by K. M. Scott
“Silly?” she asks as she nuzzles the space between my jaw and my shoulder.
“Real. I don’t have to lie to you, even when my brain thinks of something stupid, probably because of a lack of oxygen after a round of great sex. I like that about us.”
Looking up at me, she nods. “I like that too.”
We sit there in silence recovering and after a little while, Hailey taps her finger against my arm. “Did you fall asleep?”
I squeeze her to me, loving how this feels more natural than anything else in my life. “No. Just recharging after that round.”
Before she can say anything else, her phone buzzes in her purse on the floor. Grabbing it, she holds it up in front of us. “I need to get this in case it’s Brooke telling me what time tomorrow. Sorry.”
On the screen, I read that Brooke Dunning wants her to come to the Regent Hotel at one o’clock tomorrow. Room 544.
Hailey points at her phone and smiles like an excited little kid. “I thought maybe she had changed her mind. This is so great!”
“It is. You’re going to be great tomorrow.”
She tosses her phone back into her purse and sits up next to me. Her smile is gone, replaced by a far too serious look for someone who’s just gotten such good news.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, unsure what could be making her so unhappy.
Looking down at her hands, she says, “Would you come with me? I know it’s an imposition, but it would be so great to have you there for moral support in case it turns out I’m terrible at podcasts.”
I lift her chin and give her my answer. “It’s not an imposition. If you want me there, I’m there. And I don’t think you’re going to be terrible at podcasts. Don’t you just have to talk?”
“What if my mind goes blank or I stammer a lot when she asks me questions?”
The fear in her eyes is real, so I pull her to me and press a kiss to the top of her head. “You’re going to be fantastic. You’re a great chef and great at sex and the best girlfriend in the world, so of course you’re going to be terrific at this too.”
Tilting her head back, she looks up at me. “You’re going to give me a big head.”
“Good. Some people should have big heads. I believe in you, Hailey.”
She takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “Thank you. And thank you for agreeing to come with me tomorrow. Just knowing you’re nearby will keep me calm.”
The idea that I could do that for anyone shocks me more than it would anyone else, I imagine. The guy who runs hot and cold and can’t get his life together keeps this incredible woman calm.
I’d be crazy to ever let her go just for that reason alone. But there are a million others too, and I silently promise never to forget any single one of them.
Chapter Fifteen
Hailey
My arms full of the desserts to take to Brooke Dunning’s hotel room, I look into the backseat of Cade’s car and then back at him. “Maybe we should take my car. I don’t want to ruin yours if anything spills.”
He takes the top tray out of my hands and moves toward the rear of the car. “If anything spills, I’ll get it detailed. You’ll owe me one night of mind-blowing sex. We can put it all in the trunk and everything will be fine.”
I blush at his mention of sex knowing my parents are just inside the restaurant and follow him to the back of the car. He helps me load the trays and pans and then stops to kiss me.
“I might just swerve a few times so I get that night of sex.”
“Please don’t. I’ll deliver on the sex no matter what. I promise.”
Cade laughs at me, and I sense I took him too seriously there. “I wouldn’t do that. I know you need these to look as good as they taste. Presentation is everything, right?”
“Yes, and I’m sorry I’m so literal right now. I’m just a little nervous.”
“No worries,” he says before kissing me again. “Now let’s get going. I promise to drive the speed limit for the first time in my life too.”
“Okay. Let me run in and tell my parents goodbye. I’ll be right back.”
Busier than usual, the kitchen feels crowded now as I run in to see my mom and dad. They pretend to be busy, but I know by the way they’re just standing near my station that they’ve been talking instead of working.
“We’re going to leave now. Wish me luck!”
My mother, always the more emotional parent, opens her arms and pulls me in for a big hug. “Oh, honey. This is so exciting! Have a good time, okay?”
When she leans away from me, still holding my shoulders, though, I see hope in her eyes. While she doesn’t talk about it every day, she can’t escape the truth of how the restaurant is faring lately.
If only Brooke Dunning could get more people to come in because they heard about my desserts on this podcast, business would pick up. I know it would.
“I will, Mom,” I say with a smile.
My father stands stoically off to the side, as if none of this podcast nonsense interests him in the least. His arms folded across his chest, he looks like he’s doing his best statue impression. I know the truth, though. He may not be as hopeful as my mother that today will turn things around for Comfort Food, but he’s wished something would.
I so want today to be that something.
“Will we be able to listen to this podcast thing at some point?” he asks in a serious tone.
“Yes, Dad. I don’t know when, but I’ll find out.”
“Don’t talk too fast. I swear to God every time I turn on the radio or TV, people are talking too fast. They sound like squawking chickens running around with their heads cut off.”
I stare at him for a moment, not sure how a chicken without a head could make any noise. “Okay. No squawking Hailey. Got it. I have to go. I don’t want to be late.”
For the first time in this conversation, he finally cracks a smile as he opens his arms to hug me. “Enjoy yourself, honey. You deserve this.”
“Thanks, Dad. I will.”
