Page 10 of The Billionaire's Fortunate Accident
“Feeling rather daring, I must say.” It was nice that Patton was taking such an interest in helping me find my footing as a chef.
“I am feeling that way, brother.”
“So, do you think I’ve got a shot in hell with her?” I just couldn’t stop thinking about Jessa. “She’s got this southern accent, not like ours. It’s so different. Sort of a mix between regal and charming. Her voice is soft most times, but it can get stern. I guess that’s from the doctor training. I would guess a doctor would need to know how to be stern with their more stubborn patients.”
“How much time have you spent with her?” He looked down at the menu again.
“No more food, Patton. What we have coming so far is more than enough.” I wasn’t about to let him make me fat while on this hunt for the perfect menu items for me. “And just two nights. The first one doesn’t even count cause I was drunk. But last night counted.”
“Where’s she from?” He put the menu down and picked up his glass of iced tea.
“Don’t know.” I’d had plenty that I’d wanted to ask her, but she’d gotten too busy to talk. “Who would know that there was so much work to be done at a fast food joint in the middle of the night?”
Cocking his head to one side, Patton wore a skeptical grin. “Maybe she wasn’t that busy. Maybe she just didn’t want to hang out with you. No offense, but I can’t see a woman with those goals looking twice at a guy like you. You’re like heartbreak in cowboy boots. You do realize that about yourself, right?”
His words hurt; I couldn’t lie to myself. But somehow, Jessa was different. “Patton, I could see myself spending lots of time with this one. There’s something so alluring about her. And that’s saying a hell of a lot because, so far, I’ve only seen her wearing that boring old uniform that no one really looks good in. But she does. I know she’d look amazing in anything if she can pull off that outfit.”
Steam rolled off the bowls of food that were placed in front of us. “Enjoy.” And then the waiter was gone again.
“It looks good.” I inhaled the aromas that wafted from the bowl. “The pineapple is there, but just barely. There’s a beefy scent, and then the chipotle pepper too. I bet this is gonna be delicious.”
Patton spared no time digging into his shrimp stir fry. “Yum! Who would think of adding spicy fajita-style shrimp to Chinese noodles? But what a combination.”
I took a bite of the egg roll and nearly lost my mind. “Oh, yeah! Bro, you’ve gotta taste this. It’s a winner for sure.” As we shared our food, I began to wonder if I’d stumbled upon something. “I wonder what the carb count of an egg roll wrapper is.”
“I bet you can look that up on your cell.” Patton took a bite of the egg roll. His eyes closed, and he moaned softly. “You’re so right about this.”
Looking up the stats on the egg roll wrapper, I was pleasantly surprised. “It says that this one brand of wrappers has twelve carbs, which isn’t bad, but it’s not awesome either. But they also make egg roll wrappers out of coconut! And that only has six carbs. The sodium in a traditional wrapper is kind of high, at one-twenty. The coconut wins again with ten milligrams of sodium. I bet I could make some really fantastic egg rolls using the coconut version. And they’d be healthier too.”
“You would lose the health thing once you fry them,” he pointed out. “Going with only healthy foods might not be the best idea.”
“But Patton, there are oils that are healthy. Olive oil, coconut oil, and even avocado oil are good oils to fry with. I can do more research to come up with something a health-conscious person can eat.” I wanted to stand out in the crowd. “Health has always been important to me.”
“I mean, you work out a lot. And you eat right. But I figured you were just doing that to stay sexy for the ladies.” He laughed at his little joke.
“Ha, ha.” I dipped my spoon into the chili. One taste and I knew right away that I could work with these ingredients in many other ways. “Pineapple and chipotle work well together. I can imagine using this combination on chicken, pork — hell, even fish and shrimp.”
“And wrap it all up in an egg roll.” Laughing, he thought himself to be quite the comic genius.
“I’m not about to make an egg roll restaurant.” I still wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, but I had an inkling about the type of food I wanted to serve in any establishment I was opening. “Jessa doesn’t eat right. At least not while she’s working at the night job.”
“So?” He took a bite of the crab Rangoon wrap, nodding away as he chewed it up. “Umm, hmm.”
“Another winner, huh?” Low-carb tortillas weren’t bad either. Tacos and egg rolls weren’t a bad start for a man who’d had no ideas at all. “These things could be made to order. They can be made fast too.” My rusty wheels were finally breaking free and beginning to turn.
Patton's eyes lit up. “Hey, like Subway does. You line up the healthy ingredients, and the customer then chooses between a tortilla and an egg roll. And at the end, you roll it all up and fry it for a few minutes. Crispy, hot, and delicious, as well as mostly nutritious. That could work, brother.”
“I’d want more than just that.” I didn’t want to be small time.
“Remember what Tyrell said at the meeting yesterday,” Patton reminded me. “Maybe start with just one thing and move on from there. You’ve got more thanonething with this idea. You’ve gottwothings, and the combinations are nearly endless. Plus, you can set up a shop in the resort in no time at all. Imagine how proud you’ll be at next year’s meeting.”
Opening a real restaurant, even a small one, would mean commitment. I hadn’t ever done commitment before. Even the program I’d taken to become a chef hadn’t lasted more than eighteen months, but it had still nearly driven me mad.
Slowly, I raised my head, looking my brother straight in the eyes. “What if I don’t have it in me to succeed, Patton?”
His smile told me he didn’t have the same reservations about me as I did. “Boy, what’s your last name?”
“Nash.”
