Honeysuckle Bride

by Tara Randel

  “Thinking about it. I still have some decisions to make.”

  Michelle’s expression betrayed a combination of hope and wariness. “Look, I know you don’t know me, but if you do decide to reopen the restaurant, I’d appreciate hearing about it.”

  The woman gazed around the open space. “I have so many memories tied up in this place. Duke had plans, and well, he never followed through on them.” She held up the apron. “I’ve been working down the street, but to be honest, my heart is here.”

  “Do you mind my asking why?”

  “I suppose that’s fair since I’m kind of presumptuous showing up here.” She grinned. “Duke and I were together for a long time. He’d already opened the restaurant by the time we met.”

  “When you worked for him?”

  “Exactly. I never meant to fall for him.” She chuckled. “If you ever meet him, you’ll understand why. He’s not comfortable around people.”

  Gee, Jenna knew another guy with the same problem.

  “But he loved to cook. I like people, so we fell into an easy working arrangement. Over time, we took to each other as well.”

  “Romantically, you mean?”

  Michelle nodded.

  “So what happened?” Jenna tilted her head. “Obviously he closed the restaurant.”

  “One day he didn’t show up to open. Usually he was here at sunrise, prepping for the day. One day turned into two and soon he was gone a week. I panicked. No word. Nothing. I closed the doors, but then he showed up. Acted as if nothing had happened. But he was never the same.

  “Soon, he began taking days off on a regular basis. The restaurant lost its popularity and before long, he closed for good. I tried to persuade him to keep going, but whatever caused the change in him was too much.”

  “You never found out why he acted so strangely?”

  “No. Eventually we broke up. He left town.” She reached out to run a finger around the edge of one of the tables. “But this place is still special to me. If you decide to reopen, will you let me know?” She pulled a pen and paper from her purse, scribbling on it before handing it to Jenna. “I’d like to work here again, help you, no matter what you decide to do with the place. I’m a hard worker and I won’t let you down.”

  “I’m sure, but—”

  “Was that Wyatt Hamilton leaving a little while ago?”

  “Yes.”

  “He can give me a reference. I’m friends with his mom.”

  “I think we’re getting ahead of ourselves.” Jenna looked at the paper, then back at Michelle, whose eyes were wide with expectation. “But I will let you know either way.”

  “Thanks.” Michelle took one last, long look around the room. “Thanks.”

  Jenna saw the woman out before Madeline reentered the building. “So, have you come to a decision?”

  “I need more time.”

  “I understand.”

  “I’ll call you,” Jenna said. The girls would be home from school soon. She’d give them a snack and have them tackle their homework before discussing the future. If all went well, she’d talk to Nealy. Then Wyatt, to get his take on Michelle.

  As much as the idea of talking to Wyatt appealed to her, she remembered his mood when he left. Lately, any excuse to speak to the man had her blood racing, despite his warning about personal involvement. But if she called him to ask about Michelle, it was business, not personal. Yeah, he had her tied up in knots. Not good. Not good at all.

  * * *

  “SO IF YOU open a catering place,” Abby asked Jenna later that evening as she helped clean up after dinner. “Does that mean when we go there with you it’s like eating out?”

  She and Bridget still sat at the kitchen table while Abby flitted about. “Absolutely.”

  She’d laid out her ideas, Nealy’s offer and her chance to start something brand new. So far, the girls were on board.

  “So you wouldn’t have to go back to California?” Bridget asked.

  “I would until I fulfill the contract for the cooking show.” Her gaze went back and forth between the girls. “Do you want to move back to LA?”

  “No,” Abby answered first. “I like it here. School is fun and I’m making friends.”

  “Bridget?”

  “I like it here too. It’s far away from...you know, where we lived with Mom.”

  Even though the girls had been doing much better lately, Jenna didn’t miss the shadows in their eyes from time to time. To be expected, she supposed, but she didn’t want to add any more pressure to their young lives.

  “You both know that I’d take you back if it’s really what you wanted.”

  The girls exchanged a glance. “We didn’t like the people following us, you know, with the cameras,” Bridget offered. “It was weird.”

  “And scary,” Abby added.

  Jenna leaned her elbows on the table and clasped her hands, silently agreeing with the girls’ assessment of life in LA. “So, what do you say, then? Do we go for it?”

  The girls shot each other another glance. Jenna, not normally a nail biter, squeezed her folded hands hard just in case.

  They both nodded.

  “We think it’s a good idea,” Abby said.

  Jenna blew out a sigh of relief. Excitement swirled in her belly. She’d make this work. For all of them.

  “We could work for you,” Bridget volunteered.

  “When you get older. Right now you have homework and school to keep you busy.”

  “No fun,” the youngster groused.

  “True, but if you want to have your own business one day, you have to do well in school. It’s not easy. You have to know things, like math and English. Things you can only learn in school.”

  Bridget shot her sister an uneasy glance. “About that.”

  Jenna tensed. “Is there a problem?”

