Chapter 7
COLE
Adream jolted me awake in the night.
Eva was there.
She stood inside the restaurant, smiling at me the way she used to, lifting her hand and gesturing for me to come inside.
Something about the moment felt peaceful… familiar. Like stepping back into a life I had once known. The ache that usually accompanied thoughts of her was gone in the dream. In its place was warmth. Calm. The kind of calm I had not felt in years.
Eva smiled at me and said softly, “You can’t keep the doors closed forever, Cole.”
When I walked in, the restaurant wasn’t the same.
The décor had changed. The lights were warmer.
The tables were full. Conversations and laughter filled the room.
Every seat was taken. The place felt alive in a way it had not in a long time.
Jack stood near the bar, grinning from ear to ear.
And behind the counter, a woman stood with her back turned toward us.
I couldn’t see her face.
She was wiping down the counter, moving comfortably through the space.
Then she turned.
It was Jiya.
The dream shattered.
I woke up abruptly, my chest rising and falling as the darkness of the room closed in.
Something inside me shifted.
It felt like more than just a dream.
It felt like a message.
A sign from Eva.
The thought forced me to confront something I had been avoiding for a long time.
I sat there for several minutes before finally getting up and walking to the kitchen.
I pulled a bottle of beer from the fridge and leaned against the counter, taking slow sips while the dream replayed in my mind.
The kitchen was silent except for the hum of the refrigerator and the soft clink of glass when I adjusted my grip on the bottle.
By the time the bottle was half empty, I knew I had a decision to make.
Later that afternoon, I asked Jack and my lawyer to come over to my house.
“I don’t want her to know that I am the owner, Jack. You will be the face for me. Call her tomorrow and ask her to come by the restaurant.”
Jack nodded.
I then turned to the lawyer. “Draw up a legal contract for my partnership with her. Have it ready by tomorrow.”
“Yes, Mr. Harris.”
After they left, I walked into the living room and looked out the window.
The grass in my front yard had grown tall, and the cardboard boxes filled with empty bottles were being collected by the garbage collectors.
Then I saw Jiya playing with her son.
She lived two doors to the left of me.
The day she had moved in, I had just been leaving for the restaurant when the moving truck pulled into the cul-de-sac. A new addition to the neighbourhood. She had arrived alone. Her son appeared about a week later.
She was a pretty girl—attractive in a quiet way that made you look twice once you truly noticed her.
I had watched her walking around the neighbourhood, introducing herself to everyone. Then she rang my doorbell.
I never answered. I did not want to know who she was or where she came from. Instead, I disappeared back into the darkness of my house.
Away from everyone.
Away from everything.
Then she appeared at the restaurant.
And she kept appearing.
Now fate had taken a different turn.
Jiya was going to become my business partner. And she had absolutely no idea.
Sitting at my usual table, I watched Jiya enter the restaurant.
Something about seeing her walk through the door made me sit a little straighter in my chair.
She looked determined, clutching her folder the same way she had the day she proposed the idea to Jack.
I kept my gaze fixed on my beer, pretending not to pay attention, even though every movement she made caught my eye.
Jack stepped forward to greet her and introduced her to my lawyer. “Jiya, this is Eric Lambert, the lawyer for the owner. Eric, this is Jiya Flores.”
I watched them shake hands.
Jiya’s grip looked firm. She stood there with her shoulders straight and her chin slightly raised.
Jack disappeared briefly into the kitchen and returned moments later carrying cups of hot beverages.
“Will the owner not be joining us?” she asked, glancing around the restaurant.
Her eyes passed over me.
I lowered my gaze slightly, making sure she did not linger on me long enough to recognize anything.
Eric followed her line of sight and looked in my direction. “No, he won’t be,” Eric said calmly. Then he glanced toward me again and added, “Don’t worry about that guy. He is harmless,” he said dismissively.
I nearly scoffed into my drink. Harmless. If only he knew how ironic that sounded.
Jiya ran her hand through her hair again.
I noticed the small gesture immediately. It was subtle, but it betrayed the tension she was trying so hard to hide. That, more than anything, interested me.
