Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
“ S orry about earlier,” the voice behind me sounded familiar and entirely foreign at the same time.
When I turned around and saw Jared’s almost twin, I understood why. They were so similar that it was almost like looking at the same person drawn by different artists.
I had gone home, taken a shower, and wallowed in self-pity before going to grab a sandwich at the deli on Elm. It was literally a hole in the wall, well off the beaten path, where the owner wore a cheese wedge for a hat as he stuck his head out the walk-up window to take orders. At lunch time, the line snaked down Elm and turned the corner onto Howard Street as people baked in the sun, waiting for the uniquely named sandwiches.
I stood right alongside them like the sucker I was when Joel sidled up beside me. I hadn’t decided yet if I should hate him as much as Jar ed or give him a little credit for also wanting the downfall of the bakery.
“Ummm … okay,” I said.
Around me, I caught women letting their eyes linger on Joel. Between his good looks and his fame, I guess he was the type of guy to elicit that kind of response. He was muscular, lean, and well put together like his brother, but more than that, he gave off an air of confidence that drew people in. I couldn’t put my finger on what made some people exude effervescent confidence and what made others sort of fade into the background, like me. I wasn’t necessarily immune to Joel’s natural, effortless charm, rather, I had more pressing things on my mind.
“You clean up pretty nicely,” Joel said with a smile.
I squinted my eyes at him. He wasn’t wrong. The lack of sand and flour, coupled with a cute pair of floral, high-waisted shorts and a white crop tank, did make me look pretty cute. However, I was suspicious by nature, and doubly so when compliments came after the cold introduction we’d had.
Joel smiled. Again, it was swoon-worthy, for sure, but somehow, it didn’t have quite the same lightness that Jared’s did. When Jared smiled, it felt like the whole world smiled with him. What the hell? I shook my head, trying to dislodge that thought.
“I know our first meeting wasn’t all that pleasant. My brother and I don’t always see eye to eye, and it doesn’t put me in the best of moods. Can we start again?” He reached out his hand as th e line lurched forward. I glanced at him warily before shaking it. “I’m Joel. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Jenna,” I said, shaking his hand.
“I don’t know you, Jenna, but food fight aside, you come off as grounded and maybe a little suspicious. I like that. I think it would be a good counterpoint to my brother. But I’m going to be honest with you.” We stepped forward in line again. I eyed him sideways trying to figure out what his angle was. What was with the compliments? “I don’t agree with this venture my brother has undertaken. Like you heard, it is frivolous, risky, and well outside of our brand. For those reasons alone, it is going to garner a lot of attention. I don’t know if he is ready for that.”
“Why is he doing it then?” I asked the one question that had been burning in me since the moment I noticed the missing for sale sign outside my barley. His comment about lots of attention fell to the bottom of my stomach like an anchor dragging me down. I would have to reflect on that idea later.
Joel shrugged. “He isn’t being entirely forthcoming with me.”
I stepped up in line again and found myself face to face with Andy in his cheese hat.
“Jenna! The usual?” he asked.
“Yes, please,” I said.
“You got it. One Cape Shore Bomber coming right up. And for you sir?” Andy asked.
“I’ll take the veggie wrap,” Joel said, and suddenly I felt self-conscious abo ut the greasy egg, bacon, sauerkraut sandwich I was about to eat.
“Be right up!” he said.
We stood to the side while we waited for our food. I couldn’t figure out why Joel had found me. Maybe it hadn’t been purposeful at all, but it felt like this conversation was going somewhere. I didn’t like that I couldn’t predict where. Since Jared showed up in my life, few things were predictable. My routine was in shambles, my job—if I could even call it that—was unrecognizable, and now I was surrounded by two men who both seemed to have a hidden agenda.
Once Andy called our names and placed the food in our hands, we stepped away from the chaos of the sandwich place and started walking toward the boardwalk without a word. The longer the silence stretched, the more my anxiety grew. I guess I was having lunch with this guy now?
