Page 13 of The One With The Secret Crushes

"Demanding."

And she liked it. I could tell. "Right now we're just two old friends sharing a lunch."

"That youmadefor me." She picked up the sandwich and examined it thoroughly. After she selected the perfect bite she sank her teeth into it and moaned.

My dick noticed. It wanted to hear that over and over again.Not now.

"When did you learn to cook?" She looked at me with wonder. "This is delicious!"

I shrugged but inside I was soaring. I loved making food that people enjoyed. That they craved. One of my favorite things in the whole world was finding the perfect dish for my friends and family and being the one to deliver it to them. Sometimes it was a flavor that just made them happy, or a dish that reminded them of home, whatever it was, I found it and created it.

Finding Mackenzie's perfect dish was my next Everest.

"After a couple of years of watching Uncle Jerry run the bar into the ground, I realized I was going nowhere and was bored out of my mind. If I was really going to take over one day I needed to find something about it to love. So I went to culinary school and took some business classes on the side."

Still Standing was a Lost Creek institution. It had existed for as long as the town had. And the Shaw family had always owned and operated it, passing it down from generation to generation. It was originally just called The Still since it started as a moonshine still. After a couple of generations we got to be pretty proud of the fact that we'd stuck it out through thick and thin and updated the name to Still Standing. Tourists sometimes took it a step farther and bragged that they were "still standing" after a few drinks. The last thing I wanted to do was have it fall apart on my watch.

"You made it yours. I'm impressed." She set the sandwich down and dipped a fry into my special sauce. "Are you and Annie like town rivals now?"

Annie owned the Green Door Cafe. "Not at all. We're more partners than anything. She closes up early on Fridays so I can serve my special weekend menu. We try to not overlap specialty dishes. I mostly serve basic bar food except for the weekends and when I have bourbon tastings scheduled. If you want to cast someone as the villain it's Thomas DeGroot, mostly because he keeps stealing my ideas."

"Who is Thomas DeGroot?" she asked around a bite of salad.

"The new head chef at the Lodge at Lost Lake. He's a pretentious prick with no imagination."

"And I imagine it's not great for business if you're serving the same things."

"They run a full restaurant and have a lot more customers than I do. This is just a side hustle. So even though I come up with everything first, it looks like I'm the copycat."

"And that just pisses you off even more."

"You know it." Ever since the new owners renovated the Lodge it was one controversy after another. "Sometimes I wish the Wallaces never sold it off." Sure it was rundown and needed attention, but it was owned and operated by a local family that loved it. The new owners weren’t from here and weren’t interested in being part of the community. To them, the lodge was just a business.

"I've heard that more than a few times around town."

I ate another fry and tried to brush it off. "I think it's the way they act like they're the saviors of every business in the area."

"Yeah, they called my cabins a 'cute little venture' like we haven't been in business for twenty-seven years."

Well that sealed it. "The Lodge is officially on my shit list." I pushed my empty plate away and turned to face Mackenzie. "Any other enemies I should know about?"

"What will you do with them?" She teased.

Now we were really getting somewhere. "I'll vanquish them, obviously."

"Well, luckily for the town of Lost Creek, I don't have any enemies. I'm not sure this strip of buildings would survive your wrath."

I captured her hand in mine and squeezed. "Come hang out tonight. Like we used to."

"Don't you work?"

"Not tonight. I get things opened up for Heartbreaker and Dan. You don't think I live here, do you?"

She shrugged. "My vague memory is that your Uncle Jerry was always here, but since I wasn't exactly of drinking age, it wasn't something I paid much attention to."

"I try to stay scarce during the week, let them run the show. I'm here mostly on the weekends when we're busy and serving more than snack food."

"That makes sense," she murmured as she watched our fingers twine. "I'm not sure about tonight."

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