With a kiss for both of them, I hurry back through the kitchen past well-wishes from the cooks and servers out to the car where Cade waits for me. When I jump in and we take off much slower than he usually drives, I look over at him and smile.
“Thanks for toning down the speed today.”
“No problem. What did your parents have to say?”
All I can think of is my father’s chicken comment. “To have a good time and don’t sound like a chicken with her head cut off.”
Cade switches lanes and then turns to look at me with confusion written all over his face. “Is this an inside joke in your family? How would a chicken sound without a head? Do they mean make sure not to lose your voice? I don’t get it.”
With a shrug, I laugh. I don’t explain it to him since it’s silly anyway.
The Regent Hotel sits down on the waterfront, prime real estate in the city, and from the moment we drive into the parking garage, I sense this is very different from what I’m used to. By the time we get off the elevator on the fifth floor, I start to doubt this is something I should be doing.
“This place is nice,” Cade says casually as we walk toward Room 544. “A little on the stuffy side for my tastes, but nice.”
I turn to look at him in shock that he’s describing this hotel as merely nice. “Did you see the fountain in the lobby? That thing goes two floors high. And all the decorations looked like gold. Not painted gold but real gold.”
“Yeah, but they could have put some TVs in the lobby where all that water was. It’s nice, though, I guess.”
I suspect Cade is more nonchalant about the fancy style of the Regent Hotel than I am because he comes from money. To me, this place is stunning. It’s the kind of hotel you see in movies when royalty have to sleep away from their castles.
He stops and points at one of the white hotel room doors. “544. Looks like we’re here. Ready?”
Shaking my head, I admit the absolute truth of what I feel at this mo
ment. “No. I’m shaking like a leaf, and my stomach feels like it’s about to push out everything I’ve eaten this morning.”
As always, he smiles and leans in to kiss me softly on the lips, his dark eyes filled with kindness he probably thinks I need so I don’t unravel like a cheap suit right here in the hallway on the fifth floor of the ultra-fancy Regent Hotel. “You’re going to be great. I can’t wait to see you wow her with these desserts. I want you to know that after we’re done I plan to eat one of those whoopee pies, so she better not block out a week of extra spin class to gobble the last one down.”
“I love you. You know that?” I say, trying to find some calm inside my terrified brain.
“I do, and I love you too. So let’s go in there and do some podcasting. There’s a whoopee pie with my name on it, and I can practically hear it calling to me right now. If we don’t get in there, I’m going to have to rescue it, so we better get this show started before I do.”
His sexy smile and silly joke bring me some relief from the stress building inside me, and I knock on the door to get this day underway. Everything will be okay. What’s the worst that can happen? All the desserts are terrible, she announces that to the entire world, and I go back to my parents to apologize and swear I’ll learn how to waitress better than anyone ever has before to help them save on at least one salary.
As I watch for the door to open, I silently pray to God none of that happens as memories of my one and only stint as a server run through my head. I was so terrible. I tried it one summer in high school. I had a tendency to drop trays full of food, sometimes in customers’ laps.
Please don’t make me have to go back to that again. Nobody wants that. Really.
The door finally opens, and a tall brunette with the longest neck I’ve ever seen on a person is standing there. That one feature steals all my attention from her beautiful face, and I have to force myself to look up at her lovely hazel eyes and only them.
“Hello! You must be Hailey. Please come in. Brooke is waiting for you,” she says in a chipper voice before stepping back to let Cade and me into the room.
As I imagined while we walked through the hotel, the room is gorgeous. Rooms is technically the correct description. We walk into what looks like a living room that’s bigger than the apartment I had in college. Two white couches with tiny pink flowers face one another, one on each wall, and in between sits an enormous coffee table. The room is so big that none of these pieces of furniture make walking through the room toward a large dining table in front of a bank of windows on the far wall difficult at all.
Definitely bigger than my entire apartment.
Brooke sits at the table near the windows and practically jumps up out of her chair when we walk in. Dressed in white pants and a red shirt, she looks stunning.
“I am so glad to see you again, Hailey. You can just put everything in your hands on the coffee table. We’ll be talking over at that table over there. I see you brought a guest.”
I nod and hurry to introduce everyone. “Brooke, this is Cade. My boyfriend. He came to help with all the trays since I’d never be able to get these all up here. Cade, this is Brooke Dunning, a food blogger who has a national podcast.”
Brooke quickly adds, “And Hailey and Cade, please meet my assistant Tabitha. She’ll be helping today.”
We all shake hands and smile before Cade and I set the desserts on the coffee table and I begin to arrange them. Nervous, I nearly knock over the container of pink and green macarons to send them spilling all over the floor. Thankfully, Cade catches it and sets it down on the table.
Taking my hands in his, he whispers in my ear, “It’s okay. This is going to be great, right?”
I nod and take a deep breath in. This is going to be great. I’ve made the best desserts I can, and Brooke’s going to love them.
“Your boyfriend is so nice, Hailey. My ex-husband would have just let those cookies fly everywhere and then he wouldn’t have helped to clean them up either,” Brooke says and then laughs.
