Chapter 1 #2
“I took the red-eye,” he replied before yawning loudly. “And I’m getting really tired of hearing everyone bitch about you, so pay attention to what they have to say.”
“What they…?”
Walker stepped forward first. “You need to sit down, Connor. Please.”
Crap. They were really going to do this?
“Guys, I have a lot to do today. I had already planned on apologizing to Slater for waking him up…”
“And nearly choking me to death,” Slater corrected.
“You didn’t almost choke to death. You coughed. Big difference.”
“Connor,” Walker said louder. “Please.”
With a huff of annoyance, he sat where he was told to and then waited.
“Okay, so we felt we needed to do this because you are clearly on edge. The closer we get to the resort opening, the more…unhinged you’ve become,” Walker stated.
“Unhinged? How am I unhinged?”
“You mean besides breaking into people’s cabins and force-feeding them cake while they’re still asleep?” Slater murmured.
“Alright already! I’m sorry. I thought you’d be happy that I made the cake you love. Clearly, I was wrong.”
“You weren’t wrong, Con. You just didn’t need to wake me up at two a.m. to force-feed it to me.”
He shrugged as Axel stepped forward.
“It’s not just…you know…whatever it was you did to traumatize Slater last night. You’ve been a little aggressive in your taste testing, and we all just feel like maybe we need to talk about it.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose, Connor forced himself to count to ten before saying anything. “Okay, how exactly am I aggressive in taste testing?”
“Well, sort of like what you did to Slater last night,” Harlow chimed in. “You’ve pretty much ambushed all of us more than once and shoved food in our mouths without our consent.”
Rolling his eyes, he wasn’t sure what to say to that.
“Everything you make is delicious,” she amended. “But you’ve interrupted phone calls, private conversations, and…just yesterday, you scared one of the cleaning girls so much that she quit.”
“She quit? Seriously? All because I offered her a bowl of butternut squash soup?”
“It wasn’t the soup, Connor. It was the fact that you followed her into one of the hotel rooms and nearly cornered her while begging her to try it.” Shaking her head, Harlow sighed. “You can’t keep terrorizing people like that.”
The bark of laughter was out before he could stop it. “Terrorize? Come on, Harlow. That’s a bit dramatic, don’t you think?”
“No, I don’t. I think if Maisie and I hadn’t talked to her, she would have filed charges against you.”
“For what, exactly? I didn’t touch her or threaten her; I was just offering her lunch!”
“Okay, you’re getting defensive,” Milo commented, “and you’re not seeing the big picture here.
You’re obsessing over a menu that, for starters, doesn’t fit what we’re doing here at the resort.
You’re thinking along the lines of your restaurants, and it’s not as upscale here.
So maybe once you realize that, some of the pressure will go away. ”
“Con, we all know you are brilliant with food,” Walker said. “But maybe save some of the extreme recipes for when you open your place in town.”
“I never said I was definitely going to do that,” he grumbled.
“Oh, please,” Axel said with a snort. “We all know you’re going to do it. You have to. You need to. Making average dishes day after day, night after night would make you crazy. The menu here is going to be incredible, but we all know it’s not going to challenge you.”
“And we can’t let you make the menu too intense because this is a rustic family resort,” Walker added. “You know it would make your brain go numb if you had to make pot roast and chicken pot pie on repeat.”
“Maybe.”
Maise grabbed a chair and sat down beside him.
“Connor, you literally saved my life. You saw that I was in trouble, and even though I didn’t want to accept your help, you helped me anyway.
That’s what we’re all trying to do here.
We’re trying to ease all the pressure you’re putting on yourself.
And we’re going to sit here this morning, and finalize the menu and be done with it. ”
“But…” He looked around frantically. “What if I find something I want to put on the menu? What if there’s a recipe that I forgot? Or…or…”
“Then they become specials,” Slater told him, walking over and resting his hand on Connor’s shoulder. “Dude, you need to relax. Let’s get this menu done so that next week when you do interviews, you’ll have something for potential chefs to work on.”
His head lolled back even as he groaned. “It’s not that simple. I’ve always done this alone, and all my restaurants…”
“We’re a team here, Connor,” Walker reminded him. “And you clearly need a little help. You’ve had so much on your plate with house hunting and moving Annabeth here and helping in just about every area of the business. Now it’s our turn to help you, okay?”
