“Yes,” he said. “It worked out fine. The price of running two places,” he said. His long hair was down. It looked like it wasn’t even fully dried either. She wondered if he’d been sleeping when she’d texted him.

  “Did I wake you up earlier?”

  “What?” he asked, grabbing his hair and pulling it back with a rubber band rapidly. It went into a messy bun this time. She tried not to laugh over it.

  “I asked if you were sleeping when I texted you earlier.”

  “No,” he said. “I was up and getting ready to go for a run. I had to figure out this mess first, and once I did, I left to work out. I showered when I got back and came here. What are you trying not to laugh at? That I run?”

  Guess she didn’t have much of a poker face. “You are a big guy. Aren’t most runners smaller or something?”

  He frowned at her and she knew she was making a mess out of this.

  She grabbed the sugar, butter and heavy cream to start on her caramel sauce.

  “I don’t think size has anything to do with runners,” he said. There was humor in his voice, but she wasn’t looking at him.

  He was way too good looking in her eyes and that was why she kept putting her foot in her mouth. Not in a charming cocky way, but a more honest arrogant one. She found she preferred that.

  There was some silence while she started the sugar in the pan and was whisking as it melted. “I guess you’re right,” she said.

  “So what did make you want to laugh?”

  She wasn’t good at lying. “The bun you put in your hair,” she said. “A man bun.”

  His hands went up and felt around. “It’s normally a ponytail, but when I’m in a hurry I just shove it there. I’ll fix it before I start cooking.”

  And he always put a bandana around his head too even if he put a hat on with it.

  “Crap,” she said. She’d burned the sugar by paying attention to him and had to move the pan away and start over.

  The two of them were moving around the kitchen and not saying much. She wasn’t used to this.

  Well, that wasn’t true. She didn’t mind the silence while she worked, but the tension was what was getting to her more than anything.

  The buzzer went off on her blondies and she went to get them and when she returned the sugar that had the butter added to it bubbled over onto the burner and she smelled that batch was burned too.

  And this was why she needed the time to get this right. More so since Duke was here and would see what she was doing.

  “When are your brownies going to be done?” he asked.

  She’d glanced at them when she got her blondies. “Five minutes or so.”

  “Don’t start the caramel until they are done. It’s touchy just like a woman can be.”

  She felt her face flame up and he laughed at her. “Not funny.”

  “It kind of was. Want a trick to help with it?”

  “Sure,” she said. She’d be nuts to turn down any advice or tricks from him.

  “Whisk as fast as you can and once it’s all melted, pull the pan off the stove and add the cream while you continue to whisk. Don’t keep it on the burner or even near heat.”

  “Thanks,” she said. “I’ll try that. I make it a lot, but sometimes this happens. I think I get doing too many things at once. Or you could be making me nervous.”

  “No reason for you to be nervous around me,” he said, frowning. “You know what you’re doing. You would have figured it out, but I just figured I’d save you from washing a fourth pan if you burned it again.”

  She looked up and nodded and then went back to work, hoping he went off to do something else and she’d be done soon. She wasn’t sure why he made her so nervous, but she couldn’t seem to control it.

  8

  Unique Hand

  At the end of the day, Duke was impressed that the pub was as busy as it was.

  There was part of him that was hoping it was slow toward the end so that he could leave and get to his flagship restaurant, but he couldn’t be disappointed that this place was hopping as much as it was so early on either.

  By five thirty, the last of the orders went out and he started to clean up. He could take off in a few minutes and have his line cooks finish up cleaning, but since they were closed tomorrow here and he’d checked in with his staff at Duke’s and they had it covered, he might as well stick around and lock up here.

  “Four more desserts going out,” Stephanie said. “Damn. I think that is the last of the brownies. I was hoping there’d be one left for me to take home.”

  “Really?” he asked. “They are all gone?”

  “I think so.” He’d tasted Hadley’s blueberry jam that was half gone. The caramel sauce was good when she finished it too. “There are a few blondies left,” Stephanie said. “Oh, looks like one and a half of the brownies are left. Maybe I’ll get lucky.”

  He laughed. He had to admit desserts were selling more than they were before. He wasn’t sure if people thought they were his or not. He was known for everything being fresh.

  “I’ll take them out,” he said. He liked to go out and walk around and talk to people when he worked. More so since he was new here.

  Stephanie finished up four desserts, he got the table number and brought them out.

  He caught Hadley’s eye when he came out carrying them. “I’ve got it,” she said.

  “It’s fine,” he said. “I want to see how their meal was.”

  Hadley nodded and went about cleaning up the rest of her tables. There were only four tables with people at them. It looked like the last table he’d sent the food out to wasn’t hers. Just two sandwiches and they were almost done eating too.

  He moved to the table with the four desserts. He’d seen these patrons before at his restaurant and that told him that his following was coming here too.

  “Duke,” the man said. He didn’t know everyone, but they seemed to know him. “This place is great. I love that there is a spot with great food on this end of the island now.”

