Chapter 5
M iles looked up from the steak he was cooking to find Jessa standing at the kitchen entrance with an apologetic look. His eyes flicked down to Emma, where she stood beside her.
“Is everything okay?” Miles asked.
Jessa sighed. “I’m sorry to do this, but I just got called away for a business meeting. I have to be at the airport in an hour and still need to pack.”
Emma’s lower lip jutted out. “Our girl time was cut short.”
Jessa squatted down to be at eye level with Emma. “I’m sorry, sweetie. I’ll hang out with you again when I get back.”
“Okay.” Emma sighed and walked toward the back of the kitchen to the table.
“I’m so sorry,” Jessa said.
Miles shook his head. “Nothing to be sorry about. I understand. Thank you for watching her as long as you did.”
Jessa said “bye” to Emma and left. Miles finished cooking the meal he was working on and then went over to Emma.
“Do you have enough to do?” Miles asked.
Emma nodded. “Yes. But I want to help you.”
“I appreciate that, Peanut, but I can’t have you around the stoves.”
She heaved a heavy sigh. “I know.”
Savannah stepped through the kitchen doors and spotted Emma. “Hey, Emma! Are you hanging out with us today?”
Emma nodded with a frown. “Yeah.”
Savannah looked over at Miles before looking back at Emma. “Would you like to take orders with me?”
Miles smiled at the smile that lit Emma’s face. “Dad, can I?”
“Of course you can.”
Emma bounded happily toward Savannah. When Miles met Savannah’s eye, he mouthed “thank you.” She tipped her head in response before taking Emma’s hand and heading out the kitchen door.
It was only lunchtime, and Miles was already looking forward to the break that night. The Blake family had a standing Sunday dinner tradition. Even when they were busy, they all found time to go.
Miles got so lost in preparing meals, that after a while, he noticed a pair of small hands snag a plate and walk off. His eyes widened, and he quickly pulled off his gloves and tossed them in the trash before leaving the kitchen. Just as Emma reached a table and set the plate down, he approached.
“Here’s one lunch. I’ll get the other real quick,” she said.
Miles smiled at the ladies at the table, immediately recognizing them as the two from the parking lot the day before. The one who had thrown her items at his car looked up at him and blushed. She was beautiful. Both of the women were, but there was something about Kelly that warmed him.
“Peanut, where’s Savannah?”
Emma pointed at a table across the restaurant. “She was busy, so I helped.”
Miles looked at the two women. “I’m sorry. She isn’t supposed to be serving food.”
Kelly smiled. “It’s okay. She did a great job.”
“I’m Emma. I’ve been working here since I was a baby,” she said.
Ava’s eyes widened. “You have? That’s so impressive. I didn’t know babies could serve food.”
Emma giggled.
“I’ll grab your other meal,” Miles said, leaving Emma to chat. He quickly grabbed the plate and brought it to them, where Emma was telling a story with her arms waving wildly.
“…and then my daddy went ‘Oh no!’” She screwed up her face and imitated a fall.
Kelly and Ava laughed, and Miles didn’t dare ask what story Emma was telling. It likely was something she made up. His daughter had a great imagination and liked to tell stories, and this would be no different.
He set the other plate down on the table. “Here you are. Is there anything else I can get you?”
“No, I think we’ve got it all,” Kelly said. Then she turned her attention to Emma. “Thank you so much, Emma. You did such a great job.”
Emma smiled proudly. “You’re welcome. Let us know if you need anything else.”
Miles smiled and took Emma’s hand, leading her back to the kitchen. “Emma, you did a great job, but you can’t serve customers food.”
“Why?” she asked.
“Because that’s a job for grown-ups.”
“But I did a good job.”
“You did do a good job, but you still shouldn’t be serving the food,” Miles said.
“Why?”
He pressed his palms over his eyes and suppressed a sigh. They would go around in circles for an hour if she had any say in it. “You just can’t.”
“But why?”
Savannah rushed into the kitchen and looked at Miles guiltily. “I’m sorry. I got distracted and didn’t realize she had walked away.”
“It’s okay. No harm done,” Miles said. “Peanut, why don’t you go color for a bit. We’ll be leaving in a few hours to go to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner.”
“But I can help,” Emma whined.
“We’ve got it from here,” Miles said.
Emma sighed heavily, went back to the table, and dug into her backpack. Miles looked back at Savannah.
“I’m so sorry. She was there, and then she was gone,” Savannah said.
“It’s okay. Fortunately, she served a few guests I had a run-in with yesterday. I don’t think they’ll be filing any complaints about a six-year-old serving their food.”