With the wooden planks under our feet, we navigated toward the first bench overlooking the sand and water that we came to. With an unspoken agreement, we sat down. I unwrapped my food and did my best to keep sauerkraut and cheese sauce from dribbling down my chin as I took my first bite.
“So how did you and Jared meet?” he asked finally after a few bites of food. It was an interesting question because while we met by happenstance at the Food Fest, it didn’t even begin to explain how we got where we were.
“He was visiting for the Food Fest. I was working the stall for my parents' restaurant,” I said, regretting my honesty. For some reason, I did n’t love the idea of Joel Wallace knowing about The Lobster Tail.
“Oh,” Joel’s face lit up and it seemed genuine. “A fellow restaurant kid. Which place?”
“The Lobster Tail. It’s the little seafood place in town.”
“I gathered,” he said with a laugh. “So how did the consultant thing come about? He just asked you after being enamored of your cooking?” he asked. It felt mocking, but I couldn’t prove it.
“Something like that,” I said. He clearly didn’t know the wager that Jared and I had made nor what I would get if I won—or lost, for that matter.
“I think it's great getting the input of the locals.” He said "locals" like I was some sort of zoo exhibit.
I snorted a laugh. “You don’t have to pretend you think it’s great. I don’t know exactly how these big chains work, but I can imagine bringing in someone like me only complicates things.”
“A bit, but it will likely complicate things the most for you. It really wasn’t fair of Jared to put you in this position. You have no media or marketing training. And while I trust that you know Cape Shore, we always aim to reach a larger demographic.”
Nothing he said was wrong, but that didn’t stop it from reaffirming every negative script I had told myself since the idea to open a bakery popped into my head. He might as well have just said outright that I simply wasn’t good enough. Who was I to compete in a market with the Wallaces and their team of highly trained people whose singular goal was to know what people wanted and to give it to them.
“Oh, I hurt your feelings,” Joel said.
“No,” I said too quickly.
“I must sound like a total asshole.”
“A little bit,” I said.
“I deserve that,” he laughed. “This sucks all around. There is no way else to put it. Jared has a tendency to act without thinking. I’m hoping this bakery works out for the best, but there is no telling with Jared at the helm. Maybe he can get his head on straight with your help.”
“So this was an impulse buy? Must be nice,” I mumbled to myself, my resentment for Jared rearing its ugly head. I couldn’t even imagine a life in which I had enough throw away money to buy an entire establishment on a whim.
“Not exactly. I think he came here with the plan to set up shop, despite my best arguments against it,” he said.
“Really?” That surprised me. I didn’t know if it should make me feel better or worse that Jared had always had the intention of upending my life.
Joel just shrugged. “Listen, I’ve been a jerk, and my brother has dragged you into family drama. Let me make it up to you. I’ll take you to a nice dinner tonight.”
“That really isn’t necessary,” I said.
“I know. But I want to.” He looked at me with a smile that even my cynical mind couldn’t find fault with. “I’d like to get to know you better. You are part of the team after all.”
“For now,” I said.
“Alright, you don’t have to throw it in my face how much of an asshole I am ,” he said with a laugh. “Maybe if dinner is really fantastic, I can make you forget all about it.”
“That would have to be some dinner.”
He nodded thoughtfully. “I like a challenge.” He stood up, crumpling the paper that had held his veggie wrap. “Can I pick you up tonight?”
I hadn’t been prepared for him to follow through with dinner so quickly. I thought I would be able to say yes and then mentally prepare for a couple days or weeks and then avoid him entirely so I didn’t have to do it at all. It’s not that I didn’t want to go out to dinner with a handsome man. It’s that I didn’t want to be entangled with the Wallace family any more than I already was.
“Okay,” I said, forcing myself out of my comfort zone. I couldn’t keep hiding in my apartment behind a computer. Besides, maybe I could use this to win the war with Jared.