by Nicole Ellis
“It is, but I think I’m going to like it a lot.” Luke stuck his key in the lock of the food truck’s door and jiggled it until it turned. The door squeaked and the scent of lemon cleanser from his cleaning spree the day before hit him as soon as he opened it fully.
“Okay then. If you’re sure.” Pops didn’t look certain.
“I am. I’ve tried the big-city life and I’m ready for something different.”
As one of the top software developers at LinkinTechno, he’d earned a great salary, but that had come with its negative aspects too. While in high school and college he’d been an awkward, skinny kid with only a few friends, but that had all changed when he started to earn more money and spent some time at the gym.
Suddenly, women had flocked to him. It had been exciting at first, but after a while, he wondered whether they were interested in him or his money. When his last girlfriend had openly announced that she was leaving him for someone making even more money than he did, he’d realized they’d probably all been gold diggers.
As a food truck owner, no one would know he was a multimillionaire. He was just another guy pursuing his passion and trying to make ends meet. Now, the next time a woman was interested in him, he’d know if it was for him or his money. Not that he expected—or wanted—a woman in his life at the moment.
“What’s all of this next door?” Pops asked as he turned to survey the knickknack shop located in a vintage Airstream trailer about ten feet away. “Whimsical Delights? That doesn’t seem to fit with your food truck.”
Luke glanced at the other half of the lot. The shop’s owner had strung up along the adjoining fence a bunch of small white lights that reminded him of Christmas lights. Although the trailer door was closed, colorful signs and stone fountains were stored outside. A rustic sign with rustic flaking white paint read Whimsical Delights.
What kind of name was that anyway? It was such a cutesy place that it was probably owned by a bubbly woman that he wouldn’t be able to stand. He had a sinking feeling that sharing the space with the Airstream wasn’t going to be all fun and games.
Surprisingly, or maybe not, he hadn’t yet met the owner. When he parked the truck in the lot earlier that morning, she hadn’t been there. Even though Saturdays must be a big day for tourist traffic, she still hadn’t arrived yet. It was pretty obvious she didn’t care about her business too much.
Luke shrugged. “I don’t think it’ll be there much longer.” The landlord for the lot had told him that the Airstream’s lease was up soon and he didn’t think the owner would be staying. “Do you want to see the inside?” He jutted his thumb at the interior of the food truck.
“I wouldn’t miss it,” Pops said. He held on to the small grab bar at the top of the steps Luke had folded out and pulled himself up. For a man in his eighties, he was surprisingly spry.
“So, this is where the magic happens.” Pops appraised the kitchen setup. His fuzzy gray hair stuck out in tufts as he bent down and opened cabinet doors to peer inside.
“Yep. I’ve got a four-burner stove over there, the cash register will go next to the roll-up window, and my smoker is right back there.” Luke pointed through the window over the stove at a mid-sized smoker he’d pushed against the back of the lot.
Pops nodded. “It’s nice. Compact, but you can get a lot done in here. It’s similar to the kitchen we had at the drive-in.”
While what he was saying was polite and complimentary, Luke detected a note of hesitation in his grandfather’s demeanor.
“You’re worried, aren’t you?” He stared into Pops’ face.
“I’m not worried about whether you’ll succeed or not,” Pops said slowly. “I’m just concerned that you’ll regret this. How easy is it to get back into your career if you decide this isn’t what you want?”
Luke waved his hand in the air dismissively. “They’ll take me back. A really good software engineer is hard to find, and I’m one of the best. Besides, I have more than enough money to live on, even if I never worked another day in my life.” He met his grandfather’s gaze. “But this is what I want. I’ve been planning this for almost a year.”
Much like any project he undertook, he’d done his homework—shadowing the owner of a popular barbecue food truck in the city, taking culinary classes to hone his skills and studying the market to determine if the concept was viable somewhere on the Washington coast. Although he’d probably never make anywhere close to what he’d made as a software developer, he was confident he could earn a decent living in this tourist town with the food truck.
It didn’t really matter though. Other than his pride, failing in business wouldn’t hurt his bank account. If that happened, he’d move on to the next project.
“All right. You know, I think your grandmother always hoped you and Zoe would move back to the coast and settle down here.”
“I know she did.” Guilt washed over him. “I’m sorry I didn’t get up here that much over the last few years before she passed.”
“Don’t worry about it. We both knew that you and your sister had your own lives to live.” He shot Luke a sly look. “But maybe you’ll meet a local girl now that you’re back and make this your home. That wouldn’t be so bad, right? You know, I was just about your age when I met your grandmother.” A far-off expression appeared on his wizened face.
Luke stifled a grin. What were the chances he’d meet the girl of his dreams here when he’d struck out with love in a much bigger city?
“Maybe.” He changed the subject. “How are things going at the retirement home?”
Pops brightened. “Good. Me and a few other guys play poker every week in the main lounge. Sometimes we even sneak in cigars if they don’t catch us. The staff is pretty nice. Even though we all have kitchens in our apartments, they make cookies and stuff to serve with coffee every afternoon.” He patted his pudgy belly. “I’ve put on a few pounds since moving in there.”
