The Second Chance Café (Hope Springs, #1) (16 page)

“Oh, that’s right. Easter dinner. Kaylie, you have to come,” Luna said.

Was it Easter already? “I’ll have to check my calendar and see what’s going on with the house.”

“It’s Easter. It’s a holiday. Nothing is going on with the house. I already invited Will, and Ten will be coming, too. It’ll be great. My parents’ Easter dinners are not to be missed.”

“She’s right about that,” Mitch said, strangely wistful, even reserved. Then he shook it off and waved as he walked away. “You two enjoy your lunch.”

Kaylie turned and watched him navigate the series of connected steps, greeting customers and staff alike. “He seems like a great guy.”

“I’m glad you think so. He’s been a wonderful friend to our family. My father especially.”

“He told me they served together in the military.”

“My dad talked him into settling here after their discharge. I don’t think he could stand the idea of not having Mitch near. They’d been together since boot camp. My parents had been having some problems and Daddy enlisted so they could have the space to see if they could work things out.”

“That must’ve been tough on your mother. Having the responsibility of you and the farm without him there.”

“It was. I’m pretty sure his enlisting took their problems to a new level, but the separation also made them closer than ever. Her two brothers and their wives came up from Mexico and helped out, so it was all good in the end. Funny enough, things didn’t get rough until they got married.” Luna stopped to let their server place their plates on the table. “It’s one reason Daddy and Mitch are so close. Their service had a huge impact on both of their home lives, though in completely different ways.”

“How so?”

“Mitch enlisted to make a better life for his child and the woman he lived with, but came home to find them gone.”

Kaylie’s heart jumped in her chest. “Gone? What do you mean?”

Luna picked up her fork, her gaze on her plate as if she was gathering her thoughts. Kaylie reached for her napkin and spread it over her lap. “You don’t have to answer that. It’s none of my business, and having some ugly events in my past, I totally understand the importance of keeping private things private. I shouldn’t have asked.” She felt terrible for doing so, but the words had been there before she could stop them.

Luna finished with a bite of her potato. “He wouldn’t mind you knowing, I’m sure. But yeah. It’s not my place to share all of what he went through. Maybe if he comes to work for you, he’ll tell you about it one day.”

“It’s pretty apparent he’s not coming to work for me. He’s got a good thing going here. I wouldn’t give up a comfortable life for the unknown.”

Luna’s expression softened. “But isn’t that exactly what you’ve done?”

Kaylie laughed at the contradiction of her words and her actions. “You’re right. But it would be different for Mitch. I’m only offering
him
part-time employment, while I’m starting over with a new business. He’d be crazy to make that kind of change.”

“A full-time change, sure, but I could see him doing both. It would be a matter of balance, but he could make it work.”

“You seem awfully invested in him coming to work for me.”

“Is it that obvious?” Luna asked, her laugh almost nervous.

“It is. And I’m dying to know why.”

“I’m not sure I can explain it, to be honest. It’s an intuition thing, I guess. I see him in a rut. I want him to have more.”

“But he seems happy in what you call a rut. He may not think of it that way at all.”

“Oh, I’m sure he doesn’t.”

“But you do.”

Another laugh, another strange show of nerves. “I just know how good he is at what he does, and how happy it
makes me when I have a new project on the horizon. Like my brownie scarf. I think the change would spice things up for him. Give him a new challenge. Something to look forward to.”

There was something Luna wasn’t saying. Kaylie was sure of it. But she wasn’t sure if she wanted to press or leave it alone. “I gave him my card and he knew my ad was coming out last week. I’ve got one interview tomorrow and another Friday. I really want someone on board for planning before I open.”

“Well, like you said, he’s got your card. And he’s got to want it for himself.”

“And who knows. He may decide that he does,” Kaylie said, driven to appease the other woman because Luna seemed genuinely disappointed. “But even if he doesn’t, a very good thing has come out of you sending him to me.”

“It has, hasn’t it? I would hate to have missed out on meeting you.”

“And I you,” Kaylie said, certain she and the other woman were seeing the beginning of what was going to be a beautiful friendship.