“I’m just a little nervous. Thank God, Cade never gets nervous. He’s always calm, cool, and collected.”
She and Tabitha look over at him and smile. “See, that’s what I like to see in a man. Cool. It’s a very sexy trait but so many men just can’t pull it off,” Brooke says, still staring at him as her assistant turns her focus to the desserts now arranged on the coffee table.
“Brooke, look at how gorgeous all of these are!” Tabitha coos, pointing down at the white chocolate torte topped with chocolate morsels and plump raspberries. “Is that white chocolate? Did Brooke tell you that’s one of our favorites?”
I smile and quietly let out a sigh of relief at my choice of that dessert for today. “It is, and I think you’re going to love it. It’s one of my favorites too.”
“I’m going to need a month of spin classes after this, but it will all be worth it,” Brooke gushes as she heads toward the desserts. “I think we should taste some now before we get started. Tell me about every one and why you made it.”
Turning to face Cade, I give him a panicked look. I had planned on talking about all of that during the podcast. If I explain things now, what will I say then? He simply nods and smiles, like he knows I’m unraveling but he’s here and everything’s going to be okay.
“Well, I thought I’d tell that in the podcast. I don’t want to bore you with telling it twice.”
Brooke waves off my worry and grabs a macaroon. “Oh, don’t worry about that. You can tell me then, if you like that better. Just make sure you give my listeners a full story. They’re used to that after reading my recipes on my website.”
My father’s criticism of that very trait of food bloggers flashes through my mind, and I can’t help but smile. He’d have a lot to say right now about that and so many other things. Hopefully, I can channel him when it comes time for the podcast.
“This chocolate creation is divine!” Tabitha squeals before taking her second bite of Boston Cream Whoopee Pie. “Brooke, this is to die for. I’m serious. Try this!”
I glance over at Cade and see him giving me a fake scowl, like he’s not happy these two women are so focused on the dessert he wants to eat in a little while. I give him a smile and silently promise to make him his own special whoopee pie if it turns out there are none left when we leave today.
After they try each dessert, leaving a single whoopee pie for me to take home for Cade, Brooke pats her nonexistent belly like it’s some huge thing and motions for me to follow her. “Time to get this thing going. I have to tell you, I think I’m in love with every single dessert, but that Boston Cream pie creation is just heavenly. Do you mind leaving that last one for me when you go? It’s just so good.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Cade smile. “Oh, that would be no problem. I’m going to make a special batch of them for Cade when I get home because he loves them too.”
Brooke’s eyes light up, and she looks past me toward where he’s sitting on one of the couches. “He obviously has good taste. And not just in desserts. You two make such a darling couple. I love it!”
I thank her for being so sweet, and as we begin to actually talk about the desserts and me, I find I have a lot to say about many topics. Whatever fear I had before I sat down in front of her at that table evaporates, leaving me to have fun talking about why I love to bake and my parents’ restaurant.
And my father won’t be disappointed since I didn’t talk too fast and I didn’t bury all the good information about Comfort Food beneath a ton of words and some long-winded story about my childhood like food bloggers generally do.
By the time we finish, an hour has passed and I’m so excited I could talk for another sixty minutes. Brooke finishes what she calls goodies for the production crew, which seems to mean repeating something about what we talked about and who we are, and turns to me with a big smile that I hope means this was a success.
“Hailey, that was so much fun. I only have one question to ask you. W
here do I find a yummy man like the one you have? He doesn’t happen to have any brothers, does he?”
For a second, I wonder if she’s just being nice, but the intensity in her eyes while she waits for me to answer her question tells me she’s serious. “He just happened to walk into the restaurant one day. We sort of stumbled onto one another. To be honest, considering that he works at a nightclub and I rarely go out, especially to clubs, I doubt we’d ever meet. He doesn’t have any brothers, but he’s got a family full of cousins. One of them, Alex, looks a lot like him and is a chef at CK.”
Her mouth drops open like this is the best news she’s heard all day. “Really? I might have to go there before I leave town. So Cade works at a nightclub? Which one? What does he do?”
“Club X. He’s a bartender there,” I proudly tell her.
“A bartender and a baker. It’s a perfect pairing. Thank you so much for coming here and talking to me and my listeners today. I hope your family’s restaurant gets a ton of traffic because of it. It’s a charming place I know so many people would love.”
I have to stop myself from crying I’m so relieved at this moment. Brooke Dunning, a major food blogger with millions of fans, loves my work and had fun talking to me, a nobody when it comes to cooking.
“Thank you so much, Brooke. You’ve been so wonderful. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”
When Cade and I get out into the hallway, I throw my arms around his neck and jump up and down I’m so happy. “She loved it all! I had so much fun. Did it sound okay? I think it sounded okay. I made sure to mention Comfort Food a bunch of times, and I didn’t sound like a total idiot when I told the stories about why I love blueberry and lemon desserts and how chocolate should be a major food group. That didn’t sound stupid, did it?”
Always the calm one, he smiles and presses a kiss to my forehead. “You were as great as I thought you would be. That’s going to be her most interesting episode, I bet. I’m so proud of you, Hailey.”