“I’m glad you like it.” Luke had often wondered if Pops was putting on a brave face whenever they saw each other, but he genuinely seemed to enjoy living in the retirement home. He looked at him with curiosity. “Do you miss Grams?”
Pops sighed and gazed out the window. “Every day. That woman drove me crazy sometimes, but she was the love of my life.”
“It must be tough without her.” Luke remembered how his grandparents would always kiss each other goodbye and how his grandmother had insisted that no one in the family ever went to bed mad at each other. There had been some tough times when it came to applying that to his relationship with his sister when they were teenagers, but it had always been helpful in the long run.
“It is.” Pops looked down at his feet, then back up at him. “But I’m still here and I know she’d want me to try to be happy, so that’s what I do, every day.”
Luke nodded. “She always wanted the best for all of us.”
“She did.” Pops walked toward the back door. “It doesn’t look like you’re open for business though, and I’m starving. What is there to eat around here?”
Luke laughed. “I’ve heard good things about the Bluebonnet Café. Parker swears by it.”
“How is Parker doing anyway? I remember how you two were always together as kids, playing in the tree house out back with your GI Joes. I heard he went into real estate like his parents. Probably making a killing on commissions with the home prices these days.” He shook his head, as if thinking about how things had changed since he was young.
“Actually, he’s living here in Candle Beach. He’s engaged to a woman he met through work who’s from here, and they’ve formed their own real estate company.” He grinned. “I never thought I’d see Parker settle down, but he seems like he’s coming into his own here.”
“Ah. Is that how you found this space?” Pops looked out the open door. “It seems like a good location. Not much parking, but should be decent foot traffic.” He assessed it with the keen eye of a restaurateur.
“Nope, it wasn’t one of Park
er’s listings. I checked out a few of his properties, but I saw an ad for this space in the local paper. I called the owner and worked everything out with him.”
“Well, your truck looks good here. I’m proud of you,” Pops said gruffly with a slight gleam in his eyes.
“Thanks.” Luke reached out instinctively and hugged the old man.
They exited the food truck and he locked the door before they left for an early lunch. Having his grandfather here made everything seem so real. He’d been planning this move for such a long time that now that it was actually happening, it seemed crazy. Had he really quit a high-paying job for this?
He breathed in the salt air that always reminded him of home and glanced at his grandfather. Besides his twin sister, Pops was the only family member he had left. Yep. Moving to Candle Beach was worth any sacrifices he’d made.
3
Any thoughts about the weather or potential sales flew out of Charlotte’s head the moment she saw the food truck. She froze in place, her eyes scouring the side of the truck. Beachside BBQ? Her stomach grumbled involuntarily at the thought of barbecue, reminding her that she’d skipped breakfast.
Barbecue was all fine and good, but it didn’t belong two feet away from her shop. She forced herself to move her feet toward the truck. A small sign on the closed-up front window announced that the truck would be open for business for lunch on Monday. At least that was a small piece of good fortune.
How could her landlord have allowed a food truck to share her space? She vaguely remembered something about being told that the piece of property she’d parked her trailer on was only half of the space, but she’d assumed if the landlord eventually rented it out it would be to another retail store, not a fast food truck. And she should have been consulted first if that wasn’t the case.
Something inside the truck made a noise, startling her. Someone was in there. She narrowed her eyes and marched around to the back door of the truck, rapping on the small covered window.
“Hold on,” a man’s deep voice said. “I’ll be there in a minute.”
She stopped knocking and stood in front of the door, her fists balling up at her sides. This wasn’t going to be a pleasant conversation. There was no way he could have his food truck there. The only answer was for him to move to a different site.
Where that would be, she didn’t know, but it wasn’t her problem. This was a prime spot in Candle Beach’s small downtown, perfect for catching the tourists as they came and went from the beach—exactly the reason she’d chosen it for herself.
The door creaked open and from behind it, the man said, “Sorry, I was finishing up some inventory. Did you need something?”
He opened the door completely and she took a step back. He crinkled up his face and glanced back into the truck, as though just remembering something. His hesitation gave her a chance to look at him more closely.
That can’t be who I think it is.
He was tall, with a runner’s physique and a face that she’d normally find attractive. Thick brown hair flopped over his forehead and he brushed it back, then finally looked directly at her.
His eyes widened. “Chatty Charlie? Is that you?”
She opened and shut her mouth like a demented fish. Chatty Charlie. Now that was a nickname she hadn’t heard in many years. The only people to call her that were her older brother Parker and his best friend Luke. The non-affectionate nickname had stemmed from their belief that she and her friends did nothing but shop and gab together all the time.
Unfortunately, they’d been right. It hadn’t been until she was a freshman in college, away from her parents, that she’d realized what a privileged life she’d led. Ever since, she’d taken steps to not be that person. She took a deep breath.
Get it together, Charlotte. You’re not Chatty Charlie anymore.
“It’s Charlotte actually.” She pressed her lips together and breathed calmly through her nose.
He looked as though he were trying to hide a smile. “Of course. Charlotte. It’s nice to see you again. I didn’t realize you lived around here.”