Two Owls’ Number Ten Brownie Special

richly textured and full of the unexpected and sure to please

1½ cups unsalted butter

1¼ cups unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa powder

2 ¾ cups sugar

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

5 eggs

1 ⅔ cups flour

½ cup sweetened coconut flakes

½ cup chopped pecans

½ cup
dulce de leche

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease or spray with cooking oil and flour (or line with aluminum foil) a 9 x 13–inch baking pan.

Melt the butter over low heat in a large saucepan. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Stir in the sugar and the salt until blended. Whisk in the cayenne pepper and the orange zest, followed by the eggs one at a time, blending after each. Add the flour to the saucepan, and fold in lightly with a spatula or spoon. Mix in the coconut and the pecans.

Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and spread evenly. Warm the
dulce de leche
(in a double boiler, or microwave on low) enough to drizzle over the top. Bake for 40–45 minutes, or until an inserted tester comes out with a bit of batter attached. Cool completely before cutting.

H
aving unloaded her Jeep, walked the acre of her lot with Magoo, fed him, watered him, and then spent twenty minutes under the spray of her shower, Kaylie came downstairs feeling somewhat less exhausted to find Ten in the kitchen finishing up for the day.

He’d been outside with Will when she’d returned from her trip to Gruene, and she’d thought it best to unwind a bit before seeing him. She was still turning over the girl talk she’d shared with Luna. But mostly she was still working through her thoughts of Ten.

She’d never had a man inspire her to create a brownie before. Yet Tennessee Keller had sent her mind turning to food since the midnight he’d stopped by to look at her shutters.

She’d been forever getting back to sleep, thinking about the color of his hair, the texture…continuing as the days passed to think things she didn’t need to be thinking about the way he might look beneath his clothes. She especially did not need to be thinking that now, when he was in front of her, moving fluidly from one chore to the next, his body not overly muscled but so very strong.

She hadn’t expected to enjoy hearing him as he worked inside her house. The constant whine of his saw, and his and Will’s nail guns, and his stereo playing Amos Lee and the Avett Brothers and the occasional Led Zeppelin and Johnny Cash. She wasn’t sure which man chose which music, and she had no plans to ask. She liked the mystery as much as the companionship.

It was all strangely comfortable, knowing she wasn’t alone when she’d been alone so much of her life. Much of that was the house. Much, but not all. Ten’s noise wasn’t the intrusion she usually found such racket to be. The question was why, but she wasn’t sure if knowing the answer would solve anything, and so she looked up—only to realize Ten had stopped moving and was staring at her.

“Sorry about that. Lost in thought.”

He nodded as if he’d grown used to her doing that. “You had a good time with Luna today?”

“I did, yes.” She paused, thought of the things she and Luna had talked about, families, friends. Men. “And I saw Mitch again.”

“Mitch?”

“The applicant for the cook’s position? Luna’s friend?”

“Oh, that guy,” he said, his tone of voice like a string of nasty adjectives tacked on the end.

If he’d known the other man, this attitude he had might make sense. But it didn’t, and so she asked, “What is it with you and him? Or with you? I get that you let down your guard in the past and someone got hurt because of it, but that has nothing to do with Mitch. Did he wrong you in another life or something?”

“Sorry.” He tugged the plug of an extension cord from the wall and wound the long orange snake using his palm and his elbow. “It’s none of my business who you interview or hire.”

“Thank you,” she said, but was then struck with a thought. “I know that you’re looking out for me, and I appreciate that, but you’re inching up on going overboard again.”

He snorted, tossed the extension cord into the pantry with his jigsaw. “I don’t know him. He’s not from around here.”

“Luna knows him. So does her father. He and Mitch did their military service together.” Ten arched a brow at that, and Kaylie went on. “Besides, I’m not from around here either. Not really.”

“You lived here with the Wises for eight years. I think that qualifies you as a local.”

She’d always felt she belonged here, but that didn’t necessarily hold to his definition. “What about you? When did you come here?”

“I lived in Round Rock growing up, so we were close.”

That had her remembering Carolyn Parker saying he’d been here ten years. “Why Hope Springs? Is this where you and your brother had planned to open up shop?”

