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He groaned aloud when he took his first bite, and Kate giggled at what must have been the euphoric look on his face.
“This is the greatest fucking thing I have ever eaten.”
It was spicy, it was cheesy, it was smoky. It was delicious.
“I’m really sorry about the whole pasta debacle,” he said after a moment. “I was trying to do a good thing.”
“I’d hate to see you trying to do a bad thing.” Kate took a bite of her chimichanga, sauce escaping onto her chin. She laughed, embarrassed, as she dabbed at it with a napkin, but all he could think about was how soft her lips had been when he’d kissed her…
“Did I miss a bit?” she said self-consciously, as she clocked him staring.
“No, you’re perfect.” He shook himself.
“You’re really not angry that I messed up the dinner?”
“Why would I be angry? You were obviously trying to do a nice thing. I will say, though, I don’t think we’ll be serving that sauce at the cafe anytime soon…” She laughed before returning to her dinner.
He was genuinely a bit stunned at the way she was just brushing off his monumental fuck-up. No one ever had ever just let something slide, even if he had been well-meaning. In fact, he’d stopped trying to defend his intentions with his parents after a while because they never cared about the reasons why he’d done something. Their only concern was how things appeared, so the underlying motivation wasn’t important. If the papers were saying something bad about him, then it was his fault and he ought to try harder. As if the press ever had anything good to say.
But Kate? Kate had just taken it all in her stride. She’d understood that he was trying to apologize, and that he hadn’t meant to cause trouble. As always, trouble had just found him anyway. For the first time in a long time, though, Emile felt as though maybe, just maybe, he could change that.
CHAPTER11
KATE
“I’m afraid it’s not going to be possible, Miss Acres.”
“But…”
Kate felt deflated. She was sitting in a gray, windowless room at the local bank, watching her dreams die in front of her.
“Your proposal is very charming, but it’s just not financially viable so we can’t offer you the money.”
“Charming?” Kate could feel the rage boil up inside her. Her plan for a community hub at the cafe wasn’t some cute little school project. She’d been working on it for years, inspired by the people who came into the cafe and the stories they shared with her. A place for the different generations of Miller Springs to gather and hold events, find support and make friends. She loved the cafe — it was the only true home that she’d ever known — but she wanted to be of better service to her community. This community.
“Yes. It’s all very nice, but the figures just don’t add up. It’s a no on this occasion, I’m sorry.”
The bank manager was a shrewd-looking man in his early forties, in an ill-fitting gray suit which matched the decor. Kate detested the color gray.
She wanted to rage at him. He clearly didn’t understand. She’d been over the sums multiple times and she knew she could make it work. It was never going to make her a millionaire, but that wasn’t the point. Some things were more important than money.
The only problem was that she needed money. The cafe did okay, and she could pay her bills, but she’d need a significant investment to be able to open up a bigger space. Plus, she’d need more staff members to keep things running smoothly and she needed to be able to pay them. Kate was certain that the investment would be worth it, but she needed someone else to believe in her, too, and so far, no one seemed to.
Instead of giving the man a piece of her mind like she wanted, she merely thanked him for his time and trudged home. For all she knew, there was some kind of secret banking group chat where they all discussed difficult customers, and she didn’t want to be on the wrong side of the next person she tried to convince to give her a loan.
The climb up the stairs seemed longer than usual today. Where once her little apartment had seemed like a refuge from all of her problems, with Emile there, it was starting to become one of her main problems. It wasn’t his fault, really. He was clearly trying his best, but having another person messing up her space was seriously throwing her. Plus, despite their agreement, there kept beingmomentsbetween them. Kate was trying her best to behave herself, but sometimes he just looked at her a certain way and she wanted to throw away all of her good intentions and recreate that kiss in the freezer…
“Honey, I’m home!” Despite herself, Kate put on a bright voice as she opened the door. Emile didn’t need to hear all of her problems. She’d call Laura later if she wanted a sympathetic ear.
“Perfect timing,” came the grinning reply. Emile was standing in the kitchen wearing an apron over his clothes, beaming at her.
Kate had the sudden and very strange feeling that she had stepped into an alternative reality. Looking around, the place was spotless. She’d not had time to clear up the burnt dishes from last night. By the time they’d got home, full of Mexican food and with their sides hurting from laughing, they’d decided to just sort it in the morning but Kate had slept in before her meeting and she’d had to rush out.
Emile had obviously picked up the slack. Every surface was clean, with no evidence of the disaster from last night anywhere to be seen. Taking a deep breath in, she could smell the fresh scent of lemons.
“It looks amazing in here, Emile.” Kate could feel some of the stress of the day lifting off her.
Emile looked like he’d been given the greatest compliment of his life. She’d never seen him smile so much.