  Abby closed the dishwasher door with a bang. “I’m going to my room.” She hustled out of the kitchen before Jenna could lecture about the rough handling of the appliance. She turned her attention on Bridget.

  “What’s going on?”

  Bridget shuffled to her backpack, dug inside to pull out a wrinkled paper. “I didn’t do good on my math test this week.”

  Jenna glanced at the grade. Sixty-five marked in red ink. “I thought you were comfortable with the material when we reviewed the other night?”

  “I was.” Bridget took a seat at the table, frowning. “I thought I was.”

  “So what happened?”

  “I don’t know. I started answering the questions and then they got harder and I got scared and wrote down the first thing I thought of.”

  “You don’t normally get scared by tests.”

  Bridget stared at the tabletop.

  Studying the paper, Jenna searched for the problems Bridget got wrong. She soon realized Bridget had answered these same questions correctly when they prepped for the test.

  “Do you want me to talk to your teacher?”

  “No,” Bridget responded, her answer quick and adamant.

  “Is something wrong at school?”

  “No,” she said, just as quickly. “I’ll do better next time.”

  Jenna didn’t like the distress in Bridget’s voice, or the shiver of unease she felt. “If you keep having problems, we’ll talk to Mrs. Roseman about getting extra help.”

  Bridget merely nodded.

  “Don’t get discouraged. It’s the beginning of the school year. We just moved here. You’ve had to get used to a lot of changes.” She leaned over to hug her young charge. “Things will get better.”

  Stiff in Jenna’s arms, Bridget didn’t move. Troubled, Jenna pulled back, her hands on Bridget’s shoulders. “You’re sure everything is okay?”

 
“I have to do my homework now.”

  Jenna kissed the top of Bridget’s head. “Call me if you don’t understand something.”

  The little girl slid from her chair, scooped up her backpack and hurried down the hallway to her room. Jenna sat at the table, knowing deep inside something beyond math was going on with Bridget. What, exactly, was the problem? Her dilemma boiled down to this—did she push Bridget for answers or let her work on whatever was going on by herself? But what if she left Bridget alone and the situation got worse? Dropping her head in her hands, she closed her eyes, silently asking Carrie for advice. Knowing an answer from her friend wasn’t possible, she shook off her little pity-party and called Nealy with the news that she’d decided to start a catering business.

  Nealy shrieked, “I’ll be right over,” and immediately hung up.

  “Okay,” Jenna said to thin air. She glanced at the stove clock. Just after seven. Knowing her friend, Nealy would be brimming with ideas, ready to discuss them regardless of the time or the fact that it was a school night. In anticipation, Jenna gathered her notes and financial papers, just in case.

  Sure enough, the doorbell rang fifteen minutes later. Jenna hurried to the door, surprised to find not only Nealy, but Dane standing on her front step. Nealy held up a hand and launched right into her speech. “I know I didn’t warn you, but after we hung up, I realized we could use Dane’s help.”

  Jenna stepped aside to let them in. “And just what kind of help do I need?”

  “Financial advice. He’s the best.”

  Jenna led her friends into the living room, motioning for them to take a seat. “I’m sure he is, but I thought we might have other topics to discuss first.”

  “You’re right. I got ahead of myself.” Nealy plopped onto the couch. “So you’re okay with the idea of us working together?”

  “I am, but we have things to iron out first. I still need to finish my obligations in LA before I can concentrate fully on catering. I’ll have to start slow.”

  “Nealy doesn’t go slow,” Dane said with a grin.

  “I know, that’s why I want to be clear up front. If we do this, we each run our own businesses separately. You call me for events, or vice versa, and we decide which ones to book. That way we don’t clash about business decisions and end up ruining our friendship.”

  Dane nodded. “Smart.”

  “I can see the wisdom in that,” Nealy said. “Even though I toyed with the idea of us being partners.”

  “It’s not that I don’t think we can work together, it’s just that with both of us owning our own businesses, we have more leeway accepting projects we’re interested in.”

  “And you get to keep your coveted independence.”

  “That too.”

  “So you’re in?”

  Jenna took a deep breath. “I’m in.”

  Nealy whooped, jumped up and pulled Jenna from the armchair to give her a big hug. Laughing, Jenna returned the gesture. Nealy stood back and announced, “We are going to rock Cypress Pointe! Once you move into Duke’s Place, we can get started. I already have a few events lined up. You can look over the list, see which ones appeal to you.”

  “Listen, Nealy, I can’t help worrying that I’m aiming too high.”

  Nealy shot her a glance that said Jenna was clearly dense. “You’re thinking about buying Duke’s Place. It’s perfect.”

  “Thinking, being the operative word.”

  “You know Dane buys properties and fixes them up. He’ll look at the specs, see if it’s a good investment.”

  Jenna knew all about Dane’s hotel construction business. The man was very successful at what he did. What could it hurt to have someone else take a look at the details? She’d never done anything like this before, never had anyone interested in helping her wade through the waters of a major life decision.

  But jumping into a business without any experience? She didn’t want to be so independently minded that she messed things up because she refused good advice.

