Sweet Surprise: Romance Collection

by Wanda E. Brunstetter, Kristin Billerbeck, Kristy Dykes, Aisha Ford, Birdie L. Etchison, Pamela Griffin, Joyce Livingston, Tamela Hancock Murray

  “Lord, did I mess this up even worse?”

  She turned on the TV to try to mask the growing rumble of doubts running through her mind, but that did little to help.

  Despite the impulse to back out of the agreement with Gil, she couldn’t help but wonder how things might have been between them had their fathers not had that argument ten years ago.

  Would they have remained high school sweethearts and gotten married after college and stayed on to manage the restaurant together? Would they have had children by now?

  “Stop it,” Monica said, turning off the TV. “You just ran into the man; stop imagining what could have been and focus on what is.”

  She picked up her phone again, this time, wondering if she should just call Gil and cancel the whole deal.

  No. She wouldn’t do it. She couldn’t, not after the way she had run into him under such unusual circumstances. Maybe it was more than coincidence they had met today. Wasn’t partnering with Gil the best idea after she had prayed and asked for a solution to catering Adella’s party?

  Yes, if nothing else, God had provided an answer to her prayers. As for their families reconciling, Monica didn’t have the same high hopes Gil had expressed, so there was no use in letting her mind wander to the what-ifs of what might have been.

  Yes, he was still just as good-looking, but that had nothing to do with their deal. From the way he talked, he had been able to put the family business aside long enough to establish a life away from work, something Monica had never really been able to do.

  While his family had the benefit of working with an established restaurant, Monica’s family had been working overtime for the last ten years to play catch up. Though he had been cordial and very friendly today, he had given no indication that he was interested in more than a work relationship. And why should he? Monica couldn’t imagine why he wouldn’t have a girlfriend or even be nearly married right now.

  Monica turned on her laptop and started typing out preliminary notes for the party menu. She and Gil had agreed to meet again tomorrow afternoon to compile their ideas and finalize the menu before she met with Adella again.

  While she typed, Monica thought about how her father would take the news. There was really no way to ease into such a potentially inflammatory announcement.

  Thinking back to the days after the split, Monica remembered her father spending hours working overtime and even taking a second job just to keep The Pie Rack afloat, just to prove to himself that Amos Butler was wrong.

  Would the news be a bit more bearable if he knew how desperately Gil’s family needed this job, or would he remember how alone they felt after Amos had laughed and told him that a dessert café was a ridiculous idea?

  And worse yet, would her father be angry with her for even speaking to Gil? Not long after Gil’s dad had stopped him from seeing Monica, Gil had come over to visit, but Monica’s dad had refused to let her see him, and told her she wasn’t allowed to speak to Gil any longer.

  That decree had been uncomfortable back when she was seventeen, but out of respect to her parents, she’d obeyed and considered her romance with Gil to be over.

  Now that she was almost twenty-eight, she doubted the rule still held, but if her dad remembered, explaining her way out of it would be uncomfortable to say the least.

  “I’ll tell them first thing in the morning,” Monica decided, turning off her computer.

  It was no use trying to work right now. Too much had happened today, and she couldn’t see a real rhyme or reason to any of it.

  Her new plan for the evening didn’t get much attention. Monica decided she would go to bed early, get a full eight hours of sleep, and deal with all of the pesky little details in the morning.

  Chapter 4

  M onica’s dad slapped the arm of his easy chair for emphasis. “There is no way The Pie Rack will do business with Amos Butler.”

  Monica slumped on the sofa in her parents’ living room. So far, not so good. “Dad, please, just give it a chance. Remember, yesterday you told me to do whatever I needed to do to make this catering job a reality. Maybe this is a good thing.”

  “I don’t even want to discuss this further,” Bob said, crossing his arms over his chest. “Get on the phone right now and call that boy and tell him I said no.”

  “I can’t do that, Dad. They need this job just as badly as we do, if not more.”

  “No. No, and what are you even doing talking to him? Didn’t I tell you not to associate with them any more?”

  Monica chuckled nervously, hoping she could make her dad calm down. “That was ten years ago, Dad. I think I might be able to make a few decisions on my own.”

  “No good can come of this.”

  “If we don’t take this deal with the Butler’s, we can kiss the engagement party good-bye. Where else am I going to find someone to partner with before tomorrow?”

  “That’s what I told you yesterday. Three days is a ridiculous deadline.” He shrugged then continued. “Just call Adella and tell her we can only do dessert. If she says no, then we can’t do it.”

  “Dad, it’s been ten years since we’ve spoken to this family, and I just ran into Gil out of nowhere yesterday. Do you think this is God’s way of telling us it’s time to bury the hatchet?”

  “Or maybe this is God’s way of telling us we’re not supposed to be catering this party.” He held up his hands in protest. “Don’t bring God into this. I’ve forgiven the Butlers, and I’m not holding any grudges. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit back and let his son break my daughter’s heart again. Who knows what they’re up to this time?”

  “Dad, I’ll be fine. This isn’t about me and Gil.”

  “I know that’s right, because I won’t let it be about that. How do you think I felt when my best friend stooped low enough to tell his son he couldn’t see my daughter any more. You cried for two weeks straight.”

