’s angel investor, and her sisters gathering some money—which she insisted was a loan that she’d pay back—she had her half of the start-up money to make her a partner. Of course, they all said she didn’t need to pay them back any time soon, but it would be her first priority.
“I better go wash up before I pick up your mom.” Lyle waved goodbye for now. “See you both in a bit.”
They all needed this to be a big season. They needed customers and money coming in. Aurora needed this to be a rousing success for her family as much as Jude’s.
Cece joined them, a tablet in her hand like she was doing her best Beth impersonation. “Look at you,” Aurora teased.
Cece had sworn she had the publicity in the bag. Aurora wasn’t sure how much of a dent she’d make with mainly social media, but then again, Cece knew a lot of things that went over her head.
The soft opening was just friends and family. The grand opening was tomorrow night, and Cece kept the reservation list.
“You wanna guess how many reservations we have for tomorrow?” she asked.
“Please don’t torture me.”
Cece grinned. “We’re booked solid.”
Aurora’s jaw hit the floor.
“No availability. Walk-ins for the bar area only.”
“You’re joking.” Jude clapped his hands together. “That’s what I’m talking about.” He high-fived Cece.
“I’m only the best amateur publicist ever, I think.” She flipped her hair. “Oh, and temporary hostess. That too.”
Aurora nibbled at her bottom lip. Now they had a full house tonight and tomorrow night.
Jude put his arm around her again. “Stop stressing.”
“What if I mess everything up? What if I’m off my game and the food is garbage?”
“What if pigs fly? You’ve got this. You’re going to knock it out of the park.”
Aurora turned and met his gaze. His complete faith and belief in her melted away her anxiety. “I love you so much,” she told him. “You’re the best.”
“I know.” He grinned cheekily before kissing the tip of her nose. “I love you too. Now, and I say this with the utmost respect and adoration, go get in that kitchen and start cooking.”
She kissed him goodbye and went inside their restaurant.
Warm lighting made the inside glow, and honey-oak chairs sat around crisp ivory-cloth-covered tables. The combination was inviting and classic. The food was authentic and uncomplicated, but exceptional in its careful preparation and freshness.
And she was doing this with Jude.
It was everything she’d ever wanted, even before she knew it and could admit it.
Aurora stepped into her kitchen and donned her apron.
“You ready, Chef?” Sloane grinned at her from the other side of the counter.
Her best friend and roommate had come to visit in the fall, immediately falling in love with the food and culture of Texas…and the men. She’d left L.A. last month, eager to join Aurora as her sous chef on this venture.
“I’m ready.” I think, Aurora thought to herself, sharpening the first of her knives.
“I hope that’s not for me?” John Jones stood at the end of the prep counter.
Aurora set down her stone and knife and hugged him tightly. “How you doing, Pops?”
She’d finally stopped calling him Mr. Jones.
“Better than ever. I get to have my weekly red meat tonight. It’s a red-banner day all around.” He chuckled.
“I’ll give you a very lean, but slightly bigger cut too.” She winked at him.
“That’s my girl.” He patted her shoulder. “Do you say break a leg to a chef or…?”
“Break a leg works,” Sloane chimed in.
“Then y’all break a leg.”
“Dad? Mom got you a table outside.” Jude came in to retrieve his dad, giving Aurora a smile.
She’d grown so close to his dad in the last several months, helping him figure out a nutritional plan that worked with his high blood pressure and cholesterol, but also—as he put it—didn’t mean a miserable existence on rice cakes. Trial and error over many meals, all of which he was happy to enjoy as guinea pig, meant hours and hours together, talking.
John Jones was a gem, not unlike his son. And once he decided he loved you, he loved you for life.
“You good?” Jude approached, checking on her one last time.
“I’m great.”
“Good. Me too.”
Sloane smiled and rolled her eyes at them before busying herself elsewhere.
“I’ll be at the front of house if you need me,” he said. “Hey, and after we close tonight, maybe we can go for a drive?”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “A drive, huh? Where to?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. To McGregor’s lake? Maybe go for a stroll, do a little stargazing, a little day-dreaming.”
Her smile began in her bones. The twinkle in Jude’s eyes and the sly grin on his face warmed her heart. “It’ll be nighttime, silly,” she said.
