She walked to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of creamer.
“Aren’t you going to get a slice?” I asked.
“For breakfast?” she asked.
“You’re an adult. You can do things like eat cake for breakfast if you want to,” I said. “Besides that one is carrot cake with cream cheese frosting. It’s practically a cinnamon raisin bagel.”
The leap was pretty extreme, but she was willing to accept it, and we each cut large wedges of the cake before sitting down with our coffee.
“So,” she said after a few bites, “is now a good time for me to ask why you went on vacation and if everything is okay?”
“Things weren’t going well with Lindsey,” I admitted. “You probably already figured that out. In the end, it was my fault.”
She let out a sigh. “Vince,” she said. “Lindsey is a good girl.”
“I know, I know,” I said, holding my hands up I like I was surrendering. “She is fantastic. Which is why I went to the bar last night to grovel and tell her I messed up.”
Mom raised one eyebrow at me. “Flowers?”
I smiled. “Of course. I got her her favorite and had the florist throw in a couple of others to make it special just for her. She seems to like them.”
“Good. And what else?” Mom asked, digging back into her cake.
I couldn’t help but grin. Mom would never admit that she meddled in the lives of her sons. According to her, she was just showing motherly concern. After all, it was her responsibility to make sure we were on the right path and grew up to be good people. It didn’t seem to matter too much to her that we had all grown up a good while ago and she was done molding us.
“She gets out of work early today, so we’re going to have dinner and talk over everything. That’s why I got here so early this morning. I want to make sure I catch up on everything from when I was out and can leave on time,” I said.
“Nick was a lot of help while you were out,” Mom said. “He came in a few times to help with some of the work you usually do. It seems like things have gotten so much more complicated since your father ran the company. We should make sure to thank him.”
I nodded. There were a lot of things I needed to thank my brother for.
After finishing the coffee and cake, I went up to my office and dove in. I knew when I took the vacation time that much of what I did wouldn’t get handled until I came back. For the most part, that was fine. The few things that were time-sensitive, Nick had obviously helped manage. But I still had plenty of catching up to do. I was fine with that. Not only was the vacation an absolute necessity for me but having that much work acted as an ideal distraction. It helped the time go by, so I didn’t have to miss Lindsey quite as much.
Finally, the day ended, and I rushed out of the office. Even with getting out right on time, it would be cutting it close to get everything I wanted to do done before I needed to meet her. My first stop was to the grocery store, and then I went home to shower and change. Stuffing a protesting Frankie into his carrier, I got in my truck and headed for the bar. Fortunately for Frankie, Lindsey was already waiting outside when we pulled up. She smiled at me when she noticed the carrier in the seat.
“Frankie going on a ride with you today?” she asked.
My monstrous cat let out a low, mournful wail as if to confirm to her he was not complicit in this whole idea.
“Actually, I thought maybe we could go to your place tonight. If that’s okay with you,” I said.
Lindsey’s face lit up, and she nodded.
“I’d like that a lot,” she said. “I’ll follow you there.”
We got to the apartment, and I set Frankie’s carrier down in the middle of the living room. When I unzipped the flap, he walked out cautiously like he was venturing out to explore a new planet.
“How are the private events working out for you?” I asked as we unpacked the groceries in her kitchen.
Lindsey looked over at me out of the corner of her eye, her expression cautious. She knew I was worried about private events in my own restaurants, but it was obviously something that she enjoyed for her place, so I wanted to be supportive. When I didn’t make a crack about the events not being a good idea, she nodded.
“This is only the third one I’ve done, but they’ve gone really well. People like having the space to themselves and being able to enjoy their memories. It’s also good practice for my staff. I’ll need to give them more responsibility so they’ll be comfortable running the bar without me on a more regular basis. It’ll be important now that I’m going to have Remy a lot more often.”