Her head spun, and not just because he was tossing out possibilities to help her while she was ingratiating herself to turn his life upside down. And how did a land developer know anything about running a restaurant? “How do you know all this? The average guy off the street doesn’t know how to run a dive-type experience that’s really a first-class operation in casual disguise. And yet...” She paused, gazing at him, and for just a moment, she wanted to keep on gazing at him. His eyes, kind and strong. His voice, commanding but helpful. And don’t get her started on the broad set of his shoulders in today’s more casual attire.
She gave herself a mental wake-up call. Wasn’t she already on shaky ground? No reason to mess things up further. “You seem to have a handle on it.”
“I leave the hotel incidentals up to the experts who run hotels, but when we incorporate a restaurant, the best thing to do is get it up off the ground as soon as possible. You’ve already done that, but if we can keep momentum going, in a casual manner, then we don’t lose time rebuilding business. And time is money. My dad ran a chain of chicken places down south,” he added, smiling. “I’ve been restaurant savvy from the time I could walk. He taught me the basics of development, site prep and running a business from beginning to end.”
“Does he still run the restaurants?”
Jacob’s expression went quiet. He stared off, over her shoulder, toward the water. “No. He retired a couple of years ago. He’d made a fortune, and my mother had planned a big party to celebrate moving on, having some time together, but then...my sister was killed in a horrible accident. It took the heart out of them. They canceled the party, completed the sale on the businesses and moved to southern Florida on the Gulf side. My father hates it, my mother pretends to love it, and neither one has gotten over their grief.”
Broken hearts littered his family, just like hers. Did that affect things, though? Did their loss negate Ginger’s deception, if that’s what happened six years ago?
“I pray for them every day,” he went on. “They’re such good people. They’ve worked so hard and done a lot of good in their time, but there’s an emptiness they can’t fill no matter what they do.” He sent her a look of regret. “I keep hoping they’ll find peace or happiness somehow. Or somewhere. They can’t seem to get over being mad, and I think that happens sometimes when you’ve got lots of money.” He faced her more directly. “You don’t expect things to go wrong, because money fixes everything. Except when it doesn’t.”
Sage words from a person of faith.
But she couldn’t let herself get off track. She could accept that Jacob was a good man and still investigate what happened when Ginger and Adam O’Neill signed those adoption papers. Her beef wasn’t with the kind, handsome man standing alongside her. It was with two people who were now out of the picture.
But she couldn’t kid herself.
Ginger and Adam wouldn’t be hurt by whatever happened here. Jacob would. That couldn’t be helped, but knowing that didn’t make her happy. Not in the least.
* * *
Josie Gallagher was easy to talk to. Maybe too easy, Jacob realized on the drive back to the inn, because Jacob wasn’t a talker by nature. But when she stood there, her expression intent, he knew she wasn’t just listening politely. She was hearing him, and the understanding in her eyes loosened his tongue even more.
But as receptive as she was, he couldn’t forget that he’d be leaving in a couple of months, and she’d be here, running her highly regarded restaurant in a new location. He wanted it to work out for her, and he’d been pleased when she accepted the offer to come on board with the inn.
But she’d surprised him, too.
After balking so firmly, to have her quietly acquiesce seemed out of character.
Out of character? Like you know her that well?
Maybe out of sync with their initial meeting was a better assessment, he decided. He didn’t know her well, but he knew enough to realize he liked what he saw. She was unique, and not just in womanly ways. Josie Gallagher marched to her own drummer, and while he couldn’t deny he found that attractive, she’d need to fall in line somewhat to make the transition from freestanding restaurant to being part of an enclave. Judging from what he’d seen so far, Josie didn’t worry all that much about blending.
He pulled into the service parking area on the backside of the hotel. One moving van had already pulled in there. The others had taken the bulk of Josie’s equipment to the massive trailer parked between his office trailer and the hotel. The crew would store her stuff there while the kitchen was made ready. He’d set up a meeting with Josie and Maybelle, the kitchen designer Carrington had brought on board, and when Josie’s small car pulled in forty-five minutes later, he pretended he hadn’t been watching for it.
She didn’t cross the hard hat area this time, but that might be because she saw him watching. She paused, swept the work area a slow, searching gaze, then grinned and stayed to the right side of the tape barriers. She didn’t duck under to purposely tweak him and the crew, but she acted like she wanted to, and for some reason, that made him feel lighter inside. “You resisted temptation,” he said as she strolled up the walk. She darted a glance behind him, and her eyes lit up.
“Only because I didn’t want to get you riled up before our meeting with the kitchen queen.”
“Kitchen queen?” He halted as Maybelle approached from the opposite direction. “Um...”
“You got that right.” The dark-skinned woman grinned as she drew closer. “When I heard that you were steppin’ in on the ground floor, I said to myself, now there’s a Yankee with just enough sass and sauce to be Cajun to the core. How are you doin’, Josie June?”
“Delighted to be working with the best of the best,” Josie told her, then hugged the stout older woman. “I couldn’t believe it when I saw you walking this way, but there’s only one Maybelle Watts who runs the kitchen circuit, and here you are.”
