Page 67 of Worth the Chase

My old man grinned, but grew silent. When I didn’t say anything—’cause I could be an idiot sometimes—he looked at me with an impatient expression.

“Are you? Interested? Earth to Matthew.” He snapped his fingers in front of my face.

Swallowing hard, I pulled myself together. “Yes. I think I could be really good at it. But I know I have a lot to learn.”

That made my dad laugh hard. “Son, you have a shit ton to learn.”

“Okay then,” I said a little uncomfortably.

“Realistically, I think you’d need to be the assistant GM for at least two years. Think you can handle that?” He wasn’t asking to be mean or to put me down. His tone was sincere and serious.

“I can.” I tried to sound confident, but the very idea was a tad bit overwhelming.

New challenges always felt like a lot at first. Like they were too big to handle. But that was to be expected.

“Let’s meet up on Monday and talk about our next steps,” he said before reaching out his hand to shake mine. I gave him a firm shake before he pulled me in for a hug, his hand slapping my back. “Love you, son. And I’m proud of you.”

“Please don’t make me cry in front of my brothers,” I said before wiping away a stray tear. “I’ll never hear the end of it.”

THERE’S A FIRST TIME FOR EVERYTHING

BELLA

“Let’s get out of here,” Addi said.

I shot her a look from where I stood behind the bar.

“I was wondering where all the customers had gone.” I finished drying some glasses before setting them on the rack before scrubbing at the spills that had grown sticky.

“You didn’t even notice that I’d locked the place up.” She laughed before jingling the keys in her hand.

“Why are we leaving?”

There were still hours to go before the restaurant typically closed. But as I finally looked around and took stock of the space, I realized that the other employees were already gone, and it was just Addi and me standing in an otherwise empty restaurant.

“Everyone is at your man’s house, and we’re missing out.” She pouted, but all I could focus on was her calling Matthewmy man. “It’s not fair.” She actually stomped her foot on the floor.

“So, we’re leaving to go over there?”

“Hell yes, we are!” she shouted before punching a fist in the air. “And we’re bringing food for the masses.” She pointed at the stacks of packed-up meats and sides behind her.

“How many people are over there?” I asked because that looked like enough food to feed a damn army.

“Just the family. But knowing Matthew, I’m sure he has no food at his new place, so now, he’ll have some. You two will need to come up for air and eat at some point.”

She winked, and instead of playing stupid or even responding to that comment, which was too heavy to unload, I simply thanked her.

“Let me help,” I said before I grabbed a few of the containers and headed toward the back door, where our cars were parked. “Do you know where you’re going?”

“Not really. I’ll follow you,” she said as she placed some of the containers in the back of her car. She hopped in the driver’s side and waited for me to take the lead.

I put my stack on the passenger floor. “Let’s go, Betty,” I said to my car. I hoped she didn’t realize I was going to replace her soon.

When we pulled up to Matthew’s house, I was grateful that the large privacy gate was open. I drove in and stopped behind Patrick’s truck, noticing the rest of the family’s cars parked in random places. Addi had been right; everyone was here. Exiting my car, I grabbed the trays and waited for Addi to get to the front door with me.

I wrongfully assumed that we’d knock or ring the doorbell, but Addi pushed the door open and held it with her foot. I followed her inside, balancing the food before heading into the kitchen.

“You sure know your way around the place,” Addi whispered.

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