Jack placed the drinks down in front of them. “Here you go, coffee for everyone and a green tea for you, Jiya.” Jack smiled warmly.
“Thanks, Jack.”
Eric took the coffee from his hand. “First things first, the owner would like to have a quote for the renovation.”
I watched Jiya closely from my corner table.
Her reaction mattered to me. Part of me expected her to hesitate, to stumble, or even to back away now that the conversation had become real.
Instead, she straightened slightly in her chair.
The determination in her expression returned.
And despite myself, I found my curiosity growing stronger.
Maybe Jack had been right about her enthusiasm after all.
Still, I reminded myself not to trust appearances too easily.
So I remained where I was, quietly observing from my usual table, listening to every word they said without letting them know that the so-called harmless man sitting in the corner was the one who held the final decision in his hands.
“Okay,” she said. “I’ll try to get that by the end of the day tomorrow.”
Really? That soon? I raised my eyebrows slightly as I sat at my table watching her.
“Great! Second, he wants Jack to be his representative throughout the entire process. That’s why Jack is present here.”
She nodded.
Hmm… why is she not curious to know about me, the restaurant owner?
Most people would have asked questions by now.
Most people would have been suspicious or at least intrigued by the person who owned the place they were about to invest in.
Yet, she did not ask anything about me. Instead, she simply listened.
Either she trusted too easily, or she was too focused on survival to waste time on curiosity.
“Third, everything will be split fifty-fifty.” Eric took a sip from the steaming cup.
She nodded again.
I leaned back slightly in my chair and studied her carefully. A small wave of doubt rolled through me as I watched the conversation unfold.
Am I doing the right thing? Everything seemed to be moving in a direction I had not anticipated.
The deal was unfolding faster than I had imagined, and I was not sure if I was ready for it.
Doubts crept into my mind. My chest tightened, and my muscles tensed as if I were preparing for something I could not yet see.
Then the memory of the dream surfaced.
Eva.
I could still see her standing there in the restaurant in my dream, smiling at me the way she used to. Then Jack’s smiling face. The restaurant full of customers. The sound of laughter. The warmth of a place that once felt alive.
My chest slowly expanded as I inhaled deeply, and my breathing gradually evened out.
“Any questions at all?” Eric asked.
She shook her head.
“Jack has signed the contract along with the owner. There are four copies. Read and sign all of them. Hand it over to Jack when you’re done. You have forty-eight hours,” he said, handing her an envelope.
Eric took another sip of his coffee, shook Jiya’s hand, and left the restaurant.
Jack turned toward her. “So, Jiya, when do we start?”
Even from where I was sitting, I could hear the excitement in his voice. Hope had crept into his heart again. I could also hear the entire conversation clearly from my table. And I could sense his eagerness for this new venture to begin.
“I’ll call the designer and the restaurant expert today and keep you posted,” she said, beaming.
Jack nodded. “That’s great. I’ll see you then.”
She finished her green tea and stood up before leaving the restaurant.
Jack cleared the cups from the table and then walked over to me. “I think this is a good start,” he said.
I avoided looking directly at him. “I heard.” My brows wrinkled as I stared down at my beer.
“You have to learn to have some faith again, Cole,” Jack said gently. “She is a good person. You’ll see.”
His words hovered in the air between us.
Faith. That was something I had not allowed myself to feel in a very long time. I scoffed quietly under my breath. I leaned back in my chair and stared toward the door she had just walked through.
Confidence was one thing, but reality had a way of stripping that away quickly. People often walked into situations like this with enthusiasm and grand ideas, only to retreat the moment they realized what it truly involved.
Part of me assumed the same thing would happen with her.
Once she opened that envelope and saw the numbers, the legal terms, and everything that came with this so-called partnership, I was certain her confidence would begin to crack.
Running a restaurant was not some romantic dream. It was long hours, financial risk, and constant pressure.
I had lived it.
I knew exactly how quickly optimism could fade when reality stepped in.
So I waited.
If she was truly serious about this place, she would prove it soon enough. If she was not, then the whole situation would resolve itself before it even began.
Let’s see how she handles this fifty-fifty partnership.