  “Thanks,” he said. “Glad to have the loyalty.”

  “Always,” the woman said. There were two teens at the table too. “I’m a sucker for chocolate and blueberry and you don’t see it often. My family all wanted caramel.”

  Which made it easier for him to set that one different dish down and then pass the others around.

  “Glad you are enjoying it,” he said.

  “I hope you serve this at Duke’s the next time we go,” the man said. “My sister was here on Friday and said the blondie dessert with ice cream was out of this world.”

  Shit. They did think it was his. He wouldn’t take credit for it though. “I’m glad you like it. But it’s not me making it. Hadley, come here.”

  He looked and saw Hadley moving closer. “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  “I’m listening to the compliments on your desserts. I wanted you to know.”

  “Oh,” she said. “I’m so happy you enjoy them.”

  “You’re making the desserts?” the woman asked.

  “Yes,” she said.

  “Hadley is new to the area. She’s got a great hand with baking. She’s got a unique hand with design and decorating too when it comes to cakes.”

  “Really?” the woman asked. “It will be nice to have some options here for that. Do you have any cards?’

  He looked at Hadley and started to feel bad that he caught her unaware. “Not on me, I don’t. I’ll be getting a website up soon though.”

  “I’ll know where to come back to if I need one then,” the woman said.

  “Enjoy your desserts,” he said, moving off. Hadley followed after asking if they needed anything else.

  He was back in the kitchen cleaning up and at six was walking to the front to see how they were doing there.

  The bartender was shutting down and gathering the receipts, Hadley putting chairs on the tables and the other server helping with chairs too.

  He gathered the receipts from the bartender and went to his office with everything to bring back with him since he was here. He’d been coming in first thing in the morning most days before anyone else to get what he could out of the safe, or Kelsey was doing it since she lived closer. This would save either of them the trip tomorrow.

  Fifteen minutes later, everyone was saying goodnight and walking out the door.

  “Bye,” Hadley said to him.

  “Hang on if you’ve got a minute.”

  “Sure,” she said, stopping while everyone else left.

  “I hope I didn’t embarrass you over the desserts.”

  “No,” she said. “It was nice you did that. It felt good.”

  “Dessert is selling here more than it ever has before. We’ll have to consider making more or more than two. If you can let me know your thoughts later tonight or first thing in the morning, then I can order for Wednesday’s delivery.”

  “I can do that,” she said.

  “I also wanted it known it’s not me making them. I won’t take credit for something that isn’t mine.”

  She nodded her head. “It’s your business. It’s not like you cook everything that goes out the door.”

  “You’re right, but this is different. If you are trying to get a business going then this will help you.”

  “That's nice of you,” she said.

  He wasn’t sure what it was about her that he was so drawn to.

  He normally liked a more confident woman, but he was feeling protective of Hadley. Of her vulnerability. He’d seen glimmers of her confidence and found it sexy. Maybe he wanted her to show more of it.

  “I can be a nice guy despite what Diane said about me.”

  “You know?” she asked.

  “I know most of what is going on in my businesses.”

  “Which is probably why you are so successful,” she said.

  “One of many things,” he said, laughing. “Which leads me to something else. You said you were working on your website. My sister has pointed out more than once I’m sadly lacking in the marketing and advertising of my business. I’ve got a website for Duke’s that I paid someone to make, but it’s not updated often. There isn’t one for here either.”

  “No. My father never really thought one was necessary. He just did their Facebook page.”

  “Which has its place in advertising too,” he said. Though he hated dealing with any of that. “Did you do that stuff at your other job?”

  “What stuff?”

  “Website design. Social media posts or advertising?”

  “The website design was more updating rather than setting up. I’m working through setting it up now. It’s not that hard if I keep it simple. But yes to the social media.”

  His head went back and forth. “Would you consider taking that on for Southside and maybe Duke’s? I guess I’d like to see what you can do for here first and then maybe move on to Duke’s.”

  “Really?” she asked. Her light brown eyes were wide and his heart thumped in his chest. She had to have had some knocks in her life if something simple like this was giving her hope.

  “Yes,” he said. “Something to work out. The pictures of your cakes were well done. The lighting and the angles. Start taking them here too. The same with some meals that come out. I’ll make sure everyone is aware of what is going on. Then we can use those pictures on social media. It doesn’t take much time to send out the posts the nights things are being served, right?”

  “No,” she said. “And a lot of the food is served the same nights so I could schedule them from one day that I took them to go out the next day.”

  “Except for specials. I’d want them to go out that night for people to see and come in,” he said.

  “Which is why you are running things and not me. But it takes time to get followers on social media.”

  “It does,” he said. “I’ll run ads if I have to. Do you know how to do that stuff?”

  “I do,” she said.

  This was working out better than he thought. He was used to surviving on his reputation, which he knew would only get him so far.

  “Put together some things for me if you can. As if I was a client for you. What you’d do, how you’d do it. What I need to get set up.”

