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“Nah,” Marcus said. “I don’t want to be closed off from all the action! Let’s do something open.”
Nate nodded and made some notations on the plans.
“I don’t want just tables and chairs, though,” Marcus said. “Can we do some built-in booths along this side? Maybe a few that are smaller and more intimate and then one great big one.”
“Define ‘great big,’” Nate said.
“I’m talking big enough for a Zimmerman-sized family to come in. Or a little league team. Or a group of teens after a football game. I want people to come and feel like they can be surrounded by those they love.”
As Nate and Marcus continued to talk about the plans for the shop, Joselyn watched Marcus and marveled at the passion that poured out of him when he talked about family, enjoying the company of others, and bringing people together with food.
Nate tapped his finger on the back half of the plans. “Since this building is much deeper than it is wide, you’ve got a lot of space that you’ll need to decide how to use. You’ll need a room for storage and an office for doing things like accounting. Those will take up about this much space. So let’s talk about what to do with the rest.”
“I want a room right here,” Marcus said, touching his thick pointer finger in the space just behind the kitchen.
Nate nodded. “Okay. For the storage room? Or do you mean for the office?”
“Neither,” Marcus said, shaking his head.
Nate’s eyebrows drew together as he studied Marcus, trying to understand.
“Someday I hope to be married and have a bunch of kids.” Marcus rubbed the back of his neck as he spoke, which made Joselyn wonder if he might have had doubts or fears about that not happening. “I want them to be able to come hang out with me, but still have a place to go that’s theirs.”
Marcus had always been one of the most friendly, outgoing people she knew, but it hadn’t hit her until just now how important having his own big family was to him. Even through all their deep discussions back when they were dating and their casual chats over the years since then, she never realized how much her own hopes, wishes, and desires for family matched up exactly with his.
“That sounds perfect,” Nate said, almost in a whisper.
“Do you have kids?” Joselyn asked. His comment sounded like he wished he had a room next to his office for his own.
His head jerked up from the plans, meeting Joselyn’s eyes for a moment before he shook his head. “Um, no. I want kids, though. I wouldn’t mind having lots, either.”
Joselyn glanced at the man’s hand and noticed that he didn’t wear a wedding ring, yet had an indentation on his finger from having worn one for a few years. She hoped that both he and Marcus would get their wishes.
And she really wished that she could be at Marcus’s side as his wife, the two of them raising that bunch of kids he talked about.
The unbidden thought shocked her. Did she really feel that way?
As Marcus discussed with Nate possibly turning the remaining back section into a room that could be used for birthday parties or other group gatherings, Joselyn tried to figure out when she had started to see Marcus in that way. Because even with all the admiring of the man she had been doing over the past four weeks, she had not seen that coming.
eight
MARCUS
Marcus carried the plate he’d prepared for himself to the employee break room and took a seat at the round table in the center. He always made sure that everyone else in the kitchen got their breaks first, so the room was usually empty by the time he got there.
He took a bite of the seared salmon and avocado and mango salad with a champagne vinaigrette dressing that had been making all night, savoring it. The salmon was cooked perfectly if he did say so himself. Always having such a variety of ingredients on hand to make his dinner with— along with access to the commercial kitchen— was one of the perks of his job that he was going to miss when he left. Working all the late nights and holidays was something he definitely wouldn’t miss.
He and Joselyn had been working fairly non-stop on business things lately and he had loved every moment. But since she was busy tonight and unable to chat during his break like they usually did, he decided to give his brain a rest from thinking about the business and started scrolling through social media instead.
He’d only been looking at posts for a few minutes when an image came up that his cousin Luca had posted. Luca lived in Sunset, Oahu, where Marcus had lived up until he was nine and moved to Colorado with his grandparents. Another cousin, Ayla, was also in the pictures. They were both just a bit younger than him, but they were family, so his heart was connected to them.
Looking at pictures of the beach, the ocean, the palm trees, the sunsets, and the family instantly brought a longing to go back to Hawaii. To smell the salty air, to breathe in the ocean, to soak in the sun, to be around those bound to him by blood. The pictures were such a contrast to the snowy surroundings just outside the restaurant.
It was interesting to notice the way the feelings pulled at him now, though. Six months ago, pictures like those— of family and the area where he’d been born— made him want to pack up his belongings and hop on a plane. Now that he was creating his business with Joselyn, though, that pull wasn’t nearly as strong. There seemed to be so much more keeping him in Colorado.
It wasn’t just the business, either. Or the Zimmerman family. So much of what was holding onto him in Colorado was Joselyn herself.
He typed her name into the search bar and went to her profile. The most recent picture was of Joselyn and her sister, Macie, on the floor of Macie’s apartment, playing with Macie’s dogs, Reese and Lola.
