FOUR
NICK HAD BEEN home from the island almost two weeks, and every single day his cousin had asked him the same question.
As soon as he saw Pete enter the restaurant’s professional kitchen, Nick stopped chopping herbs for a new pork marinade he was trying out and waited for it.
“Have you called Bree about loaning the restaurant money yet?” Before they even left the island, Pete had looked up Bree’s company online and discovered that it was located in Northern Virginia, not too far from where Nick’s restaurant was located.
Pete had obviously come straight from his engineering consulting office because the top button of his pale green dress shirt was open and his navy-and-green tie was loosened and hung at an odd angle. Thanks to Pete’s hard work over the past several months, the company he worked for had been awarded a big government contract. But now that he didn’t have to put in so much overtime, Pete had more time to bug Nick about talking to Bree.
Nick sighed and began chopping garlic while he spoke. “For the last time, I’m not going to ask Bree for financial help.” He hadn’t told anyone, including his cousin, about sleeping with her, and he planned to keep it that way. The only problem with that plan was that Pete wasn’t buying Nick’s reason for not calling Bree.
If he called her at all, it would be to ask to see her again on a personal basis, certainly not for money. But he hadn’t called her yet because she’d made it clear on the island that she didn’t want him to. She’d brushed him off again when she and her girlfriends and Pete and Nick had met before leaving the island. Not that he could blame her. She seemed to want to keep their very brief fling a secret and in the past.
His body reacted to the memory of their one morning together, and he nearly sliced his finger.
He hadn’t been able to get her off his mind since he’d returned home, and it wasn’t only the sex he recalled. Their sniping banter had been very entertaining. He’d never had that kind of connection with Tracy. Bree had lit a fire in him with just a spark from her sharp tongue. Maybe that was what Tracy had realized when she’d called off their wedding—they had lost their spark...or maybe it had never been there.
“Are you even listening to me?” Pete asked in a tone that revealed his frustration.
Nick blinked and looked up from the cutting board. “Sorry. What did you say?”
“I said I don’t buy that you won’t ask Bree for money because you don’t want to take advantage of your friendship. I know that you haven’t had any contact with her since we left the island. Not much of a friendship.”
Nick agreed that was a weak excuse, but it was the only one he’d been able to come up with. That and the fact that Bree’s company lent money only to female-owned businesses. Even though Nick’s mom had a partial stake in the restaurant, she wasn’t the majority owner. He didn’t know why Pete wouldn’t just drop it.
“Nick, don’t you realize you’ll lose this place without financial help?” He spread his arms wide to encompass the restaurant Nick had opened by using every penny he had.
“We’re still pulling in a solid number of customers every night, even on weeknights,” Nick said.
Pete shook his head slowly. “That’s not enough, buddy, and you know it. The restaurant needs a shot of cash now or you’ll lose the lease on the building.”
Nick gritted his teeth. He blamed himself for the mess they were in. He’d been so focused on his breakup with Tracy and paying off wedding expenses that he hadn’t seen what was going on around him. He’d let things get out of his control, and you couldn’t run a successful business like that. But learning a few weeks ago that he might lose his restaurant had been a wake-up call.
“I’m working on some other things, Pete.” That was true, but they were pie-in-the-sky ideas that would take time before they produced a profit—nothing that would bring in fast cash. “And don’t forget that restaurant week starts in a few weeks. That always brings in customers.”
“It’s just not enough, man. We need cash now.”
“Hello, boys.” Nick’s mother appeared just in time to stop the conversation. She was in her midsixties but was often told she could pass for late forties. He’d witnessed younger men flirt with her while she worked at the restaurant’s hostess station, a job she’d taken on part-time when they’d opened. She’d been his most dedicated employee, only taking off the week his dad passed away.
“Hi, Mom, what are you doing here?” Nick asked as she presented her cheek for his kiss. The restaurant was closed Mondays, which was why he’d thought he’d have the kitchen to himself to work on new recipes.
“Can’t a mother come by to see her son?” Her tone was slightly haughty but mostly teasing. She looked at Pete. “I even lucked out and get to see both of my sons at once.”
Nick rolled his eyes. “You work here, Mom. We see each other every day.” He set down his knife. “So what’s up?”
His mom smiled and winked at Pete. “He always sees through me,” she said.
Pete grinned. “I have to say I’m also wondering what you’re up to, Auntie Em.” Nick’s mother’s given name was Emily, but most people shortened it to Em. When Nick’s parents had adopted Pete after his own parents died in a car accident when he was eight, Nick’s mom suggested Pete call them Mom and Dad if he was comfortable doing so. Pete had acquiesced when it came to Dad, but, after seeing The Wizard of Oz, he’d always called Nick’s mom Auntie Em and wasn’t about to call her anything else.
His mother pursed her lips and narrowed her eyes at Pete, probably surprised that he hadn’t automatically taken her side against Nick for once.
“As a matter of fact,” Nick’s mother said to Pete, “I’m glad you’re here, too.” She began digging through her purse until she came up with a few slips of paper. “A friend of mine is opening a pop-up restaurant tonight, and I’d like you both to come with me.” She looked expectantly at them. “It’s more like an open house or cocktail party. My friend is showcasing her tapas menu and wants to generate some financial interest in the restaurant she’s hoping to open.”
Nick looked at Pete, who shrugged, and then back at his mother. “Who is this friend?” With his restaurant in the heart of Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, he was usually pretty savvy about what was going on with other restaurants in the area.
She didn’t meet his eyes, instead concentrating on moving things around in her purse. “No one special. Just someone I met at my yoga class. She’s a lovely woman. We went for coffee the other day, and she invited me to come tonight and to bring a few people.”
“No reservations required?” Nick was suspicious of the whole setup. His mother had been a matchmaker her entire life. And since Pete had a new woman on his arm every week or two, her attention was fixated more on Nick’s lack of female companionship. She claimed she wasn’t getting any younger and wanted grandchildren.
She held out the slips of paper she’d taken from her purse. “I was waiting for you to agree to come. Here’s a ticket for each of you. The address and time are right there.” She paused, then looked from one man to the other. “Would you like to bring someone with you?”
“No, thanks,” Nick said.
“I might,” Pete said, catching Nick off guard.
“You would?” Nick narrowed his eyes at Pete.
“Sure. Why not?” Pete took a second ticket from Nick’s mother. “I’ve got someone in mind.”
“Well, darn,” she said to Pete. “I was thinking you and Pinar, tonight’s pop-up restaurateur, might hit it off.”
“You did?” Nick stopped short before asking why she thought the woman was right for Pete and not Nick. Never mind. He wasn’t interested anyway.
“Yes,