Southern Charm & Second Chances

by Nancy Robards Thompson

  She could read a million things into it.

  Most likely he thought a little tearoom at a bed-and-breakfast posed no threat to Wila. She’d said she was consulting, not planning on running the place. However, who did he think was going to bake the scones and petits fours?

  Before Jane could sort it out, her sister Kate appeared in the doorway with Aidan’s little girl, Chloe, at her side, clutching the stuffed white cat she called Princess Sweetie Pie. “Gigi is summoning everyone to the dining room. She has an announcement to make.”

  Kate’s gaze lingered on Liam. “Who’s this?”

  “Kate, this is Liam Wright. Liam is Charles’s new business partner and my new boss at Wila.”

  Kate’s eyes widened. “Oh!”

  “Liam, this is my sister, Kate, and our little friend, Chloe.”

  Liam made all the appropriate noises.

  “Nice to meet you, Liam,” Kate said. Chloe hid behind her and peeked out occasionally. “Are you from Savannah?”

  “New York.”

  “You just moved here?” Kate asked.

  “No, I’m only here temporarily. For a month, to get the restaurant switched over to the new format. Then I’m going back to New York.”

  Kate shot Jane a look. It was probably about the restaurant, but all Jane could think about was that Liam would only be here one month. She’d known he was leaving, but until now it hadn’t registered that one month was a very short time.

  Then he would be gone.

  That would be a good thing. Right?

  Her mind replayed Ellie’s one-night stand cure-all.

  She and Liam had had a one-night kiss. They’d managed to get past that. She knew she should leave well enough alone, but the kiss and getting past it didn’t feel well enough. In fact, despite her morning-after regret, seeing him, talking to him—his generous offer to help with the tearoom business plan and to send her to Paris—made her hunger for more.

  Jane led the trio back to the dining room. Kate held Chloe’s hand as she peppered Liam with questions. Jane was glad for the chance to gather her thoughts, pulling her mind out of the stew of emotions that had begun to simmer. It was a recipe for disaster. She knew it.

  “If you need a haircut while you’re here, come in and see me,” Kate said. “My salon is over on Broughton. It’s within walking distance of Wila. Of course, everything that matters is within walking distance of Wila. I hope you’re not going to change the restaurant too much. You might end up with a public riot on your hands.”

  Jane fully intended to pull Gigi aside to ask her why she thought inviting Liam—her boss—to brunch would be a fun surprise. But when she stepped into the dining room, Zelda was pouring a bottle of good champagne—not the drinkable, moderately priced brand they used for mimosas, but the expensive stuff in the green bottle, with the hand-painted flowers—into the good crystal flutes.

  “Ah, there she is,” Gigi cried when she spied Jane. “Come here, honey.”

  Gigi beckoned Jane to stand next to her. She complied.

  “Oooh! And you must be Liam.”

  Gigi walked over, took Liam’s hand and offered her cheek for him to kiss. He complied. Gigi took a good look at Liam and then turned her gaze to Jane.

  “Mmm-hmm, I had a feeling,” she said as she gave Liam’s hand a squeeze. “I was thrilled when Charles asked if he could bring you today. I would like to get acquainted with you more, but first I have an announcement to make.”

  Gigi winked at him. Jane recognized the light in her grandmother’s eyes.

  “Oh, great.”

  She thought she’d internalized the sigh, but Kate, who was standing next to Aidan, gave her a knowing look and she knew her sister had heard her. Or maybe she’d read her mind.

  As Zelda hurried around the room distributing champagne, Gigi called everyone to order. “I’m so happy you all could be here today. I have a couple of things to say. First, I wanted to remind y’all that Jane and I celebrate our birthday on the same day. We have decided to throw a little soiree for ourselves, and each and every one of you is invited. You, too, Liam.”

  We hadn’t exactly decided, but—

  “I’ll be sending out save-the-date cards so you can mark your calendars. Now, for the big news. This will come as a surprise for my girls, too. I’ve managed to find a silent investor for our tearoom. We now have the funds we need for the commercial kitchen, renovation and start-up costs. The Tearoom at The Forsyth is officially a go!”

