“Here’s my idea,” Karen said. “Let me and Tess share the job as sous-chef.”
Helen looked startled, but to Karen’s relief Dana Sue looked intrigued.
“How would that work?” Dana Sue asked. “Don’t you both need a full-time job?”
Karen nodded. “But you’re open six days a week, right? And you’re open more than eight hours a day. One of us could work three days, the other four, and you could schedule our shifts to overlap. You need the extra help anyway on weekends. The sharing part would be that Tess and I would adjust that schedule between us if one of us had an emergency, so you’d never be left without a sous-chef. You’d have two trained people and you’d be covered all the time. The odds of both of us having an emergency on the same day are slight.”
“I like it!” Helen said eagerly. “Dana Sue, what do you think?”
Karen held her breath.
“It could work,” Dana Sue said slowly. “We do need the extra coverage. I’d have to meet Tess and see if she can handle the job or if she even wants it, but it would solve a lot of problems. Erik, what do you think?”
Though his expression remained grim, he nodded. “It has potential, as long as at least one of you shows up, no matter what,” he conceded grudgingly. For the first time, he actually looked at Karen. “That’s one of the traits I’ve always liked about you. You do think outside the box and you’re not afraid to try new things.”
Karen smiled at him. “Thanks. This time it was mainly out of desperation, but I really do think you’re both going to love Tess. She’s bright and energetic and loyal. She’d fit in perfectly here. And I know she and I can work things out so you’re never short staffed.”
“Okay, then, have her call me,” Dana Sue said. “We’ll get her in here and give her a try.”
Helen sat back, a satisfied smile on her face. “A win-win solution. Good job, Karen. Thanks, Dana Sue.”
Karen noticed she pointedly ignored Erik as she stood up. “I need to get back to the office,” Helen said.
This time Erik shot out of the booth. “I’ll walk with you,” he said in a determined tone that silenced any argument. “Back in ten minutes, Dana Sue.”
Dana Sue stared after him. “Take all the time you need.”
After they’d gone, Karen met Dana Sue’s amused gaze. “Are those two…?”
“Not yet,” Dana Sue said. “But I predict it won’t be long.”
“My, my,” Karen murmured, laying on a thick Southern drawl, “I do believe I could use some iced tea. It’s gotten a little warm in here and I’m parched.”
Dana Sue laughed. “Isn’t that the truth? Come on. I’ll join you. Something tells me we’re going to be on our own for a while in the kitchen.”
Helen was sorry she’d walked over to Sullivan’s from her office. If she’d driven, she could have gotten in her car and slammed the door in Erik’s face. Instead, he was walking along beside her in an increasingly awkward silence. Finally she could stand it no longer.
“If there’s something on your mind, just say it,” she demanded. “Otherwise, leave me alone.”
“I’m trying to figure out what to say,” he admitted.
“‘I’m sorry’ has a nice ring to it. Or ‘I was wrong.’ That’s a good one.”
“Okay, both of those,” he said, his lips twitching.
She stopped and whirled around to look him in the eye. “That’s it? I throw you a couple of options and you don’t even repeat them or put your own pitiful spin on them?”
“But you’re the one who’s so good with words,” he returned dryly. “I figured you put it exactly the way you wanted to hear it.”
Helen rolled her eyes. “Oh, for heaven’s sake, do you even know what you’re apologizing for?”
“The kiss?” he suggested uncertainly.
The hint of vulnerability in a man who’d always struck her as supremely confident cut through her defenses. “That would be a good place to start,” she agreed.
“There’s more?” he asked.
Though his tone was perfectly serious, she thought she detected a hint of teasing. “You’re darn straight, there’s more. How about the fact that you were behaving like a horse’s behind about Karen?”
“I was trying to look out for the restaurant’s best interests,” he said. “Something I thought would matter to you, you being Dana Sue’s good friend and all.”
“Of course that matters to me,” she retorted. “So, don’t you think the solution we worked out in there is the best thing for everybody?”
“Possibly,” he said. “But by Karen’s own admission, her friend was fired for being unreliable. In my book, that’s not a terrific recommendation, no matter what her skills are.”
“Not only a horse’s behind, but stubborn as a mule, too,” Helen muttered under her breath.
“I heard that,” he said.
“As I intended,” she replied, then studied him curiously. “I thought you liked Karen.”
“I like a lot of people I don’t want working in my kitchen,” he said. “Not if they’re not going to show up when they’re supposed to.”
Helen’s lips curved in a small smile and she resumed walking. “Does that also mean you don’t mind having someone you dislike working in your kitchen?”
“If they do the job well,” he said, his gaze narrowing as he strode beside her. “What’s your point?”
“You don’t seem overly fond of me at the moment.”
“Because you’re annoying the hell out of me right now.”
“And last night?” she teased.
“And last night,” he agreed.
“And yet we worked so well together. Interesting,” she said thoughtfully.
“What’s so interesting about that?”
“The way your mind works. Can I ask you something else?”
“I don’t imagine I can stop you, interrogation being one of your primary work skills.”
“How did the kiss fit in?” she asked, clearly catching him off guard. Color bloomed in his cheeks.
“I apologized for that,” he reminded her.
“I know, but what sparked it? A sudden attack of lust, the heat of the argument, a desire to get even because of the pie I’d tossed at you?”
“I wish to hell I knew,” he said.
“Come on. Think about it,” she prodded, stopping to look at him. “I just want to know so I can avoid triggering that particular response again.”
“You and me both,” he said, then studied her intently. “You seemed to be into it at the time.”
“I most certainly was not!” she replied indignantly.
“Bet I could prove what a liar you are.”
Now there was a challenge that was best avoided. And since she seemed to be increasingly off balance around Erik, maybe it was time to turn the tables. After all, the man was seriously cute when he was befuddled. Feeling downright daring, she reached up and pressed a kiss to his cheek, hoping to throw him even further off-kilter.
“Let me know when you figure out how we wound up with our lips locked,”