Page 92 of Promised Love

“What the hell happened?” I ask her in a low voice as Lukas slides in beside me.

She bites her bottom lip. “It seems… I went a bit overboard in telling our breakfast guests that no reservations are needed for our special Valentine’s Day lunch.”

I gasp. “What? Why would you do that?”

“We were only fifty percent booked until this morning, Auttie. Sorry, I’ll be right back,” she mutters and grabs the menus and goes to table ten.

“We were not ready for this big of a crowd,” I whisper. My hands tremble, and I think I’m going to pass out.

“Hey.” Lukas pulls me to the side and holds my face in his hands. “You’ve got this. These people are here because they love the inn, and you. This is your town, the one that loves celebrations. You’ll think of something to make this a memorable day for them. It might not be how you planned it, but they don’t know your plans, remember that.”

I close my eyes, trying to take deep breaths. I clutch his warm hands as my brain slowly comes out of the panic haze.

I can fix this.

“You can fix this.” He gives voice to my thoughts, and for a second, the noise of cutlery hitting against the china plates, the chatter of guests, and the faint jazz music evaporates and all I can hear, see, and think is Lukas.

“Thank you so much,” I whisper and he bends forward to place a quick kiss on my lips.

“You’ve got this.” He smiles and lets me go. “I’ll help Chiara here. Go and play your magic.”

I leave the dining hall and march into the kitchen to find Suzie running from one table to another, throwing instructions at the kitchen staff one after the other.

“Suzie, how are we doing here?”

“We are a bit overwhelmed but doing great. Aren’t we, boys?”

When everyone grunts a yes, she pulls me to the side. “What publicity stunt did you pull this time? Some notice in advance would have been good.”

“Nothing.” I shake my head. “Chiara just told a few people that we aren’t fully booked for lunch.”

“We’re going to run out of the specials, Autumn.”

“Can we move to something that doesn’t need heavy preparation? I can update the specials menu board. But we would still need something festive, a bit Valentiney.”

Suzie stares at me for a long time. I think she’s just about to ask me what the hell is Valentiney. But she surprises me again and says, “Give me a pen and paper.” I hand her a notepad and Sharpie from one of the drawers.

She scribbles something, and I notice beetroot risotto, followed by some other items on her list.

When she hands it to me, there’s a smile on her face.

I look down at the paper and add heart-blast before the risotto and similar catchy phrases on other items.

Suzie peeks over my shoulder and chuckles. “You’re good at this, kid.”

Using our specials template, I print twenty pink pages with the new menu and rush toward the dining hall. I stick them into the sleeve of the leather books, replacing the earlier specials cards.

When I look up, I find Lukas with a towel over his arm, holding a wine bottle and chatting with a couple at table three.

Chiara approaches me and follows my gaze. “Is there anything bad about this guy?”

She doesn’t know that Lukas is perfect in every way.

After that, the lunch hour goes by with very few hiccups. Most of our guests don’t blink an eye and appear equally excited for the new specials. Maybe the free dessert I threw in last minute helped.

When we’re finally wrapping up, with only a few couples left sipping their coffee or wine, Mom walks over to me. “You’re amazing here, tums. I cannot believe you pulled this off so well.”

Watching the wide smile on my mother’s face with a touch of surprise is bittersweet.

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