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She flew through the pages, in the blue hues. “No… No… No…” She whisked more pages aside. “Too blue. Not blue enough.” She sank into a chair. “It’s not quite cobalt. Not teal. It’s deep and rich and…aha!”
Jenna tore the swatch from its Velcro strip and handed it to Tad.
“This is it.” A gorgeous combination of a darker teal enhanced by blue rather than tinged with green. “I want the napkins in this color, spilling from wine glasses. No flatware rolled up in the napkins—too formal. And for that matter, I want hammered silver. The really heavy, good stuff. And Artland Iris wine goblets—or some derivative thereof. Mouth-blown glass. Light, see-through citrine on top with thick, sculpted clear stems. Don’t skimp, Tad. I want everything to look expensive, yet welcoming. New, yet with a hint of old world.”
Her mind continued to whirl.
“I don’t have the tablecloths yet,” she said, “but the pattern is on the tip of my tongue. Meanwhile, I want to see wood samples for wainscoting. A medium shade. The paneling should be waist-high, polished and gleaming. The walls above the wood need to be the color of the swatch, textured, with a shimmer of gold and bronze infused into it. The sofas in the new lounge area and along the wall need to be in the same color family, obviously. A shade or two lighter.”
She rattled off a dozen other ideas. Tad didn’t need to write them down. When they were both in the zone, the visuals meshed.
“No flowers on the tables,” she finally said. “Oil lamps instead. Small, but filled with sand and tiny seashells and sand dollars. This is the City by the Bay, after all.”
When she was done, she stared up at Tad. He grinned at her. “When you’re on, you are so on, sugar plum.”
“Feels as though I just gave birth.” Not that she would know, but still…
“That’s because it’s Rafe’s restaurant, dear sweet girl, and you want it to be perfect.”
“I want every remodel to be perfect, Tad.”
“But this is personal, Jenna. A gift for him. Not a job.”
Damn that sting of tears again, she thought. Was she PMSing, or what? She’d been in emotional overload since she’d arrived in San Francisco.
“Well, anyway,” she said with a dismissive wave of her hand. “We can substantially warm this place up. Make it nice and cozy, yet with an energetic—rather than a formal—vibe. If the Carnelian Room didn’t survive the economic downturn, and it was the height of formality and elegance in this town, we don’t want to follow suit.”
They went back to work. The lighting expert, Tom, asked her, “What about the chandeliers?”
“Much too austere for the new look.”
“I’ve got a few suggestions,” he told her.
“Excellent. Just… Let me do one thing.”
She returned to the kitchen and asked Rafe, “Anything special about the chandeliers I should know about? Heirloom? Personal favorite? Vesta would disown you if they suddenly disappeared?”
His mouth dipped at the corners as he shook his head. “My grandmother picked them up at a fire sale at one of the hotels in Union Square that was being remodeled right around the time they were about to open Sampogna’s.”
“So they weren’t imported or part of the family estate?”
“Nope.”
“Great.” She kissed him quickly, then spun around.
She was just about out the door when Rafe called out to her. “Hey!”
Jenna turned back to him. “Yes?”
He grinned. “Thanks for asking, babe.”
She blushed at the term of endearment used in front of his kitchen staff. But they were his family—and not a one of them even snickered.
Three days passed. All of the prep work for refurbishing the dining room had been completed, with the exception of the tablecloths being sewn—Jenna still hadn’t settled on a pattern—and the ornate bar wasn’t finished yet. Tad had drafted a schedule for closing the restaurant for a few days to execute the remodel, once the remaining details were finalized.
Jenna presented the schedule to Rafe as they settled in her suite with wine and a light dinner. They had silently agreed to alternate nights between the loft and the hotel. The unspoken compromise had surprised Jenna, but she was ecstatic Rafe made the concession to spend time with her in her element, and she returned the favor.
Following dinner, he drew a bath and she slipped into the tub, situating herself between his parted legs. She leaned against him, her back to his chest as he massaged her shoulders.