  “Let me get you the information I have,” Jenna said, collecting the papers from the Realtor to hand over to Dane. He sat back, concentrating on the documents while Jenna perched on the edge of the armchair, biting her thumbnail.

  “You look like you’re waiting for bad news,” Nealy teased.

  “It could be bad news,” Jenna retorted.

  “You told me you did your research.”

  “I did. But only as far as the properties on Main Street. I mean, I don’t necessarily have to be right on Main. I could find another location.” She started on her nail again and forced her hand down. “I was also going to look into what goes into starting a business, then draw up a plan.”

  Dane looked up. “I can help you there. It’ll make it easier to figure out the financing.”

  Nealy grinned. “He helped me prepare a business plan when I decided to focus on my own event planning company.”

  Jenna admired how devoted her friend was and smiled. “Yes. You told me.” Grabbing Jenna’s arm, her friend pulled her into the kitchen. “Better we talk in here while he’s concentrating.”

  “Want something to drink?” Jenna offered.

  “No,” she said in a hushed voice. “I want the skinny on your day with Wyatt.”

  “We just decided I’d start a catering business so we can work events together and you want to talk about Wyatt?”

  Nealy shrugged. “I’m a multitasker. I can be excited about business and still meddle in your personal life.”

  Jenna laughed, not at all upset about her friend delving into her personal life. She pointed out the window over the sink. “We started assembling the swing set.”

  “So was he chatty while you worked? Did you have a good time?”

  “Surprisingly, yes. We had a good time for a non-date.” Jenna hadn’t yet confided her little misunderstanding to Nealy.

  “I told you he’s a good guy.”

  “He is. But he’s not ready to date for real.”

  “And you know this how?” Nealy’s tone took on an inquisitive edge.

  “He told me.”

  Nealy looked confused.

  “We had a laugh over my misconception of his meaning of the word date.” She glanced at her friend. “He may be getting out more lately, but deep inside, he has reservations about starting new relationships.”

  Nealy’s smile faltered. “Darn. I was hoping you might kick-start some fun back into Wyatt’s life.”

  “I don’t think he’s opposed to fun, in general. He just hasn’t found how to have fun and not feel guilty over it.” She leaned back against the counter. “He has to come to terms with that by himself.”

  “Hmm. No prodding him along?”

  “No. Grief is different for everyone. And in Wyatt’s case, I’m pretty sure the added guilt is making the whole process more difficult for him.”

  Nealy crossed her arms over her chest. “Hey. I’m sorry if it seems like I’m pushing you two together.”

  “You are.” Jenna laughed. “Look, he’s made it clear he’s not emotionally available. As much as he interests me, I respect his wishes.”

  Her friend nodded. “I understand. I just want everyone to be as happy as I am.”

  “I am happy. The girls keep me busy. I may have a new business venture. What more do I need out of life?”

  Someone to share it with would be nice, an evil inner voice taunted. Yeah, well, she’d tried and clearly romance was not in the cards for her and Wyatt. As much as she liked him, enjoyed his company and the shiver of anticipation whenever she spent time with him, she wasn’t about to court trouble. That led to heartache and she’d been there, done that. She didn’t need another T-shirt proclaiming her mistake.

  Dane walked into the kitchen, the folder of information in
his hands.

  Jenna’s stomach dipped. “Well?”

  He placed the file on the table. “The asking price is fair, considering the market. I’d like to take a look at the property. There are always upgrades needed in older buildings, especially one that’s been empty for a while, but I don’t see that as a reason to back away from the Ωdeal.

  “And I’d stay on Main Street if I were you,” Dane continued. “You’d have a few things going for you. First of all, you have a name. Folks will be drawn to your business because they’ve seen you on television. That gives you an upper hand right there. Two, you can cook. I know that myself, so you’ll have a product the public will want.”

  “The downside?” Jenna asked.

  “You’ve never run a business before.”

  “I can learn.”

  “Oh, if you do this, you’ll learn fast,” Dane warned. “The good thing is, you’ve got us to help you.”

  “I still have a contract with the network for my cooking show. Other commitments.” Jenna ran a hand through her short hair. “My agent’s going to go crazy when she finds out I’m even considering this.”

  “If you want this bad enough, I’m sure you can manage to do it all.”

  “I’m glad you’re so convinced.”

  Dane put a friendly arm around her shoulder. “I’ve juggled a lot in the past. It can be done.”

  “You have us now,” Nealy said. “We’re family and family works together.”

  Jenna pinned Dane with her gaze. “Anything else I should know?”

  “Based on your personal assets and public persona, I can’t imagine you’ll have much trouble getting financial assistance. In fact, once you come up with a business plan, I’d like to run it by my uncle. We might be interested in investing.”

  A weight lifted from Jenna’s shoulders. “Really? You’d consider that?”

  “Why not? You have the talent and determination. Stop by the hotel and we’ll get started.”

  Jenna shook her head. “I have to say, this whole thing is a little unsettling. I never imagined when we moved here that I’d start my own business.”

  “Then there’s only one last thing to do,” Dane told her.