Tell Me You Need Me (Search and Seduce 1)

Chloe shook her head. “No.”

What would her mom think if she could see the restaurant now? They were making do, sure, but they were nowhere near the level of perfection her mother had achieved. She could imagine her restaurant ending up on a show like Kitchen Nightmares. Once great, now in steady decline, soon to vanish from the face of the earth.

No, she’d die before she let that happen. This wasn’t just a great restaurant—it was all she had left of her mother. People came and went, but this? Just this once, Chloe would get it right.

Which was why she’d hired a chef. It was also why this twentieth anniversary event needed to have her mother’s old recipes reinstated—and furthermore, why she had to be the one to bring them back.

The other foods set to go on the menu were close to perfect—thanks to said amazing chef—but Chloe wanted to make this one dish herself. Crab cakes had been her favorite thing to eat growing up, comfort food when her dad had left, a bittersweet solace when her mom had gotten sick.

Her mom had insisted on making them for her even when her health had declined and she should have been resting in bed. Chloe had never been able to recreate their uniquely delicious flavors¸ but she was determined to try. It was the one thing she wanted to make and present. Anything to feel closer to her mother and prove that to herself she was a part of her goodness.

“The anniversary party is next week.” Chloe scraped the pan, and it spit oil at her. “And these aren’t going on the menu until they’re right.”

Natalie gently patted Chloe’s shoulder. “Keep trying.”

Chloe spun to face her. “You’re a chef. Can’t you help me? Teach me something? Anything.”

“Whoa, I bake. Big difference.” Natalie shoved her glasses up her nose, then peered back at the pan. “Besides, don’t think I forgot you telling me to leave you alone and let you do it yourself.”

Oh, right, that. Last week she might have snipped at her best friend. She’d never meant to, but frustration was running high, and if there was one thing Chloe hated, it was being so close to something and not finishing.

Her mind briefly turned to Gage.

Talk about frustrating.

But this dish had to be right, and she had to do it. No failing. No “coming close.” Nope, this had to be perfect. Her mother was dead, and honestly, Chloe had watched her die in more ways than one over the years. First, she’d watched her soul slowly wither after her father left them. Then she watched cancer slowly take her body. The two things in her life she’d never been able to control…death and being left.

On a deep breath and rapid batting of her lashes to keep the sting away, she looked at her friend.

“I’m not saying make the crab cakes for me. I’m saying maybe give me a hint or two.”

Natalie raised an eyebrow. “Snap my fingers and turn you into Gordon Ramsay for a day?” She chuckled. “I don’t think it works that way.” She hugged Chloe, then stepped back and held her shoulders. “You have to believe you’re capable of something more. Trust yourself. The anniversary will be great and the restaurant will be packed.”

Yeah, it would be. And she hoped her mother would be proud. It’d only been two years since she’d passed away and it still hurt. She’d been the kindest woman in the world, and her spirit had never broken—except when it came to Chloe’s father. He’d crushed Mary Franklin in a way no one and nothing else could. She’d waited for him to return until her dying breath.

Chloe had met Gage right after her mother had passed, and he’d been the best distraction. But with the anniversary of the restaurant coming up and Gage in town, her mother’s presence and all the sadness and joy that came with it lingered in her mind. She tried to stay positive, but lately she was sure she was failing her mother’s memory. Failing her business. Failing to live up to the legacy her mother had left behind.

“Did the article come out yet?” Natalie asked.

The local newspaper had done an article featuring Honey’s and a retrospective on how her mother had turned her own home into the bar and grill twenty years ago. The journalist had promised the article would run this week, but still nothing.

“No. I’m keeping an eye out for it.”

Natalie nodded and hopped up on the counter, dangling her legs against the cabinets. “So…are you going to tell me about last night with hottie McSearchy?”

Chloe grabbed a potholder and hustled the sizzling pan to the sink. “It was fine.”

“Uh-huh. Is that why you look equal parts mad and happy?”

She sighed. “I got some of what I wanted.”

“Some? Tough cookie to swallow when your heart is set on the whole batch.” Natalie winked. “So he didn’t give up the man meat, huh?”

“Jesus,” Chloe said around a smile. “Did you seriously say ‘man meat’?”

“What? I’m just asking.”

“We messed around,” Chloe said. “But no main course.”