  “I was seventeen. Everything was a big deal then.”

  “No. That’s the end of it. I’m the boss, and I say no. This won’t work. We can’t trust those people.”

  “Bob,” her mom said, speaking for the first time since Monica had explained the situation. “Since you’re officially retired, Monica is technically the boss, and I think you should let her make the final decision.”

  Both Monica and her dad turned to stare at her mom.

  Monica was surprised because her mother generally deferred to her father’s final decision in all things business related.

  “Phyllis, please let me handle this,” Bob said. “I know what I’m doing.”

  “I’m not saying you can’t handle it, but think about how you’ve taught Monica to run the company. You’ve always said you wanted her to be prepared to do this on her own, and now when she has the chance to prove herself, you swoop in and take over again.”

  “I’m not taking over, I’m providing business advice.”

  “You gave her an ultimatum, not advice. It was an order. Don’t you remember last week when Reverend Molson preached about casting your cares on the Lord?”

  “Yes, but that has nothing to do with this situation.”

  “In a way it does. If you cast your cares on God to fix a situation, then you trust Him to do it. You give it to Him, and you don’t keep taking it back just so you can make sure He’s doing things right.”

  “Monica is not God, Phyllis.”

  “I didn’t say she is. My point is that if you trust her to run The Pie Rack all by herself one of these days, you should trust her to make decisions you don’t necessarily agree with without jumping in to stop her.”

  “Monica, I understand what your mother’s saying, and I do trust you, but I can’t allow this to happen while I sit here twiddling my thumbs. It’s too risky.”

  Monica felt a surge of courage and spoke up again. “Dad, isn’t that what Amos Butler told you about the second restaurant? And didn’t he say the same thing when you took the pie recipe and decided to open a dessert café?”<
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  “That was different.”

  “Was it really?” Monica asked.

  “How so?” asked her mom.

  Bob shook his head. “No, Phyllis. I just don’t trust them. They have to be up to something else.”

  “I honestly don’t feel like that, Bob,” said her mother. “If nothing else, I think we should go ahead and do this. If it doesn’t work, then we cut our losses, but I don’t want us to teach Monica that she should never take chances. Most things worth anything involve taking a chance.”

  “Like what?”

  Phyllis grinned. “Like you asking me out back in college when you thought I would turn you down.”

  Bob nodded in agreement. “Now you’re right about that. It took me two months to work up the nerve.”

  “Like I didn’t notice that you followed me around all the time and just happened to turn up at every event I went to.”

  Bob laughed. “So I wasn’t exactly as subtle as I thought.”

  He grew quiet, and Monica didn’t interrupt his thoughts, even though she felt like she could come up with a hundred reasons why she should be allowed to make the final decision.

  “All right, Monica,” he said finally. “You decide. Like your mother said, we do trust you, and even though we might not agree with every decision you make, you will eventually be the sole owner of The Pie Rack, and I know you’ll do a good job. If you think this is a good risk to take, we stand behind you.”

  “Oh, thanks, you guys!” Monica exclaimed, and hugged both of her parents. “I promise this will be the best risk I ever take.”

  “You think so, honey?” her mom asked, smiling. “You know marriage is a big risk, too. So is starting a family.”

  Bob frowned. “Who said anything about marriage?” He cleared his throat. “Monica, honey, you can make all the business decisions you want, but just don’t get any ideas about marrying that boy. I can barely stomach the idea of doing business with a Butler, but I draw the line at being related to them.”

  Phyllis grabbed his arm, pulled him up out of his chair, and led him toward the kitchen. “Bob, you’re cranky because you haven’t eaten. Let me fix you some breakfast.”

  “You’re trying to change the subject, but I’m too hungry to argue,” he said.

  “Guys, I wish I could stay and eat with you, but I’ve got to get to work. I’ve got a lot to do today,” Monica said.

  “Just remember,” her dad said, “this is strictly business. Don’t come in here announcing you’re engaged to Gil Butler.”

  Phyllis laughed. “Monica, have a good day at work, honey.” To her husband she said, “And, Bob, stop being ridiculous. Who said anything about marriage?”

  Bob rolled his eyes. “You did, and don’t think I forgot.”

  Phyllis winked at Monica. “Don’t pay any attention to him, honey. Go to work and do a good job.”

  “Out of the question. Absolutely not. How can you think of joining forces with the enemy?” Amos Butler jumped out of his seat and paced the floor of Gil’s office.

  Gil laughed out loud. When he needed to, his dad could certainly turn on the dramatics. Sometimes he wondered if his father hadn’t gone into the wrong profession. Amos Butler, Oscar-winning performer, sometimes seemed far more accurate than Amos Butler, restaurateur.

  “Dad, calm down. This is current day St. Louis, not some old western film. The Ryans are not the enemy. If anything, they could say the same thing about us.”

  “They’re not the enemy to you? So how do you see it?”

  “What they are right now is a welcome breath of fresh air for our struggling restaurant. We need them more than they need us for this deal. If we say no, Monica will find another company to fill the void.”

  “I’m not that desperate.”

