“Wow. I’m sorry, Olivia. I had no idea.”
“It happened right before I got the news about Elliot. He didn’t even know about it yet.”
“What did you do?”
“I ended up here.”
“It shouldn’t have happened. You didn’t deserve any of this.” His voice grew louder. He clenched his fork.
“Between the insurance nightmare with the restaurant and this place falling down I think I’ve been hiding out.” God, it felt good to talk about it. I had felt guilty talking about the restaurant, as if that somehow diminished Elliot’s death. But Jake seemed to get it.
“You’ve been doing this all on your own.”
“Until you showed up,” I whispered.
This could be my chance. The moment when I told him that since he appeared on my porch my life had started to come back together. There was warmth. There was happiness. There was a future if he wanted it.
“Did you used to serve this in your restaurant?” he asked, twirling more noodles on his fork.
Ok, maybe not the moment.
I shook my head. “No. It wasn’t on the menu.”
“You could charge a hundred dollars a plate for this.” He walked to the kitchen island and added a second serving to his plate.
I blushed, loving how much he was enjoying it.
“Have you thought about staying here and opening a new restaurant nearby?”
“No. I can’t think about work until I get the house taken care of. Besides, you’ve seen the hardware store. It’s not like there’s much here. I don’t think there are enough people to get a business up and going. It’s so remote.”
“True. But I bet people would drive hours just to taste this.”
I giggled. “Well if I do open another restaurant I will make you my marketing manager.”
“You should do it, Liv.”
The way he said my name sent chills along my arm. My skin prickled. He had never used my nickname before. It sounded casual. It sounded intimate. How did he know?
“Since I lost the last one I haven’t been able to think about it. The house. Elliot.” I could go on with the list of things that had happened since the restaurant fire.
“You’ve had a lot on your plate.”
I nodded. Things had crumbled around me, but suddenly there was something O wanted. It had come out of nowhere. Out of a cloud of grief and confusion. But he was sitting across from me.
Two months ago, I never would have believed I would have something to look forward to, but the longer I was around Jake, the more I wanted him to be a part of my life. I had a purpose. A reason to smile. A reason to cook. A reason to let my heart take another chance. He had been healing me for the past month and he didn’t even know it.
He broke the comfortable silence. “I thought tomorrow I could try to make a plan for the bathroom in the apartment.”
“Really?”
“If you want me to. I think it would be easy to finish it.”
I wanted the bathroom to be finished. It would help with selling the property, but I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy Jake’s daily shower stops downstairs. I was running out of excuses to catch a glimpse of him in his towel every morning.
“Oh sure. I think it would be great to have it finished. That was the plan.” I placed my wine glass next to my plate.
“If you want to look at some pictures and pick out a shower and sink, that would help. I can order anything you want.”