Page 45 of Holding Grace

Michael hadn’t even mentioned The Kiss in his texts and neither had I. Maybe I’d imagined the whole thing.

Then again, no. My imagination was not that vivid.

“You’re good friends,” Mercy shot back, “and that’s a great start.”

She was right. Michael and I were good friends, good friends who kissed. And yes, that was a great start.

“Fair enough,” I conceded.

“Speaking of Michael, I have something I want to talk with you about. Not about Michael, exactly, but about the pub. Do you have time to have lunch with me?”

I was mystified. What could this be about?

“You’re the boss,” I reminded her. “If you say I have time, I have time.”

“Perfect.” Mercy headed back in the direction of her office. “I’ll grab my bag and we can go now before places get crazy crowded.”

Ten minutes and a short walk later, we were settling into a booth at Romano’s, a family-owned Italian restaurant a few blocks from the office.

Once we ordered, Mercy got right down to business.

“You know how busy they’ve been at Brothers Pub.”

I nodded, although she hadn’t phrased it as a question. “Michael says it’s been nearly nonstop for weeks.”

“Right. I was talking with Jo and Ellie the other day and they said their business from the pub is up by nearly 50%, especially for special events.”

Jo and Ellie were the girlfriends of Kendrick and his twin brother, Cal, respectively. Ellie was also the younger sister of Dante, who was Kendrick, Cal, and Jamey’s friend since childhood. Together, Jo and Ellie owned Celebration Cakes, a specialty cake shop that supplied special occasion cakes for individuals and corporate events, as well as supplying signature cake flight desserts for the pub.

Celebration Cakes leased space from Baron Properties for their production kitchen and a tasting room.

“Anyway, I’m sure Michael told you the pub is hiring another cook. It looks like Jo and Ellie will be hiring a baker, too. I’m well aware that you planned to go back to work at the pub when you moved back here before you were gracious enough to agree to help me out. I don’t want to lose you, but Jamey and Kendrick or Jo and Ellie would be ecstatic to have you. If you truly want to be in the kitchen, like I know Michael does, I don’t want to hold you back from either opportunity.”

I sat back, trying to take in everything Mercy had said. “That’s...uh...”

“I know this is out of the blue. Believe me, I’m not in any way trying to get rid of you. You’re the best assistant I’ve ever had, and I’d like to talk about making our arrangement permanent if you decide you don’t want to go back to cooking. But if that is what you want, I don’t want to keep you from it. And don’t worry about the apartment. I want you to stay there no matter what you decide.”

I blinked at Mercy, knowing I had to look like a deer in the headlights. I certainly felt like one.

“I’m not sure what to say. Like you said, I had planned to go back to the pub, and I liked working there. But I like working with you, too.” Mercy was quiet, giving me space to sort through the jumbled thoughts rolling around in my head. “Cooking is something I fell into. The work was available, and I learned how to do it and...” I shrugged, leaving the rest unsaid. “It’s hard work and it’s satisfying. But the work I’m doing with you...” I fiddled with my iced tea as I searched for the words I wanted. “I feel like I’m learning something new all the time. And like there’s so much more still to learn. I like all the detail, and learning the process, and all the terminology, and...” I stopped at the smile on Mercy’s face. “I appreciate that you’d be alright with me going to the pub or Celebration Cakes if that’s what I wanted, but I’d like to keep working with you.”

Mercy held up her hand for another high-five as she had earlier.

“Twice in one day you’ve given me the answer I wanted to hear. I’d probably have cried if you said you wanted to leave so thanks for sparing us both that embarrassment.”

I had to laugh. It was hard for me to picture Mercy Baron crying over anything, much less me taking another job. Still, I played along.

“Just remember this at performance evaluation time.”

Mercy nodded as the server arrived with our food. “Duly noted.”

We chatted about other things as we ate. It was as we were walking back to the office that I remembered an errand I’d intended to run at lunch.

“Oh, shoot. Oh, well.” I could do it tomorrow.

“Want to share?” Mercy questioned.

“I just remembered I was going to run to the DMV today. I need to renew my driver’s license. My birthday’s coming up and it’s going to expire.”

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