She peered at him, unsmiling. “Parker never said anything about you coming back to the area.” The last she’d heard, Luke was working in San Francisco at some startup company as a hotshot computer programmer. Her brother had mentioned something about going down there to see him about a year ago, but that was all she’d heard about it. Certainly, there had been no mention of Luke moving to Candle Beach.
Luke shrugged. “He’s been so busy with Gretchen and their new company. I’d been looking for the perfect spot for my new food truck up and down the West Coast and when I came upon this spot here, I snapped it up.” He looked around the lot appraisingly. “It’s good to be home.”
She clenched her jaw. “It is a nice spot—for my shop. Look, I’m sorry, but you can’t have your food truck here. I can’t have people shopping with barbecue smoke drifting through my trailer.”
He cocked his head to the side. “I don’t think it’s up to you. I signed a year-long lease with the landlord and I intend to stay here.”
Her heart hammered. She was stuck with Luke as a neighbor for an entire year, if not longer? A food truck next door was bad enough, but why did it have to be Luke’s food truck?
He’d always treated her like an annoying little sister and it didn’t seem like that had changed one bit in the twelve years since she’d last seen him. There had to be some way of getting him to leave.
“Why are you here anyway? Did you lose your job?” She cringed inwardly at her hostility, but the question had come out before she could rethink it.
He clenched his jaw. “No. I chose to buy the food truck and make this my new career. As you know, I grew up at my grandparents’ drive-in, so I’m familiar with the business.”
“That’s great, and I’m sure there are plenty of other places for you to park your truck.” She didn’t know of any, but there had to be something.
“But I have a perfectly good space. You could move your business elsewhere. As you said, there has to be other places if you feel like you can’t share the space with me.”
“I can’t afford to do that.” She’d invested everything in her business. Although she worked hard, there was still only a small amount over what was required to pay for the basics in her bank account. Moving would put a serious dent in the small savings she had.
“Right …” he drawled. “A Gray not able to afford something? Can’t you ask your parents for a loan if it’s that big of a deal? I remember that’s how it used to work for you and your siblings in high school.”
She stared at him in shock as all of the memories and shame about how she’d acted back then socked her in the gut. A gust of wind blew her hair into her face and she pushed it back behind her ears, not caring how she looked.
“This isn’t going to work. You’ll have to find something else.” She turned on her heels and stalked off to the Airstream’s door. As she stood on the three-foot-square wooden deck she’d built to make entry into the trailer easier for customers, she snuck a peek back at him. He was leaning against the truck with his arms folded across his chest, a bemused expression on his face.
She averted her eyes before he could see her staring, quickly pulled the door open and entered the trailer. Usually she loved sitting on her padded, high-back stool near the entrance, working at the tiny desk she used as a counter. From there, she could see the customers shopping the larger merchandise she kept outside and still work on all of the paperwork that came with owning a small business.
But not today. Today she had a hard time focusing on her business because of Luke. Once, she saw him start to come over to her trailer, but a customer appeared and he turned back around. He’d been standoffish when he was Parker’s best friend in high school and that trait had obviously evolved into full-on rudeness. Not that she’d been overly polite in her exchange with him either.
A woman walked up to the Airstream and toured it, then approached Charlotte
. “I love your shop. I told all of my friends about how cute it is.”
“Thanks.” Charlotte smiled at her. “Is there anything I can help you find?”
“Oh no, I think I’m just going to get this today.” She held out a pair of frog earrings. “My daughter loves frogs and I wanted to get her a souvenir of our trip to the beach.”
“Great.” Charlotte took the earrings from her, rang them up and then wrapped them in tissue paper. Then she put the package into a small gift bag stamped with her store name and handed it to the woman.
“Thank you.” The woman hesitated. “Do you know when that barbecue place is opening? I don’t remember seeing it before.”
“I think it might open on Monday.” Charlotte tried to hide her displeasure.
“Oh, I hope so. We’re leaving Tuesday afternoon. I hope it opens while we’re still here. My husband loves barbecue.”
Charlotte forced a smile and pointed at the truck. “The owner is there if you’d like to ask him.”
The woman beamed back at her. “Thank you. I think I will. I hope you have a nice day.”
“You too,” Charlotte answered.
The customer walked down the steps and across the lot to the food truck.
Charlotte hung back, watching as she approached the truck and knocked on the door. Luke stepped out and spoke with the woman. His eyes darted to Charlotte and then refocused on the woman in front of him. The customer left smiling, so she must have received a satisfactory response from him.
“Charlotte,” he called out when the woman was gone.
She didn’t look at him. She hadn’t much liked the geeky Luke she’d known before because of how he and her brother treated her, but this arrogant jerk was even worse. There had to be some way to get rid of him and his food truck, because she couldn’t see them ever becoming friendly.
4
Luke walked into To Be Read and scanned the bookstore for the entrance to Charlotte’s apartment. After their meeting earlier that day, he’d felt bad about what he’d said to her. He never should have implied that her parents were funding her business, but she’d really gotten his goat with her demands that he move out of the space. He’d called Parker once he was done getting things ready in the food truck and he’d told him that she lived in an apartment over the bookstore.