He hated the idea, but…now that he was listening to his friends, he realized they were right. He was making himself crazy and stressing out and…terrorizing everyone.
Dammit.
Straightening, he looked at them all and silently nodded.
Walker pulled him to his feet as everyone cheered.
It was hard to be mad when he knew how lucky he was to have so many people care about him and only want what was best for him.
That kind of thing was rare, and he was ready to tell them how much he appreciated them when…
“We all want pancakes for breakfast,” Slater told him with a grin. “And maybe some of that bourbon butter cake now that I’m awake.”
“It’s down in my cabin. Why don’t you grab it while I whip up breakfast?”
“Deal!”
Everyone scattered to help set the table, make coffee, and get the butter cake. And as Connor began making the batter for the pancakes, he couldn’t help but smile. He may not have everything he ever wanted, but what he had was pretty damn great.
“My life is awful, everything is bad, and I’ve already cried twice today.”
“Um…it’s only nine in the morning, Lex. What’s going on?”
Lexi Scott sat down at her tiny kitchen table with a sigh as she explained to her best friend Kelsey what was happening in her life.
“Just remember you asked,” she said with a small laugh. “So, Adam and his new wife moved to Spain.”
“Spain?”
“Yup. Spain. That’s where she’s from.” Just thinking about the nineteen-year-old home wrecker made her roll her eyes. “And before they left, he assured me I would never see another dime in child support.”
“That’s a bold statement. You can totally still go after him for it.”
“With what money, Kelsey? I’m broke! I’ve got a four-year-old little boy who doesn’t understand why he never sees his father, and I have no idea how I’m supposed to handle all of it.”
“I thought you loved your job at the preschool. I know it wasn’t what you went to school for. But it worked perfectly so you could have Jonah with you.”
“The building had some violations, and we had to close,” she said miserably.
“Now everyone’s scrambling to find childcare for their kids, and I’m scrambling for that and for a new job.
I honestly don’t know what to do. Everything just feels…
heavy. I’m alone and overwhelmed, and…” She sighed even as she fought the fresh wave of tears stinging her eyes.
“Where’s your family? Can’t your parents help with Jonah?”
“Sadly, no. They recently bought a retirement home down in Florida in one of those fifty-five and over communities, so we can’t even go with them.”
“Oh, wow. Sorry.”
“You and me both. And Adam’s family is just as awful as he is, and they’ve never shown any interest in Jonah, so I wouldn’t even consider asking them for help.”
“Okay…” Kelsey paused. “So if your family has moved away and you don’t have Adam to contend with, what’s keeping you in Springfield?”
“Nothing, but…it’s all I can afford right now. In a perfect world, I’d find a job that helped with housing and childcare, but I don’t think that exists.” She sighed. “But enough about me and my miserable life, how are you? How’s Jace? The wedding’s coming up, right?”
“You know it is, and I really wish you were going to be there. You’re my best friend. I need you there, Lex. Please reconsider. I’ll cover all of your expenses.”
“We’ve been over this. I can’t let you do that.” And it killed her to even say it. More than anything, she wanted to be there to see the two of them finally get married. It made her heart so happy that her bestie was getting her happily ever after with the first boy she ever loved.
Unlike me…
“But I want to,” Kelsey argued lightly. “There’s no one else I want for a maid of honor.
Now you’re essentially forcing me to pick someone else, and it just doesn’t feel right.
Plus, you’d get to see the amazing transformation of the resort!
I’m telling you, it’s so much better than I ever even imagined!
Walker and the guys have done an incredible job. ”
“I’m sure they have. You’ll have to send me some pictures.”
The Lakeview Harbor Resort was her family’s favorite vacation destination, and she grew up making some of the best memories there.
Until Connor Winslowe pretty much crushed all her dreams.
They had been childhood sweethearts even though they didn’t live anywhere near each other.
They only had those summer vacations, but those were everything to her.
She always thought that someday the two of them would get married and have babies and be the happiest people in the world.
Then, the summer right before they turned seventeen, Connor had broken up with her.
She’d been devastated, confused, and just plain angry, but he moved on and had a fabulous life without her.
The bastard.
That was another reason she didn’t want to go to the wedding. She’d have to see him since he was now one of the owners and the one responsible for doing all the food for the reception.
I’d rather starve.