Chapter 22
Chapter Twenty-Two
LEVI
The grand opening of the expanded restaurant was a success, and it wasn’t the only success of the night.
I hadn’t meant to call Andy ‘ babe ,’ especially not in front of my dads, but I was just on a high from how happy I was about the successful day.
Andy had worked so hard on this project, and I wanted so badly for things to work out for him. So when the day passed without a single pause in the flow of customers, I couldn’t contain my excitement and blurted that word.
And I was so glad I did because we were now boyfriends .
Officially.
Although nothing in our relationship really changed, since we were basically dating without the title already.
I was ridiculously happy.
My dads were supportive, too, when I told them Andy and I were dating. Dad was mostly surprised I was dating someone my age, which, fair. My love for silver foxes didn’t go away, I just loved Andy more.
Pops took the news well, which was surprising since he’d called it before Andy and I even had a chance to really establish what there was between us. But Pops had been right about me being happy and how Andy made me happy—because he did.
This wasn’t like my past relationships, where I worried I was being too much of myself and would chase them away.
Andy saw me for me, a workaholic, who wasn’t perfect, yet he still liked me anyway.
My dads wanted to spend more time getting to know Andy after I told them about us, but besides a quick late-night dinner, there hadn’t been time with how busy the B&B was, and now the restaurant too. Thank god we were able to hire more people in the last week because demand for the restaurant hadn’t died down after the first day, which also meant that Andy hadn’t had a day off since the restaurant opened.
I suggested closing the restaurant a couple days a week, but he’d beenadamant about staying open since it was still so new. It was good for business, but it also meant we didn’t have much energy after work for much more than quick hand jobs before falling asleep curled up together.
Even though I was exhausted, I was also happier than I’d ever been.
Every day was fulfilling. With more townsfolk dropping by to eat at the restaurant, it felt like we’d become a bigger part of the community too. And the best part of it all was doing this with Andy by my side, watching him thrive more every day as people got even more excited about his food.
Thanksgiving was soon approaching as we got everything finalized for our first holiday event. Thanksgiving at Fated Encounters would be buffet style and tickets for the event were priced just high enough to cover ingredients and waitstaff expenses.
Andy had decided to do sign-ups for Thanksgiving orders to give us a better headcount of those who wanted to dine with us. And thank goodness he did, because it was only then that we realized there was a lot more interest than expected. The first day sign-ups went out, we already had enough people to fill our dining room completely.
It broke my heart to know there were so many folks in Wintertown who didn’t have a place to spend the holiday, and when more people came to ask about getting on the waitlist, hoping to squeeze in a couple of hours to spend with others that night, I knew I wouldn’t be able to turn anyone away.
“What are we going to do?” Andy asked when he looked at the full list and our limited dining area. His brow knitted together when another elderly couple asked my dad about a Thanksgiving meal the next day.
I knew them from around town. They were a couple whose children lived far away and rarely came back to visit, and since they were getting up there in age, they probably had a hard time cooking elaborate meals just for themselves.
Andy had on such a sad face as my dad explained our event was fully booked out and turned them away. I didn’t want this either. I wished we could accommodate everyone, but the B&B was only so big…
Then, an idea popped into my head. I remembered that a few years back, someone booked the B&B out for a wedding. It was our first and only wedding here, but they had insisted on wanting it at the B&B since this was where they fell in love. We’d purchased a huge party tent with sidewalls and everything. It was in storage somewhere in the attic and hadn’t been used since, but we could fit more people with it.
It might be a little cold being November, but at least they wouldn’t be completely out in the elements. We could borrow heaters and tables from our friends and neighbors, decorate with some sparkly lights to make it more inviting, and we could accommodate more people that way. The more I thought about it, the more feasible the plan became.
“Wait!” I called out to the couple before they left and told them to come back tomorrow night for a feast. We didn’t have much time to put this all together, but the bright smiles on the couple’s faces was worth it, even if I had to stay up all night.
“What do you have planned?” Andy asked with a smile. Dad looked curious as well.
I turned to Andy, determined that we could make this work. “Do you trust me?”
“Yes,” he answered without hesitation. It was a one-word reply, but the sincerity I heard in his voice told me he’d truly meant it. And that meant everything.
So I told them the plan for making more room for guests in the living room as well as bringing out the large tent to create more space. They were immediately on board. Dad went to find Pops to inform him of the plan, and Andy turned to me. There was so much trust when he looked at me, like he didn’t doubt a single thing I did.
“What do you need me to do?” he asked.
“We’ll need to borrow heaters and folding tables and chairs. And decorate too. We have to make it look nice. I don’t want people to think we threw this together at the last minute, even if we did. Shit, maybe I was too eager telling the couple to come back when we don’t even know if we’ll get all this done in time,” I said with a huff.
The setup was going to take time, even with the four of us, and we still needed to finish the ingredient prep for tomorrow’s big day of cooking.
Andy pulled me into a hug, his scent immediately filling me and calming me down. “Breathe. It’s going to work out,” he stated. “I’ll drive to town and talk to the restaurant owners to see if we can borrow anything from them.”
I pulled back to look at him. “Since when did you get so close to the owners in town?”
Andy shrugged. “We chatted when I was doing research for the proposal, and we got to talking.”
“Why aren’t I surprised?” I said with a laugh. “You’re making yourself right at home here.”
I immediately pressed my lips flat, regretting saying that out loud. I didn’t want him to feel like I was trying to hint at anything.
