The Second Chance Café (Hope Springs, #1) (29 page)

That was a crock of crap. “You’ve had an entire month to be a father. Now it’s time to be a man.”

“Ten—” Luna said, but he cut her off because he didn’t care if he was out of line. All he cared about was what these two had done to Kaylie. He couldn’t go back in time and
stop it from happening or fix it now that it had. He couldn’t make up for failing to protect her, for letting this hurt come her way. But he could see things set right. And he would.

“Here’s what’s going to happen. I was supposed to drive Kaylie to Austin on Sunday to pick up the last of her things. But something’s going to come up. I’ll have to pick up supplies in San Antonio or something, and I won’t be able to. Instead of leaving her stranded, I’ll have arranged for you to go.”

Mitch’s face blanched. “I have to work at the Gristmill on Sunday.”

“You
did
have to work. But you’re going to call in sick, or have a family emergency, or just bring in a temp to cover your shift. I don’t care what you do.”

“And what are you going to do, Ten?” Luna asked. “When this all hits the fan. What are you going to do?”

He couldn’t think about that now. Not about what he might lose if Kaylie found out the part he’d played here. It was hard enough imagining how hurt she was going to be. Those thoughts seized at him, tightening his gut until he thought he might puke. “This isn’t about me.”

But Luna pressed on. “You know this ultimatum of yours that Mitch tell her the truth could very well ruin your relationship. And the café’s set to open in a month. She’s doing a trial run on Friday night. She’s got a lot on her plate. Why force this on her now? Why not let things settle—”

“And how will letting things settle help? Once the café opens, she’ll have no choice but to stay here when she might want nothing more than to leave and never see this place again.”

“She loves this place,” Luna said. “She came back here because she loves it so much. This is her home now. You can’t take that away from her.”

“Me? Uh-uh. I didn’t do this. You want to place blame, you look in the mirror.”

Luna turned away, swiping her fingers beneath her eyes.

“Ten’s right,” Mitch said. “I’ve gotta come clean.”

“Yeah. You do. You’re going to be here bright and early that morning with your truck. You’re going to drive her to Austin. You’re going to load up the rest of her things. And on the drive back, you’re going to ruin her day and tell her every bit of the truth.”

“No. Not like that.”

“Yes. Just like that. You’ll have the time—”

“Not enough. Not for everything that needs to be said.”

“Then you pull over to the side of the road and say it. I don’t care as long as you don’t let her out of your truck until she knows. When she gets back here, I don’t want there to be any question in her mind that you are who you say you are.”

“W
e’re going to need a better way to serve the salad dressing. The cruets will tip too easily if the table is jostled.”

“A squatter style of cruet, then. You know, shaped like a genie’s lamp or something. Ladles make too much of a mess. Pouring makes more sense.”

“What makes more sense is to be able to see if the dressing is about to run out.”

“Crystal cruets. Short, squat. Solves both problems.”

“Crystal’s too fancy. I saw some in Williams-Sonoma made of laboratory glass. Simple, clean designs. No muss or fuss.”

“Laboratory glass. Sure. Why not?”

“Well, I’m glad you agree. I’ll pick them up this weekend.”

Standing in the doorway between the kitchen and the room designed especially for her buffet, Kaylie smiled as she listened to Mitch and Dolly bicker over the table’s accessories. She’d been so right to hire both of them. And as much as they squabbled in the kitchen, the two had become fast friends.

The produce for tonight’s trial run had come from Indy’s greenhouse, but Dolly had made the dressings from
scratch. She and Kaylie had worked in the Breeze family kitchen last week to perfect them; the kitchen at Two Owls had been in complete disarray, but everything had come together since then.

Mitch had turned out three gorgeous test casseroles: chicken spaghetti, shredded pork enchiladas with a lime-cilantro cream sauce, and a grilled sirloin and egg noodle stroganoff. The scents of onions and cheeses and spices had her stomach rumbling. Dolly had baked May’s hot rolls, and Kaylie had gone all out with a trio of brownie varieties for dessert.