“You two know each other?” Jacob looked from one to the other. “How is that possible?”
“I worked in Louisiana bayou country for several years,” Josie told him. “And Maybelle had done the design on two of the biggest and best Cajun kitchens cable TV can offer. I borrowed all the ideas I used in my place from things she’d already set up for Big Bobby and Tuck. Maybelle, it’s a pleasure and an honor to be working with you.”
“Well, let’s get down to it, then. I’m not used to settin’ things up and worryin’ ’bout winter for six months of the year, so this is something of a challenge,” Maybelle said as they moved into the soon-to-be-finished hotel. “But the space they’ve allotted is sweet, and if we can have a covered area back here—” she waved toward the back access door “—where the smoker can be set up for year-round use, but folks don’t have to be standing hip deep in snow to take care of things? That would be good.”
Jacob was busily making notes in his small, electronic tablet when Maybelle added, “And I’m talkin’ to Tuck tonight, as a matter of fact! My youngest ended up marryin’ his son and they’re due to have a baby soon, so Tuck and I wanted to throw a little Cajun-style shower for them. Wait till I tell him I ran into you, Josie! He’ll be pleased as punch that you’re doin’ so well.”
Maybelle kept walking, but Josie stopped. So did Jacob, watching her.
She put a hand to her throat, teasing the gold chain she wore bearing one small medallion of some sort. “He probably won’t even remember me, Maybelle. I’d just leave it alone.”
“Not remember you?” Maybelle dismissed that quickly. “He told me that the stupidest thing he did was let Big Bobby tempt you away, and he won’t be a bit surprised that you’ve done well up here. He always knew you would.”
* * *
They’d talked about her.
And if Maybelle meant what she said, they’d be talking again tonight. Except that Tuck was one of the few people who knew about Addie. Oh, he didn�
�t know details, but he knew she’d gotten pregnant...and how...and knew she’d signed away her rights. He’d been a father figure to her in the midst of crazy, and what if he said anything to Maybelle when they talked?
“Are you all right?”
She wasn’t one bit all right, but she had to pretend...and then go on pretending. “Yes.” She moved forward, but not with the ease she’d felt moments before.
What were the odds that Carrington would hire the one kitchen designer with a direct line to her past? And why didn’t she consider that a Southern-based company would pull in the best design people from the Southern circuit?
They talked methods, habits and placement, crew access, cooler needs and wood-fired ovens. And when they were done, Maybelle slipped her little notebook into a generous-size purse and called the meeting over. “I’ve got what I need,” she declared. She patted the large leather bag. “I’m going back to the temporary office up the road to put this together with my software. Jacob.” She turned to him. “I’ll have plans to you by noon tomorrow. I know we need to get on top of this, so I’ll include an equipment list for anything we don’t have documented from Josie’s kitchen. In the meantime, if you get the crew on developing the covered smoker area outside the west bay, you should be able to jump on the idea for your take-out shack within a week. Hook up the roasting oven, the portable catering warmers, the slicer and the bun warmer.”
He typed quickly as she spoke.
“Anything else, Josie?”
“If we’ve got a smoker, we can do ribs,” she added. “My slathering sauce can be made off-site and put in the warmers.”
“Adding ribs.” He typed that into his electronic notebook. “If you think of anything else, Maybelle, text me. Or email it. Whatever works for you. And I’ll have the foreman assign a crew to create the covered area out here.”
“No flat roof,” Josie warned him. “If we get a bad winter, a flat roof on this side of the building is going to pile up snow. Prevailing winds will transform the hotel into a pricey snow fence, and the snow will dump in drifts right here.” She pointed to the present configuration of roofline and lake.
“I wouldn’t have thought of that.” Jacob made another note. “Thanks, Josie. That could’ve been a costly mistake.”
“I’m out.” Maybelle patted Jacob’s shoulder, but she reached out and hugged Josie. “It is a pleasure to see you doing so well, and I can’t wait to tell Tuck. He’ll be so pleased!”
She’d have to call her old boss and warn him off. Ask him to stay quiet.
She knew Tuck, he had a good heart, but he liked to talk, and when it came to things like this, talk was dangerous.
Worry didn’t snake up her spine. It leaped, with cat feet. She clenched her shoulders, then her neck and the ensuing headache was a warning that she needed to relax, but how could she?
She’d started something. She had to see it through, but when a small bus pulled up to the loop and dropped Addie off just then, the far-reaching consequences of her choices hit her anew.
Did she have the right to mess up Addie’s life, if all was well and good with Jacob?
“I’m home!” Addie raced across the sidewalk as the bus driver gave a friendly wave. “And have I got papers for you, Dad! Like the best ones ever, and Miss Gilly says I might be the brightest little poppet she’s ever had the privilege to know!”
“She said that, huh?” He bent, grinning. “Gosh, I love how you talk, kid.”
“Well, that was what she said,” she explained in her adorable, take-charge voice. “But I’m glad you love it, anyway.” She handed him the papers, then did something that made Josie’s fears dance anew even as it strengthened her resolve.
Addie hugged her.
The spontaneous embrace felt so right. So very right. And even if it was wrong, it didn’t feel that way, so she hugged the little girl back.