  Gil pushed away from the desk and stood up. “Okay, fine. You may not be that desperate, but I am. You dragged me back here to run this place, but you won’t let me fully utilize the managing skills I learned in school. Every time I have an idea, you shoot it down. Too frivolous, too risky, too bold, not bold enough.”

  “I’m the one who built this business.”

  “Yeah, you built it with the help of your best friend, who you ditched in order to save a few dollars. And where did it get us?”

  Amos said nothing but stared out the window, his jawline twitching.

  “I’ll tell you where it got us.” Gil pulled up the monthly balance sheet on his computer and swiveled the screen so his father could see it. “In the red.” Gil instantly regretted doing so, because he had managed to sidestep the question of how much money they hadn’t made for the past couple of months.

  The corner of Amos’s mouth twitched, but no emotion filtered through his stoic gaze. He shook his head. “It’s a mistake. Stop doing the bookkeeping on the computer and go back to paper.”

  “No. It’s not a mistake.”

  “You got that…Internet on this computer?” Amos asked, tapping the screen with his finger.

  “Well, yeah, but…”

  “That’s the problem,” his dad interrupted. “You probably got some kind of virus. That’s what’s messing up the numbers.”

  “No, Dad, there’s no virus on this computer. The antivirus program works just fine. And I’ve double-and triple-checked the numbers. There’s no way around it. We can’t blame the computer.”

  Amos folded his arms over his chest. “Go back to paper. Pencil, paper, and calculator are all you need. I did it that way, and it worked just fine before you insisted on having computers. I put you through college doing the bookkeeping on paper.”

  Gil sat down in the chair across from his dad. “Dad, I’m sorry to break the news like that. I was angry and trying to prove my point. But I have double-and triple-checked those numbers, on the computer and on paper. We’ve been in the red for a little over a month, and I don’t see a way out. If anything, this job will give us what we need to get back on stable footing again.”

  “It’ll put us in the black again?”

  Gil nodded slowly. “If we’re very careful with our spending, yes. In the meantime, we need to start exploring more options to either make more or spend less.”

  “I won’t sacrifice quality!” Amos barked.

  “That’s not what I’m asking you to do.”

  His dad sighed loudly and leaned back in his chair. “Then what are you asking?”

  “Just for your permission to work on this project with Monica. It doesn’t mean you’re bound by contract to do anything else with the Ryans, but it could mean the difference between us having what we need to stay open long enough to turn things around.”

  Amos stood up and looked at the ground.

  Gil’s heart ached for his dad. Over thirty years of running his own business and the man had very little to show for it.

  When Gil had been away, he could push this reality aside, but now that he lived here, he, too, felt the burden of wondering how to turn things around.

  He wished desperately he had the perfect formula to bring in more customers and revenue, and with every passing day, he felt less and less confident in his own abilities to get the job done.

  The bright moment in all his time here recently had been running into Monica. Yesterday, after they parted, he’d been full of optimism and hope about where their relationship might go, but this morning he’d awakened to more realistic thoughts. Now, just thinking about her brought on such a flood of emotion that he found himself pushing the thoughts aside rather than processing them, simply because the memories filled him with such regret.

  Where would they be now had their parents not parted ways? Would they be married, maybe even have kids?

  But the more pressing question was, why would Monica want anything beyond a business relationship with him? His father had almost ruined her family financially. Now the shoe was on the other foot.

  Why would she want to date a man who had nothing to offer but a failing business? True, his music-management projects had been suc
cessful, but she didn’t know that.

  All she saw when she looked at him was a business failure. He had seen it in her eyes when he’d tried to explain why he had come back to St. Louis. She’d probably only offered the job because she felt sorry for them.

  And yet, as desperately as he wanted to reject the work if her offer was out of pity, there was no way he could turn her down. Plain and simple, his family needed the money. If only his father could agree and give his blessing.

  As if overhearing his thoughts, Amos spoke up. “Monica, huh?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Is this more about getting your old girlfriend back or saving the restaurant?”

  Gil shrugged. “I don’t know. Both, I guess, but if I had to make an educated guess, I’d say that after everything that happened, there’s no way she’d even think about dating me again.”

  “You’re probably right about that,” his father agreed. “But if you promise to put as much energy into fixing the business as you will into winning this girl back, then I won’t stand in your way.”

  “You’re sure about that? You’re not going to change your mind and make me look like I was trying to sabotage them? I know how hard it is for you to stay away from work, even though you’re supposed to be retired. Do I have your guarantee that you will not ruin this for me?”

  Amos shrugged. “A few months ago, I might’ve, but now that I got a look at those spreadsheets, it doesn’t look like I have much of a choice, do I?”

  “Not necessarily, Dad. I want more than anything to try this, but I will let you make the decision.”

  Amos moved to the door. “I gotta get over to the YMCA and meet your mother for this spinning class, and if I’m late, I won’t hear the end of it for days. As far as the deal with the Ryans, you make the choice. I trust you.”

  “Thanks, Dad. I promise that I will give this my all.”

  “I know you will. But leave some energy for pursuing that girl, too.” He laughed softly. “Because if she is interested in you, it’s not going to be for money.”