Something from scratch.
“The kitchen’s going over there,” I said, pointing. “The bar on this side. That’s going to be an open stairway to the loft, and—”
“We’ve seen the blueprints,” Nathan said. “We know the layou—”
He coughed mid-sentence as Burke slapped him in the chest. “Let the girl talk about her restaurant already,” he chided, and Nathan fell silent. He looked back at me and smiled. “Please. Go on.”
I continued, sweeping my arm left and right. Showing off every aspect of my plan, my dream, my future. Our future, actually. The one we were building together.
“This is gonna be fun,” said Chase. “You’ve got a lot of hard work ahead of you, but it’ll get done.”
“And of course we’ll help,” Nathan added. His smile was apologetic now.
“You think I want three novelists working on my restaurant?” I teased.
“Probably not.”
I laughed out loud. “Of course you can help.” Nathan grinned as I slipped my hand back into his. “I’ll take every hand I can get.”
It was a blank canvas. A clean slate. Or at least it would be, once everything had been cleared out, scrubbed down, and dusted off. Finishing culinary school had been only the first of many steps. This was the next.
“The location rocks,” said Burke. “Literally.”
The building sat across from a concert hall, although a small one. It was close enough to the beach to be considered part of the strip, but far enough away that it wouldn’t be lost in a sea of strip malls and fast food chains. The streets were clean, and especially bright at night. And I knew they teemed with people, because I’d walked them several times, on both weekends and weekdays, before putting in my offer.
Even so, I had a lot more to decide upon still. I had only a few suppliers so far, and my menu wasn’t nearly refined enough yet. There was room for a small stage, but I wasn’t sure whether or not I’d offer live entertainment. And I was still making little tweaks to the layout.
“Our adorable little personal chef,” Burke said, slipping an arm over my shoulder. “All grown up.”
I blushed. I didn’t even know why.
“Two years ago, when you first moved in… who would’ve thought this is where we’d be?”
I looked up at him, my heart swelling with joy. Or love. Or both.
Yes, definitely both.
“So with you busy here all the time… does this mean we’re in charge of decorating the new place?”
“Hell no,” I told Nathan.
“Why’s that?”
“Because you’ll turn it into a man-cave with surfboards on every wall.”
He looked almost offended. “And what’s wrong with surfboards?”
“For the beach?” I laughed. “Nothing. For the walls… well…”
Chase took a misstep and accidentally kicked a broken bottle. Shards of glass skidded across the flo
or.
“Maybe we should find our new place first?” he offered.
Burke nodded grimly. “The man’s got a point.”
“I mean, if we’re going to move out to the coast just so Nathan and Kayleen have a shorter surf commute…” Chase teased.