Relief flooded Savannah’s face. Then she left the kitchen and Miles went back to work preparing food.
He moved over to the cake they had ready to be served from their dessert menu and cut a slice, moving it to a plate.
Then he drizzled their rich, house-made chocolate syrup over it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Instead of having Savannah deliver it, he carried it out himself. He approached Kelly and Ava’s table just as they were finishing their meals.
“As an apology for having a child deliver your food, here is a slice of our most popular cake on the house,” Miles said.
“That wasn’t necessary,” Kelly said. “Your daughter is adorable.”
“Unnecessary, but certainly welcome,” Ava said.
Miles set the plate down between them and took their empty plates. “I hope you enjoy your stay.”
Miles and Emma stepped through his parents’ front door after a long day at the restaurant. Family dinner was scheduled a little later so Miles could help with the first half of the dinner rush at the restaurant before leaving the rest in the hands of his capable staff.
Miles typically prepared the family dinner, but tonight his mom took care of it since he had been so busy with the restaurant.
He welcomed the break and sat at the long kitchen table with the rest of the family.
Lily and Mia had just gotten back from their event in California and were being updated on everything that had happened at the resort while they were gone.
“How did the signing go, Lily?” Karen asked.
Lily smiled. “It went great. I really enjoyed having Mia with me. It was nice not being alone.”
Ethan put his hand on Lily’s thigh and squeezed. “You know I would have come if I could, right?”
“I know. You were needed here. But it was fun having a girls’ trip.”
“Very fun,” Mia said. “That was my first time in California, too. It’s so different from here.”
When the food was ready, everyone filled their dishes and sat down to eat. Miles was tired. His entire body screamed for rest, but he knew he needed to push on. Everything would pass soon enough, and they would be back on their normal schedule.
“I know the rule is to keep work outside of family dinners, but this is needed,” James said. Everyone looked over at him. “With the pipes bursting, we are going to be short on rooms for the upcoming wedding. We’ll need to work on moving guests to nearby towns and comp them for the hassle.”
“There’s no chance the rooms will be fixed in time?” Jackson asked.
“Unfortunately, no. There were five damaged, which doesn’t seem like much, but the wedding had us at near full capacity,” Karen said.
Lily looked over at Ethan. “If Mia is okay with it, I could move in with Ethan temporarily and give up the house for some guests.”
“Oh, I like that idea,” Ethan said, resting his hand on top of hers. Lily smiled at him.
When Lily moved to Wintervale recently, she wasn’t ready to move in with Ethan full-time after getting out of a rough relationship. After Mia and Jackson got married over the summer, Mia moved in with him, so she offered to rent her house to Lily.
“Oh yeah, that’s fine with me,” Mia said.
“Thank you. Let’s keep that in our back pocket for now as a last resort,” James said.
“Jessa will be gone for a bit, so I could stay at someone else’s house and put some guests in ours too,” Noah said.
“I’d like to keep it so we aren’t renting our own places if we can avoid it. But we’ll keep it in mind,” James said.
Miles rubbed his face. Damn, he was tired. He couldn’t wait for the wedding to be over so the resort slowed down a bit.
“Daddy,” Emma said. “We could ask our new friends to stay with us.”
All eyes turned to them.
“What new friends?” Miles asked.
“Kelly and Ava. They like you,” Emma said.
Miles could feel his face heating. “I think they like you .”
“Who’s this now?” Jackson asked, resting his chin on his hand and smiling brightly with a shit-eating grin.
“Kelly and Ava. I brought them lunch today,” Emma said.
Karen’s eyebrows raised. “You did, huh?”
“Emma came by the kitchen when Jessa had to leave for her work thing. She was shadowing Savannah and then went rogue,” Miles said.
Everyone laughed.
“What does rogue mean?” Emma asked.
“It means you started serving food without asking,” Miles said.
Emma crossed her arms. “I was just trying to help.”
“And you did a good job, but I prefer you don’t handle the food.”
“Okay,” Emma said, defeat in her tone.
“So let’s get back to these ladies,” Jackson said. “Am I right? Are we all going to find someone this year?”
Ever since Noah and Jackson had found their significant others, Jackson had been insisting they would all find theirs this year.
It didn’t help Miles’s case that Ethan then found Lily over the summer.
Miles was the last brother to find someone, but he had written off relationships.
They were the last thing on his mind. Emma was his one and only priority.
Miles rolled his eyes. “No.”
“Yes,” everyone else in the room except Emma, said at once.
“Who are you trying to find?” Emma asked.
Miles threw a glare around the room before his eyes softened on Emma. “No one, peanut. I’m not trying to find anyone.”