Oh, her heart.
To hug her daughter, her precious child, her little girl after all this time.
She’d never imagined this opportunity. She’d thought about what she’d do if Addie ever came looking for her. Would she understand the choices Josie made? Or would she feel abandoned? Cast off?
She’d wondered that often, but right now, none of it mattered because she was holding her little girl. If science claimed a heart couldn’t physiologically grow, it was wrong. Dead wrong. Because her heart grew in that moment. And when Addie released her, Josie knew neither she—nor her heart—would ever be the same again.
Her phone beeped a message, and Josie used it for an escape route. “Gotta run. Jacob, thank you for all of your help. I’m going to head up the beach and get the rest of my stuff ready to move into my aunt’s apartment in town. Things will be easier here if I’m settled there.”
“You’ll get to live right near the ice-cream store?” Addie didn’t try to mask the delight in her voice or expression.
“A short walk away, and an even greater temptation,” Josie assured her. “Stan’s custard is a town favorite. That’s why I brought them on board at the Bayou. It made sense to help another local business, and gave people a proximity to the best custard around without having to drive twenty minutes north and hunt for parking.”
“That’s the same business mentality that brought you into the inn,” Jacob noted. “My dad calls it the restaurant overview, and not too many have it.”
Josie hadn’t thought of it that way, but he was right. And wrong. Because a big reason for her accepting the deal was standing less than two feet away. “Great minds think alike.”
“See you later, Josie! I love your hair!”
“I feel the exact same about yours, sweet thing.”
Addie preened, then slung her pink-and-silver backpack over her shoulder.
Josie walked back to her car, reweighing her choices.
Addie was delightful and self-assured for a reason. She didn’t have a clue about any early life shenanigans that might have occurred. She knew love. She’d been carried to term, given to a woman who clearly loved her, and was now with a man who doted on her.
Josie had no right to upset that. And yet...
How could she gloss over the original deceit that brought them all here? It didn’t sit right with her.
She climbed into her car, but when she got out onto the road, she didn’t go straight back to her apartment.
She needed help. She needed advice. And she needed it from people who should have known what was going on long ago. She hit the Bluetooth and made three calls: to Kimberly, to her aunt Kate and then the hardest call of all—her mother.
Cissy Gallagher thought she knew her daughter. She was about to find out that wasn’t the case, and Josie didn’t have a clue how to ease into any of that.
Chapter Six
Jacob took the call from his father while Addie ran a stream of small cars along tiny roads she’d made in the sand. “Dad, hey. How’s it going?”
“It’s all right,” Bob Weatherly told him. “But already unseasonably hot, and your mother’s been craving some grandkid time, so we’re going to head your way next week and stay awhile. We booked a cottage across the lake from where you’re building. I haven’t seen your mother this excited for a while. It’s positively refreshing.”
“She wants to see Addie.”
“And you. But yes, she hasn’t seen Addie since Christmas, and she misses her. How is everything? Is the hotel construction on schedule? Is everything working out all right?”
“It is. You miss working. I can tell.”
“More than I can say,” his dad admitted. “I don’t know what I was thinking, especially so soon after losing Ginger. Having her gone magnified everything, and then leaving Georgia, leaving you, coming down here. I keep thinking I should have a do-over, but life doesn’t come with those, does it?”
“Sure it does.” Jacob kept his voice casu
al on purpose. “With faith.”
“Well, it’s a comfort to some, I know.”
How hard should he press?
Not hard at all, Jacob decided. He’d lead by example, and simple words. Bob Weatherly wasn’t the kind to be pushed into anything. Jacob liked to think he was similar, only not quite as stubborn. “It is. When are you getting in?”
“We’ve got the place for two weeks, and if we want to stay longer, we’ll either rebook or find another spot.”
“There’s not really a lot available after Memorial Day, I’ve been told.”
“There’s always something available for the right price, son.”
In his father’s world that was more true than not. “Addie will be thrilled to see you guys, but go easy on the presents, okay? I’m not sure what our plans are right now, and having an extra ten crates to move won’t be fun.”
“You’ll come south, of course.”
The minute Bob said it, Jacob decided to stay north, and he recognized the knee-jerk reaction right away. “Haven’t decided anything, yet, but the job offers are coming in. I figured I’d sort things out once we get closer to grand opening.”
“We can talk while we’re there, then.”
“Sure, Dad.” He heard his mother’s voice in the background. “Give Mom my love, won’t you?”
“I sure will. And you tell that granddaughter of mine I can’t wait to see her!”
“Will do.” He hung up the phone, torn. Not because they were coming to visit. He was glad they were showing a spark of their old selves, when grabbing hold of life and doing things had been seamless.
But he’d noticed something at Christmas. His father didn’t do idle well. Golfing, traveling, hanging out and playing cards were fine for some, and his mother didn’t mind the change. But his father had second-guessed everything Jacob said or did at Christmas, and he did it because he was accustomed to running the show.
Addie raced his way.
He put away the phone and grinned at the sight. The bright coppery hair, topped by a saucy cap, the sailor shirt and capris, the lime-green beach shoes.
Her Secret Daughter Page 6