“Then you’ll have to take me to a more traditional place for our next meal together,” Khizar said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever had cheese curds or frozen custard.”
Jacqui tried to think of something witty to say, but his offhand comment about their next meal had her brain spinning. Was he saying that he wanted to see her again, already?
Finally, she came up with, “Well, then, we’ll definitely have to fix that. I’m pretty sure they won’t let you leave the state if you haven’t had at least one of those things.”
“What looks good to you?” he asked.
Jacqui took another look at the menu. It all looked amazing, and she wasn’t likely to have a chance to eat at a place like this again, so she wanted to try something she hadn’t had before.
“The quail, and I think the parsnip soup. Or the pickled blueberry salad. What are you having?”
“The duck, or possibly the veal special our waiter mentioned.”
Jacqui nodded, mostly to herself, and waited for the that little awkward silence that always seemed to fall over the table in the first few minutes of a date. Not that this was a date, necessarily. But if it were, now would be when she’d run out of things to say and he’d look at her expectantly and she would get flustered.
“Honestly,” Khizar said, “I’m already looking at the desserts, although I can’t imagine that any of them is anywhere near as good as anything in your bakery.”
Jacqui was surprised. “You tried something of mine?”
He shrugged, and gave her a small, unrepentant grin.
“I might have snagged a piece of pie for myself along the way when you were on the other side of the room.” He thought for a moment. “And maybe a cookie. Or two.”
Jacqui laughed. So much for the awkward silence.
“I would have saved you anything you wanted, you know.”
“I know, but it was more fun that way. I am impressed with your skill at baking, if I haven’t already said that. You’re really talented.”
“I wish more of the city shared that view,” Jacqui said forlornly.
Khizar’s eyebrows knitted together. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Jacqui tried to explain.
“Everyone who comes in leaves a fan, for the most part. And customers I’ve catered for almost always order from me again. But my store doesn’t get enough traffic; even good reviews don’t help when there aren’t enough of them.”
“Of course. It takes some time to get a business off the ground.”
“It’s been three years.” Jacqui smiled wanly.
Just then, the server came back and took their orders. Khizar insisted that Jacqui get everything she was thinking about, even if she only tried a few bites of each dish.
“This is my treat, to thank you for your assistance this afternoon, so please indulge,” he said, and pointed to the different things on the menu that she’d mentioned.
Jacqui grinned and said, “Only if you order all the desserts you were looking at.”
“Done.” Khizar looked at the server. “When it’s time for dessert, we’ll take one of everything, and whatever dessert wine your sommelier deems appropriate.”
The server nodded and hurried away. Khizar grinned back at Jacqui.
“I had no idea this business trip would be so much fun.”
Jacqui took that opening to ask more about the still mysterious man sitting opposite her. “You said you own a jewelry company?”
“Technically, my family owns the business; I’m only the CEO.”
Jacqui rolled her eyes, but smiled to show she was teasing. “Only the CEO, he says. That’s an impressive job title.”
“I was brought up in the family business, and was expected to take on the role when my father retired.”
“Do you like it? Your job, or the business?”
“I do, actually. Even though I was groomed for it, I’ve been interested in precious gems most of my life. I received a degree in geology at university, in addition to studying business and economics.”
Jacqui sat back, impressed.
“I attended culinary school, and took a few business classes. I was so intent on getting the bakery started that I pushed to get my degree as quickly as I could.”
“Please don’t take this the wrong way, but you’re quite young to be running your own business by yourself. It takes most people years to get the financing to open a store, or they have an investor as a partner. How did you get your start?” Khizar asked.
“It’s been my dream to open a bakery since, oh, forever. There was a bakery down the street from my house when I was little, and my father used to walk there with me every Saturday morning. No matter how busy he was, no matter what else he had to do, he would always take me to the bakery for pastries and hot chocolate.”