Chapter 16 JOSIE
“Don’t you love this place?” Carter said in her ear. His breath smelled of beer and Josie tried not to recoil.
She shifted on the high-top stool. This trendy pub was owned by Carter’s friend. The grey textured walls and the black tables gave the place a cave-like feel, but if that’s what they were going for they nailed it.
She stifled a yawn, wishing she was back in her kitchen.
Or with her friends. Her face heated as she thought of where she really wanted to be, back in bed with Ares.
It’d been a week since she said goodbye to him and part of her wondered if what had happened between them really was too good to be true.
He hadn’t texted or called all week. She spent the week throwing herself into her work as those Christmas orders kept coming in. By the time the day ended, her feet hurt. She felt like crying and hated that her feelings were so all over the place.
She should be stronger than this, dammit, not swooning over some guy.
But it wasn’t just some guy. It was Ares. The man who wanted to be more than friends. Ares, who had always supported her business.
The guy who gave her first experience with rope and left her wanting more.
“You could call him,” Maisy had said yesterday. Her chef friends were just as tired as she was but they had a quick catch up at Cecilia’s place.
“No. He’s the one who expressed how much he wants to date me. I don’t want to sound desperate.”
“Maybe he’s embarrassed,” Cecilia said. Her friend was lying down on her bed, her kitten stretched out beside her.
“Ares doesn’t get embarrassed.”
“Are you sure? He’s a guy who is used to being in control, but when it comes to you, he’s all awkward. It’s kind of adorable.”
“It’s annoying,” Maisy said. “The man probably makes dozens of calls a day. He could at least call Josie.”
“I didn’t say he was perfect,” Cecilia muttered. “Can I have twenty minutes, please? I don’t know how I’m going to get through service tonight.”
“We’ll hang out in the living room and wake you,” Josie said, tossing a blanket over her friend.
“Make it forty.”
“You got it,” Maisy said.
Josie sat next to Maisy on Cecilia’s couch and they flicked through mindless reality shows, where she tried not to think about Ares.
Her logic kicked in. He told her that his last break-up was because of putting his brother first and every time they were interrupted; it had something to do with his brother.
That his ex-girlfriend had walked out on him, without even a note.
Maybe he was embarrassed or scared that she was going to say she couldn’t handle not being the focus of his attention.
Josie shook the thoughts away, almost not wanting to make excuses for Ares. Her calves were burning from sitting in the stool. Instead of being at home, she was here in this dark restaurant with Carter.
“Josie, what do you think of the place?” His cold fingertips made her draw her hand back.
“The blue light over the open kitchen is interesting.”
“Dean loves to experiment. You need to try the calamari.” Carter slipped into the seat across from her. “Everything here is good.”
Josie’s stomach twisted with how he looked at her.
“It’s not a date, Carter. Aren’t we here just to meet your friend?”
“But we might as well eat. We can be two friends, eating, right?” With the way he said it, Josie felt foolish. When Carter asked her to come with him tonight to talk to a friend looking to start a catering business, she had hesitated.
But Carter had been so good to her, and she had been so lucky with her business. Giving someone a few pointers was a small way to pay it forward.
“Eating is good.” Josie blushed, feeling so silly.
“Right?” Carter fake-laughed obnoxiously and laid his hand on hers. She wanted to pull her hand away, but didn’t want to be rude. She kept her hand underneath his sweaty one as he flagged down a server to order.
“It’s nice to be out of your own kitchen, right? You work so hard you deserve a night off.”
“You know how it is this time of year.”
“Yeah, and as your landlord, I should be thrilled that you’re so busy. But don’t you find it tiring?” Carter leaned in over the table and his steely look made her hackles rise.
She trusted Carter because he had an excellent reputation, even if Maisy thought he relied on his fame as an ex-football player and because his mom was a friend of her mom’s. There was no way she could make a profit by paying rent anywhere else. She would have taken several more years to do that.
The deal she had with Carter was one she didn’t take for granted, but how his eyes narrowed at her and how he tilted his head. His condescending tone made her squeeze her hands together.
She sat back in the chair, trying to create space between her and him. “No. I find it invigorating to always create dishes and put out good food for my customers. Don’t you?”
“That’s the job, but I have more staff than you do. Don’t you wish you had someone to take it all off your hands?”
The way he stared at her had her shifting in her seat. Where was Carter going with this line of conversation?
“I hired someone to help me out with the season. If you weren’t giving below market rent, I couldn’t afford to do that.”
“How long do you think that can last? It’s just you, even with staff.”
“There are lots of caterers out there and private chefs. I’m kind of a mix of both. Are you worried that I won’t be able to pay rent?”
“No, I’m just trying to look out for you,” Carter brushed his fingers over her hand again. “We have a lot in common. I know you’ve resisted spending time with me, but if you’re working less, there’ll be no excuses.”
“Carter, I told you I’m not interested in dating.”
He moved even closer to her, his chair scraped along the floor. “If you had more help, I think you’d reconsider that. I like you, Josie.”
Her stomach tumbled to the floor and suddenly she wished she had listened to Cecilia and cut ties with him.
“I like you as a friend, Carter, nothing more.”
“You say that now.”
“Excuse me,” a server interrupted them and placed an app tray in front of them.
“Perfect.” Carter picked up a piece of calamari with his fingers and held it out to Josie.
“Not right now.”
“You got to try it!” Carter squeezed her arm.
“No, I’m fine.” She shuffled back in her chair.
“Okay, but Josie, think about it. You’ve been too stressed. I know you have staff but only two-part timers. Look, here’s my friend now.”
A tall man with grey hair patted Carter on the shoulder.
“Hey Jared, this is Josie. Two J’s, isn’t that fate?” Carter did that obnoxious, fake laugh thing again.
“This is your friend?” Josie glanced at the man in the suit, her cheeks hot. She shouldn’t have assumed Carter’s ‘friend’ would have been a female but that’s what she had pictured when Carter asked her to meet his friend tonight.
“The friend I was telling you about,” Carter said.
Jared sat down next to her, so now she was sandwiched between the two of them. “Nice to meet you. Carter has told me a lot about you.”
“He’s the friend who wants to start a catering business?”
The two men exchanged a look that made her feel very small, and she wished she was anywhere else but here.
“I might have exaggerated,” Carter said.
Jared laughed and slapped Carter on the back. “All you had to tell her is I know how to make restaurants successful.”
The place was starting to pick up and behind them at the bar she felt the press of people surrounding her.
“I should go. I have lots of work tomorrow. You guys know how it is.” Josie lifted herself from the table to stand.
Carter practically pushed on her shoulder until she was sitting back down. “Stay. Look, Jared is an expert. He increases a restaurant’s productivity and I want you to hear his ideas for Josie’s Plates.”
Her stomach churned. This stranger was here to tell her how to run her business? The business she started in her mother’s kitchen while she was sending our resumes to fine dining restaurants? The business that her mother’s friends raved about and the one that Ares supported?
She shook her head. “No, that’s fine. I’m going to call it a night. Thanks for the thought, Carter, but I’m happy with how my business is going at the moment and I don’t need anything else.”