“I have to cut a few contractors, but you have nothing to worry about. My boss is ecstatic you’ve gotten us so much good publicity. Our circulation numbers are static, but web traffic has gone up a little, and you’re part of the reason. So thanks, Lindsay. And thank Brad Marks for me. I can’t wait to see the show when it airs.”
Lindsay suppressed a sigh of relief, but she was overjoyed that her job was safe. It was funny how the possibility of losing this job had made her think about cooking again, but hearing Erica tell her that this job was safe was a load off her shoulders. Cooking was the great unknown. Would it make her happy? Could she even still cook restaurant-quality meals? But this job she could do well. “I’ll let you know the air date as soon as I do. I could write something up about my experience on set, too.”
“Oh, yeah, great idea. People love behind-the-scenes stories. I mean, if you had to sign an NDA, don’t violate it or anything, but if there’s any insight you can share, I’d be happy to publish it.”
“I could focus on what it’s like to judge a contest like that. Like, they had me sit out the episode in which I was allergic to one of the mystery ingredients. I always wondered about that. Like, if you’re a judge who is allergic to shellfish or doesn’t eat pork, how can you be a good judge? And now I know.”
“Interesting!” said Erica. “Yeah, write that up. Anything you can include about what it was like to be on set would be good. I have a meeting in five, but great job, Linds.”
When Erica was gone, Lindsay turned back to her laptop but stared into space for a minute. Her Food Channel appearance had clearly gone a long way toward securing her job. She had Brad to thank for that. Brad, who had torpedoed an interview with theTimesfor Lindsay’s sake. She could almost picture how that must have happened. She bet that woman flirted with him, but Brad was so oblivious that he didn’t notice. How mad would she have been when he tried to shut her down gently? Maybe it was time to think about Brad in a new way.
What was her problem, anyway? Here was a great guy who cared about her and was basically throwing himself at her. Why couldn’t she just accept that? What was making her resist him?
He wasn’t perfect. Nobody was. She had some ideal in her head about who her perfect mate was, but she’d never opened herself up to possibilities; she only let men fall short of her impossibly high expectations. She kept herself safe, single, and free from heartbreak, because the one time shehadopened up, she’d gotten her heart stomped on.
Had Brad measured up to her ideal? Probably not, but nobody could. Brad was real and he cared about her. She couldn’t control him, nor did she want to. She just…wanted to feel safe. For a time she had with him, but she’d been constantly expecting the other shoe to drop. Then it had.
The bottom line was that, despite her deeply held conviction that everything was bound to go wrong, she had to open herself up to the possibility that it wouldn’t. She didn’t need perfect, but she did need faith, and she had to put her faith in Brad.
Brad was right. It was hard for her to trust anyone. But maybe it was time to give Brad a shot.
Chapter 15
By some miracle, Lauren and Paige were both free on a Sunday because the cat café had no events, so they joined Lindsay and Evan at brunch at a restaurant Paige liked near her apartment. It was a seasonal farm-to-table restaurant, which Lindsay appreciated. They were seated at a table near the rear of the space, which had huge floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out over the back deck. A few diners sat out there, although it was a shade too hot to be comfortable eating outside. But the deck was lovely, with little twinkle lights and floral garlands strewn across the pagoda that shaded the space.
“Josh and I came here on one of our first dates,” said Paige. “He ate half the kitchen.”
“That checks out,” said Lauren as she perused the menu.
“If you don’t like the food here, Linds, don’t tell me,” said Paige. “We still eat here a lot.”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” said Lindsay. “You all agreed with me that Pepper was bad, and besides, I’m not the health inspector. I can’t shut it down, and I’m not here to review. I’m just here for brunch. Are the frittatas here any good?”
“Oh, yeah. I like the spinach mushroom one.”
After they ordered, Evan asked, “So how is everyone?”
“Hannah is crawling,” said Lauren. “Caleb went all crazy overprotective father and babyproofed the bejesus out of the apartment. The baby gate he put on the doorway to the kitchen has some silly trick to it that I have not yet mastered, so I keep getting locked out. I had to vault over it yesterday morning to make coffee because Caleb had an early shift and wasn’t home.”
“Yikes,” said Lindsay.
“Yeah. Then Hank decided this was a fun game and started hopping over it, too.” Hank was Lauren and Caleb’s yellow Lab mix.
“How is Caleb doing with fatherhood otherwise?” asked Paige.
Lauren’s face softened. “He’s great with her. He likes to take naps with her on his chest, and it’s the cutest thing you’ve ever seen in the whole world. He talks to her in baby-speak when he thinks I’m not looking, which is remarkable because he doesn’t even use that cutesy-wootsy speech with his patients or our pets.”
“It figures that a guy as grouchy as Caleb would turn into mush when presented with a baby,” said Lindsay.
“Iknow,” said Lauren. “It’s so cute. And the animals are doing pretty well with Hannah. Hank has decided it is his job to protect Hannah at all costs, so when we put her on her floor mat and let her crawl around, Hank watches her like a hawk. Molly is still not sure what to make of the people kitten and seems extremely skeptical of everything going on, but basically just leaves Hannah alone.” Molly was Lauren’s cat.
“Your house must just be cute central all the time,” said Evan.
“Not so much at three in the morning when Hannah is screaming her head off and nothing I’ve tried gets her to calm down. But otherwise, yes.” Lauren smiled, and it looked genuine.
“And what about you, Paige?” Evan asked.
“My whole life is wedding planning. I should have hired someone to do all this for me.”
