“You have every element that goes into a successful restaurant here. It couldn’t be better.”
“Okay, stop feeding my ego, Mr. Gallagher.”
Connor laughs and shakes his head. “That isn’t something I do. You’ve done well. Now, I need lunch for my wife and me. She wanted me to tell you that she’ll be in here before the end of the day, but she just got a shipment in and is buried under a pile of Lucy Score books.”
I laugh and start ringing him up as he tells me what he wants. But when it’s time to show him his total, I zero it out and shake my head when he opens his wallet.
“It’s on the house today, Connor.”
“Maybe youdoneed a few lessons in making money. Giving away your product for free isn’t the way to do that.”
I smirk and cross my arms over my chest. “Oh, I know that. And I’ll be happy to charge you the next time you come in. But you were a huge help to me, and I’m grateful. So lunch is on me.”
He winks at me behind those hot black-rimmed glasses, then moves to stand to the side. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Taking a deep breath, I glance over and am pleased to see that the girls have loaded the cold case with lunch pastries and sandwiches. And then my eyebrows climb when I shift my gaze and see my husband walk through the door for the second time today, carrying a bouquet of red and pink roses.
“What are you doing?” I grin and accept the flowers when he offers them to me. They’re already in a vase, and they smell like heaven.
“I came to get lunch, but I also wanted to bring you these. Is it sanitary to have them in here?”
He looks so proud of himself, I can’t resist leaning over to kiss him.
“I’ll set them right here by the cash register.” I lean in to smell one of the velvety blooms and then turn back to my man. “What would you like to order?”
He ends up buying four sandwiches for his crew, and all I can do is grin because my man not only supports this career of mine, but he is feeding into it in ways that I never knew I needed.
Brooks is the best thing to ever happen to me.
“Two hours left,” Christy whispers in my ear. She looks pretty disheveled compared to how she did this morning, and we both have food all over our aprons and shirts, but we’re still moving.
Hazel and Tandy refused to leave when their shifts were over, which was awesome because lunch was busier than breakfast,and we had to prep for dinner. Laurie and James are killing it, running out orders to tables, clearing and wiping them when people leave, and making sure that everything is running smoothly.
This place has never, not even in the very beginning, been this busy.
It’s amazing and horrifying, all at once.
I have to order more food first thing in the morning. I won’t make it through the week if this continues. And I’ll have to hire more staff.
None of these things are bad problems to have.
Just as I plate a slice of lasagna and add a side of steamed broccoli, ready to take it to a table, I hear voices that I recognize.
“I came for my mac and cheese, Jules!”
“I’ve got this,” Tandy says, taking the lasagna order from my hands. “Go see your family.”
With a frown, I turn, and then I can’t move.
I can’t breathe.
Because it’s not just sweet Birdie with Dani and Bridger.
It’s theentireBlackwell family.
Beck and Skyla. Billie, who has tears in her eyes, with Connor. Blake and Harper, and even their parents.