She walked into the room, her hands full with the tiered stand that held them stacked two deep on all three levels. Mitch caught sight of her, turned, and stepped forward, his arms outstretched. “Here. Let me take that. Smooth out the cloth at the end of the table there, would ya, Doll?”

Kaylie grinned as she handed off the brownies. She loved how Mitch had come to shorten Dolly’s name. “Thanks. I probably went a little overboard for a trial run, but I couldn’t resist.”

“The entire buffet says overboard for the number of people who’ll be eating, but I absolutely love that it does,” Dolly said, rotating the dessert stand a quarter of a turn, as if where Mitch had set it didn’t quite measure up. He rolled his eyes and Kaylie’s grin widened. Then Dolly clapped her hands and said, “I think that’s it. I’m going to run freshen up before everyone arrives.”

Watching her go, Mitch shook his head. “That woman. Has to have everything just so.”

“The very reason she’s here,” Kaylie reminded him. “I don’t have time or patience for the
just so
, and you don’t have a knack for it.”

“Yeah, well, you got me there,” he said, rubbing at the back of his neck.

“But you make up for the
just so
with the beef and pork and chicken, and those sauces. They smell so good I want to dive in and swim laps.” She stepped closer to the table and held her shirt to her body so as not to drag it through the food when she leaned down to breathe it all in. “This right here,” she said as she straightened, her encompassing gesture taking in the whole spread, “this is why
you
are here. And I am so,
so
glad you are.” Then before she thought about what she was doing, she wrapped her arms around Mitch’s neck and gave him a hug.

He grew stiff, and she knew she’d caught him unawares, but then his arms came around her gently and he returned the show of affection—just with a little less show. And that was fine, she mused, stepping back as she released him. The exuberance making her feel like she was floating through the house in a bubble was enough show for the whole town of Hope Springs.

“Listen, Kaylie,” he said, moving to the end of the buffet. “I want to thank you for this. I really wasn’t interested in taking on another job when I had a good one—”

“But Luna made you come.”

“She did. And I was curious. But this thing you’ve done…” He swept his arm in an encompassing gesture to indicate the whole of the room…the furnishings and the food and the tongue-and-groove walls whitewashed to look like a general store, the decorative license plates and old milk bottles and gas station signs Dolly had hunted down. “I couldn’t be prouder of y—of how this turned out had I done it all myself.”

What had he stopped himself from saying?
I couldn’t be prouder of you
? Did he think she wouldn’t welcome his pride?

She circled the table to where he stood. “We’ve done this together, Mitch. I would never have pulled it off this beautifully without your input and Dolly’s
just so
. You’ve been vital to the planning every step of the way. I’d thought from the very beginning that it would be a good idea to have my cook on board early, but having you here has been absolutely crucial.”

“I don’t know about that—”

“I know about that,” she said, reaching for his wrist and squeezing. “Please don’t ever doubt how much it means to me having you here.”

“If you’re sure,” he said, his hands going into his pockets when she released him. “Doll can do most of what I can, so if it turns out you don’t need the both of us, keep her. Let me go.”

That sounded like he
was
making plans to leave. She scrambled for something to say to convince him otherwise, but Dolly returned then. Humming beneath her breath, she took in the table once more, adjusting the fold of the napkin covering the hot rolls, lining up the slotted spoon in front of the casserole, doing the same for the salad tongs, and earning another roll of Mitch’s eyes and Kaylie’s laugh.

When the front door chime rang moments later, Kaylie circled her two cooks to answer, giving both a smile and a pat on the back. Dolly returned her smile reassuringly. Mitch seemed agitated, which Kaylie, her own anxiety rising, could totally understand.

