Loving You (The Bridesmaids Club Book 2) (17 page)

“Do you want me to take the vegetables across to the table?”

“Yes, please.” Annie added the venison to another plate. She sliced some of the meat and put it on the table. “Would you like a glass of wine or orange juice?”

“I’d better stick with the juice.” He glanced at the table. “I could get used to your cooking.”

Annie took the compliment as it was intended. “I like baking. It makes me happy and makes other people happy.”

The smile disappeared from Dylan’s eyes. “I wish it was that simple for everyone.”

Annie poured them both a drink and returned to the dining area. “Is Todd okay?”

Dylan pulled Annie’s chair out from the table and waved her forward. “He’s had better weeks. I’m hoping this is the last time he goes to New York.”

“Does he go there often?”

Dylan waited for Annie to start eating before he picked up his knife and fork. “Do you know anything about Todd?”

Annie shook her head. “Not a lot. He keeps to himself. The only times I’ve seen him are when Tess and I deliver meals to Pastor Steven’s church. Sometimes he’s there helping with the programs the church runs.”

“Todd used to be a pilot. After his wife and son died, he came back to Montana to recover. It’s been hard for him to adjust to his new life.”

Annie could understand some of what Todd was going through. Her heart had been split in two when Ruby died. She didn’t know how she would have managed if two people she’d loved had died at the same time. “Is there anything I can do?”

Dylan started to shake his head, then changed his mind. “You could use the kitchen in my warehouse to make meals for Todd? I’d deliver them. It’s a surefire way to make him happy.”

“Sneaky…real sneaky Dylan Bayliss. You think you can make me change my mind by helping Todd.”

“Why won’t you reconsider leasing the kitchen from me?”

Annie narrowed her eyes at the innocent expression on his face.

Dylan’s lips twitched. “Okay, so I know you’ve got a thing about my money. But there isn’t that much left, and I was never incredibly rich anyway.”

“You’ve bought a huge home and don’t have a mortgage. You own a warehouse with two top of the range combi ovens. What more could you want?”

“Enough money to renovate the inside of the warehouse. It’s going to take a lot of time and money to create what we need.”

Annie pushed some meat onto her fork and frowned at Dylan. “You won’t be making much money from the kitchen if I lease it. I can’t afford to pay the rent that it’s worth.”

“Have you asked how much I’d charge you?”

Annie hadn’t even considered asking. Starting a business was one thing. Starting it in a purpose-built commercial kitchen was a completely different scenario. There would be stiff competition from other caterers wanting to use Dylan’s warehouse, even without the ovens.

Instead of answering him, she started eating.

“You can’t ignore an obvious solution to two of my problems.” Dylan’s patient voice grated on Annie’s nerves.

“I’m not ignoring your problems. I’m eating my dinner.”

Dylan chewed a mouthful of roast meat. He watched her face. She kept her expression neutral, determined not to let him know how interested she was in his kitchen.

He waited.

Annie kept eating. The clock on the kitchen wall ticked and she wished she’d put some music on before they’d sat down to eat. She could still do it. It would fill the gaps in their conversation, make it less obvious that she was trying hard not to care about a solution to his problems.

After another couple of minutes, she gave up trying to be quiet. “What two problems would I be fixing?”

“My first problem is Todd. The second one is finding a reliable person to lease my kitchen. Do you want to know how much the rent would be?”

She frowned at Dylan.

“Four hundred dollars per month, with free dinners for two desperate bachelors each day. And in case you’re wondering…the two desperate bachelors are Todd and I.”

“That’s ridiculous,” Annie spluttered. “Four hundred dollars would barely pay the utility bill. You’d be losing money.”

Dylan frowned. “Anyone else would jump at the chance. Why aren’t you?”

Annie sipped her juice and tried to work out why she was so annoyed with Dylan’s offer. He was right. Most people would sign the lease before he changed his mind. “Maybe I’m scared,” she said quietly.

“What of?”

Annie pushed a piece of roast potato around her plate. “Failure. I’ve dreamed of owning a catering business for so long that I’m scared it won’t work. There’s only me. I don’t have someone else’s income to help with expenses when I’m building my customer base.”

“What if you started out small? You could build your customer base while you worked for Tess.”

Annie shook her head. “It would have to be the other way around. I’d need to bake in the morning and work for Osborne and Sons in the afternoon. It would make things difficult for Tess.”

“She’ll be able to find someone to help at the café.”

“Probably. It’s just such a big step. When will you be ready for someone to start using the kitchen?”

Dylan picked up his glass. “Renovations on the inside of the warehouse start in two weeks. It will be noisy and dusty, so using the kitchen then wouldn’t be a good idea. It will take five weeks to complete the internal changes. You could move in after that.”

Annie thought about her business plan. She could get help with creating a website, start building a client base, do the hundreds of things she thought she had three years to complete. “I appreciate the low rent, but it really is too low. I don’t feel right accepting your offer.”

“We could renegotiate the rent in twelve months’ time once your business is more established.”

Annie put her knife and fork down and stared at Dylan. “Why are you doing this for me?” If she didn’t know better, she’d swear panic swept through Dylan. He clamped his lips together so tightly that she didn’t think he was going to say anything. She waited, hoping he’d answer her question.

He pushed his empty plate away. “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I can hug you, touch your hand. I feel more comfortable around other people. It means a lot.”

“You don’t need to give me cheap rent on the kitchen. Knowing I’ve helped you is enough.”

Dylan shook his head. “It will never be enough. Besides, I’ve still got a long way to go. If I charge you less money than someone else, you might feel more inclined to keep helping me.”

“Blackmail?”

Dylan grinned and Annie’s heart did a somersault. “Not exactly blackmail. More like a mutually beneficial relationship.”