Andy and I were dating, but he was still leaving at the end of the contract. I couldn’t ask him to stay, but I wasn’t just going to let him go either. If it meant we had to go long distance to keep him in my life. I’d do it.
“Yeah, I am.”
His words called to a selfish part inside of me that had hope I had no right feeling light up. But before I could ask him more about it, he pressed a kiss to my forehead.
“I need to head into town before the restaurants close for the night. I’ll be back,” he said, then he was gone as he grabbed the keys to the B&B’s truck.
I was frozen in place until he was out of sight, but then I sprang into action. There wasn’t enough time for me to dawdle here. We had a lot we needed to do tonight. I pulled out my phone and started going through my contacts to call in some favors.
My dads returned not long later with the giant, folded-up tent. We quickly set it up in the back and connected it to the door at the back of the dining room, so it would be easy to move from one place to the next. It took us a good hour or two to set up, made harder in the dark of the night, but we got it up eventually .
Pops and Dad went to call their contacts to see what we could borrow. Andy returned not long later, and I was surprised to see Jim’s truck pull in behind him.
“Ran into them in town,” Andy said. He came up and plopped a kiss on my cheek in greeting. My face heated at the intimacy in front of my friends, who were looking at us with huge grins on their faces.
“Andy told us the plan, and my bosses agreed to lend the outdoor heaters we use during the festivals,” Jim said when he came closer. “Just tell us where you want them and what else we can do to help.”
“Just lending us the heaters is more than enough. You guys don’t have to do anything else,” I said.
“We want to,” Austin replied with a hand on my arm. I wanted to argue, not wanting to impose when they were probably tired from a long day at work, but if there was one thing I knew about my friends, it was that they couldn’t be convinced otherwise when they were determined to do something.
“Thank you,” was all I could say as I gave them the biggest hugs, and then instructed them on where to set everything up.
Andy had the tables and chairs in the bed of the truck, but I was surprised to find the cab of the truck filled with grocery bags. “We’re going to need more food if we don’t want to run out tomorrow,” he said with a smirk. I was so focused on creating more space for people that I didn’t even think about that, but thankfully, I had Andy.
“We make a good team,” I commented. Andy laughed and kissed me again, lingering this time. We didn’t pull away until there was the sound of a throat clearing behind us and Jim and Austin were back to carry more stuff inside.
“All right, lovebirds. We need to get to work,” Jim teased. I laughed and dropped one last kiss on Andy’s lips before helping them carry everything inside .
Andy had brought enough tables to fill half the tent, and just as we finished placing them down, more people came to drop off what they could. Neighbors and friends from town showed up one after another, dropping off folding tables, so many chairs, and even things I hadn’t even thought of, paper plates, utensils, and decorations.
I was overwhelmed with all the support our community was showing us and the kind faces of the people telling us we were doing a good thing for the community. I looked at Andy, heart warm and very appreciative of the man, because none of this would have happened if not for him.
“I know that expression when I see it,” a familiar voice said to my side. I turned to see my best friend, Felix, standing there in the flesh. I practically screamed when I saw him and ran to pull him into a hug.
Felix had moved away last year to another small town named Christmas Falls. I’d teased him about trading one holiday town for another, but in reality, the move was good for him. He’d found the love of his life there and had even started his own business with a friend.
“What are you doing here?” I asked my friend when the hug ended. I looked him over. Felix was exactly as I remembered him. With his baby-blue eyes and shining gold hair, he looked like a sweet angel. Beside him was a giant, grumpy man with knitted brows that could rival Andy’s. Felix stepped to his side, and the man visibly softened.
“We came to visit my parents and heard you needed help. Plus, I wanted to officially introduce you to Bruce,” Felix said with a bright smile as he showed off his boyfriend. Bruce nodded with a greeting, then Felix sent him off to help set up, which Bruce obeyed without a word. The man was clearly wrapped around Felix’s finger.
“Is that okay? Making your boyfriend help when he doesn’t even know me?” I asked, as I watched Bruce walk up to Andy. Bruce said something to him, then nodded toward us, probably explaining the situation.
Felix waved my question off, then hooked his arms in mine. “It’s fine. Bruce may look like that, but he’s a big teddy bear who loves to help. But more importantly…” Felix paused and looked at me again. “You’ve been holding out on me. You’re in love.”
Things had been so busy at the B&B that Felix and I hadn’t been able to catch up in a while, and it was only now that I realized a lot had happened since the last time I spoke with him, so I nodded.
The squeal Felix let out right by my ear was dizzying. “Oh my god. Who is it? Is he here?” he asked, looking around.
I glanced at where Andy was, and Felix must have caught my line of sight, because he smirked and hung an arm around me.
“He’s cute, though a lot younger than I expected. He looks around your age. What happened to your silver fox obsession?” Felix teased.
If you asked me a few months ago, I would have said that Andy was nowhere near my type, but now, my type was him and him alone.
“He’s the same age as me, actually, but he’ll become a silver fox one day,” I replied with a smirk. Just thinking about it sent warmth through me, and I realized it was something I really looked forward to.
Growing old with Andy? That sounded like a dream.
Felix just smiled knowingly. “We need to get together another day so you can tell me all about him. But you look happy.”
“I am. I really am,” I replied, which only had Felix’s smile shining brighter .
He laughed and patted me on the back. “After all these years of seeing you chase older men, who would’ve thought you’d fall in love with someone your age and I’d be the one in an age-gap relationship?”
I agreed and laughed. Fate really worked in mysterious ways, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.