He brushed his lips against hers and pulled her in close. “You want to go or not?”
“Of course. I’d love to dream a little more with you.”
Excerpt from Restaurant Review:
Local farm-to-table restaurant LAVENDER breathes life into Fredericksburg’s restaurant scene
The chef, Aurora Shipley, spent five years as sous chef at Brio in Los Angeles. There, she learned how to accentuate the freshest of vegetables, the tenderest cuts of beef, and take pure, honest ingredients and create something out of this world. Most recently, she’s been the chef at the Orchard Inn, thrilling brides and grooms and guests with menus that match their wishes, then elevating each item to something beyond expectation. Texans who care about their dining experience should give thanks for everything she’s learned. For all of it, and more, is now here at the newest Fredericksburg farm-to-table restaurant, Lavender.
A plate of pasta becomes so much more when seasoned with local herbs, lemon, and freshly grated Romano from a farm not five miles away. And clearly Aurora’s kitchen isn’t afraid of bold flavors. Gulf shrimp are tossed in a tornado of spices that leave you salivating for more while ordering that second locally brewed Hefeweizen or neighboring-winery Riesling to quench your thirst.
You won’t find anything puzzling on Lavender’s menu. Nothing you can’t pronounce or some wayward ingredient you’ve never heard of before. These dishes are familiar, comfortable, and comforting. A taste of home, but as exquisite as the rarest of menus.
Lavender isn’t pretentious or self-important. Ms. Shipley and her team are your neighbors and your friends, preparing the best Texas has to offer with an unfussy, genuine approach. The result allows the ingredients to speak for themselves. Make a reservation and find out for yourself.
Lavender is great food, done extraordinarily well.
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Heather McGovern writes contemporary romance in swoony settings. While her love of travel and adventure takes her far, there is no place like home. She lives in South Carolina with her husband and son, and one Maltipoo to rule them all. When she isn’t writing, she enjoys hiking, scuba diving, going to Disney World, reading, and streaming her latest favorite on television.
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Also by Heather McGovern
Something Blue
For a bonus story from another author that you’ll love,
please turn the page to read
ONLY HOME WITH YOU
by Jeannie Chin.
Zoe Leung allowed her mother to pressure her into a safe, stable career path, but her job search has hit a dead end, and now she doesn’t know what to do with her life. She fills her days with waitressing and volunteering at Harvest Home, her uncle’s food bank and soup kitchen, while waiting for inspiration to strike. And if she also flirts with fellow volunteer—and her older brother’s best friend—Devin James, who can blame her? He’s only the subject of her lifelong crush. And finally looking at her like he returns the sentiment.
Construction worker Devin James has always thought Zoe was gorgeous, but he doesn’t want to jeopardize his friendship with her brother, or her family, who all but took him in when he was younger. But as much as he plans to stay focused on building his dream house, he can’t stop thinking about Zoe. And the more time he spends with her, the more he realizes that the only home he wants is one with her.
Chapter One
Twenty-eight more months.
Devin James silently repeated it to himself with every crack of his nail gun. He moved to the next mark on the beam, lined up his shot, and drove another spike of steel into the wood.
Based on the numbers he’d rerun over the weekend, twenty-eight months was how long it was going to take him to save up for a house of his own. Still too long, but he was on target, putting away exactly as much as he’d budgeted for, paycheck after paycheck.
“Take that,” he muttered, sucking in a breath as he kept moving down the line.
His dad had told him enough times that he’d never amount to anything. Devin tightened his grip on the nail gun and sank his teeth into the inside of his lip. What he’d give to get that voice out of his head. To show his dad he wasn’t too stupid to do the math, and he wasn’t too lazy to do the work.
He’d buy those three acres of land from Arthur. His mentor—and his best friend Han’s uncle—had been saving the lot for him for three years now, and he’d promised to sell it to him at cost. Once Devin had the deed in his hand, he’d start digging out the foundation the next day. Between the buddies he’d made at construction sites and the favors folks owed him, he could be standing in his own house within six months. A quiet place all to himself on a wooded lot five miles outside of town. He’d get a dog—a big one, too. A mutt from the animal rescue off Main Street.
