“Taste testing? I distinctly remember being offered food.” Oh, snap.
“Yep, that’s right. We’ve got food.” I jumped off the stool, triumphant, and headed to the other side of the work table, where the plates were warming in the drawer.
“What am I trying here?”
“When I was going through stuff, I found a recipe that looked like it had been through a war with little handwritten notes all over it. I’m about ninety percent sure it’s Sissy’s handwriting, but not positive.”
“Hmm. I didn’t know her handwriting well enough to say. Sorry.”
“That’s okay. I’ll figure it out. Anyhoo, it’s a recipe for biscuits and red-eye gravy. After that, we’ve got Peggy’s pecan pie waffles, and the last one today is Latrelle’s Pear and Brie Tart.”
“Damn, sugar. You’ve been busy. First off, I’m gonna eat all of them because they smell damn good. Second, is the tart breakfast-y?”
“Aww, you’re sweet and right. That’s a good combo,” I said with a wink. “Since most of the guests will be here over the weekend, I figured skewing toward brunch was fine. My weekday offerings will be more grab-and-go.”
“That was my next question—will you have bookings during the week?”
“Yeah, but I think more like people visiting on business rather than for getaways. To cover both, the rooms will all have some kind of writing desk so they can Zoom or work or whatever, and I’m trying to figure out how I can hide a little fridge and microwave in there too.”
“Oh, that’s nice, especially for the weekday ones. They can bring back leftovers and not have them go gross.”
“Yeah, and in the afternoon, I’ll have a little snacky-snack for them, but nothing heavy. I’m thinking coffee, tea, no liquor because I don’t have a license and getting one seems hard, and some light food. Maybe guests could BYOB? I need to check.” That question went onto my running list. At some point, it should get shorter, but for now, it was growing like a weed in summer.
“What are you thinking?” Even while we talked, Daddy kept shoveling food in his mouth. His appreciative noises made me smile. It required superhuman strength to resist the urge to remind him I’d made it all with my own two hands.
“Scones? Cheese and fruit spread? Charcuterie board? It wouldn’t be anything fancy, but enough to hold them over until dinner. It’d be nice if it encouraged mingling.”
“You say it like it’s all so easy.” Daddy promptly shoved a bite of biscuits and gravy into his mouth. With his eyes closed, he managed to smile and chew—with his mouth closed—at the same time. His expression was blissful, giving me no reason to ask if he liked the food. I basked in his enjoyment.
“Well, all of them can be done pretty quick on the fly or made ahead of time. Easy-peasy.”
“And you’re gonna do events or skip those?” he asked before another bite was gobbled down.
I didn’t know if Daddy was actually interested in my plans, but he sure acted like it. Between the steady stream of questions and then waiting for answers, it felt like he recognized I wasn’t just playing house. I had an idea and a business plan, not just hope and a dream.
Every evening, I got out the books I’d brought with me on inn management or scoured the internet for articles. The accounting software I’d purchased included a booking program. I set up dummy guest accounts so hopefully I wouldn’t embarrass myself in front of anyone trying to figure it out. Most people didn’t take me seriously, sometimes with good reason, but I didn’t want to screw this up.
Daddy stopped eating at some point during my explanation. He sat on the stool and stared at me with a bemused expression.
“What?”
“What what?”
“Why are you staring at me?”
“Because you impress the hell out of me.”
“Me? Lay off the liquor, honeybuns.”
“Do you not see it?” Daddy was on a roll. He scooted his stool back and pulled me to stand between his knees. Heat radiated from him and steeped into my core. “You moved cross-country to create this place. Yeah, Sissy gave you a head start, but you didn’t even know that until you got here. You came up with a plan and started movin’ on it the minute your feet hit the property. And your food is amazing, and this place is going to be so damn great.”
“Uh, yeah, it’s not that deep. I could crash and burn, ya know?”
“You won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I got a good feeling.”