“We didn’t get that far in the planning stage. I came here…for some of the same reasons you did. Starting over. Getting some sleep.”

“Looking for your family?”

“Looking to get out from beneath mine.”

Except he hadn’t. He carried what had happened, whatever it was he blamed himself for, to this day. And obviously he realized that or he wouldn’t have told her about his habit of rushing to judgment. “Did it work?”

He was quiet for a moment, looking at the drill bit he held, then bit off a brusque “No.”

“Have you talked to your sister yet? About my garden?”

“No.”

If he wanted to look out for her, focusing on her garden instead of Mitch was a good place to start. “I need to get it in—”

“I know that.”

Crabby, wasn’t he? “If you don’t want to talk to her, I’ll get someone else.”

“You asked me to help. I’ll help.”

“On my schedule or yours? Because time is something I don’t have.”

His jaw tightened. “Fine. I’ll try to touch base with her tomorrow.”

“She’s still nearby?”

He nodded. “She’s also busy. Or was last time I talked to her. I can’t guarantee when she’ll be able to get away.”

What was it about his family? He didn’t know what was going on with his sister. He didn’t know when he’d last talked to his brother. “I didn’t ask you to guarantee anything. She might not be able to fit me in, or she might be outside of my budget.”

“Hey, I’m just the yellow pages. It’s your business who you hire.”

“Thank you.”

“Oh, that was sneaky.”

She smiled.

“Fine. Hire your Mitch Pepper. Just don’t expect me to run interference if he steps out of line.”

Seriously? He thought
Mitch
might step out of line? “All I expect from you is to have this job done well and on time.”

“Oh, really,” he said, shoving his hands to his oh-so-lean hips, his too-long hair catching in his collar and making her want to lift it away. “So you don’t expect me to talk to Indy? You don’t expect me to hook you up with an exterminator who’ll get the job done right, or a security guy who won’t put in an extra camera or two you don’t know about?”

“I’m sure I can get recommendations from Carolyn or Jessa. Or even Luna.” Which she should’ve done in the first place. She was relying on him too much. “Really, Ten. I don’t need you thinking you know what’s best for me.” And then she took a deep breath and let go of the thought that had been building. “Whatever happened with you failing your family, I’m not a token charity case or whatever for you to use to make up for that.”

“Wait a second,” he said, reaching for her arm as she turned away, and stopping her.

She wanted to go. She wanted to stay. She wanted the choice taken from her because she was in a place she didn’t recognize or know how to navigate. And yet she’d been thinking since lunch about being here, wanting things from Ten she couldn’t name, she didn’t understand, she longed for without knowing why.

“You can’t say something like that and not expect me to respond.”

“Then respond.” She was baiting him. She was pushing him. She didn’t know why. But she knew why exactly. She wanted this. She wanted him. She wanted.

He backed her into the wall beside the door, against the space where the refrigerator would go. The big commercial refrigerator, with half-glass doors and shelves for industrial casserole pans and bushels of lettuce and crates of tomatoes.

The spot was tall and wide and there was plenty of room for both of them to fit. He laced their fingers and raised her hands to her shoulders, anchoring her with his body, his feet on either side of hers, his thighs, too, as he lowered his head, his eyes bright, his nostrils flaring as he breathed.

She was frightened, but not of him as much as herself and the things she didn’t know. She’d been here before with boys who thought themselves men, but not with these feelings, her belly, her heart, and not with Tennessee Keller. He smelled of a day’s work and sawdust and worn cotton and a woodsy spice she’d noticed before in passing. It was subtle and she wanted to close her eyes and savor it, to remember it later when he wasn’t so near. But closing them meant not seeing him and she wanted that most of all.

His lashes were long, the same turned-earth brown as the stubble of his beard. She wondered about the hair on his chest, on his legs, in private places. His lips parted, smiling, inviting, she didn’t know. Before she could figure it out, time jumped forward and his mouth was there covering hers. He moved gently against her, soft and persuasive, the pressure of his lips imploring more than demanding, and at odds with the shackles of his hands.