  An investor? Is she kidding?

  Zelda, Ellie and Kate sounded a collective gasp, indicating that this was news to them, too.

  Never in the one hundred and twenty-five years of the Forsyth’s existence had the family taken on an investor. They just didn’t involve people who weren’t related.

  In fact, a few years ago, they’d had a close call when their mother’s second husband sued, trying to claim half the value of the inn as marital property when they divorced. He wasn’t successful in getting his hands on what he thought was his share, but he’d left Zelda with a mountain of legal fees. That was part of the reason money for renovation was scarce.

  His stunt had inspired Gigi to have a lawyer strengthen the terms of the trust protecting the inn from husbands of future generations from pulling a similar stunt.

  How did an investor figure in? A more pressing question was who was this investor and why hadn’t Gigi included her daughter and granddaughter in the discussions?

  These were all questions to ask when she and her mom and sisters were alone with Gigi. While Gigi had been eyeing retirement, she hadn’t yet signed the Forsyth over to Zelda, who was next in line. A few months ago, her mother had revealed that running the place wasn’t her idea of a dream job. She was especially wary after her ex-husband’s lawsuit. She claimed that it proved she had more of a creative spirit and not a business head.

  To that point, the art classes and tours, a tearoom, and eventual addition of a spa, had been Zelda’s ideas. It was designed to entice Ellie, Jane and Kate, who each had careers as an art teacher, a pastry chef and a salon owner, respectively, to come back to the inn and continue the family legacy.

  “The construction of the tearoom, will take a while, but I’m putting you on notice, Liam, that I’m going to do everything in my power to take this talented girl away from Wila and put her in charge of The Tearoom at The Forsyth. Of course, I need to talk to my granddaughter, but getting her away from the restaurant might not be a bad thing.” Gigi waggled her brows. “It might open a new, more personal opportunity for the two of you.”

  * * *

  “Jane, when you have a moment, may I have a private word with you, please?” Charles asked. She had just finished cooking the apples for a tressé aux pommes, a French pastry featuring apples and Armagnac brandy, for the dessert tasting she was preparing for Liam. It was the first step toward finalizing the dessert menu.

  “Perfect timing,” she said. “The apples need to cool before I can add them to the pastry. Let me finish up here and I’ll be right there.”

  “Very good,” Charles said. “Meet me in my office when you’re ready.”

  Jane had prepared tressé aux pommes, which translated to apple braid, so many times, she could almost do it in her sleep. It was the perfect recipe for today because she’d been on autopilot most of the morning as her brain had been rehashing and braiding her newfound truce with Liam with the big announcement Gigi had made yesterday.

  Gigi had disappeared after the brunch. Jane had looked for her, but she’d been nowhere to be found. Finally, late last night, when Jane saw a light on in the Forsyth’s kitchen, she’d found Gigi there.

  The two of them had sat down and Jane had firmly but gently told Gigi she’d wished she would’ve talked to her before she’d announced the plan to steal her away from Wila. Especially in front of her new boss.

 
Gigi had simply laughed and pooh-poohed Jane’s tender admonishments, assuring her that she hadn’t intended for Liam to be there but that Charles had asked if he could bring him since he was new in town and she hadn’t had the heart to say no. And my, my, my wasn’t Liam a handsome eligible young man... “The two of you have great chemistry.”

  There’d been that matchmaking glint in Gigi’s eyes.

  But Liam would return to New York in a little less than a month. While he was here, they both would be much too busy for Gigi to pull shenanigans.

  Even so, after the brunch and the subsequent conversation with Gigi, Jane had spent a restless night, tossing and turning, thinking about the ins and outs of leaving Wila to be her own boss. Funny, though, the more Jane thought about it, the more she realized this could be her golden opportunity...the chance to open her own pâtisserie.

  Leaving a steady job would be risky. But Gigi had assured her they would make it happen...somehow. Then again, Gigi and Zelda were prone to flights of fancy. Her mother came about it naturally.

