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She needed both in her life after having been knocked down by Eddie.
This was probably a crazy thought and it was nothing more than a thought, but if there was one person she could talk to about this, it’d be Duke.
He was just so encouraging in everything and it did have to do with him. Or affect him.
She had the day off and he wasn’t going in until two, so she’d stayed the night on Saturday again having met him at his house a little after ten.
She’d worked until nine at Southside. By the time she got home and showered and changed, then drove to his house, he wasn’t that far behind and she only waited for him about five minutes in the driveway before he pulled in.
Now they were in the kitchen and he was making her breakfast.
“I had an idea,” she said suddenly. She knew if she didn’t start soon she wouldn’t be able to get this off her chest.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“I heard what you said over a week ago about not having regrets. You’re so good at encouraging people to test themselves in life. Or at least push themselves. Yes, that is more like it. But it’s about testing too.”
“Testing how?” he asked. He had eggs and a loaf of bread from Duke’s out and she had no clue what he was doing.
“What are you making?”
“Texas French toast,” he said. “Bacon and eggs.”
“Are you trying to make me fat?”
“No,” he said, grinning. “You look great. Just eat what you want, but I’m starving. Maybe I just burn a lot of calories when we are together and I need to replenish them.”
She’d never had a guy say that to her before about sex. And she knew that was what this was about. “That’s so sweet.”
He winked at her and it seemed so out of character for him too, but she found she liked that she had the ability to somehow get him to do that.
“What was it you wanted to talk to me about?”
“Oh yeah. I never thought I could run a pub or a restaurant. I never wanted to.” He looked up at her. She could tell he was confused, but she continued. “My parents thought I’d take over Southside, but I didn’t want to. I told you that. It was way too daunting.”
“Do you want to manage it?” he asked.
That had merit and she wasn’t sure why she didn’t think of that before. But she’d never ask for that job. He didn’t even have a manager there.
“That wasn’t what this was about. You don’t have a manager. It’s you. Or the owner is the manager.”
“Then what?”
“I know you haven’t bought Southside yet,” she said. “It’s a trial run thing. But I was thinking if you decide youdon’twant to do it, what do you think about me doing it? I mean my parents could keep it and I could manage it. You’ve got it going so well, I’d just slide in and continue. The chefs know what they are doing. I’ve been training the servers and making desserts. There is a lot I don’t know but could learn.”
She didn’t like the look on his face right now and didn’t know what that was about. He put his head down and was quiet for a second. Then said, “Have you talked to your parents about this?”
“No,” she said. “It’s just been something that has popped into my head in the past week or so. Maybe it’s because you’ve made me feel like I could do things that I didn’t know I could.”
He let out a sigh. “You need to talk to them to find out the terms of our contract.”
“Why can’t you tell me?” she asked. “I mean I did say if you didn’t want it. It’s not like I can buy it from them. It’s just that I would continue to run it. If youthoughtI could if you didn’t want to buy it.”
“Listen, Hadley. I’m someone that encourages people to be the best. It’s what I do.”
“I know that,” she said. Her heart was racing. He was pacifying her. Kind of like Eddie did and she hated how that thought popped into her head when she knew Duke was nothing like her ex. “I’ve seen it with other people. Just tell me if you don’t think I can do it. I’ll understand.”
“It’s not that,” he said. “I think if you could get out of your own head you could do anything you wanted with enough time. But this is different and you don’t have all the facts.”