He’d have everything his useless old man told him he could never have. All he had to do was keep his head down and keep working hard.
He finished the last join on this section of the house’s frame and nodded at Terrell, who’d been helping him out. The guy let go, and they both stood.
Adjusting his safety glasses, Devin glanced around. It was a cool fall day in his hometown of Blue Cedar Falls, North Carolina. The sun shone down from a bright blue sky dotted with wispy clouds. The last few autumn leaves hung on to the branches of the surrounding trees, while in the distance, the mountains were a piney green.
He and his crew had been working on this development for the better part of a year now. It was a good job, with good guys for the most part. Solid pay for solid work, and if he had a restlessness buzzing around under his skin, well, that was the kind of thing he was good at pushing down.
“Hey—James.”
At the shout of his last name across the build site, Devin looked up. One of the new guys stood outside the trailer, waving him over. Devin nudged the protective muffs off his ears so he could hear.
“Boss wants to see you before you clock out.”
Devin nodded and glanced at his watch. The shift ended in thirty. That gave him enough time to quickly clean up and check in with Joe.
He made a motion to Terrell to wrap things up.
“What’s the hurry?” a voice behind him sneered. “Got to run off to Daddy?”
Devin pulled a rough breath in between his teeth. Head down and work hard, he reminded himself.
No punching the mayor’s son in the face.
But Bryce Horton wasn’t going to be ignored. He stepped right in Devin’s way, and it took everything Devin had to keep his mouth shut.
“Isn’t that what you call old Joe?” Bryce taunted. “Daddy? You sure come fast enough when he calls.”
Devin’s muscles tensed, heat building in his chest.
He kept himself together, though. Bryce had been like this since high school, putting everybody down and acting like he was the king of the hill. The entire hill was all sand, though. The guy never did any work. If his daddy didn’t run this town, he’d have been out on his rear end ages ago.
As it was, Bryce’d been hired on as a favor to the mayor’s office, and getting him fired would take an act of God. Didn’t stop Devin from picturing it in his head. Daily.
Devin ground his molars together and brushed past him.
“Oh, that’s right,” Bryce called as Devin showed him his back and started to walk away. “Your real daddy left, didn’t he?”
Red tinted Devin’s vision. He flexed his fingers, curling them into a palm before taking a deep breath and letting them go.
It’d be so easy, was the thing. Bryce wasn’t a small guy, but he wasn’t a particularly strong one, either. Two hits and he’d be on the ground, snot-faced and crying. That was how bullies were.
That was how Devin’s dad had been.
Without so much as a glance in Bryce’s direction, Devin shucked his glasses, muffs, and gloves, stowed his stuff, and headed over to the trailer. As he walked, he blocked out the sound of Bryce running his mouth. He blocked out the surly voice in his own head, too.
By the time he got to the door, his blood was still up, but he was calm enough to show model employee material, because that was what mattered.
With a quick knock, he tugged open the trailer door and poked his head inside. Joe was at his desk, big hands pecking out something or other on the keyboard.
“Hey.” Devin kept his voice level. “Heard you wanted to see me?”
Joe glanced up and smiled, the lines around his eyes crinkling. “Yeah, hey, have a seat.”
Devin closed the door and sat down. While Joe finished up what he was working on, Devin half smiled.
Joe was a good boss because he was one of them. He’d worked his way up the ranks from grunt to site supervisor over the last twenty-five years.
Didn’t make the sight of his giant frame squished behind a desk any less funny, though.
After a minute, Joe squinted and hammered the return key before straightening and turning to Devin. “James. Thanks for coming in.”
“No problem, boss.”
“I’ll cut to the chase. You’re probably wondering why I called you in here.”
Devin shifted his weight in his chair. He’d been so distracted by Bryce and then by watching Joe pretend he didn’t need reading glasses that he hadn’t given it that much thought. Business had been good, and Devin never missed a day. He hadn’t screwed anything up that he knew of. Which left only one thing.
Something he’d dismissed out of hand, even as he’d thrown his hat in the ring.
“Uh…”
“You know Todd’s retiring at the end of the month.”
Devin nodded, his mouth going dry. He fought to keep his reaction—and his expectations—down. “Sorry to see him go.”