  The realist in Jane knew she wasn’t leaving Wila until she knew for sure that she could support herself and stick to her financial plan to eliminate her student loan and New York debt.

  She had a while to think about it before the tearoom would be open for business and need a full-time baker and manager. Of course, if she didn’t come on board, they’d have to hire someone else...

  As she worked to get to a stopping point before going to Charles’s office, Jane realized Tilly was giving her the side-eye.

  “May I help you?” Jane asked.

  “Oooh, somebody’s in trouble,” Tilly sang. “Oh, but wait, you’re Jane Clark. You never do anything wrong.”

  Jane glanced toward the pantry door that was still propped against the wall and bit back the urge to say, Little do you know.

  In addition to lugging all her tearoom baggage to work, when Jane clocked in, the kitchen had been abuzz with all kinds of speculation and questions about why the pantry door was off the hinges.

  Jane had kept her head down and Liam, wearing his stoic business face, had quickly put an end to all the inquiries with an authoritative, “The lock is broken. The door will remain off the hinges until we can get it fixed.”

  She heard none of the innuendo she thought she’d detected yesterday when he’d said, “Maybe we should leave it off the hinges. That way things can be a bit more...open.”

  She felt silly for thinking he’d been talking in subtle romantic metaphors.

  “I wonder what he wants,” Tilly said.

  “Who?” Jane’s heart raced as her gaze darted around the kitchen in search of Liam, but she didn’t see him.

  “Charles?” Tilly looked at Jane like she was losing her mind. Clearly, she was. That was the only explanation for everything that had happened since Liam had arrived.

  “I guess I’ll see soon enough.” She set the glass dish of apple compote in an out-of-the-way corner of the pastry station, took off her apron and hung it on a peg.

  “I’ll be right back, but while I’m gone, could you please start weighing out the ingredients for the chocolate mocha cake? Here’s the recipe.”

  Jane opened her notebook to the correct page and placed it in the center of the table. “If anyone is looking for me, tell them I’m with Charles.”

  Tilly gave her a quick salute.

  When Jane got to Charles’s office, she stood on the threshold for a moment. He was on a call, but he motioned her in and indicated for her to sit in the chair across from his desk. She had to relocate a manufacturer’s sample of a chef’s coat, a stack of cookbooks and an unopened sleeve of foam coffee cups from the chair to a shelf on the adjacent wall to clear a space. By the time she’d finished, Charles had ended the call.

  “How are you, my dear?” He leaned back in his desk chair and laced his hands behind his head.

  “Fine,” Jane said. “Crazy busy, but it’s all good.”

  “Is it?” Charles asked.

  Jane wasn’t sure if he was talking about Liam taking over the kitchen or Gigi’s surprise announcement yesterday.

  Charles must have picked up on her confusion. “How is Liam working out?”

  That was an equally confusing question because it wasn’t as if Liam Wright was a new line cook. What choice did she have but to say, “He’s fine.”

  Very fine. And sexy as hell. Quite an accomplished kisser.

  “He’s getting everything in order. He seems to know exactly what he wants and how he wants it.”

  “I don’t mean to put you on the spot, Jane. But I trust that you would tell me if anything was uncomfortable.”

  Jane laughed a humorous laugh. “Charles, you are putting me on the spot. Liam is seventy-five percent owner of Wila. It’s not my place to judge whether things are uncomfortable. I need to keep my job. So even if he had decided to change this place into a burger joint, I’m not going to complain. Well, as long as the burger joint needs an executive pastry chef.”

  Charles nodded and Jane felt bad for her sarcasm.

  For a moment, she wondered if he was second-guessing his decision to sell such a large share of Wila.

  “Are you doing okay?” she asked. “Any regrets on your end?”

  The older man smiled then scrubbed a hand over his swimmy blue eyes. He was a good-looking guy—the epitome of debonair Southern gentleman with his salt-and-pepper hair and distinguished air.