  She was smiling bright again. Not as much as she was when she was baking, but he could see she was in her comfort zone too.

  “I can do that. I’ll do it tonight and tomorrow. Are you going to be around on Wednesday again?”

  “I’ll be here to check on the food supplies,” he said. He’d make sure of it more than anything now and rearrange his schedule. Not just to make sure things came in right, but to see Hadley again.

  He just hoped he was doing the right thing for the business and not doing it to see Hadley’s smile.

  9

  More Successful

  Monday morning Hadley was up bright and early working on everything that Duke had asked her for.

  She still wanted to pinch herself that life was working out for her.

  Well, not totally working out. Just not crashing and burning as it had for so long.

  The first order of business was to get the desserts picked out and what she needed for them. Then she could text Duke right away and he could add it to his order.

  She flipped through recipes she’d used before, made some selections, typed up her ingredients and measurements for one serving and he could figure out what to buy based on the servings he wanted her to make.

  She felt bad leaving it to him, but she wasn’t sure what he had in mind. She was doing this for the whole week. She made sure she had what she needed for Tuesday’s dessert and she’d make double because she wasn’t working Wednesday, but then was on the rest of the week.

  Once that was sent off, she got to work detailing what she thought would work for social media. He’d have to set some of them up and get her the passwords if she was posting. She could post on the FB page easily enough by just tagging them.

  After she set up a bunch of example posts with pictures of cakes and desserts she’d been making, she shut her computer down and decided to get some lunch. She hadn’t realized she’d been working for hours and the time got away from her.

  She was just biting into a sandwich when there was a knock at her door. Not that she had far to go or it could be anyone other than her parents, but she yelled for whoever it was to come in.

  The door opened and her father was standing there. “Hi,” he said. “Am I interrupting anything?”

  “Nope,” she said. “Just eating some lunch. Can I get you something?”

  “I ate about ten minutes ago. Mom ran some errands and I thought I’d check in on you to see how things were going.”

  Her father walked in and sat on the couch, she moved over to the chair. Her laptop was on the coffee table. Her two choices to work were the living room or the pull-down table. She hadn’t used that once yet. She knew she’d want to start trying new recipes here, but she’d been too busy working and then coming home and dealing with the rest of her life.

  She didn’t even have a washer and dryer in her place and had to go to her parents and felt bad doing that, but she wasn’t going to look a gift horse in the mouth that she was living rent-free.

  “They are going well,” she said. “I’m working more than I thought and enjoy it. The tips are good.”

  “That’s good to hear. I’m sorry I wasn’t able to make it as successful as Duke seems to be doing.”

  She didn’t want her father to feel bad about that. “This was a dream for you and Mom and you’ve done it for years and had fun, right?”

  “We did. It met the needs and goals we had, but everyone wants to be more successful in life.”

  She’d never really felt that way. Was there something hardwired wrong in her? Eddie made her feel that way at times. Jokingly picking on her for not experiencing much in life. Then he’d coax her into trying things. Most times it was fun, other times nerve-wracking and uncomfortable. He’d kiss up and praise and push her like a parent did a child until she gave in.

  She had no clue if it was her or him, but her goal in life had been to be stable. She didn’t think that was much to ask. Now she decided that she wasn’t doing anything unless she really wanted to.

  “Not everyone, Dad.”

  His father sighed. “We just want you happy, Hadley. How are you doing? Really doing? I know it’s hard to lose someone you love. Then to find out you got stuck with all this debt on top of it.”

  She didn’t want to tell her parents that she and Eddie had split before his death. She hadn’t even told them about the money until she moved home. If they knew Eddie did this to her and then they weren’t together it’d be worse.

  There was no way she was going to say the other things Eddie did either.

  She wasn’t one to talk ill of the dead even if at times she had those thoughts for the mess she was in.

  She’d never learn, it seemed.

  “I’m fine,” she said.

  “You lost your boyfriend,” her father said.

  She didn’t correct him. Why bother at this point? “I think I lost him a long time ago,” she said.

  That wasn’t a lie either. “I’m sure it feels that way. But I’m glad you are starting over here with us. You’ve always had our support, Hadley. I just wish you told us more of what was going on in your life.”

  “Why?” she said. “I’m an adult and can figure it out on my own just fine.”

  She’d been doing that most of her life. Her parents letting her live here for free was still supporting her and more than a lot of people got in life.

  She had her own space even if it was tiny. She had a job and some money and was able to cover her bills, and if it kept up like this, chip away at her debt.

  “I know. How is the job hunt coming?”

  “It’s slow,” she said. “I’m looking, but for now it’s fine. I’m making a lot in tips. Obviously I’m not making the same as I did before I moved here, but when you look at my net bills and bring home, I’m ahead. When things pick up on the island in a few weeks the tips will be more I’m sure. It’s all good. Once I find something full time, I hope to be able to continue to do this.”