Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Britt had never been so glad to be called in to work early in her life.
She was already on the schedule, but since Aaron was off, that meant she was on deck for any issues that arose.
So when Grace, the pastry chef scheduled tonight, called to say she had to take her dog to the emergency vet and didn’t know if she’d make it in, it fell to Britt to cover.
That was one thing about Aaron; he was an animal lover.
If someone’s pet needed help, he let them off work the same way he would if someone’s kid was sick.
Maisie had never had any problems—knock on wood—but it was nice to know she didn’t have to worry about her job if she suddenly needed to leave to take care of her.
Desserts weren’t Britt’s main area of expertise, but she could make a soufflé and crème br?lée in her sleep since they were permanently on the Shades menu. Being the sous chef, she had to be familiar with every station and recipe in case she needed to step into another role, like tonight.
She hoped Grace’s dog was okay, but after three days of her momma’s dream board and constant wedding questions, coming in early had been a blessing.
As messed up as it sounded, it shouldn’t be as hard as it was to plan a wedding she was never going to have.
Her momma was out of control obsessive when it came to weddings, especially her daughter’s wedding.
But even though Britt knew it was a fraud, she couldn’t stop picturing herself walking down the aisle to Linc.
That’s why she was happy to be at work. It was getting harder and harder to plan a wedding to someone who she was coming to realize might be everything she ever wanted. She didn’t know how she was going to make it through another day of her momma’s wedding interrogations without breaking down.
“Hey, Britt?”
She looked up when one of the station chefs called her name.
“You’re wanted at the pass.”
“Thanks.” Wiping her hands on a towel, she headed that way. When she saw their ma?tre d', Oliver, waiting for her, she braced for the worst.
Please, don’t let there be a problem.
“Hey, Oliver. What do you need?”
“There’s a couple at table eighteen that would like to speak to you.”
Great.
“Any clue what it’s about?”
He shook his head. “Sorry.”
“No worries.” This was the part of being in charge she hated the most. Figures there’d be a problem when Aaron was off, so she had to be the one to deal with it. She really wasn’t in the right frame of mind to play the customer-is-always-right game. “Tell them I’ll be there in a minute.”
With a nod, Oliver turned to deliver the message.
After washing her hands and a quick once-over to make sure her chef’s jacket wasn’t a mess, she headed out to the dining room. There was something familiar about the broad shoulders encased in a charcoal suit jacket.
When Linc looked her way and smiled, she stumbled a step.
“Hey, Zan.” He stood and gave her a chaste kiss on the cheek.
“What’re you doing here?” She knew she was smiling like a loon, but couldn't help it.
“I’m on a date.”
She literally heard a record scratching to a stop in her head. “A what?”
Linc took a step back, giving her a clear view of his companion.
“Grand?” Britt had never been happier to see the octogenarian in her life.
“Can you get us more bread?” Grand asked. “Our waiter abandoned us.”
“She was here three minutes ago,” Linc whispered.
Britt smothered a grin. “Of course, I can.” She waved Oliver over. “Oliver, can you have Mrs. Owens’ server bring some more bread, please?”
“Right away.”
“So, you guys are on a date, huh?”
“Since I paid a thousand dollars for him,” Grand said, “I told him he needed to take me to the nicest restaurant.”
That’s right. She still couldn’t get over the fact Grand had bid that exorbitant amount of money for Linc at the auction.
“Technically, I paid a thousand dollars,” he corrected. “A bit more than I was expecting to.” He shot Grand a meaningful look.
It didn’t phase her in the slightest. “Did you want me to look like a cheapskate?”
“Wait.” Furrowing her brows, Britt turned to Linc. “You paid the money?”
“I told her to make sure she won,” he explained before aiming his next statement directly at Grand. “I did not, however, tell her to break the bank.”
Grand shrugged, completely unrepentant. She reached for the warm, crusty sourdough the instant her server set it down.
Britt was still stuck on Linc bankrolling his own auction. “Why would you do that?”
“Sid wouldn’t let me back out, and I wasn’t about to go on a date with someone else when I’m married to you,” he answered simply.
Her heart melted… right in the middle of the restaurant… it melted at her feet. She was probably standing in a puddle of heartbeats now.
“You did that for me?”
“I’d do anything for you, Zan.”
She kissed him. She didn’t care they were in the middle of the dining room at Shades and everyone was staring. She didn’t care that it was unprofessional. She didn’t care about anything except the man who proved time and time again he put her first.
“Get a room,” Grand ordered, dunking another hunk of bread in olive oil.
Linc chuckled against Britt’s lips. “What was that for?”
“Can’t a girl kiss her husband when he says something sweet?”
“You can kiss your husband any time you want.”
“Where’s your ring?” Grand asked out of the blue.
Britt and Linc looked at each other. Her momma had asked that exact question the day after she’d learned they were married. They parroted the same story they’d told her to Grand.
“Being sized,” they said in unison, despite knowing it wasn’t.
She didn’t have a ring. Somehow, they’d remembered to get a wedding license when they were wasted in Vegas, but not rings.
Turns out, you didn’t need them for a marriage to be legal, so they’d never exchanged any.
And there was also the small fact Linc had never actually proposed because he’d never intended to marry her in the first place.
She needed to remember that.