The next two hours were a madhouse of food and laughter. Kaylie walked between the tables, talking to everyone,
watching to see who returned for seconds, who for thirds, what dish went the fastest, how many hot rolls everyone ate. She kept an eye on the floor space, the elbow room, checked the lighting, the room’s temperature. Refilled iced tea and coffee like a proper hostess, and had the time of her life.

“Kaylie, aren’t you going to eat?”

The question came toward the end of the meal from Jessa, and had all heads turning toward Kaylie, where, taking a break, she leaned against the door to the dining room. Rick’s gaze searched her out, as did his mother’s and Carolyn Parker’s and her husband Wade’s. Will was the only one who didn’t stop eating, but when he looked up it was straight at Indiana.

She was looking at Kaylie, too, as were Peggy Butters and Maxine Mickels and their spouses. And Manny Balleza, who sat next to Ten. And Max and Josephine Malina. And Mitch, who watched her with his hand around his tumbler of iced tea, waiting.

All of these people…her café…after so many years…“I’m actually not very hungry. And besides, y’all are my focus group, so I’ve got to see if you’re focused.”

Her sixteen guests sitting at four tables of four laughed as one, Carolyn saying, “Well, it seems hardly fair that we’re having all the fun.”

Kaylie met Ten’s gaze across the room. He had done this for her. Yes, it had been her idea, her dream, but Ten had made it happen. And yet…there was something in his expression that led her to believe he was less than happy. It made her think of Mitch’s earlier agitation as the guests had arrived, and the tension in the room had her suddenly feeling the need to escape.

“I’m going to check on the food, see how everything is faring on the buffet.” She turned, an overwhelming pull of emotion leaving her struggling for balance, and for the life of her she didn’t know why. This was what she’d wanted, what she’d planned for and worked for. But she’d never expected to feel so…empty.

It didn’t make sense, she mused, frowning as she tested the heat of the hot rolls and tucked their linen covering closer. None of what she was feeling made sense. She should be pleased, content, full of the joy she’d seen on the faces of her friends. And she did feel all of that. She did. But something was wrong. Something was missing.

She had her dog, her café, her three-story Victorian on the corner of Second and Chances. But she didn’t have Winton or May, and that loss, one she’d thought she’d come to terms with, one that had been a part of her past now for years, suddenly crushed her, and she stumbled into the corner, dropped to crouch there, and stayed.

Ten was the one to find her no more than a minute later, as if whatever he’d seen in her face had led him to her. He swore beneath his breath, came down on one knee, and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her against him, holding her until the worst of her shaking subsided. When she nodded, he helped her to her feet and guided her through the buffet-room door into the kitchen.

Once there, she eased from his embrace, uncomfortable to have been found so weak, equally uncomfortable at the possibility of one of her guests seeing her so. Most of all hating that he was the one who had found her. He’d said that he thought her the strongest woman he’d known. She didn’t want to give him a reason to think otherwise.

“I really am okay,” she said, crossing the room to stare out the window above the kitchen sink. Her guests were parked in the small lot accessed from Second Street. All but Ten. His truck sat in her driveway, behind her Jeep, as if he belonged there with her. As if this was his place as much as it was hers.

She closed her eyes at the thought, let it infuse her like amaretto into a fresh strawberry cake. He did belong here, with her, to her, and she to him. Her limbs tingled with the realization and with wanting him, her belly, too, and then he was there behind her, his hands on her shoulders, squeezing as he leaned forward and nuzzled his nose to her ear.

“You stay here,” he said, his voice deep, a vibration that lifted the hair at her nape. “I’ll play host, make sure everyone gets their fill, then clean up. I’ll say you’re not feeling well—”

“Dolly will never believe you.” Though being alone with him was the only thing she wanted, and it sounded like heaven, and she couldn’t wait. “She’ll insist on helping.”

“And I’ll insist on her doing what I say if she wants to keep both her jobs.”

“You wouldn’t dare,” Kaylie said, staring into the window at his reflection.

“Watch me,” he said, and then he was gone.