“I’m going to head into town.” Uncle Bryan waved toward the main drag.
“Thanks again. Tell Aunt Mary hi for me.”
“Will do. I’m praying for you, son.”
He checked the time on his phone. Whoops. He’d better hustle if he wanted to be ready in time. But what kind of date could he pull together in such a short time? He turned and headed up the hill to the Grand, a breeze off Lake Huron at his back.
He didn’t want to take her to Kelley’s Bar & Grill. The place would be overrun with tourists. Best to keep this to a place he felt more comfortable.
The hotel rose up in front of him. His steps faltered. The site held so many memories, good and bad. Despite the recent history, the hotel had always felt like a safe space. Right. It could make a good date.
He thumbed a text to James.
Zach
Okay if I use the kitchen tonight?
James
It’s all yours.
One problem down. Now what to cook together?
Their conversation from when they planned their contest dish came back to him. Right. That sage and brown-buttermalfatti her parents had made. It shouldn’t be too hard to recreate a similar dish. He’d just need a cookbook with the pasta in it so he could get the proportions of ricotta cheese and flour correct. The sauce would be simple.
Okay. So all he needed was to find a cookbook, preferably one from Italy, source the perfect ingredients from the island’s tiny grocery store, and forgive the woman who blew up his life.
Easy as chicken potpie.
Chapter Thirteen
Life was unreal sometimes.
If someone had told Zach a month ago that he would be taking Ava Harper on a date, he would have laughed in their face. But now he could barely keep himself from whistling as he buttoned up his light-green shirt.
He’d turned his uncle’s words from earlier over in his mind, looking for flaws, but the recipe seemed sound. He just needed to work on putting it into practice. Starting tonight.
He checked the mirror in Ollie’s bathroom. His dark hair stood on end as if he’d been in a hurricane. Nothing a comb couldn’t handle. He dialed Ollie downstairs at the bookstore and put the phone on speaker while taming his hair.
“Hey, man. How late are you open tonight?” Zach dunked his comb under the tap.
“I’m just about to close up. Why?”
He ran the dampened comb through the worst of his hair. “Shoot. I was hoping to walk down there in a few minutes.”
“Are you looking for something specific?”
“Do you have a cookbook section?”
“Yeah, we have a small one. Mostly for local stuff. But there’s all kinds of things.”
“Any chance you’d stay open late for your favorite brother?” He turned his head, checking the sides. An errant lock stood straight out, refusing to be tamed.
Ollie laughed. “Don’t let our other brothers catch you saying that. If it’s for a good cause, you can convince me.”
The memory of Ava’s smile and the sparkle in her gray eyes filled his thoughts. “Oh, it’s for a good cause all right.” Funny, he didn’t really want to share with Ollie what that cause was. Must be a knee-jerk reaction to the teasing he was sure to endure.
“Need a recipe for the second half of the contest?”
