Page 22 of Worth the Chase

Thankfully, she didn’t.

The agent answered on the first ring, and after I did a little prodding, he told me what it would take to get the home sold. I hung up, wrote up the offer, and emailed it to Matthew before sending him a text, asking him to sign it. He’d be getting this house at a steal, as long as the sellers accepted the offer and nothing too negative came up during the inspections.

My phone pinged. Matthew had signed it already. I sent it to the agent and crossed my fingers before heading back into the kitchen.

“So, how was it? I kind of thought you’d be gone longer,” Anna said as she pulled out a handful of chips and started eating them.

“He liked the second house we looked at.” I shrugged. “So, after that, I took him home.”

Anna barked out a laugh. “I can’t believe he let you. I figured he’d pretend to hate everything so you’d have to spend all day with him.”

“Trust me, it was enough time together.”

“Ooh.” She rubbed her hands together like some sort of mastermind. “What did he do? Confess his love for you? Propose? Put a baby in your belly?”

“Um…” I paused as I stared at her. “No.”

“To which one?” she shouted.

“All three of them.” My response came out sounding confused. “He just flirted like normal. That’s it.”

“Boo.” She frowned. “Matthew flirting with you is old news. He really needs to step up his game.”

This was why I stopped myself from telling her that he’d called me his future baby mama. And how he’d said I’d be living with him someday. She’d hear that and never be able to keep it to herself. It would come slipping out at work or while she got her nails done or something. I loved my best friend, but she was shit at keeping secrets sometimes.

I glanced at my phone and noted the time. “Hey, I’m going to run to the restaurant and make sure I have everything I need for the soft opening.”

The restaurant was having a soft opening in a couple of days before the grand opening a few days after. I was more excited for this than my potential commission check. And that sucker was going to be huge.

“Okay,” Anna said before her eyes grew wide. “Ask Addi how to make grilled cheese. Please!”

“You can come with me and ask her yourself,” I suggested, knowing that she’d say no.

“Nah. I’ll be spending enough time there soon enough.”

I walked to the counter, grabbed my keys, and headed back out the door. As much as I wanted to sit on the couch and binge-watch some shows, my need to be productive wouldn’t allow it. My brain refused to let me sit still when there was something I could be doing instead.

It was my lucky day, apparently. A lone parking spot right in front of the barbeque restaurant sat waiting just for me. I pulled in and shut off the engine, noticing that all the lights were on inside. I hadn’t even thought about Addi not being here when I’d decided to show up unannounced.

I walked through the front doors and closed them behind me.

“We’re not open yet,” Addi shouted from somewhere in the back.

“It’s just me,” I yelled back before she appeared, her long, dark hair in braids.

“Bella! Yay! I mean, what are you doing here? But yay!”

She sounded so excited and not at all stressed. I wasn’t sure that I could be the same if I were opening a restaurant in two days.

“I just came to check on everything and make sure there wasn’t anything I needed to get before the soft opening,” I explained.

“I love that about you. Thank you.”

“How are you doing? Is everything ready?”

Addison had worked her ass off to get this space remodeled as quickly as possible. To be honest, not a lot had to be done since it had already been in really great condition and the previous owner had left all his equipment here. Or her fiancé, Patrick O’Grady, had bought it all in the deal he made to purchase the space. I wasn’t sure which.

The biggest holdup on opening had been getting the equipment that Addi needed in order to cook the meat properly. There had been multiple delays and once I saw the thing that she’d ordered, I kind of understood why. It was the largest smoker I’d ever seen, not that I’d seen a whole lot of them, except for on TV cooking shows.

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