  He toyed with a paperweight on his desk before looking back at Jane. “Yes and no. I suppose I’m experiencing a small dose of seller’s remorse.” He exhaled a breath that seemed to carry the weight of the world. “But it will pass. For the longest time, this place has been my life. Wila has been my baby in lieu of children. It’s outlasted three marriages and carried me through more hurricanes than I care to count. Although, I must admit, sometimes it was hard to tell the difference between the hurricanes and my ex-wives.”

  They shared a laugh.

  “But as you said, it’s all good. I suppose it’s human nature to second-guess change. But more important than that, there are some things I want to do and owning a restaurant would not allow me the luxury of taking time.”

  The way Charles was looking at her, Jane sensed he wanted to elaborate.

  “Do you want to travel?” she asked.

  “I do, but not necessarily...alone.”

  “There are lots of good group tours out there. Search the web for group tours. You’d be surprised what you’ll find. Really, there’s something for everyone.”

  Charles glanced up at the ceiling and that’s when Jane realized he was chuckling softly to himself.

  “No, Charles, really, it’s good to travel with a group. If I was going abroad on my own, I would.”

  I’m going to Paris with Liam.

  The thought popped into her head. Amid the other happenings—the kiss, Gigi’s announcement—she’d forgotten about the bet. And Paris.

  I’m going to Paris if I win the bet.

  I’m going to win that bet.

  “Jane, my dear, there really is no other way to say this than to just say it. So, I will just come right out with it. Your blessing is important to me. You’ve always been like a granddaughter to me.”

  Jane braced herself because she had no idea what he was about to say. Obviously, it was very important. Was he sick? If he was sick, they would move him into the inn and care for him. He wouldn’t have to suffer alone. That was the bad thing about being alone at his age. Who did he have to look after him?

  “Charles?” Jane leaned forward. “What is it? Are you okay?”

  “Jane, I’m in love with your grandmother. I suppose I’ve always been in love with her, but the time was never right for either of us. When I finally wised up and realized that restaurant hours do not foster a happy marriage... Well, I realized that Wiladean me
ant too much to me to ruin our relationship like I had with my first three wives.

  “Now that I am stepping back from my duties at Wila, she and I are finally free at the same time. We want to see if we can make things work. In some regard, I feel like I’ve been waiting for this my entire life. Did you know I named this place for her? Wila—short for Wiladean.”

  Jane’s hand fluttered to her throat. She knew. Everyone knew. Now, maybe Gigi would let them talk about it. Hearing it from Charles was just about the most romantic thing she had ever heard in her life. “Does Gigi know how you feel?”

  Charles nodded. “We talked about it yesterday after the brunch.”

  “So that’s where she was. I looked for her and couldn’t find her.”

  Charles’s love confession probably accounted for Gigi’s giddy mood once Jane had found her. It was a sharp contrast from before the brunch when Gigi had chosen her words carefully and said there was only a man or two who could handle her. Now that Charles had filled in the blanks, Jane was willing to wager that “a man or two” really meant Charles in Gigi-speak. She was probably being cautious until she knew that he felt the same way. That’s why she’d invited him. And Charles had invited Liam.

  Now it all made sense.

  “If you’re asking for my blessing, of course, you have my blessing, Charles. I want nothing more than for you and Gigi to be happy. You’re like family. If you and Gigi can be happy together—all the better.”

  Charles nodded. “Good. Very good. Now, you actually will be my granddaughter. I can’t tell you how happy that makes me.”

  Jane blinked back happy tears. If she and Kate couldn’t find the men of their dreams and get married, giving Gigi the eighty-fifth birthday present she wanted, at least Charles could make her happy. She deserved to be that happy and more.

  Maybe by the time Jane was eighty-five, she’d find her soul mate.

  “There is one other reason I asked you to come in here,” Charles said. “I have something for you to think about. Once The Tearoom at The Forsyth is up and running, how would you feel about being the owner and proprietor? I’m not trying to steal you away from Liam and Wila, but Wiladean told me how long you’ve wanted a shop of your own. And how she’d always wanted to give that to you.”