Page 98 of Bake You Mine
“We should talk about our plans for the holidays. Halloween’s next week, and November always goes by in a blur.”
Chris had no family, so they’d always spent it with hers and later Kayla’s. Getting her father to accept Chris back into the fold would be a stretch, but her father would as long as her ex meant what he said.
“You mean coming to your dad’s house? Won’t Liam mind?”
“You’re Daphne’s father. If he wants to be with me, he needs to accept you’re around, for her sake.” She rubbed her hands together. “Besides, we all know where we stand now, right?”
He nodded. “Right.”
She left Chris’s place feeling hopeful, but she couldn’t shake her dread about her future with Liam. Hopefully, after a good night’s rest, she’d feel better.
It’d been an hour since Aubrey won, and the reality still hadn’t dawned on Liam. Adding to the evening’s mindfuckery was his current reality. Jason Morse sat across from him inside an empty Elevation, a bottle of the bar’s best scotch between them.
“I think this competition has worked out just as it wasmeant to, my friend.” Jason held up his glass, and Liam clinked his against it.
Jason took a swig and set his glass down. “Ah, you look glum. Maybe it was presumptuous of me to come here tonight. Of course, you’re upset you lost.”
“I’m fine. It’s just been a crazy few weeks.” He drummed his fingertips on the edge of the table. “Now I kinda don’t know what to do with myself.”
Jason’s grin was Cheshire. “I may have a solution.”
He pulled out his phone, tapped it a few times, and turned it around to face Liam. “I know I mentioned that our timing here might end up being fortuitous for both of us. This is Devour’s Wharf complex near DC’s waterfront. Are you familiar with the area?”
Liam started to swipe through the photos. “Of course. I’ve been to a ton of shows at The Anthem, and that’s kind of the heart of that neighborhood.”
“Well, luckily for you, we’ve just finished construction on a fifth-story space located steps from their front door. Yes, that one right there.” Jason gestured toward the photo.
Liam made the photo bigger. The space had empty white walls, a bar that extended across the back wall, and roughed-in light fixtures, making it hard to imagine what it could be. The views were killer, overlooking the Potomac. There was the potential for a rooftop bar, to boot.
“How did this become available?”
“We had to cut ties with one of our chefs.” Jason reached for his glass and took another swig.
Liam set the phone down. Hell, this could be why he’d lost. His star was set for brighter things. This was bigger than anything he could come up with on his own. “I’d love to see it.”
Jason grinned. “Does Wednesday work? Fair warning: If wego forward, things will move fast. We’d been hoping to get this project open in quarter one of next year.”
“My lease here isn’t up until the spring.”
“All things can be negotiated. Gary is a friend, but that’s probably not surprising since he seems to be a friend to everyone. Hey, you should bring Aubrey along. Even if she doesn’t want to be part of Devour, I still value her opinion.” Jason gestured around the empty restaurant. “Perhaps Aubrey could even take over this space, too. That way, she wouldn’t need to move for years.”
Liam’s head was full of plans that might never come to fruition. This one may work out. “Perhaps.” He picked up his glass and drained the rest of it, liking the way the scotch burned on the way down.
“We’re on for Tuesday. No time like the present to see what the future might hold.”
thirty-one
Aubrey thumbed through paint swatches,unable to tell the differences between the various shades of pale pink. She held up two swatches to the wall in the vacant space, or, as she’d started calling it, the expansion. She’d hated the original paint they’d picked out when it arrived, so they’d returned to the drawing board.
“Am I going blind, or are Secret Kiss and Breathless the same damn color?”
Tom peered over her shoulder. “They look the same to me.”
She dropped the swatches. “I don’t know why I’m trying to do this today. My brain is currently circling the drain.”
Daphne was at home in bed. Thankfully, Chris could look after her so that Aubrey could make a laundry list of pre-construction decisions.
Tom pointed to the novelty check leaning against the back wall. “You did get the real check, too, right? Just clarifying before we start spending money.”