“That involves hugging, touching hands and dancing?”

Dylan’s grin turned into a full throttle laugh. He groaned and rubbed his ribs. “I can’t laugh. It feels like someone’s jabbing me with a branding iron.”

Someone was poking Annie with a hot branding iron, too. But it wasn’t because she had bruised ribs. She suspected her heart might be in danger of being trampled under Dylan’s expensive boots.

Mutually beneficial relationships were based on need. Once Dylan didn’t need her, there wouldn’t be a reason for them to spend time together. Even if they stayed friends, she didn’t know if she could watch Dylan practice touching someone else.

If she put her heart issues aside, Dylan’s offer was too good not to at least think about. She might be wary of starting any long-term relationship, but she wasn’t foolish. If she could figure out a way of making her dream a reality, she’d do it.

She picked up her knife and fork and glanced at Dylan. He was waiting for her to make a decision. “Okay, I’ll think about it. I’ll look at my business plan and see whether I can make it work in seven weeks.”

Dylan’s eyes gleamed. “You won’t regret it.”

Annie wasn’t so sure about that. Regret came in many different forms and she hadn’t found one type that didn’t leave big gaping holes of loneliness inside her.

***

Molly leaned across the dining table and pointed to the list in front of Annie. “I’ll help build your website, get you social media savvy and design your flyers.”

Annie looked up. “Are you sure? That’s a lot of work.”

“I’ve got ten days available between my next assignments. The website won’t be difficult, especially if we use a template. Writing the text that goes on the website will take time, so I’m leaving that to you. We’ll stick with Facebook and a couple of other sites for our social media platforms. The flyers won’t be hard to design.”

Sally and Tess nodded.

“Molly’s right,” Sally said. “I’m in charge of updating the text for the animal shelter’s website. It takes more time than you think to get everything looking good.”

Molly, Tess, and Sally had wanted to get together to see if they could help Annie start her business in seven weeks.

Tess looked at the list. “Put me down for helping with any promotional stuff.”

Molly frowned. “We’ve forgotten about the photos. Put me down for that, too. And if you want to take pity on me, I could take home the meals we photograph for my dinner.”

“Doesn’t Becky cook either?” Tess asked.

Molly shook her head. “My sister has the same baking disaster gene that I have. Nan tried to teach us to cook, but we had a knack for flower arranging and not food.”

Sally pointed to one of the lines on Annie’s list. “I can get the flyers printed and put them in mailboxes with Tess. I could ask the local schools if you can advertise in their newsletters? There’s got to be a lot of moms, dads and grandparents who need home cooked meals.”

Annie added school newsletters to her list and put Sally’s name beside it. “I still feel bad about not being able to work at the café. Are you sure you’ll be able to find a replacement in the next few weeks, Tess?”

“I’ve already thought about that,” Tess said. “I’m going to ask Caitlin Jones if she’s interested in working with me. She’s looking for a job that works around college.”

“Can she cook?” Molly asked.

Tess nodded. “She worked in the café with Annie and I last summer. She’s a good cook with lots of potential. If that doesn’t work out, Kate said she’d come in and give me a hand for a few weeks.”

Annie put her pen on the table and stared at her friends. “We’ve covered almost everything on this list. I don’t know whether to be relieved or terrified.”

“It’s exciting,” Sally said. “I can’t see how your company could fail.”

Tess patted Annie’s arm. “I was nervous before I started Angel Wings Café. It’s a big step opening your own business.”

“At least you’re not tied into a huge lease agreement,” Molly added. “That has to take some of the worry off your shoulders?”

“It does, but my head’s spinning with everything I need to do in the next few weeks.” Annie had counted each of the tasks on her list before her friends arrived. There were forty-three separate things she needed to do, and that didn’t count the extra ideas they’d come up with tonight.

Molly put a mug of coffee in front of Annie. “One step at a time, that’s what Becky constantly tells me. And she’s right. Once you’ve checked Dylan’s construction schedule, you’ll be able to factor in what you need to do.”

“Thank you all for your help. I couldn’t do this without you.”

Sally walked across to Max, the Irish Wolfhound that had become her over-sized shadow. He’d fallen asleep halfway through their planning session, curling himself into a ball the size of a dining table. He whimpered in pleasure as Sally rubbed behind his ears. “We’re here to help you, Annie. That’s what friends are for.”

“I still appreciate it. I know you all have busy lives.”

“Talking about busy lives,” Tess said. “Is everyone coming to Holly’s wedding tomorrow?”

Molly took the lid off the cookie jar and bit into a chocolate chip cookie. “I’ll be there.”

Sally reached into the jar and scowled. “Did you take the last cookie?”

“You ate all of the other ones,” Molly said with a grin. “I thought I’d better be quick considering the sweet tooth you’ve got.”

Annie stood up and took a plate of caramel, oat and almond bars out of the pantry. “Try these. They’re amazing.”

Sally took the closest bar and bit into its soft center. “Yum. You should sell these in the café.”

“That’s the idea,” Tess said. “I’ve got to make the most of Annie before she leaves.”

“I’m not going far.” Annie passed the bars to Molly and Tess. “If you need me in an emergency I’ll only be a fifteen minutes from the café.”

Tess bit into one of the chewy bars and sighed. “You’ll be so busy that you won’t have time to help. Is Dylan coming to Holly’s wedding with you?”

Heat hit Annie’s cheeks as three pairs of eyes zoomed in on her.

“You asked Dylan to go to the wedding with us?” Sally sounded shocked.

“Annie asked Dylan to go to the wedding with her, not us,” Molly said. “The poor man wouldn’t know what to do with himself if we all kept him company.”

“I can’t believe you managed to convince him to come to Holly’s wedding.” Sally reached for another caramel bar.