Page 89 of Small Town Firsts
Her blue eyes widened. “Wait. A different menu all the time?”
Ronan grinned. “Think of it as a micro-brewery for hard cider. We’re opening with three main ciders for the first week or two and I’ll be rotating in different small batch ciders based on what’s popular once we start going. This will be a fast paced kitchen with a lot of collaboration between me and the chef.”
I wouldn’t have put it that way. It might be too chaotic for people looking for a stable job. And honestly, the way he talkedabout it scared me a bit. But I was trying to get out of my comfort zone. The steadiness of the orchard had left me feeling restless—the taproom had me pumped.
“I’m creative and I can tell you right now, I’m interested based on that alone.” Jessica stopped fidgeting and laced her hands together. “I’ve been making the same cheesecake for four years. I hate it.”
I pressed my lips together against a laugh at her vehement tone.
“Okay,” Ronan said amiably. “What would you bring to the table?”
That was not on my checklist of questions for the interview. I started to interrupt when she smiled and lifted her chin in pride.
“My specialty is plating. There’s not a lot of time for that in the restaurant. Nor can I do much with the same menu night after night. But if you look at my social media account and website, you’ll see I’m good with small plate and meal prep.”
Ronan handed her back the application. Her face fell. He cupped her hand before she could pull away. “The references on here are good and I’m sure Kira will vet you completely, but tell me why I—we—should hire you.” Then he encouraged her reply with a reassuring nod.
I opened my iPad to look at her website and my chest fluttered with interest. I jumped to her social media accounts and saw her engagement. I hadn’t really thought about that aspect. I assumed I’d have to farm things out to a marketing group for our various accounts but maybe not.
“Because I love making things pretty.” She laughed softly. “That sounds vapid, I know—but when it comes to bringing people into a new place, I think the aesthetic is as important as the product. At least at first. No offense.”
Ronan grinned. “None taken.”
I scrolled a few more of her posts and saw she was as good with desserts as she was with snack food. That she always found a way to taste her food at the end of her quick videos with as much unabashed pleasure in the actual food as she was with the pretty plate.
I glanced at Ronan, who was looking over my shoulder. Our eyes met and his eyebrow quirked as if daring me to go off book.
My heart pounded so loud, I had to take a slow breath to ease the roaring in my ears. She may have come in looking to be a chef or an assistant chef, but I had a feeling she might actually be better at the social media side.
Something I hadn’t thought enough of. Especially if we wanted to bring younger people into the taproom. The way to do that would be through social media and using both Lennon and…hell, even Kain’s outrageous style to our advantage.
I sure as hell hoped I didn’t regret this.
I closed the iPad cover over the screen and held it against my chest. “I’m not sure you’d be a good fit for our chef position.”
Jessica’s eyes dimmed.
“However, I would like to discuss perhaps hiring you on to help us with social media, as well as photography and video. If these videos are your own, of course.”
Her blue eyes widened. “What? Oh, yes. I do all my own edits. I don’t have money to pay someone to do them for me.”
“Good. Perhaps we should have a conversation about this further. I understand you’re under a time constraint today, but I’d really like to have a longer meeting with you, and maybe we can figure out something that would work for both of us.”
“I-I don’t know what to say.”
Ronan leaned both his elbows against the bar and gave me a near smirk. “I’d say you and Sun—Miss Webb here have something to talk about. Both of you being creative types.”
I’d never been called a creative person in my life.
Organized.
Spreadsheets had been my life once upon a time.
I was exacting with a schedule.
But not creative.
Never before Ronan anyway.
