Page 23 of Deep Fried Devotion
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, what if we took Jennie's offer and used it as a launching pad for something bigger? Build our reputation on the festival circuit, develop our concepts, maybe eventually open our own place when we're ready?"
Soren's eyes lit up with the scientific excitement she'd learned to love. "A restaurant that specializes in impossible food..."
"Where molecular gastronomy meets comfort food nostalgia."
"Where everything is designed to make people happy instead of impressed."
They were standing closer now, the possibilities spinning out between them like sugar work crystallizing into something beautiful.
"It would take time," Soren said, but his voice carried excitement instead of hesitation. "Years, probably, to build the reputation and capital for a restaurant."
"Good thing we work well together."
"It would be risky. No guaranteed salary, no established investor backing."
"Good thing we're both used to taking risks."
Soren reached for her hands, and she let him pull her closer. "Birdie, are you sure about this? Because if we do this together, I'm all in. No backup plans, no hedging bets. Just us and whatever we can build."
"I've never been more sure of anything in my life."
"Even though we've known each other for three days?"
"Especially because we've known each other for three days. Some things don't need time to prove themselves—they just need courage to begin."
When he kissed her, it tasted like promises and coffee and a future that seemed impossible until you were brave enough to reach for it.
"So," Birdie said when they broke apart, both breathless and grinning, "I guess you're not going to Peter's meeting tomorrow?"
"Oh, I'm absolutely going to Peter's meeting tomorrow."
Her face fell. "What?"
"I'm going to thank him for reminding me what I don't want," Soren said, his smile widening. "And then I'm going to come home and start planning the most impossible restaurant concept Connecticut has ever seen."
"With your partner?"
"With my partner. In business and everything else, if she'll have me."
"She'll have you," Birdie said, standing on her toes to kiss him again. "Fair warning though—she comes with a lot of rainbow chaos and a tendency to name recipes after feelings."
"Perfect. He comes with spreadsheets and an unhealthy obsession with temperature control."
As they finished packing their trucks under the string lights that had witnessed their entire love story, Birdie realized that Mrs. Plum had been right about courage. Sometimes the most practical thing you could do was trust your heart, even when—especially when—it led you toward something that looked impossible from the outside.
Tomorrow would bring new challenges, new decisions, new adventures in building something together. But tonight, they had each other and a plan that felt like coming home and starting an adventure all at once.
Some fairy tales began with "once upon a time," but theirs was beginning with "what if we tried something completely crazy?"
And somehow, that felt exactly right.
Chapter Nine
Tuesday morning found Birdie humming as she sorted through her grandmother's recipe collection, spreading the handwritten cards across her kitchen table like pieces of a puzzle she was finally ready to solve. The apartment that had felt cramped and limiting just days ago now buzzed with possibility. Every surface held evidence of her planning—notebook pages covered with menu ideas, printed articles about food truck regulations, and an organized folder labeled "Impossible Dreams Restaurant Concept" in her grandmother's careful script.
She'd barely slept, but it was the good kind of sleeplessness that came from excitement rather than anxiety. Her mind kept spinning with ideas for their partnership, ways to blend Soren's technical expertise with her whimsical creativity. They could start with the festival circuit Jennie had offered, build their reputation and capital, then eventually open a restaurant that would make people believe in magic again.
